{"id":910563,"date":"2026-09-30T03:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T03:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910563\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T03:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T03:54:16","slug":"andrew-twiggy-forrest-urges-software-developers-to-design-sleeping-ai-models-to-prevent-government-hacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910563\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew \u2018Twiggy\u2019 Forrest urges software developers to design \u2018sleeping\u2019 AI models to prevent government hacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has suggested software developers design AI models that \u201csleep\u201d like humans so their chatbots can\u2019t rip through government data 24\/7.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Fortescue\u2019s executive chairman called for a digital \u201coff\u201d switch during an American media blitz last week after OpenAI\u2019s Services Australia hack was revealed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He said mandated sleep codes to power down agents when not actively instructed to perform tasks would help mitigate safety risks but would likely only be achieved if all players in the AI race were regulated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3mk41m-StyledText eze0guv9\">Sign up to The Nightly&#8217;s newsletters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1r9pdr5-StyledSubText eze0guv8\">Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>By continuing you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/thenightly.com.au\/subscription-terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sevenwestmedia.com.au\/privacy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cIf you let them on to the internet, they don\u2019t go to sleep. They work 24\/7 every second of every day, forever,\u201d Mr Forrest said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cSo, we need to make sure in their designs they go back to sleep if they\u2019re not instructed. So they don\u2019t just run havoc through the US government records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThey\u2019re not like humans who will peg out one day. They live forever. They work every second of every day unless they\u2019re stopped. They just go on. And if you don\u2019t have an off switch on AI, it might decide to have an off switch on us. It\u2019s as simple as that. It\u2019s common sense.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cBut one company can\u2019t do it alone. They\u2019ve all got to do it or none.\u201d Mr Forrest said he has been quietly facilitating off-the-record dialogues between the US and Chinese on AI in the military since 2019 but wants to play an even greater role in ensuring it is rolled out safely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Dr Forrest said he believed international guardrails were achievable and likened it to securing bilateral commitments to keep nuclear weapon decisions strictly under human control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cAI itself is a military weapon like nuclear is a military weapon. So, to not put guardrails on it? Complete crackers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cIn a nuclear decision, we got the two presidents to agree that none of them would make it unless a human made it. Doesn\u2019t matter what the AI was saying, a human would have to make that final decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The proposal comes as Fortescue lodged a formal submission to a Senate parliamentary inquiry investigating AI and data centre infrastructure in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In its submission, Fortescue proposed shifting energy-intensive data centres away from electricity grids in urban centres and into regional hubs \u201clike the Pilbara\u201d to be powered by dedicated, off-grid renewable energy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe Government should support the development of regional AI infrastructure hubs in locations with renewable energy advantages, including the Pilbara,\u201d the submission stated as one of its six recommendations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cRegional hubs can help bring forward competitive clean energy and common user infrastructure that supports AI compute alongside adjacent green industries, including decarbonised mining and green iron production, while delivering broader regional benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Dr Forrest describe a jurisdiction allowing a data centre to plug into a consumer grid a \u201cbone lazy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cMake your own energy. It\u2019s everywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cWe are a monster mining company. We mine a billion tonnes a year. We\u2019re going completely electric.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cDon\u2019t put up with this crap that you got to take diesel prices from some oligarch or fruit cake who starts a war on the other side of the world. You don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cFarm your own energy. Your energy is there. Get after it. Sun and wind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">It comes after SGH chief executive Ryan Stokes challenged the Federal Government\u2019s push for data centres in Australia to be powered solely on renewables during a speech at The Australian\u2019s Energy Nation forum last week \u2014 insisting gas should play a more central role.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThere needs to be a real talk about the role that gas has,\u201d Mr Stokes said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cIf you look at what\u2019s happening in the US, they are building data centres next to gas pipelines for that very clear reason. They need that reliable, affordable energy source to power these data centres 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Mr Forrest declined to comment further.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has suggested software developers design AI models that \u201csleep\u201d like humans so their chatbots&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,6213,105],"class_list":["post-910563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-society","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910563","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=910563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}