The Australian Recording Industry Association has released polling showing that most Australians oppose changing copyright law to let AI companies use creative work without permission. The survey found 78 per cent support keeping the current requirement.
The polling, conducted by RedBridge Group among 1,524 adults, suggests broad support across all demographic groups for consent-based use of books, music, art and news in AI training. According to ARIA, no age, gender, income or education group fell below 65 per cent support for keeping the existing permission rule.
The findings come as Australia debates how copyright law should apply to artificial intelligence developers seeking access to large volumes of material for model training. Just 9 per cent of respondents favoured changing the law to remove the permission requirement.
Support for creator control extended beyond the headline result. The poll found 74 per cent of Australians said creators should have the right to decide whether their work is used to train and develop AI models, while 12 per cent said they should not.
Support for permission also remained strong among respondents who backed AI companies training models in Australia. Of the 33 per cent who supported AI model training in Australia, 82 per cent said creators should decide whether their work is used and 71 per cent said the permission requirement should remain.
The survey also tested arguments linked to national security. It found 78 per cent said an AI company claiming national security as a reason should still need permission to use Australian creative work, while 9 per cent said it should not.
The responses also pointed to political implications. Some 52 per cent said they would be more likely to support a political party that keeps the permission requirement, compared with 14 per cent who said they would be less likely.
That view was consistent across several voter groups identified in the polling, including Labour, Coalition, One Nation and Greens supporters. ARIA said this showed the issue cuts across party lines.
Another question focused on trust in AI companies after an incident in which an OpenAI agent accessed non-public Australian Government files without authorisation. RedBridge found 68 per cent of Australians trusted AI companies less after the incident, while 6 per cent said they trusted them more.
Annabelle Herd, chief executive officer of ARIA, said the results showed a clear public view on the issue. "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 said.
The music industry body argues that copyright law already provides a framework for licensing arrangements between rights holders and AI developers. In its submission to a parliamentary committee, it listed 18 deals between AI companies and the music industry, and said nine more have since been signed.
Australian record labels and the artists they represent are included in some of those global agreements, ARIA said. The organisation argues that keeping the permission requirement is necessary if creators are to be paid through licensing negotiations.
Herd also rejected suggestions that the current legal framework is failing. "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 worldwide. 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 ensure they never have to sign a licensing deal with anyone to train on the world's content in Australia.
"Whatever AI companies say, Australians don't want creators' rights traded away," Herd said.
Kos Samaras, director of RedBridge Group, said the results were unusually clear for polling. "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 reveals a massive social licence challenge facing all governments. A challenge they need to treat seriously," Samaras said.
RedBridge said the survey was conducted online among Australian citizens aged 18 and over and weighted by age, gender, location, education, housing tenure and personal income. The reported margin of error was about 3.3 percentage points.