Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry and Science. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to ensure that the growth of artificial intelligence technologies in Australia is responsible and safe?

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

I thank the member for Bruce for the question and also for his engagement on this issue. In fact, there are a number of parliamentarians who have thought deeply about this matter. I want to congratulate the member for Higgins and also the member for Curtin, who has raised these measures. It is something that the community is thinking about, and the Albanese government is determined to support the uptake of technologies in a way that is fair and inclusive and that reflects community interest.

Fairness and inclusivity are core values for our government. These values have informed all technology related policy in my portfolio and they have guided our work, for example, to grow the tech workforce in Australia. I am pleased to say that this week we announced that we have reached 935,000 jobs, up eight per cent since last year, and we are well on our way to reaching our tech jobs target of 1.2 million jobs by 2030. We want to maximise the benefit of technology in ways that benefit us while also having a clear focus on curbing risk.

It has been estimated that AI could add about $1 trillion to $4 trillion to our economy over the next 15 years. But recent AI models are being adopted at speed and scale and there is concern in the community about the pace at which the technology is developing. Our government respects this concern. That is why we are acting. In February, the Albanese government commissioned the National Science and Technology Council to provide a rapid report on the development of generative AI. The report provided a consensus position from our science and research community on immediate trends in AI.

Today we have announced the next step in making sure we have modern laws to manage modern technology, which is why the Albanese government released a discussion paper and the NSTC paper to help guide that work. Our discussion paper, Safe and Responsible AIin Australia, looks at existing regulatory and governance mechanisms in our country. It sets out actions being taken in other parts of the world. It considers whether additional risk based rules are needed. It sets the stricter safety rules for high-risk uses of AI. It is clear on the kind of transparency and monitoring required for AI being able to be used to make decisions about people's lives. The discussion paper is backed by an immediate investment in industry adopting AI in responsible ways.

Today's discussion paper brings together several Albanese government values: being a government that acts on science and is led by science, drawing on our National Science and Technology Council expertise, working together across portfolios—ministers Burke, Dreyfus, Claire, Rowland, Gallagher are all looking at these issues deeply—integrating national wellbeing and economic prosperity. Again, we want modern laws to manage modern technology.