AI Lobbying and the Future of Canadian Copyright

Background : Artificial intelligence (AI) firms are working to reshape copyright law to protect their business models by lobbying and participating in public consultations in Canada.

Analysis: Drawing on critical political economy and controversy analysis, we examine publicly available submissions to Canada’s 2023 public consultation, “Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence,” and develop a stakeholder taxonomy to map discursive strategies among industry, cultural, and academic actors.

Conclusion and implications : Our findings reveal that AI firms systematically frame machine learning as a public benefit while obscuring accountability, threatening to erode authorship rights, and concentrating power among incumbent technology platforms.