Queensland Mayor Urges Use of AI in Arts Awards Judging Amid ‘Copying’ Scandal

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate has urged organisations behind Australian arts awards to use artificial intelligence to identify works that may have been “copied”, following accusations that two prize-winning works by the same local artist were heavily inspired by paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Nicholas Harding.

Speaking to local media earlier this week, Tate suggested that organisations should run works through AI in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the current scandal, which has seen allegations levelled against Australian artist Jane Allan in relation to prizes won in 2022 and 2025.

Referencing the accusations, Tate said: “Art is about imagination, creativity. You’re not using your imagination, you’re not being creative when you’re just copying somebody else’s work.

“I would encourage organisations to look at the artwork and to run it though AI—Google, even—and see whether or not it’s been copied.”

Allegations against Allan first came to light following a Facebook post by the Gold Coast-based Doyles Arts Award, which granted the artist first place in its $20,000 AUD (£10,000) landscape painting prize in 2025 for her work Seaside Explorers.

Shared on 19 June, the post read: “In a time where artists are constantly having to defend themselves against their artworks getting ripped off from large faceless overseas companies, stolen from brands who don’t credit them and AI which seems to bring its own complications, never did we expect a threat from within our own art community.

“It appears as though one of last year’s winning works is an imitation of a Nicholas Harding artwork. We have no idea why this has only emerged now, but we thank our community for once again having each others (and our) backs.”

The Harding work in question, Two Estuary Figures, was painted in 2011, just over a decade before the Archibald prize-winning painter’s death. It shows two beachgoers, each painted in his signature impasto style, one standing to the left of the canvas, and another bending down to the right.

Ocula was not able to reach Allan for comment. However, in describing her own, similar, work in 2025, the artist said: “Like so many Australians, my vivid childhood memories revolve around carefree summer holidays at the beach. Allowed to swim and explore on our own, my brother and I would fill our days, each day merging with the next.

“This palate knife work Seaside Explorers invites the viewer to reminisce about their own halcyon childhood memories in the landscapes that brought them joy.”

The Doyles Arts Award’s website no longer lists Allan’s work among its 2025 winners. A spokesperson for the organisation told Ocula it had been removed “whilst we undergo consultation with our legal team regarding our position on the matter”.

The spokesperson added: “We will be exploring all options available to us to verify artwork authenticity. How we choose to do this is still being discussed by the board.”

Earlier this week, allegations against Allan began making international headlines after Australia’s National Portrait Gallery told the Guardian that another of the artist’s award-winning works was “clearly influenced” by Basquiat.

This work, titled Weight of the Mind’s Periapt, was a finalist in the National Portrait Gallery-administered Darling portrait prize in 2022. It was also selected for the Art Handlers award, judged by gallery staff, which secured Allan a $2,000 prize.

The works’ similarities to Basquiat’s Untitled (Two Heads on Gold) were noted in a 2022 video shared by the gallery, in which its collection administrator highlighted its “elements of the American artist Basquiat and also the Australian artist Imants Tillers, and that kind of semi-industrial kind of colour palette and tonality”.

The National Portrait Gallery did not respond to Ocula’s request for comment. However, a spokesperson told the Guardian: “While the gallery regularly reviews the terms and conditions of its prizes, it has always required artists to declare that they are submitting an original artwork.”