The federal government has published its National AI strategy This week the corporate confirmed it had dropped its previous proposal for mandatory guardrails for high-risk artificial intelligence (AI).
In its response to AI, the federal government has found itself caught in a bind between unions pushing for stricter regulations to guard employees and their jobs and corporations demanding a “light-touch” approach to AI.
To discuss how the federal government will sustain with the effective management of AI, in addition to a protracted overdue response to a Jobs for Mates review, we're joined by Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Tim Ayres.
About the federal government's decision to not introduce it AI-specific lawsAyres denies that the Albanian government ultimately took a “light” approach.
It is a realistic Australian approach that addresses the circumstances by which Australia finds itself, each strategically and economically. We now have an existing regulatory framework. Australian law applies immediately.
The (recent) AI Safety Institute is about ensuring we support our regulators. Of course, working with the very best advice, whether within the intelligence agencies or the safety agencies, working with the trade union movement and civil society, getting the very best advice to make sure that we strengthen the federal government's ability to investigate threats, taking a look at the brand new AI models and ensuring we now have tested them properly, and supporting the federal government's capabilities across the board.
Ayers admits there might be some “bumps within the road” as as to whether AI adoption will result in failures as Australian employees and industry get used to the technology:
I don't wish to say this evenly, but I do think it's true (…) that major social and technological changes are after all rarely without bumps and glitches. We in government are really very aware of the human challenges here.
And that's why I keep stressing that it's a lot better to bring people together and let Australians and Australian institutions work together for higher business than to face back and push these developments forward without us rolling up our sleeves and getting involved.
Using examples he has seen in his role as science minister, Ayres says AI could bring real advantages to Australians in the subsequent five to 10 years.
(For example, the power of artificial intelligence to dramatically speed up drug design so we are able to get more medicines, more targeted design developed in Australia in pharmacies to support the health of Australians, cancer treatment designs, composite materials design. And within the energy sector, we’d like to have the opportunity to (…) intelligently manage the energy grid in order that we are able to expand renewable energy and expand electricity capability. There is sort of no area of technological improvement that just isn’t touched by artificial intelligence.
But with this rapid expansion comes real costs, including the large amount of electricity and water data centers use.
Ayres said he would resume working with state and territory governments on developing “data center principles” very early next 12 months. The Sydney Morning Herald and others have reported that the federal government is considering encouraging recent data centers to speculate in large wind and solar projects or construct their very own batteries on site.
Ayres says that if data centers and recent digital infrastructure find yourself paying for brand new generation and transmission capability, “it represents a net addition to the electricity system and never a drain on resources.”
Microsoft's recent investments in Australia have underpinned and supported the event of a large business 300 megawatt solar farm north of Albury near Walla Walla. There are opportunities here if we take a planned approach to make sure this supports the event of the electricity system.
After this week's release Review of “Jobs for Friends” – which the federal government stuck with for 2 years and now rejects all recommendations – Ayres argues that Labor has “done rather a lot to revive integrity” since his election in 2022.
I believe what we saw was that the previous government tainted the method to such an extent that Australians lost confidence within the appointments process. Now we now have done rather a lot to revive integrity and intending to these appointments.
(…) The rules announced by (Finance Minister) Katy Gallagher and adopted by the federal government today go a protracted method to restoring public trust. But after all we are going to prove day-after-day that we actually take our responsibility on this area seriously and that our appointments reflect the general public interest.
