The Business Council of Australia (BCA) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Review of AI and the Australian Consumer Law. The BCA represents around 130 of the largest companies operating in Australia. Our membership supports the positive role that innovation can play in expanding our economy, creating jobs and delivering benefits for all Australians.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to significantly enhance the Australian economy. It can make tasks easier for workers, reduce complexity and costs to businesses, and support a range of entirely new services. In 2018, CSIRO estimated that digital innovation could deliver $315 billion in gross economic value to Australia by 2028.1 Generative AI alone could add $115 billion to Australia’s economy annually by 2030.

In contrast, as the AI opportunity has risen, Australia’s economy is stalling. Increased red tape, an inefficient tax system, and uncertainty around project approvals have meant Australia is missing out on investment and economic growth opportunities. Business investment remains at relatively low levels as a share of the economy. On a per person basis, GDP growth fell 0.4 per cent over the June 2024 quarter and fell 1.5 per cent over the year. This was the sixth consecutive quarterly decline in average living standards.

AI is not new. Australian businesses have used AI systems for years—ranging from automated decision-making processes, speech to text technologies, machine vision, and more recent advances in generative AI. The recent growth in capability and adoption of generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs) and other innovative AI functionality has introduced new risks and opportunities in AI. But they are fundamentally similar to what has come before. Through this AI development, Australians have remained protected by our framework of existing, technology-neutral regulations, such as consumer law, privacy protections and financial system regulation.

To realise the AI opportunity, we must ensure Australia employs clear regulatory protections that encourage experimentation, development, adoption and use. To address harms, existing technology-neutral laws should be applied. Where there are gaps, any new AI regulatory approach must be risked-based, proportionate and targeted, and without unclear, redundant or onerous obligations. The technology that underlies AI may be complex, but the regulatory approach adopted must not be.

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) is fundamental to providing cross-cutting consumer protections across all kinds of goods and services. It is drafted to be technologically neutral, and applicable in a wide variety of circumstances. These features mean that the ACL will continue to be fit for purpose in providing consumers with an appropriate level of protection for goods and services, including those that incorporate AI. The ACL has also been proven repeatedly capable of dealing with complex issues of liability and causation, including apportionment of liability in relation to AI.

Breaches of the ACL already carry significant penalties and allow the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to issue infringement notices where determined. Attempts to change the ACL to
incorporate explicit AI requirements would be premature, compound with a range of other measures already on foot, and are likely to do more regulatory harm than good. A more constructive initial approach could involve the ACCC developing guidance material for businesses as was done recently on sustainability and ‘green’ issues.

Existing protections in Australian law are strong. The case is weak for whether additional regulation on AI would enhance protections to consumers. Rather, it risks:

• creating further uncertainty
• stifling innovation
• increasing compliance burden and costs
• Australia becoming a global outlier
• impacting foreign investment in Australia, potentially delaying projects that would otherwise generate jobs for Australians and revenue for the Australian economy.

Read our full submission here.