Hearings to examine the AI industry's mass ingestion of copyrighted works for AI training.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism held a hearing titled 'Too Big to Prosecute: Examining the AI Industry's Mass Ingestion of Copyrighted Works for AI Training.' Witnesses including attorneys from Boies Schiller, Professor Mike Smith, and author David Baldacci detailed how major AI companies like Meta and Anthropic have systematically pirated copyrighted material from illicit online repositories—such as Anna's Archive—using peer-to-peer torrenting networks. Evidence shows that Meta employees acknowledged the legality of their actions, with internal documents indicating that leaders like Mark Zuckerberg approved the use of stolen content. The hearing emphasized that these companies did not license works or compensate creators, instead relying on illegal downloads and actively hiding such activity by routing data through third-party servers. Witnesses argued that this conduct constitutes criminal copyright infringement and breaches the principle of fair use, with major implications for creators, especially emerging authors. The panel called for stronger enforcement of U.S. copyright law and greater transparency in AI training practices to protect the intellectual property of American creators and ensure innovation proceeds on equitable terms.