How U.S. Copyright Law Shapes America’s AI Edge: 3 Key Takeaways from AI Progress Panel Discussion
Coalition Hosts Inaugural Capitol Hill Event with Key Tech Experts
How critical is U.S. copyright law to maintaining global leadership in AI innovation? Experts tackled that high-stakes question in a recent panel discussion hosted by AI Progress on Capitol Hill.
Moderated by AI Progress Advisor Anna Chauvet, the panel featured Jordan Gimbel, associate general counsel for Microsoft’s Open Innovation team, and Doug Eck, senior research director at Google DeepMind. Together, they explored AI’s sweeping impact across industries and the foundational role of U.S. copyright law — particularly the fair use doctrine — in enabling that innovation. The discussion also highlighted the growing threat of restrictive data policies that could hinder innovation and weaken America’s competitive edge in the global AI race.
“U.S. copyright law — particularly the doctrine of fair use — has long been a pillar of innovation, allowing researchers, entrepreneurs, and developers to build upon existing knowledge to create groundbreaking technologies,” Chauvet, a partner and copyright practice leader at Finnegan, said in her opening remarks. “It is this enduring legal foundation that has enabled American AI leaders to build the systems that are already helping to solve the nation’s most pressing challenges.”
Here are three key takeaways from the discussion:
1. Restrictive Data Access Risks U.S. Competitiveness: Countries like China are rapidly advancing their AI capabilities, often with less restrictive data access policies in place. If U.S. policymakers were to impose overly restrictive copyright policies or place unnecessary barriers on data access, the U.S. could lose its competitive edge in AI. Maintaining the existing U.S. copyright framework will ensure that the world follows America’s lead, instead of surrendering the future of AI to those who would exploit our innovations for their own ends.
- What the experts say: “Other nations, particularly China, are rapidly advancing their AI capabilities, often in ways that do not align with democratic values or intellectual property protections,” Chauvet said. “If policymakers impose restrictive policies that limit access to broad and diverse data sets that are necessary for AI development, we risk ceding leadership on a global scale.”
2. Diverse Data Access is Key to AI’s Accuracy: Large-scale AI models must be trained on vast amounts of data. The more diverse and varied the data, the more accurate, safe, and secure the model is. Without access to copyrighted materials under the fair use doctrine, AI models may not be able to fully reflect the complexity of the world and human experience.
- What the experts say: “Performing data analysis of works protected by copyright is aligned with copyright’s purpose and function and comports with the fair use doctrine. Copyright and fair use are essential underpinnings of American industries, and crucial for AI to thrive,” Gimbel said. “As competition in AI increases globally, maintaining this future-looking approach is central to continued U.S. leadership.”
3. AI Innovation Addresses Global Challenges: AI is already solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges in areas including health care, public safety, and education. Fair use allows researchers, developers, and entrepreneurs to access data for transformative purposes, shortening the time it takes to complete tasks, such as reviewing research papers that aid in drug discovery. This flexibility supports the development of technological advances and scientific breakthroughs with the power to address societal problems.
- What the experts say: “Artificial intelligence is already creating incredible breakthroughs that benefit everyone,” Eck said. “AI and large language models have the potential to help us solve our most challenging problems, but we’ll only realize AI’s full potential with continued access to a wide range of data.”
As debates on U.S. copyright law and AI continue, the conversation on Capitol Hill makes one thing clear: preserving fair use is a strategic imperative. Ensuring access to diverse, high-quality data fosters innovation, strengthens American competitiveness, and supports the development of accurate AI tools that can address societal challenges.
“Fair use is a part of our everyday life, and it’s a huge part of the economy,” Gimbel said. “It is crucial for American innovation, for American competitiveness.”
Eck underscored that point. “It’s absolutely critical to our economy to let this engine of innovation continue to innovate, continue to provide more and more opportunities for people,” he said. “And one of the bedrock layers of this is fair use — our ability to train these models and not hamstring ourselves.”
