Phil Lowe is worried that a 'risk avoidance mindset' will ruin the AI opportunity
The former RBA governor predicted AI was not likely to cause mass unemployment, and called the technology Australia's "best bet" to reverse slumping productivity.
Former Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe has a message for Canberra's policy makers: Focus more on encouraging investment in AI and less on regulating the technology.
Speaking at a financial services event run by AWS on Wednesday, Lowe said the biggest risk AI poses to Australia is not mass unemployment but rather under-adoption causing the country to miss its "best bet" of reversing the productivity slump.
"My concern at the moment is that given our [Australian] society's risk avoidance mindset, you might be too keen to regulate and to try and limit some of the possible downsides," Lowe said. "If we do that, I think we will once again lose on the upside."
"The consequence of this will be a slow rate of technical progress, less productive Australian companies and greater risk of stagnation our living standards."
