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Local councils say their planning departments are under-resourced – the average development of more than 20 dwellings in Sydney now takes over 300 days to process.
AI could take a lion’s share of this burden, reviewing applications and making recommendations, while still allowing planners to make final decisions.
It is not impossible to imagine a world where AI could be used to increase transparency, track delays, and even give applicants early feedback on their likelihood of approval before they hit submit.
And the possibilities for AI extend beyond planning. What about fewer delays at Services Australia? Faster visa approvals? Education materials personalised to the maths curriculum your child is struggling with?
Australian companies like Harrison AI have already developed AI tools to review and flag thousands of radiology results, prioritising the most concerning for urgent human review, rather than leaving them languishing in the queue. If Australia’s government is leading AI adoption, it also will give more opportunities for Australian AI companies like Harrison to grow here, and export their innovation to the world.
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And we need to do something. Because government budgets are constrained at the local, state and federal levels, but our population is ageing and our desire for better healthcare, education and government services only grows.
With inflation still high, we can’t spend more on public services without risking further inflation or negatively impacting the private sector. Our best chance of improved services is innovating to be more efficient on the things that can be automated and investing our resources for those critical things – such the care given by our teachers and healthcare workers – that can’t.
So, what would it take to unlock the upsides of AI and government innovation more broadly?
Our public services need to embrace opportunities, learn from the best in the world, consider how to manage the risks and be ambitious in their goals.
But to do this, it needs the Australian people to give governments permission to try things.
We’re conscious of the risks on automation epitomised in Robo-debt – but we need to recognise that Robo-debt had nothing to do with AI – it was a profoundly human mistake. A poorly designed automated system, based on false assumptions, enabled by political opportunism and bureaucratic cover up for all the wrong reasons.
We shouldn’t let bureaucratic timidity prevent us from using the latest technology to deliver the public services we need.
We may not want public servants to use home-made AI to tackle their jobs, but we do want our public service organisations to ambitiously roll out the best technology available to speed up their processes and decision-making and deliver the best service they can in the most productive and efficient way possible.
And that means Artificial Intelligence for the right goals, with appropriate human oversight.
We have to manage risk rather than shy away from opportunity.
Allegra Spender is the member for Wentworth.
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