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Is Albo about to hand Big AI everything it wants? · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From The Australian, here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, September 16, 2026. The Albanese government is actively
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  Speaker 1: considering changing copyright law so that artificial intelligence companies can
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  Speaker 1: train their models here by ingesting all of human knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: The idea is to make us all more productive and
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  Speaker 1: supercharge the economy with a data centre building boom. But
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  Speaker 1: to get there, Anthony Albanese would have to break his
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  Speaker 1: promise to musicians, artists and writers to protect their copyright
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  Speaker 1: and back down on his vow that all data centres
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  Speaker 1: should run on green energy. One option the government appears
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  Speaker 1: to be considering, thanks to leaked cabinet documents, is requiring
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  Speaker 1: creators to opt out of having their work scraped by
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  Speaker 1: AI models. So would the compromise be worth the payoff?
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  Speaker 1: That's today's story.
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  Speaker 2: Artificial intelligence is a very significant technology. It may be
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  Speaker 2: the most important technology of our lifetimes.
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  Speaker 3: That is the opportunity and the choice that we have
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  Speaker 3: now with artificial intelligence. AI is, of course, already part
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  Speaker 3: of our daily lives.
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  Speaker 1: Whoever wins AI wins. Richard Ferguson is the Australian's Canberra
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  Speaker 1: Bureau Chief. And Richard, the big fight that's going on
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  Speaker 1: in politics at the moment is not Labor versus anyone else.
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  Speaker 1: It's within Labor, an ideological dispute about what is the
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  Speaker 1: right thing to do about AI. Now, this is a
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  Speaker 1: very hot topic and there's stories coming at us from
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  Speaker 1: all directions. But let's start with the campaign, I suppose,
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  Speaker 1: by Andrew Charlton, a senior figure in the government. who
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  Speaker 1: believes that one of the solutions to Australia's productivity problem,
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  Speaker 1: to our economy more generally, is to embrace the AI revolution.
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  Speaker 2: This is the most important technology of our lifetimes, and
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  Speaker 2: we face a question as a nation about whether we
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  Speaker 2: want to have it in Australia, own it in Australia,
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  Speaker 2: build it in Australia, or forever rent it from abroad.
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  Speaker 4: What's Andrew Charlton's kind of endgame here?
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  Speaker 5: Well, Andrew Charlton in The Australian this week told our
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  Speaker 5: chief political correspondent, Greg Brown, that he believes the AI
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  Speaker 5: revolution will exceed the mining boom, but actually create even
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  Speaker 5: more productivity gains for the nation than the mining boom did,
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  Speaker 5: the mining boom which sustained this country for nearly 20 years.
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  Speaker 5: It's very clear that Dr. Charlton believes that we can
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  Speaker 5: be a world player in this, that we can create
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  Speaker 5: a balance that most countries, including the US and the
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  Speaker 5: European Union, have failed to do, which is balance copyright
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  Speaker 5: and data mining, balance data centers and the expectations of
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  Speaker 5: communities who do not like these data centers, and that
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  Speaker 5: we can be a kind of AI data center hotspot
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  Speaker 5: for the world. The only problem is that many people
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  Speaker 5: in the unions, just like the unions in America and
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  Speaker 5: in the UK and Europe, are very sceptical of data centres,
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  Speaker 5: especially their large use of energy, their large use of water,
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  Speaker 5: which has seen huge backlash. And it's become a really
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  Speaker 5: key point in the midterm elections in America, where even
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  Speaker 5: Republican places like Texas, you're finding GOP politicians speaking out
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  Speaker 5: against data centers because of how much energy and water
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  Speaker 5: they use and how unpopular they are with their constituents.
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  Speaker 4: You've got to put conditions on it.
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  Speaker 5: It should not raise people's electricity rates.
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  Speaker 4: There should not be nondisclosure agreements.
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  Speaker 5: This should be done open and honestly in the public.
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  Speaker 5: And then, of course, you do see what AI is
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  Speaker 5: doing to jobs. I mean, we taught our kids, Claire,
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  Speaker 5: to code. And it was the coding jobs were the
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  Speaker 5: first ones that went. We've seen this at places like
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  Speaker 5: Atlassian and all across the Australian Domestic Tech Centre where
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  Speaker 5: AI has taken jobs, not created them. So the government
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  Speaker 5: is really trying to press ahead against all that backlash,
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  Speaker 5: saying we can still use this. This can be a
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  Speaker 5: new mining boom.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the government sees this incredible opportunity for Australia to
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  Speaker 1: host a whole bunch of data centres. We've got a
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  Speaker 1: lot of space, there's no doubt about that. But what
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  Speaker 1: the big AI companies want in return is a watering
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  Speaker 1: down of Australia's copyright laws. They want an exemption in
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  Speaker 1: copyright law for text and data mining. That would mean
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  Speaker 1: that it's free for them to hoover up books and
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  Speaker 1: journalism and music and art and everything that's created in
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  Speaker 1: order to train their models and do the training here.
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  Speaker 1: That's the other aspect of it that's caused this tension
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  Speaker 1: within Labor. People like Michelle Rowland, the Attorney General, and
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  Speaker 1: perhaps also Anthony Albanese are sceptical about that. They're open
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  Speaker 1: to the arguments by the creative sector that we can't
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  Speaker 1: just sell out everything that Australians create.
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  Speaker 6: That certainty has been welcomed by Australian creators, and I
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  Speaker 6: look forward to both the tech sector and business and
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  Speaker 6: our Australian creators moving forward with certainty on how AI
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  Speaker 6: can be best utilised for the benefit of all Australians
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  Speaker 6: in future.
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  Speaker 1: It seems, though, that there's a sense of doom, Richard,
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  Speaker 1: in those creative sectors now. They expect that Anthony Albanese
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  Speaker 1: is going to buckle to the pressure from the kind
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  Speaker 1: of pragmatists within the government, the Andrew Charlton's of the world.
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  Speaker 4: To just say, yeah, let's do it.
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  Speaker 1: Let's change the copyright law, bring in the AI companies,
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  Speaker 1: allow them to build a data centre on every corner.
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  Speaker 1: If Australia were to change the law in this way,
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  Speaker 1: we'd be setting a precedent for the rest of the world, Richard.
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  Speaker 1: That seems like an awfully bold move for Anthony Albanese, who,
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  Speaker 1: you know, is not someone you'd associate with world-changing kind
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  Speaker 1: of bold policymaking. How likely is it, do you think,
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  Speaker 1: that this is actually what he's going to do?
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  Speaker 5: Oh, I think it's very difficult if he were to
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  Speaker 5: do that, because he would be going back on his
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  Speaker 5: word and the word of his ministers. I mean, when
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  Speaker 5: the data mining exemption was first raised, the prime minister
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  Speaker 5: said that he supported copyright and the rights of creatives
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  Speaker 5: in his landmark speech. July 15 speech at the University
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  Speaker 5: of Sydney where he released this AI legal framework discussion,
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  Speaker 5: the Prime Minister again said, not everything is up for grabs.
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  Speaker 5: We will protect the right of creatives.
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  Speaker 3: An artist's creative endeavour is their work and their property.
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  Speaker 3: No company should use Australian books, music, art or news
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  Speaker 3: to build or train AI without the artist's control. And
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  Speaker 3: that includes the artist-controlled of the price and value of
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  Speaker 3: their work. Anything less is theft.
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  Speaker 5: And then you've had Richard Marles, the Deputy Prime Minister,
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  Speaker 5: out today. And obviously, Defence is one of the groups
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  Speaker 5: that could really benefit from the AI revolution. And he's saying,
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  Speaker 5: we have promised to protect copyright and creatives. So the
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  Speaker 5: Prime Minister and his government would massively go back on
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  Speaker 5: their word if they were to do that. But what's
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  Speaker 5: interesting is what the government has made clear is that
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  Speaker 5: they want domestic AI training, which is this kind of
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  Speaker 5: cutting edge AI training of computers in this country. That
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  Speaker 5: is not done anywhere else but the United States at
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  Speaker 5: the moment. And they want that here. And they've continued
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  Speaker 5: to make it clear that they want that domestic AI
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  Speaker 5: training and keep copyright. And they're saying we can do both.
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  Speaker 5: The problem is the creative community does not believe that
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  Speaker 5: that's going to happen and open ai has made it
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  Speaker 5: clear that they will not have a discussion about renewable
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  Speaker 5: energy investment domestic ai training unless the copyright barriers what
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  Speaker 5: they call a gating problem is resolved so there's clearly
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  Speaker 5: going to be an impasse between the prime minister's words
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  Speaker 5: what tech giants like open ai want and what the
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  Speaker 5: creative community deserve which is their rights protected.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up, why Elon Musk says data centres should be
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: in space anyway. While I've got you, on September 23,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the Australians hosting our annual summit, Energy Nation. It's where
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the biggest players come to debate how we power the
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: future of our economy. And this year, our speakers include
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Andrew Charlton, Ryan Stokes, Matt Keane and many more. We've
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: got a few tickets left. To get yours, just search
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Energy Nation.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: We'll be back after this break.
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  Speaker 1: The government's already got itself into a fight with the
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  Speaker 1: states and territories about this. So the government's idea is
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  Speaker 1: that if you want to set up a data centre here,
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  Speaker 1: no worries, but you have to use renewable energy to
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  Speaker 1: power it. And they do use a huge amount of energy.
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  Speaker 1: States like the Northern Territory are saying, well, that would
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  Speaker 1: leave us out completely. That's not right. So they've already
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  Speaker 1: won a kind of exemption from that. So it's this
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  Speaker 1: balance now, isn't it? You know, the government wants the
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  Speaker 1: AI companies to come here. They're saying, well, maybe we'll
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  Speaker 1: do this renewable thing for you, but only if you
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  Speaker 1: change the copyright law. The government's argument on that is
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  Speaker 1: really interesting, Richard. Now it seems that they're saying that
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  Speaker 1: the reason we need to allow these companies to train
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  Speaker 1: their models here and change the copyright law is that
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  Speaker 1: this is how we.
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  Speaker 4: Keep control of it and we make sure that it's
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  Speaker 4: going to be safe. What do you think about that?
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  Speaker 4: Is that a legitimate argument?
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  Speaker 5: Look, I could understand why they want domestic AI trading.
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  Speaker 5: And I do think that the issue of sovereignty. is
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  Speaker 5: a big part of this. We've already seen overnight Donald
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  Speaker 5: Trump saying we will not be putting any restrictions on AI,
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  Speaker 5: despite the fact that three of the biggest tech bosses
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  Speaker 5: have all come out saying that AI is developing so
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  Speaker 5: fast it could endanger the human race. One of the
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  Speaker 5: world leaders in artificial intelligence is warning the industry must
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  Speaker 5: slow down now. Anthropic CEO Dario Amadei writes... But Donald
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  Speaker 5: Trump has said there'll be no foot on the pedal.
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  Speaker 5: He's called fears about AI overdevelopment a hoax because he
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  Speaker 5: said we cannot stop competing with China.
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  Speaker 4: We're leading China in AI. We're the most sophisticated country
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  Speaker 4: in the world.
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  Speaker 2: And frankly, I want to keep it that way because
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  Speaker 2: whoever wins AI wins.
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  Speaker 5: And then you've had the Chinese foreign ministry also saying
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  Speaker 5: that concerns about AI overdeveloping and endangering humanity is a hoax.
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  Speaker 5: So both Xi Jinping and Donald Trump believe the same thing,
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  Speaker 5: which is that they don't give a darn toot about
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  Speaker 5: community backlash or about concerns from tech bosses that AI
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  Speaker 5: is getting out of control. All they want to do
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  Speaker 5: is win this new arms race.
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  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Elon Musk is talking about launching data centers into space.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the next phase of SpaceX. That's why
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  Speaker 1: its IPO went so well, because he says you can
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  Speaker 1: solve all the problems of having to keep them cool
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  Speaker 1: by launching them into space and having them sort of
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  Speaker 1: float around the Earth forever.
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  Speaker 4: They'll be powered by the sun. They'll be cooled by
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  Speaker 4: the cold air of space.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it feels like this is spinning very fast
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  Speaker 1: and things are kind of flying off in all directions, Richard.
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  Speaker 1: that's an interesting place for the government to be making policy,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it? I mean, and it's all predicated on this
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  Speaker 1: idea that the data centres will bring a huge economic benefit.
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  Speaker 1: But once they've been built, and sure, you need builders
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  Speaker 1: to come in and build them, you only probably need
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  Speaker 1: three or four people to operate a data centre. Like,
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  Speaker 1: it's not going to create jobs.
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  Speaker 5: No, they are pretty slimly manned. And You've also got
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  Speaker 5: the situation, Claire, which when we're starting to talk AI
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  Speaker 5: actually hacking people and coming up with their own kind
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  Speaker 5: of codes and coming up with their own opinions, you've
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  Speaker 5: got a question about how quickly data centers will start
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  Speaker 5: to become out of date and how, you know, what
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  Speaker 5: we build now could actually be completely different in five
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  Speaker 5: years time. You know, we could get one quicker than
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  Speaker 5: we ever would a smaller nuclear module, for example. which
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  Speaker 5: has been, you know, the number one energy debate in
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  Speaker 5: this country until data centres came along. So it's just
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  Speaker 5: not clear that Australia will have any control, can exert
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  Speaker 5: any control over the future of this. But as the
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  Speaker 5: rest of the world is saying stop, the government's line
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  Speaker 5: is pretty clear that they want to keep going on AI.
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  Speaker 4: Well, Richard, it's going to be a wild ride. Thanks
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  Speaker 4: for joining us.
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  Speaker 5: Thanks so much, Clare.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Richard Ferguson is The Australian's Canberra Bureau Chief. For all
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the latest in politics, as well as the nation's best news,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: sport and business, visit theaustralian.com.au.