Government needs to ‘get moving now’ with AI: Actuaries Institute

A top AI executive has called on the government to substantially increase its investment in artificial intelligence education to maximise the massive potential it offers.

A new paper from the Actuaries Institute has called on the Australian government to rapidly increase investment in AI literacy and infrastructure.

Australia needs to “get moving now” and invest in artificial intelligence education and infrastructure to secure data sovereignty, says the Actuaries Institute in a new report.

Building Tomorrow: Preparing Australia for the Age of AI, released on Tuesday and written by Suncorp AI practice executive Jon Shen, says the government has been “slow to act”, committing only to developing its National AI Capability Plan while global superpowers such as the US and China as well as big tech firms are already pouring billions of dollars into AI development.

Mr Shen said Australia had to get ahead of the steep AI literacy curve seen in business and “insert AI into every class”.

“You’ve got kids in schools, the reality is that many of them, even in primary school, they’ve got access to mobile phones,” he said. “It means they’ve got AI in their pockets in the classroom.

Actuaries Institute councillor Jon Shen. Picture: Supplied

“Can we work it into the curriculum so they understand? ‘Look, you’re doing a maths lesson, what does it mean to do maths within the context of AI?’ What does it mean to do English in the context of AI?

“(It’s about) ultimately being able to build the skills of the future, so things like critical thinking, problem solving, literacy, all these key things that are changing around us, and giving the next generation those skills.”

Mr Shen’s paper points to research showing, while mature businesses are adopting AI in the hopes of receiving the productivity boost it offers, there remains a gap in understanding between management and staff.

The report says 97 per cent of businesses are “facing difficulty demonstrating the business value of generative AI” and 48 per cent of desk workers feel uncomfortable about telling managers they’re using AI at work.

“I think organisations have to be quite intentional, top down, with organisations saying we’re going to tackle this head-on,” Mr Shen said.

“So, my big concern is that if organisations don’t tackle this head-on, you might have individuals off to the side using their shadow (AI) without any oversight from the broader organisation. And of course that’s got huge implications for data privacy and security.”

Mr Shen’s paper says the huge investments of the US, France and China into AI infrastructure, such as data centres, doesn’t just set those countries up for AI’s productivity boost – estimated to eventually contribute $600bn per year to the global economy – but also goes towards establishing the new frontier for data sovereignty.

“Recognise you’ve got highly sensitive data that can be floating around, things like medical information, you’ve got your financial records and so on,” Mr Shen said.

“I think it’s really this is a key consideration.”