Anthony Albanese will stamp his prime ministerial authority on Australia’s response to the artificial intelligence revolution amid fears of mass layoffs and energy-guzzling data centres, creating an office within his own department to deal with the technology. Source: The Age.
In his most extensive speech on AI, due to be delivered in Sydney today, the prime minister will emphasise its “pivotal” role in resuscitating productivity and warn of extremists and hostile states using it “to spread disinformation that targets democracies”.
Australia’s response to the AI revolution comes as the Vatican is this week hosting over 200 top academics, innovators, and Nobel laureates for a global summit on AI security risks, inspired by Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Vatican News reports.
In his speech, Mr Albanese will borrow from European responses to reveal an Office of AI in his department, creating a single point of control for policymaking instead of dealing with each AI issue separately.
“Getting this right will enhance our appeal to international investors, by delivering greater clarity and speed for approvals,” Mr Albanese will say, according to a copy of his speech.
Tech companies and others are keen to plough billions into data centres in Australia, but Mr Albanese is also trying to attract investment while at the same time countering hostility towards data centres and convincing unions that Labor will protect workers from job losses.
After months of debate within Labor over how warmly to embrace artificial intelligence, the government hopes the Office of AI will empower ministers to use it to improve public service efficiency.
“Just as [Australia] 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,” Mr Albanese will say.
The speech comes at an important moment for AI. The stratospheric valuation of the globe’s biggest companies has kickstarted a new era of wealth creation and positioned Australia as a top destination for rapidly expanding data centres.
However, some community groups are pushing back on the data centres, which use huge amounts of energy and water.
FULL STORY
Albanese in charge of AI revolution as 200 experts release dire warning (By Paul Sakkal, The Age)
Nobel laureates, experts discuss nuclear war and AI at Borgo Laudato Si (By Isabella H. de Carvalho, Vatican News)
