The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) today released new research from RedBridge Group which reveals the vast majority of Australians (78 per cent) would keep the requirement for AI companies to get permission before using Australian creative work, even if some AI companies chose not to train their models in Australia. Just 9 per cent would change the law.
The attached poll of 1,524 Australians shows the result holds across every demographic group polled, with no age, gender, income or education group below 65 per cent. It also found that of the 33 per cent who support AI companies training models in Australia, 82 per cent say creators should decide whether their work is used and 71 per cent would keep the permission requirement.
Other key findings include:
The majority of Australians oppose changing copyright law to let AI companies use Australian creative work without permission.
Three in four Australians (74 per cent) say Australian creators should have the right to decide whether their work is used to train and develop AI models. Only 12 per cent say they should not.
Four in five Australians (78 per cent) say an AI company claiming national security as a reason should still need permission to use Australian creative work. Only nine per cent say it should not.
52 per cent would be more likely to support a political party that keeps the permission requirement, against 14 per cent less likely. The result is positive among Labor (net +46), Coalition (+36), One Nation (+29) and Greens (+43) voters.
Two in three Australians (68 per cent) trust AI companies less after an OpenAI agent accessed non-public Australian Government files without authorisation. Only 6 per cent trust them more.
ARIA CEO, Annabelle Herd, said: “If there was ever any doubt about where Australians stand on AI and copyright, this polling settles it: the AI industry has made its best arguments and Australians have rejected every one of them. Australians want creators to decide how their work is used and they will not trade that away for promises of investment or claims around national security.
“In July the Prime Minister said no company should use Australian books, music, art or news to build or train AI without the artist’s control and that anything less is theft. Australians agree with him by more than eight to one. That’s what our law currently says and it needs to stay that way.”
Herd continued: “Last week the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence told Australians our copyright law isn’t working. They’re wrong. Australian copyright law gives creators control. It is the only thing standing between major American AI companies and unchecked access to the world’s content right here from Australia.
“This is not a market failure. It is a failure to acknowledge the market that already exists. AI companies are signing licensing deals with the music industry around the world. Goldman Sachs’ Music in the Air 2026 – released only last week – forecasts that AI licensing, creation tools and new ways to make money from music could add around 10 per cent to global recorded music revenues by 2035. That money only reaches creators if AI companies have to ask permission and negotiate for what they want to use in their models. The proposals on the table right now would make sure they never have to sign a licensing deal with anyone ever to train on the world’s content in Australia.
“Whatever AI companies say, Australians don’t want creators’ rights traded away.“
Director of the Redbridge Group, Kos Samaras, said the results were profound and sent a strong message about where Australians stand on this issue: “In years of polling I have rarely seen public opinion this clear and this defined. Australians have picked a side, and it is the side of the musicians, writers and artists who make up our creative economy. The weight of these results reveal a massive social licence challenge facing all governments. A challenge they need to treat seriously.”
ARIA’s submission and evidence to the Committee listed eighteen AI deals that already exist between AI companies and the music industry. Since that submission, nine more have been signed with many more under discussion. Australian record labels and the artists they represent are part of these global deals.
