The Trump administration fired US Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter; her office had raised concerns about using copyrighted content to train AI models
stoking fears about deregulation of AI Committee on House Administration : Morelle's Statement on Abrupt Firing of Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights Dennis Crouch / Patently-O : Transformative Changes: Copyright Leadership Dismissed as AI Report Questions Industry Practices Joe Foley / Creative Bloq : US copyright verdict offers a glimmer of hope for artists vs AI Beatrice Nolan / Fortune : Trump sacked Copyright Office director a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Musk's plan to train AI models, top Dem says CCIA : CCIA's Response to Copyright Office AI Study Simon Kent / Breitbart : Trump Fires Top U.S. Copyright Official as Swamp Purge Continues Washington Post : White House fires head of Copyright Office amid Library of Congress shakeup Wes Davis / The Verge : Trump fires head of Copyright Office two days following report that AI training may not be fair use Chris Middleton / diginomica : AI and copyright - US Copyright Office backs creatives...and Trump fires its head Jeremy Gray / PetaPixel : Trump Fires Top Copyright Official Days After Terminating Librarian of Congress Anthony Ha / TechCrunch : Trump fires Copyright Office director after report raises questions about AI training Lauren Edmonds / Business Insider : The US Copyright Office has thoughts on how AI is trained. Big Tech may not like it. Kristin Robinson / Billboard : U.S. Copyright Office Report Backs Licensing for AI Training and Rejects Compulsory Models Leah Barkoukis / Townhall : Days After Firing Librarian of Congress, the White House Shows Top US Copyright Official the Door Katherine Tully-McManus / Politico : Trump fires top US copyright official Andy Edser / PC Gamer : Trump administration reportedly fires the head of the US Copyright Office as it tries to tackle AI's use of copyrighted materials Jenny Goldsberry / Washington Examiner : Trump fires head of Copyright Office Shira Perlmutter Rob Beschizza / Boing Boing : Copyright Office head fired after failing to bless copyright exemption for Big Tech's AI training Markus Kasanmascheff / WinBuzzer : Trump Fires Director of U.S. Copyright Office Amid Tech Regulation Storm Naomi Li Gan / Tech in Asia : Trump fires copyright chief over AI training backlash Darryl Coote / UPI : Trump fires top U.S. copyright official Stuart Dredge / Music Ally : US Copyright Office head fired shortly after latest AI report Rebecca Falconer / Axios : Trump administration fires top U.S. copyright official Ashley King / Digital Music News : Trump Fires Top US Copyright Official — Raising Serious Questions About the Direction of AI Policy Gloria Levine / 80 Level : US Copyright Office Says That Using AI in Commercial Works Is Beyond Fair Use Boundaries Sean McNulty / The Ankler : ☀️'Thunderbolts*' Holds 👌, ‘Friendship’ Sees Big Start Holden Page / Cautious Optimism : Economic Calendar for the Week of May 11, 2025 Fox News : Trump admin fires top US copyright official days after terminating Librarian of Congress Bloomberg Law : AI Training Raises Tricky Analysis, Copyright Office Report Says Matt O'Brien / Associated Press : Trump administration fires top copyright official days after firing Librarian of Congress Bob Cronin / Newser : Trump Fires Copyright Chief Cheyenne MacDonald / Engadget : Trump has fired the director of the US Copyright Office AJ Dellinger / Gizmodo : Trump Reportedly Fires Head of US Copyright Office Tim Ingham / Music Business Worldwide : Donald Trump fires top US copyright official - sending concerning message over music and AI Matthias Bastian / The Decoder : Trump fires Copyright Office chief Shira Perlmutter chief after report opposes AI fair use Shamim Adam / Bloomberg : Trump Fires US Copyright Office Chief Perlmutter, Politico Says Bluesky: Blake E. Reid / @chup.blakereid.org : A straight-ticket loss for the AI companies. Also, the “Pre-Publication” status is very strange and conspicuously timed relative to the firing of the Librarian of Congress. I continue to wonder (speculatively!) if a purge at the Copyright Office is incoming and they felt the need to rush this out. … Nilay Patel / @reckless : Trump posting in opposition of this move shows he clearly has no clue what he just did or why, everyone loves business stability www.theverge.com/news/664768/ ... Nilay Patel / @reckless : The fair use problem is a massive fatal defect in the AI ecosystem as we know it - the companies have said themselves paying artists and publishers would cause a huge and potentially paralyzing explosion in costs www.theverge.com/2023/11/4/23... Mark Jacob / @markjacob : Soon after firing the Librarian of Congress, Trump has fired the nation's top copyright official as well. Rep. Joe Morelle says Trump acted after the copyright official “refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.” Deborah Lynn / @mrsdeborahlynn : www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-f... Firing of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter came after Perlmutter and her office earlier this week issued part 3 of a lengthy report about artificial intelligence and expressed some concerns and questions about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology Jen Taub / @jennifertaub.com : Holy shiitake! Trump fired Shira Perlmutter, the Director of the US Copyrights Office apparently because she refused to let Elon Musk raid the place to steal author's intellectual property rights — democrats-cha.house.gov/media/press- ... [image] Daniel Schuman / @americalabs.org : Oh, come on! Trump just fired the Director of the US Copyright Office two days after he fired the Librarian of Congress. Notably, that office is ALSO inside the Legislative branch. — The White House should NOT dictate legislative branch staff. — Rep. @morelle.house.gov shared the news here. Justin Hendrix / @justinhendrix : “The firing of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter came after Perlmutter and her office earlier this week issued part three of a lengthy report about artificial intelligence and expressed some concerns and questions about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology.” [embedded post] Mastodon: Jed Brown / @jedbrown@hachyderm.io : This is an important event in the AI/fair-use legal battle. The Copyright Office posted a pre-publication report with a lot of debate, but notably rejecting fair use as a blanket defense to copyright infringement claims of “AI” training. … X: @acyn : Reporter: The president fired the librarian of congress. Why? Leavitt: There were concerning things she had done at the library of congress in the pursuit of D.E.I. And putting inappropriate books in the library for children. [video] Martin Heinrich / @senatorheinrich : UPDATE: Trump has now fired the Register of Copyrights. With Trump, it's always about greed. He went after the Librarian to get to the Register of Copyrights, all to line his own and Elon's pockets. Another gross abuse of power from this Grifter-in-Chief. Jason Kint / @jason_kint : The firing of the head of copyright office makes for some interesting coincidence. Who was behind it? @elonmusk or @joel_kaplan or someone else? My instincts say Kaplan after their Summary Judgment copyright hearing in NdCal last week for allegedly training off pirated data. Andy Bloch / @andy_bloch : “Surely no coincidence” that Trump fired Shira Perlmutter, the Register of Copyrights, “less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.” [image] Luiza Jarovsky / @luizajarovsky : 🚨 BREAKING: According to CBS, the Trump administration fired the head of the U.S. Copyright Office after they published the report below, which sides with content creators and rejects fair use claims for commercial AI training 😱 Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Excellent. The Copyright Office report yesterday affirms what our members - and the broader creative community - have long contended: that the wholesale ingestion of copyrighted works to train gen AI models without consent or compensation is NOT fair use under current law. /1 [image] Rob Freund / @robertfreundlaw : This admin is so far beyond farce at this point that it's hard to be surprised by anything anymore. And yet... Joe Morelle / @repjoemorelle : Donald Trump's termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis. It's surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models... Scott MacFarlane / @macfarlanenews : Rep Joe Morelle (D-NY): “Trump's termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis. It is surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of Karla Ortiz / @kortizart : And immediately after we get something good, this shit happens. Because the tech lords truly want our works for free and want us to be glad when we hand it over. Insanity. https://www.cbsnews.com/... LinkedIn: Kevin Erickson : Just hours after the US Copyright Office released its report on AI training—stating the obvious, that much unlicensed commercial training of AI … Georg Zoeller : In case there was any doubt why the AI bros bought themselves a ticket in the Trump Campaign train . … Edward Lee : Following on the heels of firing the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, Pres Trump has now reportedly fired the Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter less … Forums: r/politics : Trump fires copyright official r/BetterOffline : Head of US Copyright Office fired one day after declaring that AI companies' use of material goes beyond fair use r/Ultraleft : Our AES President working to abolish the bourgeois concept of copyright r/news : Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say r/sdrawkcabtidder : Trump “fires” head of Copyright Office two days following report that AI training may not be fair use r/politics : Trump fires head of Copyright Office two days following report that AI training may not be fair use r/aiwars : Trump fires head of Copyright Office two days following report that AI training may not be fair use r/WomenInNews : Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office Shira Perlmutter, sources say r/Fauxmoi : Trump fires Director of the U.S. Copyright Office “It is surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works” r/facepalm : Trump fires Director of the U.S. Copyright Office “It is surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works” r/thescoop : Trump administration fired the head of the U.S. Copyright Office after expressing concerns and questions about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology r/usanews : Trump fires top US copyright official r/law : Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say r/technology : Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say r/fednews : Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say r/neoliberal : Trump fires top U.S. copyright official r/TheBusinessMix : Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
The dismissal followed a Copyright Office report that rejected blanket fair-use treatment for commercial AI training and favored licensing. That put the office at the center of the fight over whether model developers can treat copyrighted works as freely usable inputs.
It also sits alongside the administration’s broader use of AI in government workflows, including the reported plan to feed federal workers’ work summaries into AI systems in an OPM-directed data-collection effort. Follow-on coverage indicated the office’s interim leadership would not necessarily align with generative-AI advocates. The leadership transition therefore matters beyond one personnel decision.
First-order effects
- The Copyright Office loses the official who had articulated a licensing-first position on AI training, creating immediate uncertainty over how consistently that view will guide the office’s work.
- Copyright owners and AI developers face a less predictable federal copyright-policy counterpart while the report’s conclusions remain part of the record.
Second-order effects
- Licensing negotiations may become harder to price and structure: rights holders have less clarity on whether the office will continue to reinforce the report’s preferred market-based approach.
- AI companies gain an incentive to press their fair-use arguments through courts and policy channels rather than treat the report as a stable signal of federal direction.
Third-order effects
- If copyright leadership becomes a recurring lever in AI policy, the practical rules for training-data access may be shaped as much by executive control and litigation as by durable copyright guidance.
- The episode strengthens the broader split between AI systems that seek negotiated content rights and those that rely on expansive fair-use claims; which path prevails remains unresolved.
The trend: AI training-data policy is becoming a contest over institutional control as well as copyright doctrine, with licensing advocates and model developers seeking to shape the default rules.