Australia Rejects Copyright Exemption for AI Training

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland announced that the Australian government has rejected a proposed text and data mining exception to the Copyright Act. The decision overturns a recommendation from the Productivity Commission's August interim report, which suggested a fair dealing exception to allow AI developers to scrape and mine creative works for model training without payment or permission.

Rowland stated the government has no plans to weaken copyright protections, emphasizing that creators must be fairly remunerated. The decision follows significant pressure from artists, authors, and major media organizations, including Nine Entertainment and News Corp, who characterized the proposed exemption as a catalyst for the theft of intellectual property. Nine Entertainment specifically cited the illegal scraping of journalism as a primary concern.

Tech industry advocates, including Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and the Tech Council of Australia, had argued that the exemption was necessary to attract foreign investment and unlock an estimated $116 billion in economic growth over a decade. Productivity Commissioner Stephen King warned that strict regulations could cause Australia to fall behind the global growth curve.

To address the ongoing challenges of artificial intelligence, the government is convening the Copyright and AI Reference Group. This group will explore updates to the Copyright Act, including the development of a paid collective licensing framework and the creation of a small claims forum to reduce enforcement costs for low-value copyright infringements.