On June 26, Raptive hosted “Independents’ Day” on Capitol Hill, an event that connects the nation’s independent content creators to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Raptive is creating awareness amongst elected officials of the adverse effects of artificial intelligence (AI) products that are being developed by Google, OpenAI, and other big tech companies.

Thirteen-thousand Raptive creators and their supporters have signed a public letter to the U.S. Congress asking elected officials to address the harm that AI is causing to creators by scraping their copyrighted work without permission. The company is advocating to use existing frameworks to enforce fair use, promote competition, and protect fair compensation.

The creator economy in the U.S., currently valued at $100B, is projected to reach $192B by 2027. Independent creators generate content for the websites they own and operate, contributing billions in revenue and supporting jobs in every state in the U..S. Despite AI’s benefits, 92% of creators fear its negative impacts. AI’s rapid development threatens to reduce the income of independent content creators by between 25–50%, which could have a harmful effect on their livelihoods. Public support for intervention from policymakers to protect creators is strong, with 72% backing measures to limit AI’s influence.

To safeguard the independent creator economy, the 13,000 creators, their supporters, and Raptive are asking the following of elected officials today on Capitol Hill:

• Enforce copyright laws: Protecting intellectual property is paramount to ensure creators retain ownership and control over their content.
• Encourage revenue-sharing and licensing: AI companies must adopt fair practices that compensate creators for using their content in training AI models.
• Ensure ethical AI product design: AI-powered search products should not diminish traffic to the original content creators who fuel these technologies.
• Create a level playing field: Future AI products must not unfairly compete against content creators.
• Hold big tech accountable: Anti-competitive behavior must be identified and addressed.

“Policymakers in Washington, D.C. must understand how the AI being developed and implemented by companies like Google will negatively impact their own constituents. In an election year, millions of small business owners across the country face an existential threat to their livelihoods as their original content is scraped and re-used to build new products. This is being done without consent or compensation, unleashing a major threat to a free and open internet,” said Lisa Bryan, founder of Downshiftology. “I stand with Raptive in demanding rights and protections for independent publishers, creators, and business owners.”

“Raptive’s 5,200 creators alone have produced 25 million pieces of copyright-protected content—which was all scraped to build new AI products without consent or compensation,” added Raptive CEO Michael Sanchez. “These small businesses have done the work that makes the internet the essential resource we rely upon and love. Yet these new AI products from OpenAI, Google, and others take revenue and original content from publishers and creators, and give nothing in return. This is deeply wrong. We’re on Capitol Hill today with independent creators to make our voices heard and to ensure we protect their livelihoods from the threat of unchecked AI development.”

Click here to read the letter in its entirety.