63 media groups oppose Australia's AI training opt-out plan

A coalition of 63 international media organizations — including the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, News Media Europe and WAN-IFRA, plus groups from Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Italy — sent a letter to Australian lawmakers on Oct. 20 opposing a proposed copyright change, led by the News/Media Alliance. The letter describes the proposal as a “statutory pool” that would let AI companies train on copyrighted material by default, requiring rights holders to opt out to keep their work protected — reversing the country’s current permission-first rule, per the alliance. The release names neither the specific bill nor which Australian politicians received the letter.