Speaking at the University of Sydney, The Prime Minister The Hon Anthony Albanese MP described the key challenges and opportunities that artificial intelligence presents for Australia and the responsibilities this creates for Government.

A new Office of AI inside his Office of Prime Minister and Cabinet will bring together the work that ministers across the government are undertaking, and Australia will be the first country in the world to bring issues around AI into a single national framework, the Prime Minister announced.

"To seize and shape and share the generational opportunity that AI represents our Government will establish a set of Australian Standards for AI," he said. "Clear, consistent and mandatory.... We will aim to bring the legislation to Parliament early next year."

“AI touches on the work of every Minister and Department... 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.”

Productivity and economic opportunity

The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of creating a new generation of “good, secure jobs for our economy.”

“Our great country... can lead in everything from cyber security and biotechnology to advanced manufacturing, and this is why we want Australia to have more of a stake in where AI is made and how it is made.

“We want great universities like this one leading the way, and we want more Australian companies and global firms developing AI here to boost our sovereign capability, to strengthen our national security and build our economic resilience.”

The Prime Minister was also clear: “Not everything produced in Australia is up for grabs.”

“Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists must retain ownership and control of their work. Our laws will spell that out, plain as day. An artist's creative endeavour is their work and their property.”

"Our Australian standards will also set clear rules for large data centres: where they are built – and the power and water they use... We know that companies will need to invest in skills and training to be successful. And we know they will need energy too. We will create a legal obligation for the next generation of large-scale data centres to underwrite new power supply.”

Fairness, trust and social licence

Economic gains must not come at the expense of social cohesion or public trust, the Prime Minister stated.

“We can bring our enduring values of fairness and opportunity to this task to ensure that AI earns its social licence; driving growth without undercutting conditions, fragmenting our society or damaging our environment.” 

“This is about building Australians' confidence and trust in AI and our nation's capacity to manage it, ensuring that our national interests and our national security are protected and providing the certainty for growth, for jobs and for investment.”

Addressing the risks of AI

The Prime Minister also addressed the risks AI could present.

“This year’s National Defence Strategy identified AI and machine learning as holding ‘the most significant potential for technological disruption’ in the years ahead,” Prime Minister Albanese said. 

“We know that both extremists and state actors already use AI to create propaganda aimed at young people – and to spread disinformation that targets democracies. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs are working closely with their agencies – and our Five Eyes Partners – on these matters of ­national security.”

“If we move with purpose now, if we back ourselves, if we trust in our values and invest in our people, if we set our national standards high, then I have every confidence that Australia can seize this moment and make it our own,” the Prime Minister concluded.

Role of universities in navigating AI

Introducing the Prime Minister, University’s Provost and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Annamarie Jagose, noted the significance of the address and the role of universities in helping the nation manage this critical societal challenge. 

“It has been a pleasure welcoming the Prime Minister back to campus, the eighth Prime Minister educated at our University, to hear the Government’s vision for how Australia can embrace the opportunities of AI in productive and ethical ways while mitigating risks. 

“Australia’s universities are already playing a key role in this transition, and at Sydney we’ve transforming the way we teach and assess our students’ work in the AI age, led nation-wide conversations to align schools, tertiary, the professions, and industry towards valued human capabilities, and are ensuring our students can use and build with technologies responsibly and effectively – with our award-winning homegrown AI education platform Cogniti recently launching on Microsoft Marketplace having significant impact across education sectors across the globe.

“We’re also aware of our responsibility as an academic institution to help society adapt and to mitigate risk as these technologies reshape our lives, work and communities. Our AI, Trust and Governance Centre is examining the complexities of emerging AI technologies and working to advance responsible AI development and implementation, and just yesterday our Business School announced a new research initiative in collaboration with four leading employers – Ashurst Perkins Coie, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deloitte, Telstra – to assess the seismic impact of AI on professions and help shape Australia’s response.

“AI is also driving research and innovation, and our researchers are using these technologies to fast-track discovery. Examples include designing AI-enabled clinical decision support systems to support faster and more accurate diagnoses and treatments in a collaboration and with the help of government funding; developing a Large Language Model built ethically by the creative community itself; creating digital ‘human’ assistants that help young people with acquired brain injury to connect more with society and with those around them; and building an ultra-compact AI prototype chip that could play an important role in developing more energy-efficient AI hardware.

“We’ll continue to innovate and partner across sectors for AI that serves our communities and the public good."