Pocock Warns Against Weakening Copyright Protections to Attract AI Datacentre Investment

Independent Senator David Pocock has warned that any decision by the Albanese government to relax copyright protections in order to attract artificial intelligence datacentre investment would put Australian creatives at a disadvantage, according to a report by The Guardian.

The warning comes as the government is reportedly considering proposals that would give AI companies default access to the works of Australian creatives, as part of an effort to reach a compromise with major American technology firms operating in the AI sector.

According to The Guardian, the proposals were revealed following meetings between senior personnel from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and Labor government ministers. During these discussions, OpenAI representatives reportedly told ministers that Australia's existing copyright laws were preventing the company from training its AI models using data sourced locally.

Pocock said that easing copyright protections to accommodate AI companies would effectively throw creatives "under the bus," according to the report.

The Guardian's report does not specify further details on the exact scope of the proposals under consideration or a timeline for any potential policy changes. The Albanese government has not been quoted directly in the available excerpt regarding its position on the matter.

The issue highlights ongoing tensions in several countries between the interests of the creative industries, which rely on copyright protections for their work, and technology companies seeking access to large volumes of data to train AI models.