Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Creators are asking Congress to protect them from what they say is the threat of AI against their livelihoods.
Why it matters: Generative AI is upending how people access information and has massive implications for how content creators attract viewers and make money.
- Google's AI search function injected a new level of fear into creators who depend on that traffic.
Driving the news: Raptive, a company that advocates on behalf of creators and helps them generate revenue, held an event on Capitol Hill this week to connect creators to lawmakers.
- About 13,000 creators signed a letter to lawmakers warning against Big Tech companies scraping their content without permission.
They're asking Congress to:
- Enforce copyright laws and address anticompetitive behavior
- Encourage AI companies to compensate creators for using their content in models
- Ensure that AI-powered search products don't diminish traffic to the original content creators.
The other side: Google has said that it's showing more links with its AI overviews and therefore giving creators more traffic.
- Companies also say it's fair use to scrape content for AI training.
