AI 'stealing' Indigenous Australian art to create 'Temu slop', says National Gallery adviser Sally Scales

Artificial intelligence is being used to copy Indigenous Australian art and generate cheap, inauthentic products, according to Sally Scales, a Pitjantjatjara artist and chair of the National Gallery of Australia's First Nations advisory group. Scales warns that AI is undermining the agency of First Nations artists and the authenticity of their work, calling it 'a theft' of cultural knowledge. She compares the low-quality AI-generated items to products sold on discount site Temu, coining the term 'Temu slop' to describe the flood of derivative designs. The issue highlights growing concerns over how generative AI models, trained on vast datasets including Indigenous artworks without consent, can produce imitations that devalue original creations and misrepresent cultural symbols. As AI tools become more accessible, the risk of cultural appropriation and economic harm to Indigenous artists increases, with few legal protections currently in place. Scales' comments add to a broader debate about intellectual property rights in the age of AI, urging policymakers and tech companies to respect Indigenous cultural heritage. The National Gallery's advisory group is expected to raise awareness and advocate for stronger safeguards against such misuse.