The Labor government is establishing a new agency to help guide AI legislation and promote the safe use of the technology.
Tim Ayers, Minister for Industry, Science and Resources;
Supplied
The government aims for a new body, the Australian AI Safety Institute (AISI), to be the body that assesses the risks of technology use and the industry watchdog to ensure AI companies comply with Australian law.
Industry, Science and Resources Minister Tim Ayers said the institute would be a source of “AI safety expertise” for the government.
“AI can boost industry, boost productivity and improve the standard of living for all Australians, but there are two sides to this coin. The opportunities are enormous, but we need to ensure Australians are protected from malicious uses of AI,” Mr Ayres said.
The government said it would give the institute “capacity” to ensure AI companies comply with Australian law, but gave no details on what that meant.
iT News has asked the Ministry of Industry, Science and Resources for comment.
Although AISI is not identical, it shares some similarities with another agency that the Treasury Department is establishing to regulate the use of technology close to its own purview.
The Treasury is working with the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to establish an oversight committee to ensure government departments and agencies adopt technology responsibly and consistently.
The DTA is currently drawing up the terms of reference for a committee made up of civil service appointees ahead of its expected launch early next year.
The commission is expected to be operational by the second half of next year and fully mature by early 2027.
The commission is a key deliverable from Finance Minister Katie Gallagher’s government-wide AI plan announced earlier this month.
This comes as the Home Office, which is responsible for securing government technology procurement, is briefing Commonwealth technology suppliers on the latest AI policy recommendations and two related Protection Security Policy Framework (PSPF) directions.
About two weeks ago, the Home Office convened a town hall with 80 suppliers to discuss the recommendations and the two directions for the PSPF.
The group is understood to include representatives from Google, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and other companies currently certified under the Hosting Certification Framework to provide generative AI technology.
