Industry and Innovation minister Tim Ayres gave the opening address at the AFR AI Summit in Sydney this week, telling the business audience that Australia must “lean in” to the opportunities of artificial intelligence.
The presentation included a commitment from the government to work with the union movement to give them more of a voice in discussions about the impact of AI in the workplace.
This is not a message that generally goes down well with an AFR audience, so it was probably just as well the senator’s presentation was via a pre-recorded video (he was in Perth at the time, for a Cabinet meeting.)
But Senator Ayres included enough sweeteners, pushing the government’s productivity agenda and the willingness of government to compete for investment in AI infrastructure and to help ensure the adoption of AI tools across the economy.
Former Industry minister Ed Husic – at the same conference – says Australia should put in place an AI Act, a legislative framework for the regulation of AI systems. Public assurance and confidence in AI was a key to its successful deployment across the Australian economy.
It is worth noting also that the trade union movement made a splash this week in calling for government to use the existing Commonwealth Procurement Rules to prevent contracts being awarded to Big Tech suppliers that engaged in unethical behaviours.
That would include tax minimisation, work place surveillance and worker exploitation, among other things.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) put out a joint call for a federal boycott on purchases from big Tech firms.
Also this week: InnovationAus spoke to Infosys global chief technology officer Rafee Tarafdar about AI governance. He says companies that establish a dedicated office of responsible AI are the ones that most successfully exploit the technology.
In state news, the Victorian government is considering tasking its Breakthrough Victoria venture capital fund to focus on Defence technologies, and former Science and Technology Australia president Sharath Sriram has been appointed Western Australia’s new chief scientist.
Australia must lean into AI opportunity or miss out: Tim Ayres – [SUBSCRIBER] – InnovationAus.com
Treasury ‘hard heads’ holding back tech sector: Husic – [SUBSCRIBER] – InnovationAus.com
Tim Ayres is wrong. Unions should not control AI use in workplaces – Australian Financial Review
Unions call for federal procurement boycott of Big Tech – [SUBSCRIBER] – InnovationAus.com
AWS contracts near $300m after federal mega-deal – InnovationAus.com [SUBSCRIBER]
‘Significant negative impact’: Innovation groups speak out on super tax – Capital Brief
Super stouch reveals teals’ leanings – The Saturday Paper
Driving responsible AI takes a dedicated office: Infosys global CTO – Podcast – InnovationAus.com
Sharath Sriram named WA’s new chief scientist – InnovationAus.com
Victorian govt mulls defence tech shift for VC fund – [SUBSCRIBER] – InnovationAus.com
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