Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Science and Industry. Leading AI experts and industry leaders have warned that unregulated AI development presents profound risks to society and humanity. Last month you said you'd ask the National Science and Technology Council to 'think through what the implications are and how government should respond'. But this is urgent. With every passing month AI becomes more embedded in our economy and harder to regulate. When will we actually see AI development regulated in Australia?

Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to the member for Curtin, and I know you take a deep interest in these things and also the application of technology for good, having visited OncoRes with you and seeing the work they're doing on cancer detection and the use of technology in that way to make a difference in people's lives. Clearly we want the safe and inclusive uptake of technology, particularly when it comes to artificial intelligence, which has been in development since the fifties. We've seen accelerated development in the past few years, and when it comes to generative AI, notably around ChatGPT, we've seen versions released from November through to now. That's obviously started to make people think about other impacts that there could be across a range of different fields.

The government did, through the Prime Minister, ask the National Science and Technology Council to look at the growth of generative AI, particularly the use of large language models, and that work has been done. The government is also considering across whole of government how we are able to ensure that we get the best out of these technologies while also recognising the risks and curb them where we can. For example, a few weeks ago we released our updated list of critical technologies, which highlighted AI, in the category of providing an uplift for benefit as well as the things that do need to be managed. I will be looking forward to releasing further details around the government's work to start building those guardrails even further and inviting public comment and engagement in the development of that process.

We do need to absolutely get this right. We have been consulting widely on that. We're targeting responsible AI development and adoption in this country, particularly through the budget, where we're supporting small and medium enterprises to adopt AI for the first time and to be able to think through how that technology is applied. We're also providing additional funding for the National AI Centre, setting them on a sustainable footing, as well as growing initiatives like the Responsible AI Network—again, bringing business, government and academia together to think through all these issues.

There's other work that's being done, by Minister Gallagher as the Minister for the Public Service, working on guidance around generative AI adoption, and by my colleagues Minister Rowland and the Attorney-General, who have important oversight of relationships between generative AI, online harms, privacy and copyright. Again, we're working on these issues, and we'll be announcing further steps very soon.