[LINK] InfoAge: 'Australia[n business and government]'s Plan to Embrace ... AI'

[Roger Clarke]

[ The announcement on AI is yet another complete non-event.

[ The government is yet to decide anything, is committed to nothing, and 
is clearly at least as beholden to commercial interests as that of the 
USA.  It does not even see a need to offer the pitifully inadequate 
provisions in the European Commission's measures.

[ The public interest is interpreted as being solely that business 
continue its unfettered behaviour, despite the substantial evidence of 
serious inadequacies in AI, and of serious harm arising from it, and the 
absence of solid evidence of benefits from it.  (See companion posting).

[ Meanwhile, the Australian public appears to have lost the capacity to 
be sceptical, and 'born suckers' dominate the landscape.

[ At ongoing risk of sending the same message again and again, see:
http://rogerclarke.com/EC/AII.html#Th    (2019)
http://rogerclarke.com/EC/AIP.html#App1
http://rogerclarke.com/EC/AIR.html#CRF
http://rogerclarke.com/EC/AITS.html      (2023)


 > ... modern laws for modern technology ... *any* legislative changes

 > For high-risk use, the government is set to introduce mandatory 
safeguards that may include independent testing of products before and 
after its release, continual audits, and labelling for when AI has been 
used.
 >
 > The government is also mulling requiring organisations have a 
dedicated role focusing on AI safety under this mandatory code.
 >
 > These uses may include ... [not much] ...

 > The response acknowledged that other jurisdictions, most notably the 
European Union, are moving to outright ban the highest risk usage of AI, 
but did not flag that Australia will be following suit.

 > The Australian government is yet to decide whether it will introduce 
a similar standalone piece of legislation or make amendments to existing 
laws in order to follow its AI policy agenda.


[ So far, I've only been able to find th document at a Google URL, which 
seems to confirm the degree of business control over public policy:

https://storage.googleapis.com/converlens-au-industry/industry/p/prj2452c8e24d7a400c72429/public_assets/safe-and-responsible-ai-in-australia-governments-interim-response.pdf

"The government will consider possible legislative vehicles for 
introducing mandatory safety guardrails for AI in high-risk settings in 
close consultation with industry and the community. It is committed to a 
collaborative and transparent approach to developing obligation ...".


Australia’s plan to embrace safe AI
The days of self-regulation have gone, says Industry Minister.
Denham Sadler
Info Age
Jan 17 2024 01:34 PM
https://ia.acs.org.au/content/ia/article/2024/australia-s-plan-to-embrace-safe-ai.html

Australia will introduce mandatory safeguards for high-risk AI use but 
steer clear of outright bans under a new plan aiming to walk the 
tightrope of mitigating risks and boosting productivity.

Industry minister Ed Husic on Wednesday unveiled the federal 
government’s interim response to industry consultation on the 
responsible use of artificial intelligence.

[ Info Age fails to provide a link to any source. ]

The government launched the consultation mid-last year and received 510 
submissions by August.

Australia’s overarching response to the explosive growth in artificial 
intelligence technology will be “risk-based” and aim to prevent the 
high-level risks associated with it as much as possible while not 
stifling its innovation potential and huge economic benefits.

“We’re threading multiple needles at the same time with the way the 
technology is being developed,” Husic said in a press conference on 
Wednesday morning.

“We want innovation to occur, but if they’re going to present a safety 
risk then the government has a role to respond.

“We want to get the benefits of AI while shoring up and fencing off the 
risks as much as we can, and to design modern laws for modern technology.”

According to McKinsey research, the adoption of AI and automation could 
increase Australia’s GDP by up to $600 billion per year.

But this can only be done if there is trust in these technologies.

KPMG research found recently that only a third of Australians are 
willing to trust AI systems, and more than 70 per cent back the 
government in establishing guardrails.

“We acknowledge that the majority of AI is relatively low-risk, and we 
are working to introduce these rules for companies that design, develop 
and deploy AI in high-risk settings,” Husic said.

“Low trust is becoming a handbrake against the uptake of the technology 
and that’s something we’ve got to confront.”

This is the balancing act the federal government is attempting to 
perform in making any legislative changes around AI: to capitalise on 
its wealth of potential benefits while avoiding as much of the 
associated risk as possible.

“We’ve taken the concerns around AI seriously and sought to listen 
widely, respond thoughtfully and cooperate internationally on a complex 
issue.

“We also want to set up things so government can respond quicker to 
developments in the technology as they occur.”

Plan welcomed by the ACS

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has welcomed the AI plan, saying 
it is an “important step” towards capitalising on the opportunities the 
technology offers.

“Given the profound changes AI will make to the workforce in coming 
years, ACS welcomes the federal government’s response and looks forward 
to working with the proposed Temporary Expert Advisory Group to ensure 
Australia has regulation that’s fit for purpose over the coming 
decades,” said ACS interim CEO Josh Griggs.

“Consulting with experts and industry leaders is going to be critical in 
ensuring that any regulation reaps the benefits of AI while mitigating 
the real risks presented from misuse of the emerging technology.

“We look forward to working with the federal government, industry, 
educators and all key stakeholders to ensure Australia maximises the 
benefits from AI and associated technologies over the coming decade."

The ACS 2023 Digital Pulse report found that 75 per cent of workers will 
see their roles changed by AI, with the impact felt across the 
Australian economy.

Guardrails for high-risk use

The response will see the federal government distinguishing between the 
use of AI in high-risk settings, such as health and law enforcement, and 
its more general application, such as through generative AI tools like 
ChatGPT.

For high-risk use, the government is set to introduce mandatory 
safeguards that may include independent testing of products before and 
after its release, continual audits, and labelling for when AI has been 
used.

The government is also mulling requiring organisations have a dedicated 
role focusing on AI safety under this mandatory code.

These uses may include self-driving vehicle software, tools to predict 
the likelihood of someone reoffending and software to sift through job 
applications to identify candidates.

The current legal landscape in Australia does not adequately address the 
risks associated with the use of AI in this manner, the government said 
in its response.

“Existing laws do not adequately prevent AI-facilitated harms before 
they occur, and more work is needed to ensure there is an adequate 
response to harms after they occur,” the government response said.

“The current regulatory framework does not sufficiently address known 
risks presented by AI systems, which enables actions and decisions to be 
taken at a speed and scale that hasn’t previously been possible.”

The response acknowledged that other jurisdictions, most notably the 
European Union, are moving to outright ban the highest risk usage of AI, 
but did not flag that Australia will be following suit.

Late last year, the European Union agreed on a landmark Artificial 
Intelligence Act, which will ban the use of AI for high-risk activities 
such as in social credit systems and biometric surveillance.

The Australian government is yet to decide whether it will introduce a 
similar standalone piece of legislation or make amendments to existing 
laws in order to follow its AI policy agenda.

Voluntary rules for low-risk use

For lower-risk AI use, the government will introduce a voluntary scheme 
including an AI content label involving “watermarks” to identify when AI 
has been used to make content.

An expert advisory committee will be stumped up to guide the development 
of the mandatory code, and the federal government is preparing to 
consult on details of legislation.

The mandatory code will be in place by the end of the year, Husic said, 
with plans for the voluntary rules to be in place before this.

The interim response flagged that “frontier” AI tools like ChatGPT may 
require future targeted attention but did not outline any steps the 
government may take.

“It was also highlighted that AI services are being developed and 
deployed at a speed and scale that could outpace the capacity of 
legislative frameworks, many of which have been designed to be 
technology-neutral,” it said.

-- 
Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA 

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
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