Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn warns AI ‘exceptions’ are unfair, risky
The boss of Australia’s biggest bank says giving AI unfettered access to copyright material is risky, after inking a new deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive and artificial intelligence evangelist Matt Comyn has warned that attempts to carve out Australia’s copyright protections in favour of AI companies are highly risky.
The Productivity Commission has proposed an exemption for text and data mining.
Mr Comyn on Wednesday revealed a $10.25bn annual profit,and announced a new partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and an expanded partnership with Anthropic. CBA staff will get access to the tech company’s enterprise-grade AI solutions.
“We need to be very wary of unwinding some of those protections,” Mr Comyn said.
“I would instinctively be from a position of supporting Australian businesses with IP and copyright protections.”
The government has been considering reform proposals ahead of a productivity roundtable next week led by Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
AI companies could be granted an exception under the “fair dealing” provisions in the Copyright Act, allowing them to mine the works of artists, authors and media companies without payment under a Productivity Commission proposal.
Mr Comyn said the Albanese government’s focus on economic reform was welcome and the bank lobbied for “constructive engagement for a range of different policies”.
“The objectives are really clear as is the importance of what productivity is and how it underpins living standards over the long term,” he said.
Mr Comyn said the government should also look at housing affordability, a “really significant issue” that could only be solved with more supply.
“There’s very good discussions to be had around resilience, skills and the energy transition, around boosting productivity broadly,” he said.
Mr Comyn said AI was “a very important and strategic capability” for the country, businesses, and people. But he said it was “only fair” that creative industries and media companies were “adequately compensated for their work and capability that they’ve developed”.
News Corp, publisher of The Australian, has struck a deal with OpenAI and developed several internal AI-powered platforms.
The Media, Entertainment, and Arts Alliance has warned the Albanese government’s considerations of AI exceptions risk “veering away from new laws that would help mitigate AI’s potential downsides”.
On Tuesday, MEAA said it had written to Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah, urging her to reconsider her strong support of AI.
MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley warned that AI companies had stolen the work of media and creative workers.
“In the absence of AI-specific legislation or regulation, creative and media workers have had their work systematically scraped and stolen to train the large language models developed by the Big Tech companies that now dominate the AI industry,” Ms Madeley said.
“MEAA urges the Albanese government to hold firm to its commitment to introduce stronger regulation of AI and reject the calls from vested interests to pause or take a light-touch approach.”
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