Here's a fight that cuts across the usual political lines: Steve Bannon and a coalition of conservative advocacy groups want the Trump administration to tell Big Tech that no, you can't just scrape the entire internet and call it "fair use" when training your AI models.
In a December 1st letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and science-policy director Michael Kratsios, the group frames Silicon Valley's copyright stance as nothing less than systematic theft. They're not mincing words either, calling the approach "un-American" and arguing it would gut the intellectual property protections that underpin America's creative and economic power.
"We must compete and win the global AI race the American way—by ensuring we protect creators, children, conservatives, and communities," the letter states.
The China Card
The coalition makes an interesting strategic argument: weakening copyright protections would actually help China, a country already notorious for industrial-scale IP theft. Why would we voluntarily demolish our own IP framework when we spend so much time criticizing Beijing for doing exactly that?
The numbers they cite are substantial. Copyright-driven industries contribute over $2 trillion to GDP and support more than 11 million high-wage American jobs. That's not exactly pocket change.
As for Big Tech's complaint that licensing copyrighted works is too expensive for AI development? The coalition isn't buying it. When you're talking about companies with trillion-dollar market caps spending hundreds of billions annually on AI, the cost argument rings hollow.
"AI companies enjoy virtually unlimited access to financing," the signatories point out. Hard to claim poverty when Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Google (GOOG), Meta (META), and Apple (AAPL) are swimming in capital.
Bannon's "War Room" amplified the message on Truth Social, posting the letter and framing Big Tech's position as "un-American and absurd," while calling on followers to pressure the administration to side with creators.
The coalition's preferred approach? Let the courts sort it out rather than having federal intervention preemptively declare all copyrighted material fair game for AI training.
"Such intervention would harm American workers, contradict the Trump Administration's artificial intelligence (AI) and trade policy, weaken U.S. soft power, and promote China's economic espionage," the letter warns.
It's a fascinating collision of free-market conservatism, nationalist trade policy, and creator rights—all aimed squarely at some of the world's most valuable tech companies.
