Australian composers launch ‘Human Made’ AI copyright campaign

Antony Partos, co-founder of Sonar Music, and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers are launching the ‘Human Made’ campaign at the APRA AMCOS Screen Music Awards in Brisbane. The initiative protests the use of Australian creative works to train artificial intelligence models without the consent, licensing, or fair compensation of the original creators.

Industry leaders and musicians attending the ceremony will wear campaign badges shaped like records featuring the copyright symbol to show solidarity. The campaign arrives as the Australian government evaluates potential changes to copyright protections that could favor AI companies. Partos stated, “Australian creativity is not free training data,” and advocated for a licensing system to compensate artists who opt in to AI training.

The movement highlights the economic importance of the sector, noting that Australian film and TV drama production expenditure reached a record AU$2.7 billion in 2024–25, a 43% increase from the previous year.