Government must ‘get it right’ on AI or worsen the risks of a recession, says the TCA

AI opportunities could head off Australia’s risk of a recession, says the peak tech body representing Atlassian and Telstra.

Go1 co-founder Andrew Barnes, Tech Council of Australia chief Kate Pounder, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, TCA executive director Kate Jones, Go1 co-founder Vu Tran and Culture Amp’s Didier Elzinga at the TCA’s summit. Picture: John Gass

Australia’s risk of a recession could rise if it doesn’t take full advantage of the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, according to the Technology Council of Australia.

The comments come as the federal government edges closer to finalising new rules that would govern the safe and responsible use of AI.

The peak body, which represents companies such as Atlassian, Canva, Blackbird and Telstra, has laid outs its five-pillar plan for safe and responsible AI in Australia in a submission – seen by The Austyralian – to the inquiry led by Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic.

In its submission, the TCA said that in a period of high inflation and low productivity growth, an uplift from productivity-enhancing technologies such as AI was vital to preserving Australia’s standard of living.

The TCA does not want Australia to follow the path taken by the EU in developing a stand-alone AI Act. Instead it prefers the government to deliver better regulatory guidance and enforcement of existing laws, and develop a coherent and clear regulatory AI strategy.

“The high standard of living we take for granted is at risk,” TCA chief executive Kate Pounder said in an interview.

“There’s a chance we could go into recession, we’ve got productivity at a six-year low and effectively if we can’t fix that then we can’t sustain the kind of lifestyle that we’ve all come to think about as Australian. Right now, one of the only bright spots in our economy is adopting technologies like AI.

“It has so many applications. It can be used by every industry, and there’s a huge amount of evidence for its productivity potential. So, as we think about safe and responsible regulation, we have to also think about what is the standard of living we want, and do we want to stay competitive with the rest of the world?

“We want to be building tech here. We want to be creating jobs here. Do you want our economy to thrive and grow? Or do we want to add to the risk of recession by stifling that growth?”

MTX’s Guy Everingham, TCA chief executive Kate Pounder and Faith Sylvia from Envato.

According to the TCA, generative AI alone has the potential to add between $45bn and $115bn a year to the Australian economy by 2030, if given the right environment to enable AI creation and adoption.

Concerns are growing, however, about the threats to human rights emerging from issues like privacy, automation bias, algorithmic discrimination, misinformation and the potential for job misplacement.

The peak body’s five pillars are to:

DEVELOP a regulatory strategy for AI;
CREATE an expert co-ordination model to uplift regulator capability;

DELIVER better guidance and enforcement of existing laws;

TARGET review and reform to ensure our laws are fit for the digital age;

BUILD Australia’s AI skills, workforce, literacy and industry capabilities.

It says new stand-alone AI laws would likely become quickly outdated, would hinder regulators’ ability to respond to dynamic or domain-specific developments (such as AI in medical devices versus the use of AI in a public safety or credit-checking context), and would likely confuse businesses and consumers accustomed to the current regulatory model and regulators.

“Extra layers of technology-focused regulation on top of our existing technology-neutral laws could drive capability and investment offshore, particularly if combined with even more restrictive laws in key policy areas like copyright and IP,” the TCA said in its submission.

“Countries such as the United States, China, UK and some European nations have already made significant strides in AI development, gaining an edge in the global market.

Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic.

“Global competition to lead in AI is in full swing; the outcome of which will not only shape the economic landscape but will also influence societal and geopolitical dynamics in years to come.”

Mr Husic said the government has had more than 500 submission so its inquiry, including many from the general public. The government last month extended the deadline for submissions in response to requests and has held roundtables with academics, consumer groups and tech firms.

“There’s a wide range of views,” Mr Husic told The Australian. “AI offers incredible potential, from better healthcare to safer buildings.

“To grasp that opportunity we need public confidence and business certainty on our side.”

Atlassian said in its own submission that a traffic light-style approach to regulation should be considered, including “red” scenarios in which the government should intervene.

Fellow TCA member Google, in its submission, called for a revamp of the Copyright Act to make it easier for companies to use copyrighted material to train machine learning models.

Microsoft, which part owns ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, called for Australia to regulate AI in line with other jurisdictions such as the EU.