Anthony Albanese to create new ‘Office of AI’ under his department’s control
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is bringing coordination of Australia’s AI approach under his control, with a new office focused on the technology to operate from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).
The context: In a speech in Sydney on Wednesday, Albanese will compare the advent of AI to the emergence of civil aviation, arguing it requires a “developed and coordinated” response from government.
Albanese will announce the creation of a new Office of AI, established on Wednesday, to operate under PM&C in what he frames as a world first attempt to “bring these issues into a single, national framework”.
“AI touches on the work of every minister and department, so it is only natural that, up until now, our response has been issue-by-issue, sector-by-sector,” Albanese will say, according to excerpts of the speech.
“But just as government developed co-ordinated approaches for other significant technologies: from civil aviation in the 1920s to genetics in the 1990s, we must do this with AI as well.”
The new office will “work closely” with Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres and Assistant Science Minister Andrew Charlton, who have been spearheading the government’s AI framework.
In November, the pair unveiled national principles for AI data centre approvals, expecting developers to fund their own renewable energy in exchange for fast-tracked regulatory approvals.
But Albanese insisted the government’s work was going well beyond that, stressing ministers are already working to assess AI’s impact on productivity, Australia’s energy grid, copyright laws and the education sector.
State and territory energy ministers will meet in coming weeks to discuss data centres’ energy use, while the federal government is separately working through a Digital Duty of Care Act.
Labor is also under pressure from creative and media sectors, which fear AI companies will be allowed to strip their content with limited or no payment.
Ayres’ predecessor, Labor MP Ed Husic, publicly insisted on Tuesday that AI companies must be prevented from overriding Australian copyright laws.
What they said: “Every country on earth is grappling with these challenges right now,” Albanese will say.
“Australia will be the first country in the world to bring these issues into a single, national framework.”
The sources: Excerpts from Anthony Albanese’s speech, The Guardian
