International Coalition Urges Australia to Reject AI Copyright Exceptions

A coalition of 63 international creative and media organizations, led by the News/Media Alliance and backed by music bodies including the RIAA, IFPI, and NMPA, has submitted a joint letter to Australian lawmakers urging them to reject proposed copyright exceptions for artificial intelligence developers.

The proposed legislative changes would allow AI companies to ingest copyrighted material for model training unless rights holders actively opt out. The coalition warns that such a mechanism upends fundamental copyright principles, effectively forcing creators to forfeit protections unless they navigate complex opt-out processes, while undermining their ability to negotiate commercial licensing agreements.

Signatories argue the proposal threatens decades of precedent and risks violating international treaties, including the Berne Convention and the WIPO Copyright Treaty. Because digital catalogs circulate globally, the groups caution that establishing broad AI training exceptions in Australia could create an international haven for unlicensed data scraping and erode rights holder compensation worldwide.