Government response to Senate Adopting AI inquiry
April 1, 2026
The Australian Government has released its response to the Senate Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) report.
The response says the following on copyright:
The Australian Government is invested in the success of Australia’s creative and media industries. It is important that the development and adoption of AI technologies is done in a way that builds trust and confidence in their use. Having provided certainty to Australian creators by announcing that the Government is not considering a text and data mining exception in Australian copyright law, the Government is working with stakeholders to find solutions to encourage innovation while protecting and supporting Australian creators.
AGD is engaging with these stakeholders, including representatives of the creative, media, and technology sectors, primarily through the Copyright and AI Reference Group (CAIRG). AGD has recently consulted with the CAIRG on 3 priority areas:
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- Encouraging fair, legal avenues for using copyright material in AI through examination of how different licensing arrangements could support AI development in Australia.
- Improving certainty on the application of copyright law to material generated through the use of AI.
- Exploring avenues for less costly enforcement, including through a potential small claims forum to efficiently address lower value copyright infringement matters.
The Government is currently considering feedback received from CAIRG participants on these issues. Other issues related to copyright and AI may be the subject of future Government consultations. The Government commits, in its National Cultural Policy – Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place, to maintaining a strong copyright framework that works in concert with other legal and policy mechanisms to ensure reasonable and equitable use of copyright material. Consultations on the next National Cultural Policy will commence in 2026 and be led by the Office for the Arts. The use and impacts of AI on Australia’s cultural and creative sector will be considered as part of these consultations.
Copyright Agency’s submission to the inquiry is here.
The references to our submission in the Senate Committee’s report include:
4.89 In contrast [to submissions from the creative industries sector], some inquiry participants considered that the use of copyright material by AI should not constitute a breach of copyright or provide a basis for remuneration of copyright holders.
4.90 For example, the submission from the Schools and TAFE Copyright Advisory Group (CAG) noted that in jurisdictions such as the US copyright laws allow for the training of AI on copyright materials without breaching copyright. In this regard, CAG considered that Australia’s copyright framework is a barrier to the development of the AI industry in Australia:
…in the United States, AI developers are relying on the fair use exception as a defence to claims of copyright infringement by rightsholders in material used to train AI models…[whereas no] equivalent fair use exception exists in Australia…The result is that Australia has a much stricter and less flexible copyright framework than other jurisdictions, which in CAG’s view imposes significant impediments to the development, operation and use of AI systems in Australia.
4.91 This argument was rejected by the Copyright Agency, which highlighted there is ‘a vast range of content available for lawful use by AI developers, including under efficient and fair licensing arrangements.’ It also noted the UK recently rejected calls to broaden its AI exception to its copyright laws, that Japan is considering scaling back its AI exception and that, under the more permissive US regime, there are more than 24 copyright cases in train against AI developers.