Anthony Albanese has sought divine intervention in the federal government\u2019s push to regulate rapidly developing artificial intelligence as he welcomes the Pope\u2019s representative on AI to Kirribilli House in Sydney. <\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV made headlines earlier this year with his encyclical letter on \u201csafeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n
In seeking to take a global lead in AI regulation, the Prime Minister has repeatedly leant on the Pope\u2019s letter, which stressed the need for human dignity to be put above profit.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Mr Albanese welcomed Father Paolo Benanti, the Holy See\u2019s adviser on AI since Pope Francis, to Kirribilli House. <\/p>\n
\u201cHumans must remain in control over AI because the stakes are more than economic, they are social and moral,\u201d Mr Albanese said in a social media post. <\/p>\n
\u201cPope Leo and the Catholic Church share our view and understand the importance of AI working in humanity\u2019s interest \u2013 not against it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeeting with Father Benanti, we discussed Australia\u2019s world-leading AI standards and the work ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Father Benanti is in Australia on the invitation of the Italian Embassy. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, he addressed the National Press Club in Canberra following talks at the University of Queensland. <\/p>\n
In an interview with CathNews, Father Benanti said Australia had \u201cdone well\u201d in trying to protect young people \u201cand I think we need to look at defining basic laws as AI develops\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one should be above the law and in the case of AI, the big tech companies should not be above the law. The development of AI must be for everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Father Benanti also chair\u2019s the Italian government\u2019s commission on AI. <\/p>\n
\u2018Capability ahead of safety\u2019<\/p>\n
It comes as a leading minister warns AI companies are putting \u201ccapability ahead of safety\u201d as the Albanese government seeks to regulate frontier models.<\/p>\n
Assistant Science Minister Andrew Charlton made the case for government regulation of frontier AI models, over market-led alternatives, during a speech before the Sydney Trust and Safety Festival on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It comes days after OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon fronted a joint parliamentary inquiry following the breach by one of the US company’s models of a Medicare data portal.<\/p>\n
Globally, leaders have disagreed over how cutting-edge models should be regulate, with US President Donald Trump disagreeing with Silicon Valley over the need to slow the pace of new development.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Mr Charlton said new technology should be built on trust, but that there was \u201cevery indication is frontier labs are putting capability ahead of safety\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust listen to the people who know these companies best \u2026 last month, Jacob Coxon, who had worked at both OpenAI and Anthropic, quit the industry altogether. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis verdict was blunt: \u2018Neither company is acting responsibly\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Charlton said voluntary regulation and codes were \u201cfast and flexible, but they fail the incentive test\u201d when it came to frontier AI. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot ask firms to volunteer against their own competitive interest amid a manic race involving trillions of dollars and then be surprised when they do not,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cDetailed prescriptive rules can offer clarity, but at the pace this technology moves, which is months not years, those rules could be out of date before the ink is dry.<\/p>\n
\u201cSystems regulation places the onus on companies to build and run a rigorous process for finding, testing, reporting on and managing the risks of their systems, and then holding them accountable for whether that process works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Charlton said a such a system would not only hold companies to account when something went wrong, but also \u201cdetect risk and prevent incidents occurring\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, he admitted regulations would not stop \u201chostile states or criminals\u201d, and would be supplemented by \u201ctechnology Australia has a role developing at home\u201d. <\/p>\n
That includes a focus on developing AI talent and training onshore.<\/p>\n
The government is expected to announces its first-ever national standards for AI shortly.<\/p>\n
\u2018Two-track\u2019 race<\/p>\n
Mr Charlton said the leading companies were in a two-track race: one with each other, and the other with China.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for now \u2013 everyone has calculated that the biggest reward comes from being first, even when it\u2019s not clear what the higher purpose of coming first is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Charlton drew on the economics theory of the \u201cprisoner\u2019s dilemma\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery lab would be better off if they slowed down together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut so long as profits are internalised, and costs externalised, any lab that slows down alone simply hands the lead to one that does not.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, each company tells itself a story in which the frontier is safer in its own hands.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2026 And that is why the government needs to step in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Charlton said lessons from the Medicare incident would shape AI standards legislation. <\/p>\n
\u201cA race to the bottom is not what competition looks like when it works. It is what competition looks like when it fails,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd market failure is not a reason to give up on markets. It is the reason policy exists.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Australia, ministers from across multiple portfolios were \u201ctaking responsibility for AI harms\u201d, including through the Digital Duty of Care, Mr Charlton said. <\/p>\n
Mr Charlton said AI posed a distinct regulatory challenge owing to the pace of change, information asymmetry, and that it is hard to recall. <\/p>\n
Risks from AI could also emerge later and in \u201cunexpected and unintended ways\u201d, Mr Charlton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraditional software is built from rules people write and can inspect. Frontier AI is not.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2026 its abilities emerge in ways even its creators cannot predict.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Do a deal\u2019<\/p>\n
It comes as the opposition is calling for a deal with the US giving Australia \u201cpreferential access\u201d to cutting-edge artificial intelligence models.<\/p>\n
In a speech on Wednesday night canvassing the fierce AI race between the US and China, opposition foreign affairs spokesman Ted O\u2019Brien said Australia needed access to American frontier models to protect itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recent incident involving AI agents independently hacking into Medicare data is a potent reminder of such risks,\u201d he told the Australia-China Relations Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI isn\u2019t a choice \u2013 it\u2019s a reality. It is already here and expanding rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the \u201cworld needs safeguards\u201d to not only \u201cprotect against AI being misused by state and non-state actors but to mitigate the horrifying prospect of AI being weaponised by itself\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe answer \u2013 we must do a deal with the United States,\u201d Mr O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch a deal could start with a government-to-government framework that affords Australia early and preferential access to AI frontier models and a guarantee of continued access.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia\u2019s immediate priority is to fortify our digital defences and shield the critical infrastructure underpinning modern society from AI-driven cyber threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can use AI as a shield to counter AI being used as a sword.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said that is what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should have sought while in the US for the UN General Assembly in September.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Anthony Albanese<\/a>Sydney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese has sought divine intervention in the federal government\u2019s push to regulate rapidly developing artificial intelligence 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