CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Ms SPENDER (Wentworth) (16:00): In the last week, we've seen leaders in the world's pioneer AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI paint an alarming picture of the speed at which technology is developing, potentially beyond human controls. These CEOs spoke about their concerns and also their own responsibilities but they are calling on governments around the world to step up into this space, and I believe that this is urgent.

I want to put on the record very strongly that I think that Australia needs to embrace AI. I recognise the benefits. I believe that Australian businesses need to seize the opportunities for productivity, and, if we don't, we will be left behind.

I see the role for data centres in our country, both from a sovereign capability piece but also because of the potential benefits to the energy grid and the clean energy transition. But we also need to be honest about the risks and we need to be addressing those actively. I know that my community is concerned.

I launched a survey earlier this week about AI and already have had hundreds of responses. An overwhelming number, 71 per cent, said they were very concerned about AI in general and listed catastrophic risks such as AI takeover, AI-enabled terrorism or extreme threats as their No. 1 concern, and other concerns included misinformation, disinformation and threats to democracy, environmental and climate impacts, job losses and economic disruption.

The vast majority of respondents, 84 per cent, said that the government was not doing nearly enough to appropriately deal with the risks of AI. To be honest, I do agree with this. The government has been very slow to act.

It took them until the end of last year to bring in an AI strategy, despite being in government for an entire term without one. Other governments have moved faster than them and this was slow. The government seems to be paying more attention now, and I welcome that, but it still has a long way to go.

I want to talk about four things I think the government needs to step up on. Firstly, it needs to step up on AI safety. My understanding is that currently the AI Safety Institute, which the government established, has a budget of around $30 million over four years.

People are putting the risk that AI destroys humanity at around 10 per cent. It doesn't seem like we are being serious about the potential impact of AI when we're managing the risks with so little money. Secondly, Australia needs to work with other middle powers on this.

USA and China are leading the way, but we must work with other middle powers in terms of making sure that we have a role and a step and a control in this space. Finally, we need to actively capture the benefits much more strongly. That means not only helping Australian businesses but also setting ourselves challenges, like how AI can solve national problems and national concerns, some national missions that AI can deliver to really improve our society as well.