Attributed to BCA Chief Executive Bran Black
The Business Council of Australia welcomes the bipartisan recognition of the need for safety and security protections for frontier AI.
The BCA supports strong and effective safeguards for frontier AI with clear accountability for serious risks.
Australia must both manage the risks associated with artificial intelligence and seize the opportunities it presents, from earlier diagnoses of disease to giving tradies their evenings back from the books.
AI represents one of Australia’s biggest opportunities to improve living standards, but only if we do not fall behind other countries that are already using this technology.
We need practical guardrails that protect Australians while allowing businesses to put AI to work.
International alignment, recognition of existing safety testing and ensuring no duplication of existing Australian regulations or laws are some of the ways we make this workable.
Frontier AI safeguards are necessary, but Australia must avoid poorly designed regulations that send investment elsewhere and do little for safety.
Equally, we must ensure that safeguards aimed at frontier AI capabilities do not inadvertently impose disproportionate burdens on every Australian business adopting AI.
Australia can strengthen AI safety while attracting the research and infrastructure needed to build national capability. The Government, Opposition and industry must work together to deliver both outcomes.
The objectives of the Government’s announcement are welcome, as is the bipartisan support offered by the Coalition, but the detail of the proposed legislation and regulatory arrangements will be critical. The BCA welcomes the opportunity for consultation.
The priority now must be to consult quickly and get the details right to protect Australians and give businesses the confidence to invest.