Australian govt releases national AI plan
Canberra, Dec 2 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU) The Australian government on Tuesday released a national plan to give guidance to industry, researchers, governments and the public on how to safely and beneficially use artificial intelligence (AI).
Under the National AI Plan, the government says it will prioritise supporting and reskilling workers whose roles are affected by AI, boost investment in data centers and share the productivity benefits of AI across the economy.
Tim Ayres, the minister for industry and innovation and minister for science, said that the plan would keep Australians safe as AI technology continues to evolve, Xinhua News Agency reported.
From 2026, a new government-funded AI Safety Institute announced by Ayres in November will be responsible for evaluating emerging AI capabilities and supporting timely responses to address potential risks.
“The National AI Plan is about making sure technology serves Australians, not the other way around,” Ayres said in a statement.
The plan says that it is in Australia’s interests to ensure that AI development happens locally and aligns with national priorities.
It projected that data centers could account for 6 per cent of Australia’s total electricity demand by the end of the 2020s, up from 2 per cent in 2024.
Ayres said that the federal government is working in partnership with the states and territories to address the energy and water challenges.
The government had previously announced plans to impose 10 mandatory safeguards on ‘high risk’ AI, including risk-management plans and the ability to challenge outcomes of automated decision-making, but has abandoned that approach and will not introduce dedicated legislation to regulate AI.
The Productivity Commission, the government’s principal research and advisory body on economic, social and environmental issues, said in a report published in August that strictly regulating AI could cost the nation’s economy 116 billion Australian dollars (75.8 billion US dollars) over the next 10 years.
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