Future Knowledge Copyright, AI, and Great Power Competition
Jun 4, 2025
Tim Hwang, General Counsel and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, and Joshua Levine, Research Fellow at the same foundation, dive into the intricate relationship between copyright, AI, and global power dynamics. They discuss how AI's training data challenges copyright law and the implications for fair use. The conversation addresses China’s strategic data access laws and the risks of U.S. litigation on AI development. They also explore the potential for local AI solutions and the balance between innovation and licensing that could shape the industry.
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Copyright Shapes Geopolitical AI Power
- Copyright law now shapes geopolitics because AI development depends on massive datasets.
- Training data rules will influence which countries or companies lead AI capacity.
AI Runs On Data — And Copyright Matters
- AI development fundamentally depends on vast data ingestion and statistical modeling.
- Whether training on copyrighted works counts as fair use is a decisive legal question for AI progress.
AI As A Strategic Great-Power Asset
- Nations treat AI as a strategic technology with economic and military implications.
- Access to training data is part of national competition for AI leadership.