Kylie Minogue songs already used to train AI as tech firms ‘strong-arm’ Australian government, music body warns

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Of the dozens of countries approached to water down their laws, Australia appears to be the only one considering it, publishers’ group says…

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 government has been warned against giving in to “strong-arming” from tech companies seeking to weaken copyright law.

The International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) – which represents Sony, Warner and Universal as well as thousands of independent publishers on six continents – has warned that of the dozens of countries approached to water down copyright laws, Australia appears to be the only to consider doing so.

John Phelan, the ICMP’s managing director, told Guardian Australia AI companies were asking policymakers to “legitimise larceny”.

“They’re trying to strong-arm Australian policymakers into ‘if you don’t do this, we won’t invest’.”

In July, Anthony Albanese said it would be “theft” if artists did not retain control over whether their work was used to build and train AI, and what they were paid for its use.

Music, film, media and news organisations had expressed concerns the government was being lobbied by global tech companies behind closed doors to weaken Australia’s copyright laws to help train AI models, without compensating the creative sectors.

But government and opposition members of a parliamentary committee on artificial intelligence appeared to revisit the issue this week, describing the current situation as a stalemate.