Productivity Summit: Business can't innovate with artificial intelligence without regulations clarity
As someone working daily in AI governance with enterprises trying to deploy the technology responsibly, I'm struck by the disconnect between public debate and business reality.
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Perth Now
38 minutes ago
- Perth Now
AI not a 'straightforward' fix for ailing productivity
Australia has been warned against the "seductive" pull of artificial intelligence as the federal government looks to the technology to help solve its productivity woes. AI is expected to take centre stage during the second day of the government's economic reform roundtable, alongside regulation and competition. Though he recognised its risks, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has previously said AI could be an economic "game changer" to boost Australia's ailing productivity and lift living standards. But Monash University human-centred computing lecturer Jathan Sadowski warned the story was not so simple. "AI changes the nature of work but it doesn't straightforwardly make work more efficient or more productive," he told AAP. "It produces all kinds of new problems that people need to adjust to: they need to fill in the gaps with AI, or they need to clean up the mess after AI does something in not the right way. "A lot of organisations are simply not prepared to do the hard work necessary to implement AI." To use AI well, businesses would have to change their practices so they can complement the capabilities of the technology, which generally requires significant infrastructure work, capital investment and human labour. The technology also works best when it is purpose-built using specific, high quality data for an organisation's specific subject area. This means having lots of smaller scale technologies, which runs counter to the prevailing understanding of AI. "There's this real push towards universal models - something like ChatGPT - it's the one model to rule them all, one solution to every problem," Dr Sadowski said. "It means that you can sell the technology to every market and from the government's point of view means that all you have to do is implement this one solution. "There's something very seductive to that because it tells a good story ... but it doesn't produce good technology." Research about AI's impact on productivity shows mixed results. A recent CSIRO study of 300 employees found one in three did not report productivity benefits, and the majority that did expected the improvements to be better than what was delivered. Analysis published in the US National Bureau of Economic Research showed unclear results at the organisational level and it can also be difficult to disentangle the impact of AI from other factors.
AU Financial Review
8 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
PM and Treasurer have at least admitted the productivity problem
Whatever else the Economic Reform Roundtable achieves, the event has already served a useful purpose. The Albanese government has at least been forced to acknowledge the productivity problem at the heart of Australia's economic malaise. Opening the first day of the summit between the government and business, union and community leaders on Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted how key the productivity challenge is to 'lifting living standards of Australians'. This was echoed in Jim Chalmers' introductory remarks. The treasurer said 'making the economy more productive over time was the best way to lift living standards and make people better off'. Chalmers even claimed that 'in one of the first cabinet meetings after the election we decided to put productivity at the very core of our second term agenda'.
AU Financial Review
10 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
In Pictures: Economic Reform Roundtable
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher arrive at the opening of the Economic Reform Roundtable at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday. Dominic Lorrimer Katy Gallagher, Jim Chalmers, Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock, Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson and Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood. Dominic Lorrimer Anthony Albanese, left, greets participants at the Economic Reform Roundtable opening session. Dominic Lorrimer Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers opening the three-day summit on Tuesday. Dominic Lorrimer Jim Chalmers, Katy Gallagher, Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock and NSW treasurer Daniel Mookhey. Dominic Lorrimer Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black. Dominic Lorrimer Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil and secretary Sally McManus. Dominic Lorrimer Productivity Commision chair Danielle Wood, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn, and former treasury secretary Ken Henry. Dominic Lorrimer
