Morrisey calls for US copyright law to block AI book copying

West Virginia Attorney General Reggie Morrisey publicly advocated on October 7, 2026, for U.S. copyright law to explicitly prevent artificial intelligence systems from copying authors’ books and short stories. Writing on Bluesky, Morrisey praised an unnamed foreign statute as admirable while asserting that American copyright protections currently fail to shield literary creators from AI training practices. His statement highlights a growing policy debate over whether existing intellectual property frameworks adequately address generative AI’s use of copyrighted text. Morrisey did not specify which jurisdiction’s law he referenced nor propose specific legislative language for Congress. The post reflects ongoing tensions between AI developers relying on fair use defenses and authors seeking statutory clarity on machine learning ingestion. Legal experts remain divided on whether courts will extend traditional reproduction rights to cover large-scale dataset creation absent congressional action.