The concerns go beyond imitation. In a submission to the joint select committee inquiry on artificial intelligence, the National Association for the Visual Arts (Nava) pointed to work by the lawyer Terri Janke, who has documented AI scraping Indigenous art centre websites, removing artists' names and altering their work. The Guardian's report also notes cases where AI has altered work, removed names and then been sold. Nava says AI-generated "Aboriginal-style" images imitating community-specific techniques, stories and motifs can be passed off as Indigenous or Indigenous-inspired, spreading misinformation and causing cultural and economic harm.

Prof Kathy Bowrey of UNSW Law says the problem compounds existing copyright woes, with one in five creators already facing infringement without AI. She gives a pointed example: a corporate client pays once to use artwork or images of Aboriginal people, then uses AI to "update" or repurpose them without permission. The artist loses repeat business and then competes against an AI when selling new work.

Bowrey and associate professor Oliver Bown have drafted a "Copyright Plus" framework, written within the parameters the government has set out so far. It would force AI companies to disclose their training data sources, give artists the right to refuse having their work scraped or mimicked, impose a levy on AI companies to pay creative professionals and fund a cultural scheme, and enable takedown notices for fake content. The attorney general's office says there are "no plans to weaken copyright protections" and that it is consulting creators, media organisations and AI companies on options for "meaningful control and fair compensation".