Artificial Intelligence ethical and legal frameworks, together with the struggle for local industry growth, were all key talking points at the AI Policy Strategy Session (PDF) held as part of InnovationAus.com’s Civic Nation 2018.
Hosted by PwC Australia and featuring opening remarks from the Head of Science Policy at the Office of the Chief Scientist Adam Wright, the session brought together senior players from across state and federal government, academia and industry.
As part of an open and frank discussion of the state of AI in Australia, there was general agreement that the federal government currently had little discernible policy on AI governance or implementation strategies, and nothing on AI industry development.
They agreed AI was a fast emerging general technology that presented many opportunites and which Australian policy-makers needed to better understand.
Policy discussions must explore the ethical and legal frameworks most appropriate for regulating AI technology.
The policy roundtable also explored reasons for the relatively modest performance of home grown AI companies in Australia. A lack of central government focus may not be the critical reason, but rather because of the low investment levels in the space.
Australia’s skills shortage in AI was also raised as a problem, with many of the attendees believing the government’s tighter immigration policy in relation to importing top talent was an issue. Existing policy inhibits Australian organisation’s ability to hire AI specialists from overseas.
The extensive discussion has been turned into a Civic Nation Artificial Intelligence Issues Paper, which is available to anyone who wants to grasp the state of play in this important innovation category.
Download your copy of InnovationAus.com’s Artificial Intelligence Issues paper, produced in partnership with PwC, for more details.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.