Despite the PM’s promises, Australia’s arts and creative workers have good reason to be nervy about AI.

Will it ever stop being heartbreaking that the biggest current threat to human expression is the topic that inspires more words right now than any other?

In mid-July, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined the chorus of voices pondering artificial intelligence, something that is ‘already part of our daily lives’, he flagged. With AI models partly trained on pirated Australian creativity, tech firms coveting our vast expanse for data centres, and reports of jobs losses arriving frequently – whether overtly driven by AI or not – his outline of the nation’s approach to AI was much anticipated.

That ‘not everything produced in Australia is up for grabs,’ as Albanese put it, was welcome news, after it was feared that copyright legislation might be watered down to benefit the AI sector.

‘Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists must retain ownership and control of their work. Our laws will spell that out, plain as day,’ the Prime Minister stressed.

Of course, how that will halt AI stealing Australian intellectual property is yet to be seen. The same is true of the pledge to make AI companies accountable for the water and power used by their data centres. And will these promised and necessary safeguards stop Australians working in the arts, creative and media sectors worrying about their jobs?