Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Lambie, for that question. As you would be aware, the Albanese government announced the national plan for artificial intelligence some months ago, and that did include establishing an AI Safety Institute funded with just under $30 million to play that role. That work occurs against the backdrop of the efforts put into, in the previous term including by Minister Husic, establishing the government's approach to this vital technology, which comes with enormous opportunity and with some risk.

The national plan for artificial intelligence is about making sure that Australia captures the opportunities of this technology; that we spread the benefits so they're not just in the central business districts of our big cities but are spread to small businesses, to the tech sector, to regional communities to make sure that schools and everybody gets access to the benefits of this technology; and importantly that we keep Australians safe. The AI Safety Institute's role will be to do the technical evaluation work, particularly testing new frontier models, to make sure that we understand what the platforms are that are accessible for Australians and to do the work in terms of safety and alignment with the interests of Australians to perform a regulatory support role so that we make sure as a government—working with colleagues like Minister Gallagher and others across the government to ensure that our regulators, our agencies, our departments, have the capability that they require and the regulations they need to make sure— (Time expired)