APRA AMCOS, the region's largest music industry body with over 119,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members, welcomes the recommendation from the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The recommendation states that the NSW Government advocate to the Australian Government for greater protection of the copyright and intellectual property of those working in creative industries in light of the challenges presented by generative AI.
Dean Ormston, CEO of APRA AMCOS, says: "The final report of the Legislative Council Committee acknowledged the significant concerns of those within the creative industries around the inappropriate use of their work for training Large Language Models. The threat this poses to the livelihood of those working in these areas was also acknowledged by the committee.
"APRA AMCOS has long held concerns regarding the lack of transparency that most Generative AI platforms have demonstrated in acknowledging the content which has been scraped and copied in order to create their outputs. Creators pour their hearts and souls into their work, investing countless hours refining their craft, yet they face a reality of seeing their creations exploited by AI platforms without credit, consent or compensation. It is this type of secretive behaviour that de-legitimises this new technology and embeds the trust deficit so many Silicon Valley businesses now face.
"A statement released last year by 22 creative industry organisations (including APRA AMCOS) warned that the potential of generative AI to support the creative economy must come with clear guidelines to stop the proliferation of unauthorised copying of creator intellectual property.
"Regulation must look beyond the short-term hype of generative AI platforms to ensure the sustainability of the workforce who created the content that has powered and enabled generative AI software.
"AI is another development of computer science, subject to the same ethical and legal requirements as any other business. Input costs from creative industry labour to develop this computer science must be at the heart of the investor framework for generative AI both here and around the world.
"Australia’s copyright laws are clear, simple and fit for purpose with the framework well set up for licensing AI development in Australia, provided the rights of creators are respected. If there is copying or reproduction of works without permission, it is unlawful and certainly unethical.
"Similarly, the use of a person’s name, image and likeness without permission likely contravenes various other Australian laws. Generative AI tools that are used to copy an artist's voice or authorial style without permission also raise many urgent legal questions.
"The potential impact of this type of unauthorised use of the work of Australian creators, including First Nations creators, could be be extremely damaging to these livelihoods.
"APRA AMCOS looks forward to the NSW Government's response to the Committee's final report, which is due in October."
APRA AMCOS has recently completed the largest survey of its kind in the region, asking its 119,000 members about the usage, impacts and concerns of generative AI in music. The results will be released in August.