Australia to create AI office, protect creators from model training
Australia moved to police AI’s power and water footprint while barring model training on books, music, art and news without creator control.
Anthony Albanese announced an Office of AI inside the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and promised mandatory national standards for data centres that would cover where they are built and how much power and water they use. He said the government would give the sector a clearer “social licence” while forcing it to confront the physical limits of a digital buildout that is already colliding with electricity grids and scarce water supplies.
Albanese said the government would not allow AI companies to use Australian books, music, art or news to train models without the creator’s control. He said artists, musicians, writers and journalists should keep ownership and control of their work and be able to set the price in licensing deals, adding that using creative work without permission would be “theft.”
The new standards are expected to go to National Cabinet in August 2026, with legislation to follow in early 2027. Australia’s current approach relies on privacy and consumer laws, plus a voluntary ethics framework, rather than specific AI statutes. The government is shifting that patchwork toward a more centralized approval process for large data centres, including requirements that they minimize water use and underwrite or supply their own power.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific called for a pause on new AI data-centre approvals until binding rules are in place, while the Australian Council of Trade Unions welcomed the government’s intervention and said workers need assurances that AI’s benefits will be shared. In February 2026, a coalition of industry groups, unions, community groups and environmental organisations backed a proposal that data centres should use additional renewable energy, use water responsibly and train local apprentices.
Electricity demand from Australia’s data-centre growth could rise from about 1.35 gigawatts now to 5 to 8 gigawatts by 2035, the Clean Energy Council says. In June 2026, South Australia moved to draft legislation to regulate AI data-centre development because of energy and water concerns.
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