Big Tech critics are warning that a soon-to-be-unveiled AI Action Plan could end up benefiting figures like Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg long fought against Trump and the MAGA movement on issues ranging from social media bias and antitrust to immigration, before trying to smooth things over with a $1 million donation to Trump’s second inauguration earlier this year.
At issue is the regulatory environment that will ultimately surround Zuckerberg’s “Llama” AI tool. Thanks to revelations made in the course of a big lawsuit over Llama’s alleged infringement on the copyrights of book authors, it is now publicly-verifiable that the Zuckerberg tool has been training on—i.e., using and not paying royalties for the privilege of trawling—Trump’s very own mega-best-seller, The Art of the Deal.
Also being used in Llama’s training: First Daughter Ivanka Trump’s Women Who Work and Donald Trump Jr.’s book Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.
And all of these books are being “learned from” in both their English and foreign language versions.
Llama personnel believe this is fine, and are claiming it’s all “fair use.” But copyright experts say that’s a legally dubious claim, at best, because Llama is a for-profit venture.
Critics say it amounts to Zuckerberg taking money directly out of Trump and his family’s pockets through de facto theft—which the final iteration of the AI Action Plan could either facilitate, or stop. On or before July 15, that final iteration is due to be rolled out.
Trump and his family are not the only ones impacted. Also affected are Vice President JD Vance who famously authored best-seller Hillbilly Elegy, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and MAGA authors like Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Franklin Graham, Ned Ryun, Sebastian Gorka, Kimberly Guilfoyle and more. There is a searchable database here.
While all Big Tech companies have an interest in the AI Action Plan content, Zuckerberg is said to be among the figures who could be most impacted.
Depending on what the AI Action Plan says, Llama could take off with zero safeguards or it could be made to play by more traditional American, capitalist rules of the road in which it, and other AI tools, need to pay up where they leverage other people’s property rights in order to develop as a for-profit enterprise.
It is unclear where President Trump himself stands on all this, but after his administration fired now-former Copyright Office chief Shira Perlmutter, MAGA Big Tech critic Mike Davis posted on Truth Social “Now tech bros are going to steal creators’ copyrights for AI profits.” The President “retruthed” that post.
However, Trump also wants to beat China at AI—and there is a perception that giving AI wide latitude to operate free of any hurdles, even longstanding free market principles that see creators compensated wherever their work is used, could be part of delivering that victory. The “tech bros” have argued as much.
It is worth noting as part of all this that most of the Big Tech companies have figured out a way to pay out royalties where intellectual property is used by their companies in other forms. For example, YouTube—which is owned by Google—pays royalties on music downloads, as does Apple with iTunes, and Meta in its non-Llama forms.
Amazon may have been the most aggressive to-date in terms of ensuring proper compensation of conservative creators for their work. Not only has it licensed The Apprentice, but it also bought the rights to First Lady Melania Trump’s story for film and video production.
Home Alone 2, in which President Trump also cameo’s, is also available for purchase and rental on Amazon’s Prime service.