Australia plans Office of AI to shape national rules

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to announce the creation of an Office of AI to design national rules for artificial intelligence, a technology the government says is affecting jobs, defence and energy while also offering economic opportunities.

In a Wednesday speech, Albanese is expected to say his government will raise the level of its response to AI by setting up a dedicated office within his department to oversee policy. The office is to be established from Wednesday and will map out Australian standards.

Prepared speech excerpts say Albanese will seek to address public concern about AI, noting that every country is dealing with similar challenges. He is expected to say that clearer rules, faster approvals and a simpler compliance process would improve Australia's appeal to international investors.

The planned announcement follows the release of government briefing notes showing that Dario Amodei, chief executive of US startup Anthropic, lobbied Australian officials for copyright reform as the company considers a major investment in Australia. Albanese is also facing pressure from musicians, screenwriters and artists to reject proposals from technology companies for unlicensed use of their works to train AI models.

The speech is also expected to point to security risks. It says Australia's National Defence Strategy identified AI and machine learning as having the most significant potential for technological disruption in coming years. It also says extremists and state actors already use AI to create propaganda aimed at young people and to spread disinformation targeting democracies.

Albanese is expected to say AI is affecting energy, law, workplaces and schools, and that the government will coordinate its approach in a way similar to earlier responses to major social changes linked to aviation in the 1920s and genetics in the 1990s.

Government figures show business investment in data centre machinery and equipment was the largest contributor to Australia's economic growth in the three months to March, although much of the equipment was imported. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported the March-quarter data in June.

HSBC chief economist for Australia Paul Bloxham said in a note last month that Australia is experiencing one of the world's largest data centre buildouts, ranking sixth behind the United States, China, Malaysia, India and Japan. He cautioned that exporting computing power to other countries could ultimately benefit offshore owners. The pace of data centre expansion has also raised questions about energy and water supply.