AIIA urges industry and government collaboration on AI

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) is urging the federal government to collaborate with industry to take a responsible and effective regulatory approach to the safe use and development of artificial intelligence (AI) in Australia, without stifling innovation.

The organisation is concerned that a knee-jerk response by regulators in isolation from industry and academia would prove counterproductive, as generative AI has yet to reach maturation point and its use cases are still not fully understood.

AIIA CEO Simon Bush said that collaboration between government and industry is critical to achieving fit-for-purpose regulation that can adapt as the use cases for generative AI expand sector by sector.

“Strict regulation applied in isolation from industry stifles innovation. That’s why we are calling for meaningful participation from both government and industry to establish flexible guardrails as generative AI technologies evolve,” he said.

“It is our opinion that for many existing AI use cases in sectors such as transport and health, self-applied frameworks can be effective in managing the adoption of such technologies. We are seeing best-practice guardrails evolve through collaborations between academics and industry leaders. Government needs to back this work and engage industry in any potential regulatory frameworks.”

The AIIA recently launched its Navigating AI Report: A Guide to the Use and Adoption of AI in partnership with professional services firm KPMG, which is designed to support Australian organisations to ensure the responsible and legal adoption, development and use of AI, without stifling innovation. With just one-third of Australians currently willing to trust AI, the AIIA reiterates that it is important that guardrails are in place to build community confidence.

The AIIA is a member of the National AI Centre’s Responsible AI Network Advisory Council, a coalition of industry and academia alongside the Human Technology Institute to which the AIIA holds the government must look in its development of any new frameworks. The AIIA also participated in a recent Ministerial Roundtable on Generative AI, hosted by Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic, in which it tabled the need for greater AI adoption guidelines.

“Generative AI poses new and potentially transformative industrial and societal benefits,” Bush said.

“However, it also poses regulatory and social challenges, which we accept. Ultimately, the government needs to develop its own frameworks around adoption and the use of AI, and we urge the government to consider greater support for this work to implement AI adoption guidelines, as well as establish an AI register to allow transparency and dispel bias or harm where AI is being used, without creating roadblocks for industry growth.”

As other countries implement AI regulation, the AIIA urges the federal government to align with international frameworks with like-minded neighbours and key alliances, such as the AUKUS alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and the Quad alliance with the USA, Japan and India.

With Australia having the stated aim of being a leading digital economy by 2030, the AIIA says the government should be a leader with the adoption and implementation of AI. Building appropriate frameworks and guardrails are important to ensure government and industry’s use of AI is within what society would expect.

“The AIIA has been working with its members over a long time to build safe and trusted frameworks to implement AI. Australia has incredible opportunities that can be harnessed through AI, as highlighted by the CSIRO finding that AI can add $315 billion to the Australian
economy by 2028. Government has the opportunity to safely lead the implementation of AI technologies, to build confidence with the Australian public with these technologies. AI has the potential to be incredibly economic transformative; it is important Australia is at the forefront,” Bush said.

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