Tech Council of Australia welcomes important steps to progress safe and responsible AI in Australia

The Tech Council of Australia (TCA) has welcomed announcements to progress a safe and responsible approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Australia.

The Federal Government today released the Proposals Paper for Introducing Mandatory Guardrails for AI in High-Risk Settings and a new Voluntary AI Safety Standard.

“The Tech Council supports the release of the voluntary standard, as well as the proposals paper for mandatory safeguards for high-risk AI systems,” TCA CEO Damian Kassabgi said.

“We see this as a crucial step in building an appropriately balanced regulatory strategy for AI governance to support confidence and responsible adoption in AI technologies. We have been encouraged by the consultative approach the Federal Government has taken in developing a range of policy options with consideration across the AI lifecycle to date. We support the consistency between the standards, which will be helpful for industry adoption.

“It is crucial that our regulatory approach in Australia is internationally interoperable and sufficiently flexible to accommodate new and emerging techniques that enable AI governance and oversight.

“We are supportive of Government options that leverage the expertise of existing, well-established regulators and a clear regulatory regime that is well coordinated and aligned.”

“It is important that any AI regulation in Australia does not stifle the productivity and economic opportunity AI presents, which could help create up to 200,000 jobs by 2030.”

“We strongly encourage the Australian Government to continue investing in Australian capability in AI as a nationally significant critical technology, and look forward to engaging with the Government on the next phase of consultations,” Kassabgi ended.