Briggs warns Australia will struggle to ‘get the genie back in the bottle’ if it doesn’t protect creatives from AI theft
|
Version 0 of 2. Productivity commission under fire for failing to consult Australian artists about copyright issues around AI recommendations Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Productivity Commission is under fire for failing to consult artists or model the impact of a key recommendation in its AI report on the creative industry, as the creative community urges the government not to allow data mining exemptions for big tech companies to train AI models. First Nations rapper Adam Briggs said it would be “hard to get genie back in the bottle” if Australia allowed companies to access Australian creativity without fair pay. “Why is it a radical notion that artists should be compensated for their work?” At a hearing for the national cultural policy inquiry in Canberra, examining the impact of AI on Australia’s creative landscape, senators lambasted the commission and accused it of “waving the white flag” on protecting artists. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Liberal senator Sarah Henderson condemned the commission and accused it of “abandoning creative industries” by writing in its interim report that it is not “realistic” to stop Australian data being used to train generative AI models overseas. “You, I would put to you, are waving the white flag rather than standing up for our creative industries; you’re saying very clearly it’s not realistic that you could stop this. Copyright in this country is worth protecting,” Henderson said. “Where is the benefit to Australian artists in having their work scraped by AI?” The productivity commissioner, Julie Abramson, defended the report and said the body has an “open mind” to policy approaches, including licensing agreements for artists, and had received more than 400 submissions ahead of its final report. “We are consulting fully on this. One of the purposes of our interim report is to seek feedback on these issues,” she said. Productivity commissioner Stephen King added that Australia’s current copyright laws are not fit for purpose in the age of AI. “The problem at the moment is that when the copyright material is being used for training AI engines overseas, Australian creatives are not getting the benefits in general … and Australia is not getting the benefit of the development here.” The productivity commission released its interim report on harnessing AI in August, with a proposal to implement a text and data mining (TDM) exemption to the copyright act, allowing tech companies to use copyrighted work to train generative AI models. The commission revealed at the inquiry it had not consulted with the creative industry or modelled either the impact of that recommendation or the benefit the industry injects into the economy. The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the body had “misread the value of the creative industry”. “You consulted with Mastercard, you consulted with Microsoft, you consulted with Meta, you consulted with OpenAI … you consulted with a lot of other players but you didn’t consult with the creative industries,” she said. “I’m really interested to know who … told you this was a problem, that there needed to be an exemption, or that copyright was an issue.” The government is considering its approach towards regulation around AI and has said it has no plans to change copyright law. Anthony Albanese has said his government “supports the arts” and that “copyright and intellectual property is important”. Artists who appeared at the inquiry called on the government not to consider TDM exemptions. Holly Rankin, known by her stage name Jack River, said licensing agreements are the only way for artists to be fairly compensated, acknowledging deals were already in place with organisations including NewsCorp, the Guardian and AAP. “A [TDM] exception to the copyright act is not a technical tweak or small change, it would be a fundamental dismantling of our copyright system legalising the theft of Australian culture at scale,” she told the inquiry. “The truth is simple, technology companies are able to pay for licenses, they just don’t want to.” |