ARIA and PPCA welcome Albanese government’s commitment to creators in landmark AI copyright decision

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Image: Reuters

The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) have welcomed the Albanese Government’s announcement that it will not introduce a Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception into Australian copyright law.

In a decision to be further detailed by Attorney General Michelle Rowland today, the Australian government has explicitly ruled out handing tech companies free rein to mine creative content to train their artificial intelligence models.

It follows a huge backlash from creative industries, authors and media groups and effectively closes the door on a controversial proposal floated by the Productivity Commission and supported by tech companies.

Annabelle Herd, CEO of ARIA and PPCA, said “This decision reinforces Australia’s commitment to its artists and creative industries, ensuring that consent, control, and compensation remain at the heart of copyright in the age of artificial intelligence. It recognises the inherent value of Australian creativity and culture, including First Nations Culture. It recognises that copyright and IP laws are the foundation of the creative economy, the digital economy, and the technology industry.”

“The Government has made the right call in rejecting a TDM exception, and we sincerely thank Attorney-General Michelle Rowland for standing firmly to uphold copyright law, but also for making the commonsense decision: to back the rights of artists, authors, creators, and rights-holders over a small group of large, powerful tech companies.”

Herd says the next step is making sure these principles are applied in practice.

“We will be in Canberra to make the case for keeping Australia’s cultural sovereignty intact. We will be there with artists and industry leaders to ensure creators’ voices shape the future of copyright and technology.”

“We should not be considering new models or creating loopholes, we should be upholding the laws that already sustain thousands of jobs and exports.”

See also: Australian government stands up for Aussie content creators in the fast moving AI environment