Australia to mandate AI safeguards, Albanese says

AI companies operating in Australia will have to follow mandatory safeguards, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday, with a new AI safety regulator planned to oversee the rules.

Albanese said the regulator would implement measures intended to keep the fast-growing industry in check. The safeguards would include mandatory reporting of AI risks and independent evaluation of frontier AI models.

“Our task is to make sure that we shape AI, rather than AI shape us,” Albanese told reporters. “You can't turn it off and pretend it isn't happening. But what we can do is make sure you shape it in Australia's interest.”

Albanese said Australia wanted to benefit from AI while ensuring it had public acceptance. “Social licence is absolutely critical,” he said.