MPA’s Rivkin: “Protecting copyright an economic necessity”
April 15, 2026
By Colin Mann
Motion Picture Association Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin has reaffirmed the body’s commitment to protecting copyright in the age of AI.
Delivering his annual State of the Industry address at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Rivkin noted that every time there had been a new advancement, the industry had persisted. “We’ve adapted. We’ve thrived. We’ve always embraced what technology could do in the hands of creators to bolster the art of storytelling.”
“Now, we’ve entered the era of AI. None of us should ignore its potential dangers. Nor should we dismiss its possibilities,” he warned.
“We should view it as we do its predecessors: as a tool that can enhance human creativity, not replace it. We should focus on how to develop and use AI responsibly. We should see AI the way many already do: as a means to improve the fan experience or enable artists to explore novel formats,” he suggested.
“But no matter what, no matter how AI might change the game, we will remain clear about our core principles:
• Protecting copyright as the engine of free expression.
• Defending intellectual property as the driving force of our creative community.”
“Now there are some who say we should sweep away copyright – to keep pace with America’s rivals and gain ground in the geopolitical arena,” he admitted.
“But that is a false choice. At our best, what sets our industry, and our country, apart is our fidelity to the rule of law, matched by our openness to change. We can and must do both.”
“Upholding copyright is an economic necessity too,” he asserted, noting that the core copyright industries contribute over $2 trillion to America’s GDP and provide paychecks to 11.6 million American workers.
“So let’s be clear: we will never waver in protecting these foundational rights from any threat. AI will not alter that stance. And when anyone violates or misuses copyright, we will take them on.”
“Case in point: you may have caught the rollout of the new text-to-video model known as Seedance 2.0 – launched by a Chinese company – a commercial service that was clearly infringing our studios’ intellectual property to generate videos using characters and stories from our favorite movies. The moment we saw it, we understood the stakes for all of us,” he said.
“We recognised that the flood of illegally-created videos featuring copyrighted content would threaten the livelihoods of the entire creative workforce – and keep fans from catching the real thing at your theatres.”
“The very day these videos appeared online, the MPA made our position plain: this platform was disregarding well-established law – and its infringing activity must cease immediately.
We told them in no uncertain terms:
• You cannot steal copyrighted material and get away with it.
• You cannot violate the rights of creators, threaten millions of jobs, and undermine cinema as we know it.”
“We called out this violation right away. We made clear that we would not allow this threat to stand. And after our swift and bold action, ByteDance took our feedback. They announced plans to implement guardrails on this service,” he advised.
“And as they continue to roll out this platform in different markets, we will hold their feet to the fire to ensure their guardrails are effective and our studios’ intellectual property is protected,” he confirmed.
“We’ve delivered our message time and again. When the White House prepared to roll out their national framework on AI last month, we worked hard to ensure it reaffirmed what’s always been true:C opyright protections and innovation are twin pillars of our nation’s strength – and that must continue to be the case today.
When copyright is under assault anywhere, we act to reaffirm our promise: We will keep fighting to strengthen the reach of human creativity. To maximise the power of technology for good. To reinforce copyright’s key role in the age of AI.”
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