Country singers, romance novelists, video game artists, and voice actors are urgently requesting relief from the potential threat that artificial intelligence (AI) poses to their livelihoods. Thousands of letters have been submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office expressing concerns about the replication of voices by AI. While technology companies are content with the current state of affairs that allows them to use published works to improve their AI systems, the U.S. Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, has yet to take a firm stance on the matter. Perlmutter stated in an interview that her office is carefully considering whether copyright reforms are necessary to address the impact of generative AI tools that can produce various forms of creative content.

The U.S. Copyright Office, headed by Perlmutter, is responsible for registering copyrights for millions of individual works. However, the office is now confronted with the registration of AI-generated content. Copyright claims for fully machine-generated content have been rejected so far, as copyright laws aim to protect works of human authorship. Nevertheless, Perlmutter poses the question of whether there is a threshold at which human involvement in guiding the AI's output warrants considering them a contributor to the authorship.

An even larger question that has evoked numerous comments from creative professionals is the issue of copyrighted human works being used without permission or compensation to train AI systems. Over 9,700 comments have been submitted to the Copyright Office, with another round expected by December 6th. Afterward, Perlmutter's office will work towards advising Congress on the necessity of reforms.

Among the voices seeking protection for their industries, Justine Bateman, an actor and filmmaker, expressed concerns about AI models consuming decades' worth of film and TV content, potentially disrupting the structure of the film industry and replacing human labor. Bateman called this a significant copyright infringement that needs to be stopped. Lilla Zuckerman, a television showrunner, echoed these concerns, urging the entertainment industry to combat what she views as a "plagiarism machine" that threatens to remove human talent from entertainment.

The music industry also faces threats from AI, according to Nashville-based country songwriter Marc Beeson. While acknowledging the potential benefits of AI, Beeson compared it to a gun that, in the wrong hands without proper regulations, could cause irreparable damage to one of America's true art forms. Notably, major music publishers, including Universal Music Group, have expressed concerns about the uncontrolled nature of AI training.

Tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, argue that their use of copyrighted materials in training AI models falls under the fair use doctrine. They claim that it allows for limited use of copyrighted works for purposes such as research, teaching, and transforming the original work. They argue that AI training seeks patterns across a broad range of content rather than extracting or reproducing specific works. Courts have generally sided with these tech companies, with a recent case against AI-generated images being partially dismissed by a San Francisco federal judge.

However, critics argue that this comparison to Google's success in defending its online book library is flawed. Romance author Heidi Bond, also known as Courtney Milan, distinguishes Google's situation by highlighting that the company obtained legitimate copies of books from libraries and institutions, whereas many AI developers rely on outright piracy to access works of writing.

The Copyright Office, under Perlmutter's leadership, aims to address these concerns and clarify the boundaries of fair use and copyright infringement in the context of AI. The ultimate goal is to strike a balance between protecting creative industries and fostering innovation in AI technology.