Google is calling on the federal government to relax copyright law to allow AI technology to mine the internet for information. 

According to The Guardian, the tech giant argued that the federal government should consider if the law is flexible enough to support the development of AI. 

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In its submission to the government’s copyright enforcement review, Google called for a fair dealing exception for text and data mining for AI. 

“The lack of such copyright flexibilities means that investment in and development of AI and machine-learning technologies is happening and will continue to happen overseas,” their statement said. 

“AI-powered products and services are being created in other countries with more innovation-focused copyright frameworks, such as the US, Singapore and Japan, and then exported to Australia for use by Australian consumers and businesses.”  

Google’s statement, which highlighted that Australia risk of becoming an importer of AI technologies if the federal government does not provide copyright flexibilities, was supported by the Communications Alliance.  

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Meanwhile, digital platforms lobby group Digi argued that Australia’s copyright law should be examined to see if AI-created content would be protected. 

“It is currently unclear whether works that are created by an AI program may [or may] not benefit from copyright protection,” Digi said.  

“The approach to ownership of AI-generated works should be clarified.” 

Digi highlighted the benefits of AI technologies such as detecting, removing and reporting pro-terror and child abuse material online. 

“Companies investing in these solutions need to be able to process large volumes of illegal materials, but also ‘safe’ legal materials so that the technology can learn to distinguish between the two,” Digi said. 

“However, it is not clear to what extent the existing fair dealing exceptions in Australian law for private use would enable research and development of this nature.” 

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The tech giant’s push to relax Australia’s copyright laws follows recent calls from content creators who are pushing for further protection from AI technologies that are stealing their content. 

Aria, a peak body for music companies, said in its submission that copyright law needs to ensure artists are “fairly remunerated for the use of their intellectual property”. 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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