Anthropic Pushes Opt-Out Model as ABC and SBS Demand AI Firms to Pay for News

Anthropic Proposes Conditional Opt-Out Model for AI Training

AI giant Anthropic has asked the Australian government to consider a conditional approval system that would allow AI firms to train models on Australian copyrighted content unless rights holders explicitly opt out1

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. In its submission to the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, the maker of Claude acknowledged that broad copyright exceptions, such as a text and data mining exemption, have been ruled out by the Albanese government. Instead, Anthropic proposed a narrow framework where copyright holders could block AI crawlers using robots.txt files, which signal to bots which pages they may access2

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. The company stated it was open to supporting Australian creators while seeking legal certainty under copyright law that would bring AI developers to the table.

ABC and SBS Reject Opt-Out Approach, Demand Equal Treatment

Australia's public broadcasters ABC and SBS have strongly rejected the opt-out model for Australian content, arguing that robots.txt mechanisms are routinely ignored or bypassed by AI companies1

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. SBS emphasized that blocking ever-evolving training bots increases the burden on rights holders to monitor and update protections, when the onus should be on AI companies to avoid wrongdoing2

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. Both broadcasters submitted that AI-powered large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude use news content without permission, attribution or payment, threatening the sustainability of the Australian news industry and eroding public trust1

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. The ABC called the current system anti-competitive, warning that unequal treatment will accelerate the cannibalisation of news by allowing AI firms to operate as publishers without facing the same copyright, defamation and privacy rules as traditional media outlets2

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Push to Include AI in News Bargaining Incentive

Both ABC and SBS want AI companies included in Australia's news bargaining incentive, which currently applies to platforms such as Facebook, Google and TikTok1

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. This would require AI firms to pay for news by striking commercial deals with media outlets to support journalism. The broadcasters argue this is essential to prevent the cannibalisation of the Australian news industry as AI services increasingly function as publishers while remaining unregulated2

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. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised the strongest possible protection for Australian creatives, having ruled out broad copyright exceptions for AI training2

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. Google has already started paying some publishers when their content feeds its AI answers, setting a precedent for commercial arrangements between AI companies and news organizations1

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Parliamentary Inquiry to Hear from AI Giants

Executives from Anthropic and OpenAI will appear at the parliamentary inquiry on AI hearings in Sydney next week, though their chief executives Sam Altman and Dario Amodei will skip a separate Senate inquiry1

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. OpenAI has already apologized to Australia after its models accessed four government websites, including Services Australia data, in June1

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. In its submission, Anthropic described light and shade to AI development, claiming the technology could transform the Australian economy and drive a new wave of productivity while warning of serious implications for national security, the resilience of critical infrastructure and public safety1

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. The company highlighted its plans to invest billions in Australia, including large new data centres, and urged the government to support frontier model training.

What This Means for Australian Media and AI Regulation

The clash between Anthropic's opt-out proposal and the public broadcasters' demands reveals fundamental tensions in how AI and news will coexist. Rights holders face mounting pressure to actively monitor and block AI crawlers, a burden that grows as new training bots emerge. Meanwhile, AI companies seek legal certainty to access training data while promising economic transformation. Watch for how the parliamentary inquiry on AI shapes regulations that could set precedents globally. If Australia includes AI in the news bargaining incentive, it would force companies like Anthropic and OpenAI into commercial deals with media outlets, potentially establishing a model other countries might follow. The outcome will determine whether AI firms must pay for news or can continue training on copyrighted content with minimal restrictions.