The Australian Productivity Commission has proposed a “text and data mining” exception to the Copyright Act that would allow AI companies to legally mine and use Australian artists’ intellectual property for training AI models without consent or compensation. This proposal, in an August 2025 interim report “Harnessing Data and Digital Technology,” represents a significant threat to creative livelihoods in Australia.
National bodies who have already made submissions about this Proposal estimate:
- Music creators face revenue drops by 2028 due to unregulated AI
- Financial losses across creative sectors could outweigh the Commission’s projected AI productivity gains
What This Means for Artists:
- Songs, recordings, performances, and creative works could be legally used to train AI
- Artists will not be compensated (while tech companies profit)
- No consent will be required and Artists will have no say in how their work is used
- Australian Artists will be hit hard while overseas Big Tech platforms benefit
- Voice cloning and deepfakes will become easier, allowing impersonation of Artists’ voices and images
The Commission outlines a potential AU$116 billion economic boost from AI over the next decade, but the creative sector is concerned that the economic damage to Australia’s creative industries could far outweigh the proposed benefits.
The following organisations have opposed the copyright exception:
- APRA AMCOS (representing 124,000 songwriters and composers)
- ARIA and PPCA
- Australian Society of Authors
- Australian Publishers Association
- Copyright Agency
- Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
- Australian Association of Voice Actors
As the Copyright Agency states, this would “preference the interests of multinational technology companies at the expense of our own creative industries”.
Australian artists, musicians and writers, independent creators and cultural institutions will all be negatively impacted while global Big Tech companies, overseas AI developers and multinational platforms will financially benefit and won’t have to pay Australian artists.
Many in the music industry already embrace the positive aspects of AI, such as playlist curation and music recommendations, audio production and mixing tools, and audience engagement analytics. These functions involve consent, credit and compensation. The proposed exception does not.
Australia’s creative industries support over one million jobs and contribute $billions to the Australian economy. Australia’s thriving creative sector must be protected, along with the rights of artists and creators over their own work.
The Productivity Commission is accepting submissions until 5pm AEST Monday, September 15, 2025, please consider sharing your voice.
Read more or make a submission here.