Chatbots must pay for news they use, says media chief Michael Miller

Michael Miller says while generative AI is a “game-changer” for internet search, media companies must learn from their “past complacency” when dealing with the tech giants.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

The rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence must be accompanied by appropriate compensation for the creators and copyright holders of the content on which the technology will increasingly rely, the executive chairman of News Corp Australasia has warned.

Writing in The Australian on Monday, Michael Miller says while the development of generative AI is widely seen as a “game-changer” for internet search, media companies must learn from their “past complacency” when dealing with the tech giants and their use of the original content of third parties.

“The rise of these new AI chatbots harks back to when tech ­giants such as Google and Meta built massive wealth and scale using others’ creativity and original content and monetising it without appropriate compensation to those creators or copyright holders,” he says.

“Creators deserve to be rewarded for their original work being used by AI engines which are raiding the style and tone of not only journalists but (to name a few) musicians, authors, poets, historians, painters, filmmakers and photographers. It is feasting on their creativity.

“Put simply, AI engines face a fundamental risk to their future success: convincing the public their information is trustworthy and credible and to achieve this, they will have to fairly compensate those who provide the substance for their success.”

Mr Miller says while there is, understandably, some “cautious excitement” about the potential of generative AI, the technology cannot, and will not, replace the skills of quality journalists – to inquire, to investigate, and to “provide an understanding of the emotions, reactions and experiences that mould the decisions in people’s lives or shape the liveability and lovability of communities”.

“It’s in this era of uncertainty that consumers are returning to brands, journalism and information sources they trust,” Mr Miller says. “As a society we are only now starting to debate AI’s social, legal and political ramifications, and we do this in the knowledge of having witnessed the damage on businesses and communities caused by the unfettered market power of tech giants.

“This time, things must be different. At the birth of the internet, tech start-ups were effectively given a leave pass from regulation to genuinely innovate.

“Now, as the richest corporations the world has ever seen, there can be no rationale to excuse them from the price of paying for the raw materials they use in their manufacturing process.”