William Van Caengem & Kana Nakano: AI free-for-all would decimate Australia’s cultural output

There’s nothing fair about the Productivity Commission’s proposal to carve out an exemption for big tech to train AI on the work of Australian artists and creators.

Initially canvassed in the Commission’s interim report Harnessing data and digital technology, the proposal rightly drew sharp backlash from the creative community.

A Senate committee is now investigating the issue and at a recent hearing the Productivity Commission maintained it was “not realistic” to prevent Australian content from being used to train AI models being built overseas.

Artists giving evidence at the hearings fear this position will decimate the arts and creative industries within a decade.

As experts in copyright law, our view is that offering up free access to creative works and literary expressions under t