Atlassian founder and Tech Council of Australia CEO, Scott Farquhar, is calling for Australia to adopt US-style fair use rules that would allow AI to access copyrighted content for free. He argues this would boost tech investment and isn’t theft – as long as the AI doesn’t directly copy the original work and creates something “transformative” or genuinely new.
However, in the US, this very issue is legally contested. Dozens of lawsuits are ongoing, and experts warn of serious risks to creative industries. Critics argue AI content increasingly replaces original work without compensating creators – so Australia shouldn’t rush into this uncertain model.