# AI firms push Australia to weaken copyright law

> Tech companies have already trained AI on Australian artists' work without permission, and are lobbying the government to change copyright law to make it legal.
- Title: AI firms push Australia to weaken copyright law · the Guardian
- Summary: Tech companies have already trained AI on Australian artists' work without permission, and are lobbying the government to change copyright law to make it…
- Keywords: kylie minogue, nick cave, artificial intelligence, copyright law, australia, music industry, google, international confederation of music pub, ai training, tech lobbying, news, politics
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/19/australia-music-global-copywright-outlier-ai-music-body-warnsns
- Published: 2026-10-19T00:57:46+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: kylie minogue, nick cave, artificial intelligence, copyright law, australia, music industry, google, international confederation of music pub, ai training, tech lobbying, news, politics
## Australian artists' music already used
AI has been trained on works by Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave and other Australian artists without compensation, the International Confederation of Music Publishers claims.
## Google's AI reproduces Australian lyrics
Google's Gemini was able to reproduce lyrics from Kylie Minogue, G-Flip and Nick Cave, showing AI companies have trained on Australian content despite claiming copyright rules prevent this.
## Training dataset pulled from YouTube
An AI training dataset reported by the Atlantic in June contains more than twelve million songs pulled from YouTube videos, including tracks from Minogue, Cave and Hilltop Hoods.
## Tech firms lobby to weaken copyright
AI companies are asking Australian policymakers to change copyright laws to allow training on copyrighted works. The ICMP's John Phelan said they are trying to legitimise larceny.

> They're trying to strong-arm Australian policymakers into 'if you don't do this, we won't invest'.
## Australia alone considering the change
Of sixty two countries approached by AI companies to weaken copyright laws, Australia appears to be the only one considering doing so, the ICMP says.
## Prime minister called it theft in July
In July, Anthony Albanese said it would be theft if artists did not retain control over whether their work was used to build and train AI, and what they were paid.
## Parliamentary committee revisits copyright
Government and opposition members of a parliamentary committee on artificial intelligence this week described the current situation as a stalemate and recommended examining copyright settings.
## AI firms claim they cannot operate
Anthropic's Jeffrey Bleich told the committee the company shared information about training implications with the government regarding its capacity to operate in Australia under existing law.

> You can't license the entire internet. Billions and billions of information exists there which is available to be viewed and studied, and that's essentially what training is.
## Music industry warns of global impact
The ICMP said the global music and creative industries are appalled by the idea of a statutory scheme that would interfere with how Australian industries work and contract worldwide.

> The world is very much watching what Australia does.
## Key takeaway

Tech companies have trained AI on Australian artists including Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave without compensation, and are pressuring the government to weaken copyright laws to legitimise the practice.