Google boss Melanie Silva urges safeguards with AI advances

The tech giant’s Australian boss says everyone should be given a clear path to take full advantage of the opportunities AI brings.

Google Australia’s managing director has called on the federal government to balance the huge potential upside of AI technologies with appropriate safeguards, as the tech giant remains locked in a battle with rivals including Microsoft and OpenAI to help shape the technology’s future.

Speaking at a panel session at the National Tech Summit in Brisbane, Melanie Silva compared the federal government’s role in regulating AI to its role in regulating cars and roads a century ago. The government, under the auspices of federal Innovation Minister Ed Husic, is currently formulating its national artificial intelligence strategy and recently released two discussion papers, with submissions closing this week.

“When cars first launched everyone could see that they had potential to change the way we get from A to B, and to absolutely transform the way that the world’s going to work,” Ms Silva said.

“There were risks, and you fast forward to where we are today and cars have never been safer. There has been some damage along the way, and there are uses of cars that people would not possibly imagine. Government’s played a role in things like building roads to enable people to go faster, and they also put signs up to say go slower.

“You need to couple the ability for things to go fast and for Australia to seize the opportunity that’s ahead of it. And being really conscious of the unintended consequences and saying we don’t know yet, right? When people invented the first car, you didn’t know that you’d be able to invent an airbag.

“It’s a profound technology, we’re at a real inflection point where a huge proportion of Australian start-ups will be some sort of AI based technology or have that AI layer at the bottom. So let’s make sure that those settings give everyone a clear path to take full advantage of the opportunity.”

Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Mel Silva.

Those comments echo a recent statement from Mr Husic that using AI safely and responsibly is a “balancing act” for the government, with significant potential upside.

Google’s chatbot Bard is the tech giant’s answer to ChatGPT, and has already been caught up in controversies over political bias. In May, The Australian reported that Bard backs the Indigenous voice to parliament as a “positive step”, praises Anthony ­Albanese as a “man of the people”, and labels Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison as “controversial”.

Ms Silva highlighted Google’s recent investments into Australia and said the nation’s technical talent pool was a strong reason for multinational tech giants to hire local talent. Google has large engineering teams working from its Sydney offices, unlike some of its rivals who largely have hired marketing and sales teams.

The executive said the biggest pitch she’s had to make to Google’s head offices was 18 months ago, for a billion-dollar investment into an Australian research hub that will partner with the likes of CSIRO and the University of Queensland to tackle future-facing problems including how to better utilise AI.

“Australia was one of the first offices outside of the US and Japan (for Google) and why a company like Google or any large international company finds Australia an attractive place to invest is because of the talent,” she said.

Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

“Hands down it’s the people, and most of you know Google Maps was founded in Australia by three Aussies … We’ve got a great track record with innovation and we’ve got great skills, but that’s a really tenuous concept though. You cannot rest on your laurels. We know now through Covid, through the job shortage and through the Jobs and Skills Summit that we’re seeing a tightening of this market, particularly at that senior level, you can struggle to find the right people.

“I think we have got a relatively politically stable environment, we’ve got great talent and there is a huge amount of upside for investing in Australia and it continues to be a place for Google to want to invest.”