'Most significant lever': Tech leaders want Tim Ayres to seize the AI opportunity
Startup and innovation leaders are urging AI investment, procurement reform and sovereign manufacturing as Ayres takes on the industry portfolio.
It was during a speech last November when Tim Ayres first caught the attention of the startup sector, and hinted that he may be destined for bigger things.
At the National Innovation Policy Forum in Canberra, the former trade unionist and member of Anthony Albanese's Left faction took the opportunity to refute criticism from Coalition innovation spokesman Paul Fletcher of government hostility toward artificial intelligence, calling such assertions “arrant nonsense”.
"That kind of Luddite-like approach to technological adaptation has never been a feature of labour movement thinking," said Ayres. He emphasised that the government has “invested deeply in Australia’s artificial intelligence capability” with the aim of ensuring “Australia is a leader in the adoption of artificial intelligence technology”.
Ayres elevation to the industry and science portfolio may have caught some onlookers off guard (including Ed Husic, the man who preceded him in the role) but to others in the bubble it is less of a surprise.
