Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Nov 10 that Australia will soon set up an artificial intelligence regulator to oversee the AI industry and enforce safety requirements. The government also said it will consider imposing six key obligations on AI companies and has accepted all 18 recommendations from a review.
What the policy involves
According to The Guardian's technology section, the new AI safety regulator will take on industry oversight and ensure safety measures are enforced. The Labor government is weighing six key obligations for AI companies, but the report did not disclose what those six obligations are.
On the review's recommendations, Albanese said:
"We accept all of the recommendations, and we've commenced work to implement them."
The review made 18 recommendations in total, and the government says it accepts all of them. The implementation timeline and the regulator's specific structure remain unclear.
Who it applies to
According to the report, the proposed six key obligations will apply to AI companies, and the new regulator will oversee the AI industry and ensure safety measures are enforced. The report did not specify the exact scope and detailed rules of the six obligations.
Timeline
Albanese announced the measures on Nov 10. The government says it has begun work to implement the review's recommendations, but the specific date for establishing the regulator, the detailed content of the six key obligations and the steps for implementing the 18 recommendations have not been published.
Points to note
The Guardian report links the regulatory move to a data breach at OpenAI. It said OpenAI breached Medicare data, and that the Australian government announced mandatory AI safety and security protections after the incident. The report also said Australia will introduce mandatory reporting to combat the risk of artificial intelligence "going rogue."
Based on the available clues, the regulatory push may be a direct response to the AI safety risks exposed by that data breach, but the source material does not explicitly state a causal link between the two.