Creatives sound alarm on copyright as Pocock calls $50bn datacentre proposal ‘ultimate dirty deal’

The Guardian World Wednesday 01 July 2026, 06:22 UTC By Dan Jervis-Bardy 1 min read

Key Points

Proposal has been put to cabinet to allow AI companies to mine content, in exchange for investment and $350m fund to compensate artists, sources say Creatives are demanding fresh assurances from the Albanese government that it won’t water down copyright laws under a potential deal with tech giants to attract more than $50bn worth of datacentre investment in exchange for a $350m-a-year fund for artists. Guardian Australia has been told an industry proposal has been presented to cabinet that...

Proposal has been put to cabinet to allow AI companies to mine content, in exchange for investment and $350m fund to compensate artists, sources say

Creatives are demanding fresh assurances from the Albanese government that it won’t water down copyright laws under a potential deal with tech giants to attract more than $50bn worth of datacentre investment in exchange for a $350m-a-year fund for artists.

Guardian Australia has been told an industry proposal has been presented to cabinet that would grant AI companies special exemptions to mine creative content.

Pocock (ORG) AI (ORG) Creatives (ORG) Albanese (ORG) Guardian Australia (ORG)

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Creatives sound alarm on copyright as Pocock calls $50bn datacentre proposal ‘ultimate dirty deal’

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