Organizations Critical of AI Training AI Platforms with Copyrighted Materials with Paying for It

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Several U.S. organizations, industry coalitions, and media companies are actively critical of AI companies for training AI models on copyrighted materials without consent or compensation. These groups argue that this practice constitutes "theft" or "misappropriation" of creative works, while AI companies typically defend the practice as "fair use"



Here is a list of prominent U.S. organizations, coalitions, and entities leading the criticism and legal action against AI platforms:


Creator Advocacy Groups and Unions 

  • The Authors Guild: The nation's oldest and largest professional writers' organization has been a leading voice against AI training on books without authorization or payment, filing lawsuits on behalf of authors like George R.R. Martin and John Grisham.
  • Human Artistry Campaign: A broad coalition of creators, including musicians, actors, authors, and artists, which launched the "Stealing Isn't Innovation" campaign to protest the "illegal mass harvesting of copyrighted works" by AI developers.
  • Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA): Represents major music labels and has sued AI music companies (like Suno) for "mass copyright infringement" of sound recordings.
  • Music Artists Coalition (MAC): Activist group for artists that has criticized AI music training practices.
  • European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA): Involved in pushing back against AI music training that does not pay creators. The Authors Guild
  •  +4


Media and Publishing Coalitions

  • Association of American Publishers (AAP): Represents book publishers and has condemned the use of copyrighted content by AI companies.
  • News/Media Alliance: A coalition of over 2,000 news organizations (including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal) that has signed statements rejecting unlicensed training of AI on their content.
  • The New York Times: Sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, arguing their models use Times articles to create "market substitutes" for their content.
  • Concord Music Group, Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music: Major music companies leading legal challenges against AI companies like Anthropic for using lyrics without a license. McKool Smith
  •  +4


Visual Arts and Photography Groups

  • Getty Images: Sued Stability AI for using millions of copyrighted images to train its AI model without licensing.
  • Class Action Plaintiff Groups: Various lawsuits filed by artists, including Sarah Andersen and others, against Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt. Mogin Law LLP
  •  +4


Key Issues Raised by These Organizations

  • Lack of Consent/Compensation: The core argument is that AI companies are training models on data without permission or paying the copyright holders.
  • Economic Substitution: Critics argue that AI-generated content often replaces the original creators, allowing tech companies to profit from works they did not create.
  • "Shadow Libraries": Some lawsuits allege that AI companies are using pirated material from online shadow libraries to train their models. IAPP
  •  +3

These organizations are pushing for new regulations, such as the TRAIN Act, which would require AI developers to disclose the data used for training and obtain consent. Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (.gov)