Senator McLachlan calls for art over profit in AI copyright debate
Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan has urged that artists' copyright not be sacrificed for investment in artificial intelligence, as the federal parliamentary debate over AI rules heats up.
McLachlan said artists' works "must not be sacrificed on the altar of global corporate profiteering". He said artists' property rights must be respected and protected, and that the work of artists "nourishes the soul of our nation". He also demanded that art be prioritised over the demands of big tech. On datacentres, the large computing facilities that run AI systems, he said building new ones must not be placed above environmental concerns.
The copyright question centres on whether AI companies can collect, or "scrape", material such as music, books and journalism from the internet to train their systems. Anthropic has put forward an "opt out" model. Under it, the company would be allowed to scrape that material unless a rights holder signals an objection.
Coalition members Ross Cadell and Michaelia Cash backed concerns that granting AI companies permission to scrape copyrighted material could amount to an acquisition of property by the government.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said it would be "theft" if creatives were not paid for their work. Labor is considering copyright changes as part of a wider AI policy package that also covers datacentres, online safety, energy resources and economic benefits.
Shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam and shadow cybersecurity minister Aaron Violi said AI was "too important to become an unnecessarily partisan political contest". Senator David Pocock complained about a major party "stitch-up" on AI regulation.
