via The Verge:

OpenAI and Google are pushing the US government to allow their AI models to train on copyrighted material. Both companies outlined their stances in proposals published this week, with OpenAI arguing that applying fair use protections to AI “is a matter of national security.”

Nonsense. What OpenAI and Google are actually asking for is the legalized taking of people’s creative works and intellectual property without compensation. This is also called theft. Why should these companies be permitted to profit from our writing, our music, our photos, etc., and give us nothing in return? The national security piece of this is a straw man. National security is not at stake, but these companies are desperate to avoid the avalanche of copyright suits currently working through the courts (cases aimed at punishing AI companies for all of the stealing that they have already been doing.)

OpenAI has a valuation approaching $200 billion, but (likely) believe that their only path to profitability is by exploiting your work and not compensating you for it. Again, in any other context, we would call that theft! If you have ever generated content online, OpenAI (and all of the others) should be compensating you for your trouble, or giving you the option to opt out of contributing to their hallucination machines. Full stop.