Hollywood Hubris, and Hostility to President Trump, Undermine Tinseltown’s Plea for Protection Against AI

The entertainment industry is asking President Trump to protect its intellectual property. Yet don’t expect this to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. While the letter about Mr. Trump’s AI Action Plan has over 460 signatures, it avoids mentioning the man Hollywood wants to ride to its rescue.The letter, referring only to “the current U.S. administration,” takes issue with “a recommendation by OpenAI & Google … to remove all legal protections and existing guardrails surrounding copyright law protections for the training of Artificial Intelligence.”At issue, the letter says, is the “rewriting of established law in favor of so-called ‘Fair Use.’” AI mines the Internet for data and uses it to compile new content. Users rarely provide precious clicks to those who produced the source material in the Land of Make Believe.The letter states that the “issue is not just about AI leadership or about economics and individual rights, but about America’s continued leadership in creating and owning valuable intellectual property in every field.” Twice more, “the administration” is mentioned but nameless. The omission is a curious way to persuade Mr. Trump to send in the cavalry. He attained success by branding his name on everything from buildings and steaks to a university and his 757, “Trump Force One.”Submitted on Saturday, the letter is “welcoming additional signatures” from the industry. Along with policy, the missive expresses the overblown egotism that has sent the ratings of awards shows plummeting to fresh lows.“America’s arts and entertainment industry,” the letter states, “supports over 2.3 million American jobs with over $229 billion in wages annually, while providing the foundation for American democratic influence and soft power abroad.” That, inadvertently, is context for the 460 signatures — out of 2.3 million American jobs — on the letter.Reading this script, one wonders if Hollywood watches its own movies, which lionize collectivists while lampooning “fly-over country” values. These are embodied by Superman’s motto, “Truth, justice, and the American way,” whose conclusion 2006’s “Superman Returns” changed to “and all that stuff.”The letter further declares, “We, the members of America’s entertainment industry,” are concerned about “multi-billion dollar corporate valuations.” The next film that praises that or any facet of capitalism may be the first since 1941’s “Citizen Kane.” Producing popcorn propaganda is Hollywood’s right. It doesn’t go unnoticed, though, that the industry delights in offending American customers while censoring itself to appease Communist China, as when MGM used CGI to turn Beijing’s soldiers into North Koreans for 2012’s remake of “Red Dawn.”Hollywood shows no such restraint when it comes to someone like Mr. Trump. A-List endorsements of Senator Clinton, President Biden, and Vice President Harris almost always included broadsides against the Republican.Another signatory, Ronald Howard, took X in January 2020 to call Mr. Trump “a self-serving, dishonest, morally bankrupt egomaniac.” Olivia Cockburn, known as Olivia Wilde, posted on Instagram in July 2017, “I despite Donald Trump with all my guts.” She called him “a pathetic, petulant, dishonest pig.” She signed, too.Another signatory, Mark Ruffalo, in his current project, “Mickey 17,” portrays a caricature of Mr. Trump: An oily, evil politician and TV star. On X in July, Mr. Ruffalo called Mr. Trump “old and of terrible personal character” and, in October 2023, labeled him an “enemy of America.” These are tame as far as the insults Hollywood has slung at Mr. Trump. “Always make sure to call someone Hitler,” as the host of the Pop Culture Crisis podcast, Brett Dasovic, posted on X in response to the letter, “before you ask for their help.”Instead of ignoring Mr. Trump, the letter might have capitalized on the support he offered after January’s wildfires. Aiming to help Tinseltown, he named three actors — Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight — as “special envoys” to Hollywood. Mr. Trump said in a statement that his purpose was “bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”Hollywood’s hubris undermines their desire to influence the forthcoming AI Action Plan. It doesn’t matter that Mr. Trump shares their desire to protect America’s intellectual property. They’ve typecast him as a villain — a stunning lack of imagination from people who make believe for a living.

Hollywood Hubris, and Hostility to President Trump, Undermine Tinseltown’s Plea for Protection Against AI

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