‘Under the bus’: Artists sound alarm on latest AI copyright proposal

Australian artists are pleading with the prime minister to keep his word and protect them from copyright “theft” as Labor mulls granting AI giants greater access to local content.

The senate crossbench joined a slew of authors on Wednesday in slamming Labor for entertaining a proposal that would give AI firms access to Australian content if they strike enough deals with companies to pay for the work. Copyright holders would have to opt out, or their content would be free to scrape.

The government is hoping to shore up data centre investment – worth billions to the Australian economy – even as it takes on tech giants over social media harms and against a backdrop of industry insiders warning that AI “could kill us all”.

Stasiland and Wifedom author Anna Funder implored the prime minister to see through what she said was a disingenuous attempt by AI companies to link weaker copyright laws to greater data centre expansion.

“The government seems to have been swayed by some really false presumptions that are being put forward by AI companies,” the University of Sydney professor said.

“Why any country would decimate its creative industries, all writing, all music, all art, and allow that to be fed into these tech companies’ computer programs is beyond me.”

Funder added that the money dispensed by existing copyright funds, such as when universities use creators’ work, were not enough to make a living, and called for deals to be negotiated individually.

Independent senator David Pocock accused Labor of “throwing creators under the bus”.

“I think we should do better as a country,” he told ABC radio.

Coalition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson and shadow-attorney general Michaelia Cash have slammed the proposal, saying it amounted to another lie from Anthony Albanese.

“This is a text and data mining exception with an opt-out bolted on. It is precisely what the government said it had ruled out,” Cash said in a statement on Tuesday night.

Liberal senator James Paterson agreed creators should be paid for their work, but warned the window to secure data centre investment would not be open forever, and that Australia was at risk of losing to other countries if it held out hope of a better deal for too long.

He called for negotiations to be resolved by the end of the year to prevent Australia becoming a “sitting duck for criminals, for nation states”, or at the mercy of the United States revoking access to models.

Paterson acknowledged the warnings from AI insiders that the technology was a growing threat to humanity, saying they should not be dismissed lightly.

“But in my view, it’s not a reason to stop, and I think it would be very challenging to achieve an enforceable global agreement to stop the development of AI.”

Debut author Jessie Wu is one author pushing for a deal with AI companies. She said creatives were justifiably worried about the threat of AI, but that idealism only went so far.

“Our resistance to allowing AI labs to train frontier models here on copyright grounds hasn’t kept Australian creators’ work out of those models’ training data, and nor has it put a cent in copyright holders’ pockets,” the Good Intentions author said.

“If we don’t put ourselves in contention, these data centres will simply be built elsewhere, potentially with fewer conditions and safeguards. Australia will remain exposed to AI’s risks, with fewer levers to manage them, and less participation in the economic upside.”

Leading AI researcher and author Professor Toby Walsh accused the Albanese government of abandoning its commitment to Australian creators to appease global tech giants.

“The prime minister promised not to sell out the creative industries, and he seems to be selling out the creative industries,” Walsh said. “He promised not to change copyright law and he’s going to change copyright law.”

In July, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used a speech at Sydney University to insist he would not give up the rights to Australian music and publishing content to US firms to train their models.

He argued such a move would amount to “theft” and flagged a novel solution to allow firms to pay for material.

Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the government needed to pause AI development in Australia and uphold copyright laws.

“While tech bros are warning that they cannot be trusted to not end humanity, they are also asking our government to give them free access to all of our content. Their audacity is gobsmacking,” the senator said in a statement.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.