As radio stations increasingly operate their own proprietary news sites to drive digital traffic and revenue, the Interactive Advertising Bureau is suggesting legislation that would seek to protect publishers from large-scale content scraping by artificial intelligence.
IAB President and CEO David Cohen unveiled the proposal at IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting, outlining what he described as an urgent need for legislative action to protect the ad-supported publishing ecosystem.
As AI companies train large language models and provide AI-driven summaries using publisher content without payment, Cohen says the economic model that makes free content available is under threat.
The proposed AI Accountability for Publishers Act would create a federal cause of action allowing publishers to sue AI companies that deploy bots to scrape content without express, prior consent. Publishers could recover the greater of restitution for the reasonable value of the covered content or lost profits from diverted web traffic, along with disgorgement of any profits from the exploitation of their content, injunctive relief, and attorney fees.
The bill defines “exploitation” to include training generative AI systems or producing summaries and other output derived from covered content. It would supersede the fair use provision of copyright law and preempt state-level intellectual property rules. Non-commercial academic research would be exempt if content is anonymized and not monetized. Arbitration clauses preventing civil actions under the Act would be invalid, and individual users of AI products would not face liability.
Cohen framed the issue as an existential crisis for publishers across media, saying, “The current environment is reminiscent of the fall of local news publishers in the mid-2000s. As ad revenues shifted to technology platforms, thousands of local news outlets closed their doors, leading to ‘news deserts’ with real hits to local accountability and information access. Online publishers today are facing a similar situation.”
He added, “While some currently have the resources to challenge AI companies’ practices in court, litigation can take years. We simply don’t have the time for litigation to play out, have courts decide the issues differently, and then have the Supreme Court finally render a decision.”
In another connection to radio, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s role under President Trump’s new Executive Order on artificial intelligence places him at the center of the federal government’s effort to assert national authority over AI regulation.
As FCC Chairman, Carr has been directed to begin a rulemaking that could establish a single federal reporting and disclosure standard for AI models, one that would override conflicting state laws. The order positions the FCC as the lead agency in setting nationwide AI transparency requirements, particularly relevant to media, advertising, and broadcast applications.
