NAVA welcomes government decision to reject AI copyright exemption

The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) welcomes the Federal Government’s decision to rule out a copyright exemption that would have allowed artificial intelligence (AI) companies to freely use Australian artists' works to train their models.

The government has confirmed that it will not introduce a new “text and data mining” (TDM) exception to the Copyright Act, an idea floated by the Productivity Commission in its Harnessing Data and Digital Technology interim report. The proposal was fiercely opposed by the arts and creative industries.

Penelope Benton, Executive Director of NAVA, said “This is an important win for Australian artists and the integrity of their work. A copyright exemption would have handed global tech companies free rein to scrape and profit from artists’ work without consent, attribution, or payment. We thank the government for listening to the arts community and standing firm in protecting artists’ rights.”

“Artists are not anti-technology. Many are already using AI as a tool for research and experimentation. But innovation cannot come at the expense of the people whose work makes these systems possible. The right to consent, to be paid, and to be properly attributed must remain central to any future AI regulation.”

NAVA’s submission to the Productivity Commission strongly opposed a TDM exception, warning that such a move would entrench exploitation of artists’ labour, particularly harming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists whose cultural and intellectual property is already inadequately protected under current law.

NAVA has consistently called for:

• No copyright exceptions that permit AI scraping without consent;
• Mandatory transparency about training datasets used by AI companies;
• Opt-in licensing frameworks so artists and creators can choose to participate and be paid; and
• The completion and implementation of standalone legislation to protect Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), which is currently being developed.

NAVA will join discussions in the coming days as part of the Attorney-General’s Department Copyright and AI Reference Group (CAIRG) to help inform the government’s next steps on AI regulation.

“We’ll continue working with the government to ensure artists’ rights are protected as AI regulation evolves. Artists’ work must never be treated as free data for tech companies. We need an AI framework built on consent, transparency and respect.”