{"id":186902,"date":"2025-10-03T06:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/186902\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T06:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:32:07","slug":"amazon-warns-of-two-tier-economy-as-tech-giants-up-ai-lobbying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/186902\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon warns of &#8216;two-tier economy&#8217; as tech giants up AI lobbying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Balancing the merits of artificial intelligence with the risks it poses to workers and creatives is a debate which rages on, all while major US tech companies ramp up their public relations campaigns \u2014 warning of the emergence of \u201ctwo-tier\u201d economies without greater AI take-up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amazon recently laid out its vision for a future Australia that\u2019s \u201cpowered\u201d by artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unlockingaispotential.com\/australia\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report,<\/a> \u201cUnlocking Australia\u2019s AI potential\u201d, is one in a series of country-specific reports commissioned by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and produced by UK consultancy firm Strand Partners. The latter <a href=\"https:\/\/transparency-register.europa.eu\/search-register-or-update\/organisation-detail_en?id=725196399107-52\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">registered<\/a> on the European Union\u2019s lobbyist register in June this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tRelated Article Block Placeholder<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tArticle ID: 1223358\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crikey.com.au\/2025\/10\/03\/meta-climate-change-reality-artificial-intelligence\/\" class=\"\" target=\"_self\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759473127_229_Meta-env-impacts_1680x945_2.jpg\" class=\"aspect-video object-cover h-auto w-[141px] md:w-[216px]\" alt=\"Inside Meta\u2019s fight to change climate reality\u2026 all so it can frantically expand a risky AI program\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aboutamazon.com.au\/news\/aws\/new-aws-research-shows-one-australian-business-adopts-ai-every-three-minutes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">press release<\/a> accompanying the release of the report in late August, AWS warned of the emergence of a \u201ctwo-tier economy\u201d, where \u201cless agile competitors\u201d are being outpaced by \u201ctech-driven startups [that] innovate more rapidly\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWithout deeper integration, these businesses risk missing out on the full potential of AI, falling behind more agile competitors, and driving a two-tier economy that will shape Australia\u2019s prosperity for decades,\u201d the press release said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\tIndependent. Irreverent. In your inbox<\/p>\n<p>\n                            Get the headlines they don\u2019t want you to read. Sign up to Crikey\u2019s free newsletters for fearless reporting, sharp analysis, and a touch of chaos                        <\/p>\n<p>By continuing, you agree to our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crikey.com.au\/terms-conditions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Terms &amp; Conditions<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crikey.com.au\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AWS announced earlier this year it would increase its planned investment in Australia by $7 billion to $20 billion by 2029. The extra money would \u201cgo towards expanding data centre infrastructure and supporting growing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartcompany.com.au\/artificial-intelligence\/amazon-aws-20-billion-data-centre-ai-investment-australia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SmartCompany<\/a> reported in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google, too, has continued to boost AI, writing in a blog post last month that facilitating the use of AI by small and medium-sized businesses in Australia should be a \u201cpolicy gold standard\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSmall and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are the largest employers in most economies, and AI is a powerful tool to boost their productivity,\u201d the post <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/outreach-initiatives\/public-policy\/policy-gold-standards-ai-transformation\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a>. \u201cGovernments should help entrepreneurs access and adopt AI solutions through grants and skilling programs. The Australian government\u2019s AI Adopt Centres help SMBs adopt AI services responsibly and grow their businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this week, a Senate inquiry on Australia\u2019s national cultural policy examined the impact of AI on Australia\u2019s creative landscape. Many of the creatives who appeared at the hearings were critical of the Productivity Commission\u2019s alleged failure to consult with artists before recommending an exemption to the Copyright Act for text and data mining for AI development.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou, I would put to you, are waving the white flag rather than standing up for our creative industries; you\u2019re saying very clearly it\u2019s not realistic that you could stop this. Copyright in this country is worth protecting,\u201d Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson told the hearing, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2025\/sep\/30\/briggs-warns-about-artist-copyright-ai-australia-productivity-commission-abandoning-creatives\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Guardian Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Balancing the merits of artificial intelligence with the risks it poses to workers and creatives is a debate&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-186902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}