Labor ramps up AI reassurance efforts amid copyright and data centre concerns

Labor is stepping up efforts to reassure Australians artificial intelligence can be embraced while addressing safety risks, respecting copyright and managing the demand for electricity and water to power data centres.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will deliver a speech next week setting out the federal government's approach to AI, acknowledging the risks and potential harms, as well as upsides and economic benefits.

Mr Albanese is expected to outline a broad position on various concerns fuelling community anxiety about AI, including workforce disruption, copyright and the use of water and electricity resources to power data centres.

Reports tech giant Anthropic has offered to make Australia its second home for training AI models if an agreement on copyright can be reached have renewed fears in the creative sector that the government is poised to weaken laws.

Repeated reassurances from senior Labor ministers, including a promise this week from the prime minister that artists would have control over and be compensated for the use of their works in any AI training, have not abated rights holders' concerns.

Meanwhile, the latest draft of Labor's 2026 national platform, which is due to be debated and signed off at the party's conference in Adelaide at the end of July, has significantly expanded its position on AI.

Labor national conference to debate AI policy

The draft document, seen by the ABC, moves AI from one policy paragraph as existed in the 2023 platform, to a cross-government agenda with potentially more oversight of the technology.

On copyright, Labor has pledged to support "legal frameworks and safeguards to protect Australian artists and content creators from AI exploitation".

It also adds an entirely new sovereign AI policy section, with commitments to ensure the tech giants are held accountable to Australian "values and laws" and that there's "transparency, accountability, fairness and culpability" for the "harms these systems and models produce".

The draft platform calls for government procurement to be used to support Australian AI and "uphold" the nation's "data sovereignty".

On data centres, Labor has said they must "deliver for Australia," including by investing in new renewable energy and electricity grid, as well as "use water sustainably and responsibly".

PM to speak on government's AI stance

Mr Albanese is expected to outline his vision of Australia's AI future, acknowledging issues like community concerns about the electricity and water resources required to power data centres to fears about models training on local copyrighted material.

Asked to offer reassurances to Australian musicians, artists and writers worried the government is open to watering down copyright laws to benefit AI companies, the prime minister said on Wednesday it was "important" to support the creative sector.

"These are complex issues, we're working through it with the sector," Mr Albanese said.

"But my government, I think, has a strong record of supporting people; one, having control over things that they have created, and secondly, if things are being used, being paid for it, being properly compensated for it."

Nervousness about the government's intentions around copyright has persisted despite Attorney-General Michelle Rowland announcing in October there would be no so-called text and data mining exemption for AI companies.

The decision not to grant AI companies permission to train their models on Australian text, images, music and other copyrighted material without obtaining permission from the rights holder was welcomed by artists, but many fear the government may still shift.

Anthropic offer fuels anxiety

Reports AI giant, Anthropic, is seeking a copyright deal with the federal government in order to train its popular model Claude in Australia have heightened those concerns.

Anthropic has offered a 1.4GW data centre tender, potentially worth tens of billions of dollars and a centralised fund for Australian creatives to be paid on a subscription basis in return for a copyright exemption, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Earlier this year, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei spoke at a company event in Canberra where he said he was not trying to convince Australia to change its mind on protecting the copyright of local artists.

"We're kind of here to talk about how can we arrive at an arrangement that works for everyone? And leaves everyone better off?" he said.

Ms Rowland has repeatedly restated the government's position that there were no plans to weaken copyright protections in relation to AI.

But sources in the creative sector have said people were seizing on any changes in language as evidence that position might not hold.

Last month a delegation of musicians and writers converged on Canberra to plead with the government to "stay out" of copyright law and let the system operate as intended, arguing AI companies could cut deals with right holders to use their work in as few as four phone calls.

Singer Holly Rankin, who performs under the moniker Jack River, said rights holders wanted Australia's "strong" laws to remain.

"There have been some credible suggestions that there is a murmuring of ideas out there that big tech are looking for a weakening of copyright law," she said.

Labor platform homes in on gambling 'inducements'

Labor members and senior government figures, including Mr Albanese, will converge on Adelaide at the end of July for the party's national conference.

The gathering, held once every federal term, is used to finalise a policy platform ostensibly intended to guide the parliamentary party's agenda for the next three years.

In addition to AI, Labor's position on gambling reform, AUKUS, gas taxation, Israel and Palestine are expected to spark debate among members.

The party's draft party platform has condensed its stance on gambling to two clauses, the first of which recognises the government's bill recently introduced to parliament.

The second includes a commitment to continuing working hard to ensure Australians are protected from gambling harms, and specifically recognises the impact of so-called inducements.

Labor's current legislation does not address inducements, despite an inquiry into online gambling harms recommending a total ban on them.

Debate on Israel and Palestine

On Israel and Palestine, the draft platform expands its position on a range of issues, including the addition of opposition to the "annexation of Palestinian territory" and calls for Israel to end "illegal settlement activity".

In July 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICJ) declared Israel's settlements in the Palestinian territories violated international law and ordered their dismantling.

Israel rejects the illegality of the settlements, with senior far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who are both sanctioned by Australia, advocating for their expansion.

Labor's draft platform urges the government to implement "further action and sanctions as necessary" to address the issue.

Acknowledging Australia has "always stood against the death penalty as an inhumane and degrading form of punishment", the draft also condemns "recent Knesset legislation and all other discriminatory laws which target Palestinians".

This year the Israeli government passed laws that implement death by hanging for Palestinians convicted of terror-related killings in the West Bank.

Labor's draft also reaffirms Labor's belief that "Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live their lives free from terror and violence," backs the two-state solution and "unreservedly condemns" the terrorism and violent extremism, including as perpetrated by Hamas.