Compromise revealed as senior personnel from OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, meets Albanese ministers.
The Albanese government is considering giving AI companies access to Australian creatives’ works by default as it pursues a compromise with US tech giants.
The independent senator David Pocock said the compromise would throw protections for creatives and copyright holders “under the bus” in pursuit of datacentre funding.
The proposals were contained in a document Pocock described as screenshots of government’s consultation proposals, tabled in the Senate on Tuesday and titled “AI on Australian Terms”.
AI companies have sought to train their models on content and data online but cannot do so using Australian content due to local copyright rules.
Under another, AI companies would do deals with creatives’ rights holder organisations that give the access rights even if the content were made by someone who was not a member of the organisation that won the deal.
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 said that the opportunity to work with US tech giants was a “significant moment for the country”.
Before the revelations on Tuesday afternoon, the Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the suggestions of a copyright compromise were “abhorrent”.
A spokesperson for Rowland on Tuesday said the government would ensure any future copyright changes delivered “meaningful control and fair compensation”.