LogInAllowing AI firms to scrape everything there is on the internet is, in OpenAI's view, a matter of national security.
From struggling to provide coherent answers to questions about where their training data comes from, to reluctantly admitting that training AI would be impossible without using copyrighted materials, to openly urging the government to make it easier to use content for AI training – by now, OpenAI is not even attempting to conceal the fact that its wonder-machines are built on questionably-obtained content, reaffirming that once again in its recent proposal submitted to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
First noticed by Chat GPT Is Eating the World, the 15-page document regurgitates several points from the company's January proposal, "AI in America: OpenAI's Economic Blueprint" – namely, comparing artificial intelligence to interstate highways, calling for the investment of billions of dollars in the AI industry, opposing state- and federal-level regulations that would prohibit AI firms from scraping content and allow content creators to opt-out, and, naturally, fearmongering by contrasting "evil, communist Chinese AI" with their own "good, democratic AI" – with comparisons at times so cheesy, clichéd, and over-the-top, it feels as if you've been teleported back to the 1960s at the height of the Cold War.
In its section specifically addressing copyright, OpenAI declared that "if the PRC's developers have unfettered access to data and American companies are left without fair use access, the race for AI is effectively over. America loses, as does the success of democratic AI," essentially admitting that without scraping copyrighted content, their generative models aren't possible, while, of course, spicing up the admission with a generous pinch of faux-patriotism to avoid sounding like they're in the wrong.
While it's blatantly obvious that OpenAI is simply doing what every other company does – securing funding, opposing regulations, and using language designed to resonate with the current administration – the tech giant itself paints a picture of being deeply concerned about its home country, insisting that applying the fair use doctrine to AI is not just a matter of the United States' competitiveness but one of national security.
"The rapid advances seen with the PRC's DeepSeek, among other recent developments, show that America's lead on frontier AI is far from guaranteed," the proposal reads. "Given concerted state support for critical industries and infrastructure projects, there's little doubt that the PRC's AI developers will enjoy unfettered access to data – including copyrighted data – that will improve their models."
As such, the tech giant is pushing the US government to make sure copyright laws and regulations don't interfere with the AI scraping machine, actively monitor the overall availability of data to American AI firms, and assess whether other countries are restricting American companies' access to data and other critical inputs.
They also want the government to keep an eye on domestic policy debates and ongoing litigation, ready to step in at the federal level if any pesky states dare to decide for themselves whether they want to embrace AI or not. And, as the cherry on top, they're asking for more access to government-held or government-supported data – because, of course, the US government is just so fond of sharing top-secret documents.
We highly encourage you to check out the full list of OpenAI's outlandish claims and demands here or its TL;DR version over here.
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