Australia's creative unions demand payment rights as AI training accelerates
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance launched a push yesterday for equitable remuneration (ER) laws to protect creators whose work is used to train AI systems. The union wants the federal government to reform copyright law to include automatic payment rights whenever creative works are used commercially-including for artificial intelligence.
The announcement follows the government's May decision to block tech companies from using creative works for AI training without permission or payment. Unions now argue that existing protections don't go far enough.
What equitable remuneration means for creatives
ER is an inalienable right that ensures creators receive payment whenever their work is published or used commercially. Australia has similar systems for employment contexts, but they're handled narrowly through the Fair Work Commission and don't cover digital or AI uses.
MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley said the union wants ER combined with licensing, watermarking, and tracking systems. "Massive datasets of music, films, journalism, books and voices are being scraped to train commercial AI systems, often without consent, credit or payment to the workers who made them," she said.
The current problem: creators often sign one-off contracts that strip them of all rights and future earnings. Under ER, they would retain payment rights no matter how their work is reused.
The divide between creatives and tech
Tech companies, commercial bodies, and economic groups argue that ER laws would disrupt existing business models or push innovation to other countries. The unions counter that overseas ER systems have protected jobs and increased creator incomes without stalling development.
Madeley warned that without government action, Australia risks losing its creative workforce. "If governments don't act now, we risk losing the creative workforce that supports our culture and democracy," she said.
The debate reflects a broader tension: whether AI's benefits should flow primarily to corporations that build and deploy the systems, or be shared with the people whose work trained them.
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