At a conference last week, Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke delivered his most explicit statement yet on the Government’s position regarding copyright and artificial intelligence (AI). Responding to the Productivity Commission’s draft recommendations for a text and data mining (TDM) exception – which would allow AI developers to copy creative works without permission for training purposes – Burke was unequivocal.
‘We have copyright laws. We have no plans, no intention, no appetite to be weakening those copyright laws based on this draft report that’s floating around,’ he said. ‘Use of your work for a commercial purpose, for which you have not authorised, is theft’.
