Commonwealth Senate Inquiry on Adopting AI

Background

On 26 March 2024, the Senate resolved to establish a committee to inquire into and report on the opportunities and impacts for Australia arising out of the uptake of AI technologies in Australia. The Committee intends to report to the Parliament by 19 September 2024.

The Committee’s terms of reference include risks and harms arising from the adoption of AI technologies, emerging international approaches to mitigating AI risks, and potential threats to democracy and trust in institutions from generative AI.

Given the overwhelming public concern about the risks of AI, this is an opportunity to increase focus on the importance of AI safety and to propose a range of recommendations.

Our submission

GAP’s submission communicated the current state of public perceptions around AI safety and the key ways that AI could become a safety risk – including misuse and loss of control.

The submission focused on how Australia could establish an AI Safety Institute. Such an Institute would focus on safety issues by:

• Evaluating advanced AI systems
• Driving research about the safety of frontier AI systems, and
• Partnering with international peers.

The submission also provided practical guidance on how Australia could respond to biosecurity risks by updating BICON regulations to require the safety screening of synthetic DNA and other topics.