Australia's Copyright Clash: Artists Fear AI Giants Are Pushing for a Loophole

Anna Funder stood before journalists at Parliament House this month and called herself a "victim of crime." The author of *Stasiland* used that stark language to describe how technology companies have swept up her work without permission, using it to train AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini. For her and countless other Australian creators, copyright law is the only shield they have left.

Last year, the federal government promised that shield would stay intact, ruling out a legal exemption that would let AI companies mine copyrighted content. But heavy lobbying from tech giants - and a whistleblower's tip to independent senator David Pocock - has sparked fears that the Albanese government may be reconsidering. Ministers are divided: industry minister Tim Ayres and digital economy assistant minister Andrew Charlton are eager to attract AI investment, while attorney general Michelle Rowland and arts minister Tony Burke are fighting to protect creators' rights. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has tried to reassure artists, pointing to Labor's track record on supporting local content, but no firm decision on copyright reform has been announced.

The creative sector, Pocock, and the Greens are now worried that a "text and data mining" exemption could be revived as part of a deal to secure billions in datacentre investment. Pocock described one proposal - offering a copyright carveout in exchange for at least $50 billion in datacentres and a fund for creatives - as the "ultimate dirty deal." The government has denied any plan to weaken copyright laws, but industry sources confirm that frontier AI companies view Australia's copyright rules as a major barrier to investment. As the global race for AI dominance accelerates, the question remains: how far will Canberra bend to capture a piece of the boom?

Source: The Guardian