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Hawley's bill would let people sue AI firms using their content without permission

Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, speaks to reporters outside the Senate chambers in April 2024, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. His legislation would force Big Tech companies to start asking permission before ingesting original content to train generative AI models.
Eric Lee
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, speaks to reporters outside the Senate chambers in April 2024, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. His legislation would force Big Tech companies to start asking permission before ingesting original content to train generative AI models.

The Republican senator from Missouri is teaming up with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal on legislation aimed at deterring tech companies from training artificial intelligence models on content they didn't receive permission to use.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley is trying to deter large technology companies from training artificial intelligence systems on original content without permission from the people and publishers that made it.

The Republican senator introduced legislation last week with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut that would authorize people to sue any person or company that "appropriates, uses, sells, or exploits their personal data or copyrighted works" to train AI models without clear consent.

This legislation would force Big Tech companies to start asking permission, Hawley said in an interview with St. Louis Public Radio.

"And if enough people say no, they'll start offering to compensate," Hawley said. "And that is how it should be."

Hawley chaired a Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing earlier this month on how technology companies trained generative AI models with copyrighted material without permission from creators. David Balcaddi, a bestselling author of thriller novels, testified how someone could type a prompt on ChatGPT and summon text that reads exactly like some of his books.

Hawley said the legislation would not only give musicians or authors the ability to sue technology companies, but also social media users who are upset if technology companies take their photos off of social media platforms without permission.

"None of these [AI] companies are going out and legitimately purchasing the books, or going to songwriters and saying: 'Hey, can we license your work?' They're not doing any of that," Hawley said. "What they're doing is they're going to Facebook. And if you put pictures of your kids on there, they're taking them. They're ingesting them. Are they telling you? No. Are they asking you? Of course not. Are they paying you? Forget about it. They're doing all of that to everybody."

Hawley and Blumenthal's legislation would require technology companies to specifically ask individual creators for "knowing and meaningful consent." Hawley said it explicitly bars companies from using what are known as clickwraps, large blocks of texts that users have to wade through before accessing a platform.

"The consumer has to understand that you're asking them: 'Can we use your stuff? Can we take your name? Can we take your image? Can we take your likeness? Can we take your kids' name and image and likeness,'" Hawley said. "And if they don't, if you don't, you can sue them. Right now, you can't sue any of these people. They're all immune. This bill gives you the ability to sue … and to get into class actions, to group up with other Americans, and to be able to hold these people accountable."

Vibe shift needed?

Hawley and Blumenthal's legislation arrived at a time when Big Tech CEOs are taking dismissive public stances on intellectual property rights.

For instance, Jack Dorsey, a St. Louis native who founded Square (now Block) and Twitter (now X) posted to the social media site in April that the country should "delete all IP laws." He added "creativity is what currently separates us [from AI], and the current system is limiting that. And putting the payment disbursement into the hands of gatekeepers who aren't paying out fairly."

Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X, responded that he agreed with Dorsey's sentiments.

At least one other person who testified at Hawley's hearing, Santa Clara University law professor Edward Lee, said it was premature for Congress to act when there are numerous lawsuits snaking through the courts.

"An AI model serves a highly transformative purpose in developing a new technology under factor one of fair use during training," said Lee. Fair use is a doctrine that allows people to use copyrighted works legally.

"An AI model is exposed to vast training materials, typically many millions of works through a process called deep learning," Lee explained. "The model identifies the statistical relationships among words and within subparts of words, thereby enabling the model to conduct numerous functions, including research, translation, delivery of medical advice, generation of content and so forth."

Lee warned that courts and the legislative branch could stymie technology companies from being able to compete with other countries who are developing AI technology.

"I think the best approach is for Congress to wait and see how other district courts, the courts of appeals, and potentially the United States Supreme Court resolves these difficult issues," Lee said.

Even though President Donald Trump has embraced investments in AI tech, Hawley said he's not convinced there should be no regulation — especially when technology companies are making "gobs" of money.

"I'm sure they'll all be against it, all those tech guys," Hawley said. "I'm sure they'll be just vociferously against this, which tells me I'm on the right track. They hate all my legislation. And that's as it should be, because I'm not doing it for them. I'm doing it to try to protect the people of our state, the working people of the United States."

And while he said he doesn't want to see countries like China outflank the United States in the AI race, Hawley added that "the way to fix that is to quit selling our chips to China."

"China is not inventing their own AI internally. They're stealing our stuff. And frankly, they're partnering with our own big tech companies. We ought to prohibit that," Hawley said. "And let's give Americans the right to protect our name and our image and our likeness."

Copyright 2025 St. Louis Public Radio

Jason Rosenbaum
Since entering the world of professional journalism in 2006, Jason Rosenbaum dove head first into the world of politics, policy and even rock and roll music. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Rosenbaum spent more than four years in the Missouri State Capitol writing for the Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri Lawyers Media and the St. Louis Beacon. Since moving to St. Louis in 2010, Rosenbaum's work appeared in Missouri Lawyers Media, the St. Louis Business Journal and the Riverfront Times' music section. He also served on staff at the St. Louis Beacon as a politics reporter. Rosenbaum lives in Richmond Heights with with his wife Lauren and their two sons.