The federal government is considering allowing AI companies to use copyrighted Australian material for training by default as it works to attract investment from American tech giants, according to confidential documents tabled in parliament this week.

Independent Senator David Pocock tabled documents in the Senate on Tuesday which contained screenshots of government consultation proposals, titled 'AI on Australian Terms'.

Under one of two proposals in the document, AI companies would be allowed to train on any unprotected Australian material once they had made financial deals with enough rights companies.

AI firms have so far been unable to legally train their models on Australian content due to the country's copyright laws.

Under the second proposal, AI companies would be expected to sign deals with rights holder organisations and collecting societies, who would provide access rights to content such as music or text – including that made by people who are not members of that organisation, but are in the same industry.

Under both proposed options, creatives would need to “digitally protect” their work if they want to opt-out of it being used for AI training.

Providing "compensation" and "control" are among the "key principles" listed in the document, as well as "certainty for all stakeholders, including Al companies".

The proposals go against previous government assurances that Australia's copyright laws would not be weakened to benefit AI companies, Pocock suggested in the Senate.

"It flips the protection on copyright," he said.

"... The government publicly is telling us one thing, but, in consultation, is presenting a solution which is not that thing."

Labor has indicated it is still consulting on its proposals and wants creatives to have both control and compensation.

Labor accused of 'undermining' copyright

Shadow attorney general Michaelia Cash said, "This is a text and data mining exception with an opt-out bolted on.

"It is precisely what the government said it had ruled out."

She suggested Australia's existing copyright laws should be enforced, and AI companies should be made to negotiate deals with all rights holders.

Greens spokesperson for the arts, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said it appeared the government was "secretly consulting on how to appease big tech companies at the expense of Australian artists".

"It is the role of the government to protect the interests of Australian workers and businesses," she said.

"Undermining the principles of copyright will only serve the interests of big tech companies."


Independent Senator David Pocock tabled government consultation documents on Tuesday. Image: Parliament of Australia / YouTube

OpenAI’s vice-president of global policy, Ann O’Leary, reportedly met with Australian officials this week as the American developer of ChatGPT weighs up investing in more Australian infrastructure.

She reportedly told The Australian that the company "isn't ready" to have a conversation about training its AI models locally if negotiations "can't get through the gating problem of the copyright barriers".

Responding to O'Leary's comments, the CEO of Australian music licensing body APRA AMCOS, Dean Ormston, said "investment that is conditional on a country rewriting its [intellectual] property law is not investment".

"... This is not a copyright issue – it is a coordinated attempt to use the scale of these companies to pressure sovereign governments into extinguishing an obligation to pay, one country at a time," he said.

Ormston said APRA ACMOS wants AI training to happen in Australia, if "properly licensed".

"Tell us what you need and we'll negotiate a price," he said.

Prominent Australian musicians told a Senate committee in October 2025 that they should be properly compensated if their work is used to train AI, with one artist suggesting an opt-out system would pit individual artists "against global, billion-dollar companies".

Anthropic signs data centre deal as PM heads to America

Concern over the government's copyright plans come as OpenAI's major competitor Anthropic, which develops the Claude series of AI models, signed its first data centre deal in Australia.

The company will reportedly lease part of a $32 billion data centre hub proposed by Singaporean developer Zerra DC in Queensland's Western Downs, which is yet to be approved by the local council.

Unless copyright laws are changed, Anthropic is expected to use the facility to power its Claude models, and not to train its AI systems.

OpenAI last year signed a deal with Australian company NextDC, to be the first major customer of a new hyperscale AI data centre facility in Western Sydney.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is scheduled to travel to the US on Friday for talks with technology companies, and to reportedly address the United Nations in New York about his government's approach to tech regulation.

"Artificial intelligence doesn't stop at anyone's borders," he said this week.

"Our leadership and our collaboration with our partners overseas will help us to make the most of AI at home so that artificial intelligence happens and is rolled out the Australian way, with Australian values in Australia's national interest."