Albanese to compare pivotal moment in AI to renewable energy transition as he outlines approach

Prime minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to deliver a highly anticipated speech in Sydney about the rapidly growing AI sector. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters View image in fullscreen Prime minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to deliver a highly anticipated speech in Sydney about the rapidly growing AI sector. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters Albanese to compare pivotal moment in AI to Renewable Energy Transition as he outlines approach Labor sources say the PM will discuss safety concerns in speech this week but will not provide an update on copyright reforms to protect artists Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese will describe the progress of AI as an inflection point for society on par with the Renewable Energy Transition, but is not expected to detail progress on copyright reforms to protect creative industries. The prime minister will deliver a highly anticipated speech in Sydney on Wednesday to address growing concerns around social license and the necessary policy guardrails for AI, Datacentres, and the ability of Big Tech to profit from Australian intellectual property. The speech comes as newly released government documents show AI giant Anthropic cited Australia’s policy uncertainty as a major impediment to new investments. According to Labor sources, Albanese is expected to focus his remarks on safety and compliance considerations around AI, including building trust in the community about workforce changes, defence implications, and development of energy-intensive infrastructure such as Datacentres. Labor is planning to take a more active role in the rollout of the rapidly growing sector, which is potentially worth billions to the economy, but has observed heated community division over Datacentres overseas. Insiders compared the policy challenges presented by AI as similar to those presented by social media, and said planning for the future now will be more effective than waiting for the wave of technological change to arrive. Polling shows Australians are split on how they view AI. The Guardian Essential poll in May found 36% of voters thought AI carried more risk than opportunity, while 41% saw risk and opportunity about the same. Just 22% thought AI had more opportunity than risk. An invitation to Albanese’s speech, seen by Australia" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="329" data-entity-type="organization">Guardian Australia, says it will include discussion of “the challenges and opportunities” of AI, as well as “the responsibility this creates for government”. “Every bit as importantly, we can bring our enduring values of fairness and opportunity to this task,” the invitation says. “To ensure that AI earns its social licence, driving growth without undercutting conditions, fragmenting our society or damaging our environment.” Labor sources said the speech was the next step in a whole-of-government project, after months of intense lobbying and different views among senior ministers about how best to navigate policy and political pitfalls. The assistant minister for science, technology and the digital economy, Andrew Charlton, and the industry minister, Tim Ayres, have been leading development of the policy, with other senior figures closely engaged in recent days. The health minister, Mark Butler, said Wednesday’s speech would be “a blend” of guardrails and principles, especially around safety risks, data and privacy. “Are we harnessing all of the opportunities with every wave of technology? But are we also making sure that everyone gets the benefits, not just a few? And with this technology, maybe more than most, I think people are also focused on managing the risks and the safety potential for this technology,” he told Channel Nine. “Stepping through that, the benefits, the opportunities, equity issues and managing risk, I think, is the focus of our government.” Documents released under freedom of information laws reveal Treasury officials warned Jim Chalmers that Anthropic would complain that copyright rules were “impeding the development of data centres” in Australia, ahead of a meeting with the company’s chief executive, Dario Amodei, in April. Briefing notes prepared by Chalmers’ department ahead of the meeting predicted that Anthropic would claim their investment “is contingent on clarity of copyright settings” and that they wanted “certainty over their liability to rights holders”. Officials said Anthropic had warned that while they could do deals with larger rights holders, a “long tail” of smaller rights holders “impedes efforts to identify and purchase licencing rights”. They recommended Chalmers “strongly encourage” Anthropic to engage with rights holders and the attorney general’s department, which is leading the copyright work, “to ensure creative and media industries are fairly compensated for the use of their material in Al training within Australia’s robust copyright framework”. The government has ruled out including AI companies in its News Bargaining Incentive, where social media platforms are required to either sign commercial deals with news outlets or pay a larger levy which would be distributed by the government. Senior ministers insisted on Monday creative industries would not be sold out under the AI plans. Ahead of a separate meeting with Amodei, Ayres was urged by his department to tell Anthropic that “it is essential that benefits accrue to Australians and the Australian economy from AI investments”. FoI documents for Ayres’ meeting – where he was to be joined by Albanese – state that the government “want an enduring collaboration with Anthropic”. Explore more on these topics Australian politics AI (Artificial Intelligence) Anthony Albanese Anthropic news Share Reuse this content