Responding to reports that AI company Anthropic plans to secure 1.4 gigawatts of Australian data centre capacity, Senator for South Australia and Chair of the Senate inquiry into artificial intelligence and data centres, Sarah Hanson-Young, said:
"Big AI won't seem to take no for an answer when it comes to destroying Australia's copyright regime.
"Reports that Anthropic are continuing to lobby to undermine Australia's copyright laws are deeply concerning. If they want to use copyrighted material to train their AI, they should pay for it like everyone else does.
"After strong pressure from rights holders, the Albanese Government has already ruled out a text and data mining exemption for AI. It would be a betrayal of Australia's creative industries if they went back on that promise now.
"The building of 1.4 gigawatts of new data centre capacity could have a massive impact on Australia's energy, water and environment. The community deserves to have a say on whether or not they want to become the data centre dumping ground for US based companies.
"We need a moratorium on the building of new hyperscale data centres until we get the regulatory settings right.
"AI is the new extractive industry, and we cannot allow companies to lock in vast amounts of Australia's energy, water and data resources before proper rules are in place. Strong regulation must come before sweetheart deals and backroom contracts.
"Australia cannot afford to sleepwalk into a big tech AI experiment. The public deserves a clear understanding of what these massive data centres will mean for our environment, our energy grid, local communities and Australia's creative industries and copyright holders before any major decisions are made.
"The Senate Inquiry is now accepting submissions, and I encourage anyone concerned about the impact of AI and data centres on their community, industry or environment to make a submission. This inquiry is an important step in ensuring Australia gets the rules right before this industry becomes too big for governments to regulate properly."
