The NSW government has set up a centralised Office for Artificial Intelligence to provide advice and set robust standards to drive uptake of the technology across the state’s public sector.
The new Office for AI, which has been established for an initial two-year period, will sit within the Digital NSW arm of the Department of Customer Service, complementing its existing AI frameworks.
NSW Customer Service and Digital Government minister Jihad Dib announced the Office for AI on Wednesday, making good on the government’s in-principle agreement last October to investigate such an office.
The government has also announced UTS Human Technology Institute (HTI) co-director and former Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow as the new chair of its 16-member AI Review Committee — its first independent convener.
A NSW AI Office was one of 12 recommendations made in a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry into AI, which also urged the government to appoint AI officers in agencies and a chief AI officer.
The NSW public sector had almost 200 automated decision-making systems at last count, most of which have been developed and deployed without a specific regulatory framework.
Mr Dib, who announced the new office after fronting estimates on Wednesday morning, said it would help “drive and coordinate the safe, strategic adoption of AI across the NSW government”.
The new office is also expected to help build AI literacy, giving public servants the confidence to incorporate the technology into government systems and helping avoid a situation where multiple proofs of concept fail to progress.
“AI is increasingly part of our everyday lives and as a government we need to make sure it is used responsibly and provides clear benefits for the community,” Mr Dib said in circulated remarks.
“The new Office for AI will not only lead NSW’s use of AI but will set the roadmap on how to safely and responsibly incorporate and manage emerging technologies for more effective delivery of government services in the future.”
Mr Dib previously declared that governments must learn to “ride the wave” of AI, which he said would allow the government to keep pace with rising community service expectations.
The state government is also planning to update its AI Assessment Framework before the end of the year, in what will be its second update of the AI guidance for public servants in 18 months.
The framework requires agencies to conduct a self-assessment for bespoke AI projects valued in excess of $5 million, and elevate those reviews to the AI Review Committee for projects with “high levels of residual risk”.
Seven new members have been appointed to the committee from 3 September, including UNSW Canberra faculty head of AI strategy Alex Antic and UTS HTI co-director Nicholas Davis and QBE Insurance group chief privacy officer Lisa Schonstein.
Other new appointees are Westmead Fertility Centre Board chair Kylie de Boer, litigation strategy advisor Howard Elliott, Amnesty International Australia non-executive director Ajoy Ghosh and NSW Police assistant commissioner Rodney Smith.
“We are building on our strong foundations to drive the trustworthiness and use of these new technologies which will change the way we support customers across the state,” NSW chief information and digital officer Laura Christie added.
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