Cate Blanchett, Madonna and Half of Hollywood Just Told OpenAI: "Ask First." Here's Why I'm With Them

I've been sitting with this one all morning, and honestly? This is the most important AI story of the week, and it's not even about a new model. On Friday, 30 October, the Human Consent Foundation, the non-profit backed by Cate Blanchett, filed an amicus brief in The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. Joining it: CAA, the Music Artists Coalition, the National Association of Voice Actors and the Creators Coalition on Artificial Intelligence. And the appendix. Oh, the appendix. Anne Hathaway. Madonna. Scarlett Johansson. Robert De Niro. Plus names like Helen Mirren, Emma Thompson and Ron Howard.

A day earlier, SAG-AFTRA and the WGA had filed their own brief, urging the court to reject a blanket fair-use exemption for AI training.

The argument is almost boringly simple

The tech side's line has been that licensing everything an AI learns from is "impossible", too expensive, too messy, no settled way to value it.

The brief basically says: really? Hollywood has been clearing rights at scale for a hundred years. Music has collective licensing bodies. There is, in their words, "a proven infrastructure" for this already.

Blanchett's own line is the one I can't stop thinking about:

"If someone wants to use my face, my voice or my image, they ask me first."

That's it. That's the whole thing.

Okay, here's my actual take

I work in this space. I use AI tools. I'm not anti-AI, and I'm not going to pretend I am for a headline.

But "it's impossible to ask permission" has never been a real argument. It's a cost argument dressed up as a technical one. Every creator I know, from a meme page admin to a session musician, has at some point watched their work travel the internet without credit. AI just turned that from an annoyance into an industry.

What's interesting is who is saying it. This isn't a few angry artists on X. It's CAA, one of the most powerful agencies on the planet. When the people who negotiate the deals say a licensing system exists, that's hard to wave away.

To be fair to the other side

OpenAI isn't standing alone either. It points to briefs from other groups backing its fair-use defence, and plenty of serious people believe AI training should be treated like reading or learning. The case started back in December 2023, it's still being fought, and nothing has been decided.

So no, this isn't a win. It's a signal.

Why Indian creators should care

Because whatever gets decided in a New York courtroom will quietly become the template everywhere else. We've already seen Indian stars go to court over their personality rights, like Kriti Sanon's case in the Delhi High Court. The question of whether a machine needs permission to learn from you is coming for every creator here too.

My hope is simple. Build the AI. Just ask first. Pay people. Credit them.

It really isn't that radical.

Frequently asked questions

What did the Human Consent Foundation file?

On 30 October 2026, the Cate Blanchett-backed Human Consent Foundation filed an amicus brief in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, in The New York Times' copyright case against OpenAI and Microsoft.

Who supported the brief?

CAA, the Music Artists Coalition, the National Association of Voice Actors and the Creators Coalition on Artificial Intelligence co-signed it. An appendix lists supporters including Anne Hathaway, Madonna, Scarlett Johansson and Robert De Niro.

What is the brief's main argument?

That licensing creative work for AI training is not impossible, because the creative industries already have a proven infrastructure for clearing rights at scale.

When did The New York Times sue OpenAI?

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in December 2023.

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Vishal Waghela is the Co-Founder of AltBollywood and a proud neo-generalist who refuses to pick a lane. Film, music, memes, fashion, AI, internet subcultures: if pop culture touches it, he's already three rabbit holes deep. He writes the way he lives online, loud, emotional, a little chaotic and always honest about why culture makes us feel things. Come argue with him on Instagram at @vishal.waghe1a.