Sally Scales: AI is turning Indigenous Australian art into 'Temu slop'
Chair of National Gallery's First Nations advisory group says AI training on Aboriginal art without consent undermines artists' agency and authenticity.
What to know
- AI systems are scraping Indigenous Australian art from websites and e-commerce platforms, removing artist names and generating unauthorized derivatives sold without attribution or compensation.
- First Nations artists face heightened vulnerability because AI compounds existing copyright infringement (affecting one in five creators) with the added complexity of protecting sacred and cultural knowledge embedded in their work.
- Corporate clients can pay once for Aboriginal imagery, then use AI to create derivative works and repurpose images without further permission or artist consent, eliminating repeat business for creators.
- The Australian government has pledged copyright protection for creatives, but enforcement mechanisms for Indigenous cultural and intellectual property remain unresolved.
“Indigenous data sovereignty recognises the right of First Nations peoples to exercise authority over their data, cultural material and knowledge”
National Association for the Visual Arts, Peak body for Australian visual artists · The Guardian ↗
Sally Scales Pitjantjatjara artist; chair, National Gallery of Australia First Nations advisory groupKathy Bowrey IP expert, UNSW SydneyTerri Janke Wuthathi and Meriam lawyer; international Indigenous cultural IP authorityNational Association for the Visual Arts (Nava) Peak body for Australian visual artists
Michelle Rowland Australian Attorney General
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Terri Janke documents AI scraping of Indigenous art centre websites
Lawyer Terri Janke, a Wuthathi and Meriam international authority on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property, has documented instances of AI systems scraping Indigenous art centre websites, removing artists' names, and altering their work. The National Association for the Visual Arts cites her work in a submission to the joint select committee inquiry on artificial intelligence.
“AI is taking First Nations art and turning it into 'Temu slop'”
— Sally Scales, Pitjantjatjara artist; National Gallery First Nations advisory chair · source -
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No one should be the eternal owner of the works they release to the world. Once they release it, it stops being their "own" work and becomes everybody's work. That's why I'm absolutely in favor of cultural appropriation and totally against any atavistic conception of culture. Cultural should have no borders, no boundaries, and no walls. "Scales…
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Kathy Bowrey warns Indigenous creators face compounded IP vulnerability — IP expert Kathy Bowrey at UNSW Sydney notes that one in five creators already faced copyright infringement without AI, and the problem intensifies for First Nations people due to historical lack of control over ownership and respect for Aboriginal culture. She describes a scenario where corporate clients pay once for Aboriginal imagery, then use AI to repurpose it without further permission.
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Sally Scales details AI scraping of Indigenous Australian art — The Pitjantjatjara artist and chair of the National Gallery of Australia's First Nations advisory group publishes an account of AI systems trained on First Nations art without compensation, creating derivative works and removing artist attribution. She describes the process as "a theft" of cultural knowledge and "Temu slop."
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first by The Guardian, 9d ago · also Guardian