Actress and AI film studio executive Natasha Lyonne, known for her anti-Trump stance, is stepping into a new challenging role: lobbying the Trump administration.
The Hollywood darling is passionate about to outlawing sinister uses of artificial intelligence in the glamorous industry.
And she’s willing to put aside her open hatred of the administration to accomplish her goals.
‘My primary interest is that people get paid for their life’s work,’ Lyonne, 46, recently told the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this year, the ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Russian Doll’ star worked to gather endorsements for a letter addressed to the White House, advocating against AI’s encroachment on media resources.
With over 400 signatures pulled from notable figures like Paul McCartney, Ben Stiller, and Ron Howard, the document urged the White House to safeguard Hollywood’s intellectual property from being absorbed by AI entities without equitable compensation.
‘We firmly believe that America’s global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries,’ the March letter stated.
But Lyonne is facing a problem she couldn’t have anticipated.
No one knows who she is on Capitol Hill, or in the White House, for that matter.
Multiple top aides on Capitol Hill working on AI issues with the White House told the Daily Mail they had not heard of Lyonne – or her lobbying efforts.
She ‘seems like an insane person,’ one Republican staffer joked after learning of her advocacy.
A Democratic aide similarly shared they were unaware of the A-lister’s AI push, but added ‘omg I love her.’
Lyonne is an unusual choice to lead Hollywood’s AI lobbying push given her history of anti-Trump rhetoric.
‘When I think of the kids, like the 12 year old girl that can’t get an abortion…that’s what really rips me apart,’ Lyonne told the Hollywood Reporter of the Trump administration in February.
She later clarified she was referring to abortions for those who were rape victims.
Natasha Lyonne attends the Los Angeles premiere of Peacock Original Series “Poker Face” Season 2 at Hollywood Legion Theater on May 01, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Lyonne is lobbying the White House for restrictions on AI models training on copyrighted media
Lyonne has a history of anti-Trump remarks despite her efforts lobbying the White House to make stricter AI restrictions
‘It’s very weird to have, like, a showbiz guy in charge is surreal. I mean, because, well, I’m actually pretty horrified by how strategic and effective this whole thing has been,’ she continued.
‘It’s nothing we didn’t know but always a horror to see upfront.’
In a post from 2020 she fundraised for Democrats, posting on X: ‘There’s no debate: If we #TurnTexasBlue, Trump is through.’
‘What’s timeline on trump’s exit,’ she wrote on X in October 2017.
The actress even publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for president last year ahead of the election.
A representative for the actress did not return the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Lyonne is also a partner in a new AI film and TV venture called Asteria, an application that trains exclusively on content with permission from creators – a practice she is trying to make the industry standard.
Her history of attacking the 79-year-old president is resurfacing as she tries to sway a forthcoming AI policy plan being crafted by the White House’s office of Technology.
The WSJ reported the plan ‘could influence how U.S. copyright rules are applied to training large language models,’ and a lobbying effort on both sides of the issue has begun.
Large firms like OpenAI and Google have argued that if the copyright restrictions Lyonne is pushing for are adopted, American companies could lose the AI race to China.
Currently, multiple lawsuits have resulted in rulings favorable to both sides of the debate.
‘It’s nothing we didn’t know but always a horror to see upfront,’ Lyonne said of the Trump administration in February
Disney and Comcast’s Universal both sued the firm Midjourney for allegedly using their copyrighted works to train its AI image generator.
Meanwhile, judges sided with companies Meta and Anthropic in two separate cases last week, ruling that copyrighted media can be used to train models in certain fair use cases when the content created is considerable different than the source material.
The administration has yet to take a side on the matter, and according to the WSJ, officials are considering staying out of the fight altogether.
People familiar with the matter disclosed to the outlet that they are not sure if officials will take sides due to the legal complexities and political downsides of supporting one side over another.
The administration’s AI action plan is expected to be released later this month.
