Australia weighs giving AI companies default access to creators' works

OpenAI vice president met with ministers as government pursues datacentre compromise

The proposals were contained in a document Pocock described as screenshots of the government’s consultation proposals, tabled in the Senate on Tuesday and titled “AI on Australian Terms.” The document raises as a key issue the vast number of small individual creators of online content, for whom voluntary deals with AI companies “is not realistic/possible,” according to Pocock’s account.

It suggests requiring rights holders “digitally protect” their material if they did not want AI models trained on it — a proposal rightsholders say is not feasible. Under one option, AI companies would gain the right to access and train models on any unprotected online material as long as they made deals with enough businesses. Under another option, AI companies would strike deals with creators’ rightsholder organisations that grant access rights even to content made by someone who was not a member of the organisation that won the deal, extending a licence for one category of material, such as music or text, to many different small creators within that industry.

Pocock, who tabled the document in the Senate, said the compromise would put AI companies’ interests ahead of those of everyday Australians. “It would mean putting AI companies’ interests over everyday Australians, giving AI companies access to all Australians’ content, unless they opt out,” he said. “The burden should not fall on Australians to defend the rights they already hold over content they create and own and invest in.”

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young called the suggestions of a copyright compromise “abhorrent” ahead of the revelations on Tuesday afternoon. “Every Australian deserves to get paid for the work that they make and the work that they do,” she said. “A weakening of the copyright laws letting big tech take the work of Australians for free, not have to pay for it, for their own profit.”

Industry minister Tim Ayres had said on Monday the government’s forthcoming AI rules would “in no way” involve a reduction in copyright protection. Deputy prime minister Richard Marles said the federal government was “working at a pace” to respond to the issue of copyright and told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday evening the opportunity to work with American tech giants was a “significant moment for the country.” He added: “The opportunity for Australia economically is enormous in collaborating with frontier companies … and having frontier training occur in Australia. We want to see this opportunity come to the country [but] it needs to come on terms which are in our national interests.” Marles confirmed the federal government had spoken with tech companies in San Francisco in the past fortnight and said, “I think this can be done.”

The proposals come against a backdrop of earlier lobbying by musicians, writers and artists against weaker copyright laws, following reports AI companies were offering $50bn datacentre investments in exchange. Attorney-general Michelle Rowland is running the government’s ongoing consultation with affected organisations. A spokesperson for Rowland said on Tuesday the government would ensure any future copyright changes deliver “meaningful control and fair compensation.”

OpenAI’s vice president for global policy, Ann O’Leary, met ministers and officials this week as the company considers investing in Australia. In an interview with The Australian newspaper about the prospect of training models locally, O’Leary said: “Our company isn’t ready to have that conversation if we can’t get through the gating problem of the copyright barriers.” The newspaper reported the comments as an “ultimatum” that sought to “strong-arm” the government. Marles said the newspaper was “overstating” the comments. OpenAI has asked the paper to correct its headline and article.

Andrew Charlton, the assistant technology minister, told News24 on Tuesday he had not seen any ultimatum and would reject one if it were issued. “We want to support Australian artists,” Charlton said. “We want to give them control over their work. We want to make sure they’re compensated, if they choose to have it used. We’re not compromising them or trading them off. So if we lose some datacentres over this, so be it.”

AI companies have sought to train their models on content and data available online but cannot do so with Australian content due to local copyright rules.