Days after a shocking investigation raised questions about the legality of AI training techniques that incorporate copyrighted information, US President Donald Trump fires Copyright Officer Shira Perlmutter. As the nexus between politics, intellectual property, and technology intensifies, the abrupt dismissal has shocked both Silicon Valley and Washington.
Representative Joe Morelle, the leading Democrat on the Committee on House Administration, reportedly confirmed the firing in a statement after Politico and CBS News published it.
“Donald Trump’s termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis,” Morelle said. “It is surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.”
The Copyright Office, long regarded as a protector of creators’ rights, has been investigating complaints from musicians, authors, and artists who claimed that AI developers used their work without permission. A leaked paper earlier this week accused several top AI companies of using enormous datasets they had stolen from copyrighted digital art, music, and literature to train their models.
During the first Trump administration in 2020, Perlmutter took over leadership of the Copyright Office. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, appointed her, and Trump fired Hayden last week as well.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump referenced the news by “ReTruthing” a post from lawyer Mike Davis, who included a link to the CBS News story. Interestingly, Davis wrote, “Now tech bros are going to attempt to steal creators’ copyrights for AI profits,” seemingly criticizing the dismissal.
However, detractors argue that Trump made the choice for political reasons. A senior congressional official who wished to remain unnamed stated, “This is less about policy and more about posturing.” Nevertheless, Trump ramped up his efforts, calling the report’s conclusions “deeply troubling” and promising to appoint a successor who will defend American creators.
The rejected report highlighted a concerning trend: AI developers increasingly use copyrighted material in training without payment or consent. Although some developers argue that the content qualifies as “fair use,” many experts disagree. As legal scholar Dr. Maria Chen put it, “You can’t just take an author’s book and feed it into a machine and call it innovation.”
Trump’s decision intensified the debate and raised new concerns about the federal government’s role in regulating artificial intelligence. His move energized advocacy groups that have long demanded stronger protections for artists in the digital age, even as Congress remains divided on how to address the issue.
The U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce held an emergency discussion to address the ethics of AI data collection in response to the dismissal. As pressure builds, IT firms are now rushing to audit their data sourcing practices. Despite the criticism, Trump remains firm, stating that the country needs fresh leadership to tackle the threats AI poses to intellectual property. “We will not allow innovation to turn into theft,” he stated at a press event on Friday.
Now that Trump has fired the Copyright Chief, the nation wonders who will assume the influential role next. According to insiders, the president might prefer to appoint someone closely connected to the creative sector rather than a career bureaucrat.
Congress already faces growing pressure to enact legislation that clearly defines the legal boundaries for AI training and data usage. Until then, the debate over AI, copyright, and intellectual ownership will only intensify.
Trump’s bold move has ignited a national conversation about the limits of innovation and the rights of the people who make it possible.
