NAVA continues advocacy for artists’ rights in AI

Senate inquiry into artificial intelligence and data centres

Submissions closed 1 September 2026

The Senate Environment and Communications References Committee is examining the growth of AI and data centres in Australia, including existing regulation and impacts on communities, industries, energy, water and the environment.

Parliamentary inquiry into artificial intelligence

Submissions close 14 September 2026

The Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence is conducting a broader parliamentary inquiry into the opportunities, impacts and regulation of AI in Australia.

These submissions continue NAVA’s advocacy on AI, copyright and artists’ rights, informed by consultation with artists and ongoing collaboration with other arts peak bodies and service organisations. NAVA has made submissions to previous government and parliamentary processes on AI and copyright, contributed to joint sector advocacy, and undertaken research with visual artists about their experiences and concerns.

In NAVA’s 2025 survey of more than 890 visual artists, more than 80% believed AI posed risks to their income, practice and moral rights, and 73% supported compensation where creative work is used in AI training. Artists reported their work being scraped without consent, difficulties finding out whether it had been included in training datasets, imitation of distinctive visual styles, and concerns about the environmental impacts of AI.

Across both inquiries, NAVA is continuing to call for strong protection of artists’ copyright and moral rights, consent and payment when creative work is used to train AI, greater transparency about training data, and protection of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP). NAVA supports the Government’s decision not to introduce a text and data mining exception and the Copyright Agency’s position that AI developers should obtain licences and pay creators when their work is used in AI development.

For the Senate inquiry, NAVA is also raising concerns about the demands data centres place on energy, water and land, including impacts on communities, ecosystems and Country. As governments consider investment in AI infrastructure and agreements with global technology companies, NAVA is calling for greater transparency about these impacts and meaningful engagement with First Nations communities where development may affect Country, cultural heritage and cultural practice.

The broader parliamentary inquiry provides an opportunity to continue NAVA’s advocacy for artists’ rights and protections in relation to AI. NAVA’s submission will address the use of Australian creative and cultural material to train AI models, including copyright and licensing, AI models trained overseas using Australian creative work, data sovereignty and ICIP, as well as the effects of generative AI on artists’ jobs, incomes and career pathways.

NAVA’s submissions will be available once they have been published by the respective committees.