Labor split over renewed push for AI to be able to harvest Australian art

A rift has opened within the Albanese government over how far Australia should bend its copyright laws to lure the artificial intelligence boom, setting up a clash between ministers chasing global investment and a creative sector warning it is being asked to bankroll Silicon Valley.

A gulf appears to have widened between ministers whose portfolios focus on economic growth, and those responsible for copyright and media policy, who are resisting any move that could allow AI companies to train their systems on Australian content without permission or payment.

Tech giants Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft and Google are all in discussions with the federal government to spend billions on constructing data centres in Australia, but as a trade-off have pushed for easier access to local content to train AI, as well as certainty over tax treatment and sweetheart deals on energy and water laws.

The dispute was sharpened by comments from Assistant Technology Minister Andrew Charlton earlier this week, who declared Australia’s copyright settings were “not working” in the AI age and flagged the government could overhaul laws to both attract investment and allow the pursuit of big tech for breaching copyright.

Charlton’s remarks rattled confidence among the creative rights sector, just six months after the Albanese government had explicitly ruled out handing tech companies free rein to mine creative content to train their local artificial intelligence models.

A senior government source, granted anonymity to speak freely, said there were two clear groups emerging within the ministry. They said Charlton, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino, plus Industry Minister Tim Ayres “seem more than happy to do the bidding for big tech”, despite Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, Arts Minister Tony Burke and Communications Minister Anika Wells reassuring their stakeholders.

“And if they think the PM wants a public fight with the Australian music industry, they’d probably want to think again,” they said.

Tech companies say they need to train their systems on local data to ensure AI outputs reflect Australian nuance, vocabulary and concepts to close cultural gaps for customers. But rights holders say none of the major tech companies had approached them to strike a deal to license content since an exemption was ruled out.

Dean Ormston, who heads both music licensing body APRA AMCOS and the global body CISAC, said tech companies were avoiding licensing deals by “pressuring the government” rather than negotiating with artists.

He said Australia’s copyright framework, as it stands, is fit for purpose and it was up to the tech companies to come to the table to strike licensing deals with the rights holders in Australia.

“They seem very adept at assessing the cost of electricity and water and where they might build data centres and the cost of all of that,” he said. “But it is absolutely mind-blowing that the core ingredient, the thing that is going to make their platforms of value to anybody, is the creative content on which it’s all trained.”

Ormston pointed to the UK government’s decision last week to follow Australia’s lead by ruling out an exemption on data mining and use of copyrighted works without permission to develop their software.

He said the sector would continue to press the government to ensure it doesn’t go “weak at the knees” in favour of chasing big-tech investment.

Australian Writers’ Guild chief executive Claire Pullen also questioned Charlton’s remarks about whether copyright laws were failing.

“Is it that they aren’t working, or that foreign companies are trying to flout them by exploiting Australian creators?” she said. “Really AI companies should be talking to the creators and offering licensing solutions instead of lobbying for changes to copyright.”

Ayres and Charlton this week warned they will need to comply with “Australian values” following growing global angst about the energy and water demands of data centres.

Labor MP Ed Husic, demoted as industry minister following last year’s election, said the idea that big tech should “get a free ride” was “a joke.

“They cannot rip off people who earn income off their content,” he said. “These big tech players will make a lot of money accessing this data. So they should pay up, pure and simple.”

Charlton moved to reassure the creative sector on Wednesday, telling Sky News Australia the government placed huge value on Australian content and “those the holders of that copyrighted material should be compensated for it”.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, who continues to consult industry stakeholders on reform, told stakeholders in Canberra on Thursday the government had no plans to weaken copyright protections when it comes to AI, including any text or data mining exceptions.

The renewed debate comes as Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, is set to meet with government officials next week. Now valued at about $US380 billion, Anthropic recently announced it would open a Sydney office.

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