MIKE DAVIS: The Trump DOJ should withdraw its statement of interest in the OpenAI lawsuit

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is the best in modern history — and that is precisely why the MAGA movement must speak up when a proposed policy falls short of the extraordinarily high bar the American people have come to expect of this administration.

The Justice Department recently filed in OpenAI’s private lawsuit a "statement of interest of the United States," arguing Big Tech’s training of massive AI models on copyrighted text constitutes "fair use," largely intended for limited free use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes in classrooms. The Justice Department should withdraw this ill-advised statement.

Essentially, the government’s stated position would let Big Tech oligarchs scrape, copy and commercialize every creative work in America without permission or payment. The government claims this unlimited access is essential for national security, warning any restriction risks losing the AI race to China. That argument is un-American and absurd.

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"We must steal like China to compete against China" is not a principle; it is a surrender of the rule of law. It is especially damaging to the independent creators and conservative media outlets — like Steve Bannon’s War Room, which bypassed legacy gatekeepers, delivered truth directly to the public, and helped elect President Trump both times. These voices were systematically censored, de-platformed and demonetized by the same Big Tech giants now seeking a free pass to harvest their work. Having largely lost the censorship fight, the left and its Big Tech allies are shifting to theft as the new method of control.

Conservatives have long insisted that any serious AI policy must protect the 4Cs: children, communities, conservatives and creators. The latest DOJ policy position fails those. America must win the global AI competition the American way — through markets that respect property rights, not through government-sanctioned expropriation.

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Licensing copyrighted material is not a financial burden on an industry spending hundreds of billions annually and enjoying near-limitless capital. Google will still more than thrive if it has to pay — the old-fashioned, American way —the creators it rips off. The creative industry will not survive if Google doesn’t pay.

In a free market, businesses pay for the inputs they need. The music industry already operates this way: Spotify, for example, permits bars, restaurants and other venues to entertain their patrons with others’ music, while the musicians get paid for their work. AI companies can and must do the same.

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President Trump, himself a prolific content creator — as both a bestselling author and television producer — has said it best: "The pioneering spirit of these artists, authors, inventors, and other creators has improved our lives and the lives of millions of people around the world, and will continue to propel us toward a better future." An AI regime that lets companies "train on," or rip off, The Art of the Deal — or any other copyrighted work — without permission is not the art of the deal. It is the art of the steal.

Restricting AI companies’ free use of copyrighted material is simple common sense. The national-security argument offered in its place is a scare tactic designed to short-circuit property right and the rule of law. If these companies were truly worried about national security, they would put their money where their mouth is — redirecting a fraction of their vast wealth to compensate creators rather than ripping them off.

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Unlike China, America does not have forced labor. The claim that these Big Tech conglomerates are reliable defenders of American interests is especially laughable. Google, for example, withdrew critical support from the U.S. military’s Project Maven drone program while simultaneously advancing China’s Project Dragonfly — a mass-surveillance and censorship system designed to help the Chinese Communist Party control its own people.

President Trump’s Justice Department should reverse this rare misstep and withdraw its statement of interest in the OpenAI case.

With battle-tested leaders such as Attorney General Todd Blanche, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Solicitor General John Sauer, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, and FBI Director Kash Patel, the Trump Justice Department has already done a Herculean job restoring the rule of law after years of weaponization and lawlessness.

Antitrust nominee Adam Candeub, once confirmed, will strengthen that mission further by confronting the Big Tech and other monopolists driving up prices for American consumers.

Because this is the best Justice Department in modern history, the MAGA movement has a duty to insist that its AI policy meets the same high standard. Protect children. Protect communities. Protect conservatives. Protect creators. Let’s win the AI race the American way.