Creatives push for copyright payment rights as AI training intensifies
Australia's creative unions are demanding that copyright law be reformed to guarantee payment whenever AI systems train on artistic works, following the federal government's ban on using creative content for AI development without permission or compensation.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) announced the push yesterday, calling for equitable remuneration (ER) - a legal right ensuring creators receive payment each time their work is used - to be extended to digital and AI applications.
The move reflects growing tension between creative professionals and tech companies over who benefits from AI systems trained on massive datasets of music, films, journalism, books, and voices.
The current gap
Australia has remuneration systems already in place, but they apply only to employment relationships and are managed through the Fair Work Commission. They don't cover the commercial use of creative works by AI systems.
This leaves creators vulnerable to one-off buyout contracts that strip away all future earnings rights, according to MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley.
"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," Madeley said.
"This is driving job losses, undercutting incomes and hollowing out Australia's creative and media industries."
What ER would do
Equitable remuneration systems have proven effective overseas at protecting jobs and sustaining creator incomes. The MEAA proposes pairing ER with licensing requirements, watermarking, and tracking technology to monitor how creative works are used.
The mechanism would prevent income from being contracted away entirely, ensuring payment flows to the people who created the original work.
"If governments don't act now, we risk losing the creative workforce that supports our culture and democracy," Madeley said. "It's time for tech companies to pay up."
Industry pushback
Tech, commercial, and economic bodies oppose the proposal, arguing that inalienable payment rights would disrupt existing business models or push innovation to other countries.
The divide reflects a fundamental disagreement about how AI development should be funded and who bears responsibility for compensating creators whose work trains these systems.
Learn more about how AI affects creatives and the broader implications of generative art in professional practice.
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