The Albanese government is considering giving AI companies access to Australian creatives’ works by default as its pursues a compromise with American tech giants. The proposals were revealed as senior personnel from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, met with Labor ministers and warned Australia’s copyright laws were preventing the company training models locally. The independent senator David Pocock said the compromise would throw protections for creatives and copyright holders “under the bus” in pursuit of datacentre funding.
AI companies have sought to train their models on content and data online but cannot do so with Australian content due to local copyright rules. The document raises as a key issue the vast number of small individual creators of online content, for which voluntary deals with AI companies “is not realistic/possible”. It suggests requiring rights holders “digitally protect” their material if they do not want AI models trained on it – a proposal rightsholders say is not feasible.
Under one option it proposes, 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, AI companies would do deals with creatives’ rightsholder organisations that give the access rights even if the content was made by someone who was not a member of the organisation that won the deal. A licence to access one category of material, such as music or text, would be extended to cover the many different small creators within that industry.
Labor’s industry minister, Tim Ayres, had on Monday said the government’s forthcoming AI rules would “in no way” involve a reduction in copyright protection. The deputy prime minister Richard Marles, said the federal government was “working at a pace” to respond to the issue of copyright, and maintained the opportunity to work with American tech giants was a “significant moment for the country”. The Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young said the suggestions of a copyright compromise were “abhorrent” prior to the revelations on Tuesday afternoon.
The attorney-general, Michelle Rowland, is running the government’s ongoing consultation with affected organisations. A spokesperson for Rowland on Tuesday said 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 here, 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.
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