Australian creators reject AI copyright 'opt-out' carveout at Senate inquiry

At an Australian Senate inquiry, OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon and Anthropic's head of policy for Australia and New Zealand David Masters said they would welcome laws requiring them to report data breaches carried out by their AI agents. Australian content creators pushed back against proposals to relax copyright law, which currently requires the mostly foreign-domiciled tech companies to negotiate licensing deals before using material for model training. Media reports said the government was considering an "opt out" clause giving AI companies access to content unless rights holders object. ABC's head of content and legal operations Kate Gilchrist said that "places the burden on rights holders" and that the copyright system "is completely adequate to manage the business of AI." Inquiry hearings run through October 9, with a final report due November 30.