Australia’s left-wing government said on Thursday it plans to impose targeted artificial intelligence regulations, including on human intervention and transparency, amid the rapid spread of AI tools in businesses and everyday life.
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic released 10 new voluntary guidelines on AI systems and said the government had deliberated for a month on whether to make them mandatory in high-risk areas in the future.
“Australians know AI can do great things, but people want to know there are safeguards in place if things go off the rails,” Mr Husic said in a statement. “Australians want stronger protections on AI, we’ve heard that, we’ve listened to them.”
The report containing guidelines says it is important to enable human control as needed throughout the lifecycle of an AI system.
“Meaningful human oversight will allow you to intervene when needed and reduce the potential for unintended consequences and harms,” the report says, adding that companies should be transparent in disclosing the role of AI when creating content.
Amid the growing popularity of generative AI systems such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, regulators around the world have raised concerns about misinformation and fake news spread by AI tools.
As a result, in May the EU passed landmark AI legislation imposing strict transparency obligations on high-risk AI systems that are far more comprehensive than the light-hearted voluntary compliance approach in place in many countries.
“We don’t feel we have any right to self-regulate anymore. I think we’ve crossed that line,” Husic told ABC News.
Australia has no specific laws to regulate AI, although in 2019 it introduced eight voluntary principles for its responsible use. A government report published this year said existing arrangements are not adequate to deal with high-risk scenarios.
Husic said only a third of businesses using AI are implementing it responsibly across criteria such as security, fairness, accountability and transparency.
“Artificial intelligence is expected to create 200,000 jobs in Australia by 2030… so it is vital that Australian businesses are equipped to develop and use this technology appropriately,” he said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
