Optus AI boss warns Australia against following Europe-style regulation
Samantha Lawson says strict rules risk stifling innovation as Australia lags in the booming global AI market and sovereign tech capability.
Optus VP of AI Samantha Lawson has warned Australian lawmakers against emulating Europe’s AI regulations, arguing the rules have been counterproductive for the continent.
Citing Deloitte research commissioned by Optus, which forecasts global spending on agentic AI to reach $317 billion by 2034, Lawson said how much of that flows to Australia will depend heavily on regulation — and that Europe serves as an example of what not to do.
"China's up there, America's up there, Europe just regulated themselves out of the equation," she said. "We need to protect customers and privacy, but it's a very fine line between protecting and killing innovation."
Europe last year enacted the world’s first comprehensive AI framework with the EU AI Act, but has since begun rolling back some measures, including lowering thresholds for startups and removing civil penalties for the creators of harmful AI.
