Exclusive: It might be time for Sam Altman to ask himself if he really wants to yell at Robert De Niro “Are you scratching me?” On that.
While there is no direct taxi driver Reference in amicus brief filed by CAA in nearly two-year-old consolidated copyright infringement battle between OpenAI and new York TimesTa-Nehisi Coates, A Collection of Florida and Arkansas Letters, blocking And other outlets, Altman may not want to pursue it.
All in-jokes and references to the 1976 classic flick, Oscar winner and CAA client De Niro added his signature to a brief filed by Altman and OpenAI on October 20 from Ubergency and others to insist “technical silence is not legal consent.” Oscar winner and CAA client De Niro is joined by Ariana DeBose, Helen Mirren, Emma Thompson, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johansson, Vince Gilligan, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Anne Hathaway and others who have objected to his high-tech feast of fodder.
This is an impasse over what is the primary mistake of post-modern media,
“This case is about much more than a newspaper or a technology company,” CAA chief Brian Lord told Deadline today. ‘This is about the fundamental relationship between technological progress and creative rights, and who determines the value of a creative work, who decides how that work is used, and whether creators will share in the opportunities created by AI.’
Unsurprisingly backed by Donald Trump’s DOJ, OpenAI has been in a copyright clash with Gray Lady and others over its digital sticky fingers when it comes to training models for the tech company co-founded by Elon Musk. As they did when it all started in 2024 (which turns out to be a millennium in AI terms). OpenAI (who are set to IPO any quarter now) claims fair use, and declares that they “believe this principle is fair for creators, essential for innovators, and vital to American competitiveness.”
Not so much, says the cautious Lourd, leaning on the development and implementation of a licensing framework for the AI age.
“Those questions are being answered now, and that’s why CAA and other members of our community are looking at this,” says the CAA CEO and co-chairman. We believe strongly in the promise of AI, but its future must be built with artists, not at their expense, and based on consent, control, and compensation.
CAA Building
Michael Buckner/PMC
In that context, CAA has been quite active over the past few years, launching its CAA Vault and other AI-focused initiatives. They also recognize the pace of technology and its expectations are in a race with institutional reality. “Cultural change happens long before political and legal change,” Tammy Brandt, CAA’s chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel, said at Deadline’s LA Law Summit in September.
With SAG-AFTRA, Adobe, and ABBA name dropping, as well as cameos from co-plaintiffs Cate Blanket and Steven Soderbergh, Bass, Berry & Sims PLC’s filing actually accuses OpenAI of being out of step with the technology and the times (though, BTW). Rejecting Team Altman’s argument that striking a licensing deal is cost prohibitive at this point in the technology’s development, the CAA-led brief claims that “mechanisms to manage multi-rightsholder transaction costs are not only well established, but are being actively adapted for the AI age by leaders in both the creative and technology sectors.”
The long lawsuit in a nutshell: “Large-scale licensing is not inherently impossible.”
Keeping with the approach of strength in numbers, NYC-based BB&S is representing not only CAA in this brief, but also the Human Consent Foundation, Music Artists Coalition, National Association of Voice Actors, Writers, Inc., Creators Coalition on Artificial Intelligence, Blanchett, Soderbergh and Nick Hexum.
To that end, here’s the entire A-list group that would be a dream film festival invitation list under any other name, heading to the digital barricade:
Anne Hathaway, actor
Ariana DeBose, actor and singer
Bette Midler, musician, actor, producer and author
Christian Vesper, film and television executive and producer
Christine Vachon, producer
Dame Emma Thompson, actor and screenwriter
Dame Helen Mirren, actor
Dan Levy, actor, writer, producer and director
Dave Eggers, author, editor and publisher
Francesca Amphitheaterof, designer
Greg Berlanti, director, producer and writer
Julia Roberts, actor and producer
Madonna, singer, songwriter, producer and actor
Melody Walker, songwriter
Nina Gregory, journalist and founder
Olivia Wilde, actor, director, writer and producer
Paul Feig, director, producer and writer
Ram Bergman, producer
Rian Johnson, director, producer and writer
Richard Louderback, artist and illustrator
Robert De Niro, actor and producer
Ron Howard, film producer and actor
Rosario Dawson, actor
Scarlett Johansson, actor and producer
Stan Lee Foundation, public charity dedicated to literacy and the narrative arts
Vince Gilligan, writer, producer and director
An issue that has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, the NYT vs. OpenAI conflict also saw fellow mega-agency WME come under pressure last week. In a similar tone to CAA’s submission, the Ari Emanuel-headed company’s brief said WME “advocates that all uses of AI should be ethical and responsible, and any use of AI that impacts the rights of talents and creators should come with appropriate compensation and authorization.”
had seen the ongoing case before game of Thrones Overlord George RR Martin, John Grisham, sarah silvermanbosch Creators Michael Connelly, Jonathan Franzen, Jodi Picoult and others offered their opinions (hint – not into AI using their work without paying. SAG-AFTRA, the American Federation of Musicians and the Writers Guild of America East and West filed their joint statement on October 29 calling on OpenAI to “appropriate the work of middle- and working-class people to develop their technology”).
Your service Sam.