The Trump administration has fired U.S. Copyright Registrar Shira Perlmutter, shortly after she released a report critical of the use of copyrighted materials in artificial intelligence training. Her dismissal also comes just days after the removal of Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who had previously appointed Perlmutter to the position, Axios reports.
According to Politico, the report, prepared by Perlmutter's office, raised concerns about the activities of companies that use large amounts of copyrighted works to train AI models. These include, in particular, Elon Musk's startup xAI. Musk himself recently supported the call for the abolition of intellectual property laws on the social network X.
Democratic Congressman Joe Morelle said Perlmutter's firing was "no accident" and linked it to her refusal to support Musk's interests. He stressed that the decision violates Congress's authority and poses risks to an industry worth trillions of dollars.
The American Federation of Musicians called the dismissal "a blow to the entire copyright community."
At the same time, the conservative American Accountability Foundation supported the decision, saying that Perlmutter and Hayden should have been fired to restore the "America First course" in the field of intellectual property.