Cate Blanchett-Led Coalition Challenges OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Battle
"If someone wants to use my face, my voice or my image, they ask me first," the Oscar winner notes in the filing The post Cate Blanchett-Led Coalition Challenges OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Battle appeared first on TheWrap .
The Human Consent Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Cate Blanchett aimed at safeguarding control over AI's utilization of people's work and likenesses, joined forces with a coalition of Hollywood artists and organizations in a recent filing. The amicus brief, submitted on Friday in the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, contest's the tech companies' assertion that licensing copyrighted works for AI training is an "impossible" feat.
The 31-page document, recently obtained by TheWrap, also received co-signatures from entities like CAA, the Music Artists Coalition, National Association of Voice Actors, and Creators Coalition on Artificial Intelligence. High-profile Hollywood figures, including Anne Hathaway, Bette Midler, Emma Thompson, Helen Mirren, Dan Levy, Ron Howard, Madonna, and Olivia Wilde, have publicly expressed their backing for this filing.
The brief's appendices reinforced the claim, stating that defendants have erroneously argued that licensing creative works for AI training is "cost-prohibitive" and that there is no "settled means of valuing training data." The groups emphasized that the creative industries already possess a well-established system for right clearance at scale, citing over a century of collective licensing frameworks that now manage rights efficiently.
Blanchett recounted her 30-year career in film and theater, emphasizing the industry's longstanding practice of obtaining consent before using someone's face, voice, or image. Representatives for OpenAI and Microsoft have yet to comment on the matter. This brief comes after SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild of America, and the American Federation of Musicians urged the court to uphold copyright law principles and reject AI training's fair use exemption.
The New York Times had previously sued Microsoft and OpenAI in December 2023, alleging that the companies unlawfully used the newspaper's content to develop AI products that compete with the Times and threaten its ability to provide independent journalism.
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