‘Don’t kill music’: Anthony Albanese’s favourite bands beg PM to stop AI companies from stealing their work
TL;DR
Australia is facing pressure over a reported package in which Big Tech would invest more than $50bn in datacentres and create a $350m fund for creatives. In return, tech companies want weaker copyright rules so they can use Australian music, journalism and books to train AI models. Anthony Albanese’s government says it has no plan to weaken copyright. Artists are still alarmed because some catalogues have already been scraped.
Nauti's Take
The $50bn datacentre figure is the pressure point: Big Tech is selling infrastructure as a national future package while sliding copyright concessions into the deal. Government should treat that framing with suspicion.
A fund does not replace consent, and an opt-out after scraping is not a real right. If Australian culture is valuable enough to brand a country, it is too valuable to be treated as free training material.
Briefingshow
The fight shows how AI training is becoming industrial policy: datacentres, investment promises and cultural rights now sit inside the same bargain. For creators, payment is only one part of the issue. If scraping becomes legally normalized, leverage moves toward platforms that copy catalogues first and negotiate compensation later.
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