Kylie Minogue songs already used to train AI as tech firms ‘strong-arm’ Australian government, music body warns
Of the dozens of countries approached to water down their laws, Australia appears to be the only one considering it, publishers’ group says Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast AI has already been trained on the works of Australian artists including Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave without compensation, the peak global body for music rights has claimed, as the Australian…
The International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) has expressed concerns that Australia may become the only country to consider weakening its copyright laws to facilitate the training of AI models. This comes after AI companies approached multiple countries to make changes to their copyright laws, with Australia being the sole country that seems willing to comply.
John Phelan, ICMP's managing director, claims that AI companies are attempting to justify what they view as "larceny" by requesting policymakers to "legitimise" this practice. Australian politicians, including Anthony Albanese and independent senator David Pocock, have warned against allowing music and other creative works to be used for AI training without compensating the artists and rights holders.
Music, film, media, and news organizations have raised alarm bells about the government potentially being influenced by tech companies behind closed doors to weaken Australia's copyright laws. However, the parliamentary committee on artificial intelligence appears to be at an impasse, with no clear decision yet. A joint letter from the committee's Labor chair and deputy chair recommends the government examine the current copyright settings while ensuring creators have control and are paid.
The ICMP has been monitoring how AI companies are trying to change copyright laws in various jurisdictions, and they have found that Google's Gemini can reproduce lyrics from Australian artists like Kylie Minogue, G-Flip, and Nick Cave. This evidence contradicts the industry's claim that their models are not trained on Australian content due to copyright restrictions.
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
