Australia's creative and media sectors gathered at Parliament House in Canberra to argue for copyright licensing in the age of AI, hosting an event bringing together parliamentarians, public servants and industry leaders.
The event, supported by organisations including ARIA, APRA AMCOS, Free TV Australia, The Guardian Australia and News Corp Australia, yesterday came after the UK reversed its position on a broad text and data mining exception.
Australia's 2025 decision not to introduce an exception means commercial AI developers must obtain permission to use copyrighted material for training.
"The government has been clear for some time that there are no plans to weaken copyright protections when it comes to AI,” said attorney-general Michelle Rowland.
“This includes explicitly ruling out a text and data mining exception, which I was extremely proud to announce last year."
When that work is taken and used without compensation, the impact is fewer journalists, fewer newsrooms and less public interest journalism,” according to Rebecca Costello, managing director of The Guardian Australia and New Zealand.
“No market operates when you can take something for free and then charge for it,” she said.
Jonathan Dworkin, executive vice president of digital business development at Universal Music Group, pointed to partnerships with Udio, Spotify and Nvidia as evidence of licensing working at scale.
"We didn't defeat piracy by turning off the internet,” Dworkin said.
“Ultimately, we prevailed because streamers built a better product than piracy. That's what we hope to do with AI."
Global licensing deals already signed include Google with AAP, OpenAI with The Guardian and News Corp, and Canva with Getty Images.
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