1 hour ago
2
The ABC is being asked by Anthropic to share decades of radio and television content in return for compensation to train the global AI giant’s large language models, the broadcaster’s boss has revealed.
Hugh Marks said the tech giant wants access to the ABC’s archives to train its Claude AI chatbot, but that media companies like the public broadcaster are in a disproportionate bargaining position during a panel session focused on the impact of artificial intelligence on media companies with fellow executives on Tuesday night.
“One of the interesting things for us in that discussion is that they want access to our audio content,” Marks said when asked by journalist and radio host Hamish Macdonald about the ABC’s ongoing negotiations over a commercial deal with Anthropic.
“They want access to the work that you and your colleagues are doing now and have done over generations. I think it’s that the way that that information is presented, so that audio content is something they really want.”
It is rare for media executives to make such a revealing comment about ongoing commercial negotiations. Nine CEO Matt Stanton declined to comment on the finer details of a recent deal the company inked with Microsoft to use content from its titles, including this masthead.
Seeking access to the ABC’s news content is a “given”, Marks said, as tech giants like Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI want legitimacy for the information presented to those using their chatbots.
“Increasingly, as the world moves to video, they also want video content,” Marks added.
Anthropic has been approached for comment.
During the panel discussion, which included News Corp’s local executive chair Michael Miller, Stanton, SBS managing director Jane Palfreyman and Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni, the executives argued for the need for financial compensation for trusted news content and the reputations of their mastheads developed over decades.
“We are in a disproportional bargaining position,” Marks said.
“We have these global businesses that have got trillion dollar investment balances that have power and seem to have convinced some governments around the world that for some reason they should be able to take IP, where maybe they can’t take water or land or goods or other things. But for some reason they seem to think that IP is a free thing that they can tax on.”
The panel session was held as part of a new format for the ABC’s Andrew Olle Media Lecture, delivered earlier in the night by Galloni, who urged further collaboration between Australian media companies as AI uptake increasingly redefines the role media plays in society.
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.
