• by Ray Schultz , August 7, 2025

Mediavine, which represents over 17,000 independent digital publishers, has sent a letter to the U.S. Copyright Office, expressing “the urgency of more robust copyright protections in the age of generative AI.” 

The company is also circulating a petition for creators and publishers to sign in support of the cause.  

“The power of generative AI offers boundless potential, but without proper guardrails and protections, the free and open Internet as we know it will cease to exist,” says the letter, which was signed by Eric Hochberger founder and CEO of Mediavine.

Hochberger states these positions (and we quote): 

• AI-generated answers that pull from creator content must clearly credit, compensate, and link to the original source.
• Training AI on copyright protected content without explicit permission should not be considered fair use.
• That this practice disrespects the intellectual property rights of creators and undermines the economic value of their work.
• Transparency should be mandated across all generative AI systems.
• Platforms and model developers should be required to disclose training data sources, including whether copyright protected content was used.
• Licensing frameworks must be developed that allow content creators to opt in and be paid for their work.
• Support for exploration of extended licensing, opt-in registries, or new models that ensure creators are included in the economic benefits generated by AI systems.
• Search equity and content attribution must be protected.

The letter concludes, “Mediavine is committed to building technology and policy solutions to support the responsible use of AI, while defending the visibility, viability, and rights of the people behind the content.”