AI could be the government's productivity answer. But getting there will mean more disruption

Australia Broadcast Center

4 hours ago

For many Australians, artificial intelligence is already disrupting their work.
Among them is voice actor Colin Cassidy, who after decades of building his career said he had his voice cloned without his consent.
"It's a little bit like a redundancy which is very stressful from a mental health point of view," he said.
"But it goes deeper because it's your biometric data, it's part of you."
Mr Cassidy estimated his booking numbers have reduced by 30 per cent due to AI.
He said the voice-over industry, which is already being hit hard by cloning, is the "canary in the coal mine".
"AI is here to stay and it's going to continue to develop and put more voice overs out of work, which is a tragedy."
While the full extent of future job losses from AI is not known, the World Economic Forums expects at least 9 million jobs could be displaced globally, and the nature of work for even more could change dramatically.
A report from Jobs and Skills Australia this week however found AI was more likely to augment human work than replace it, highlighting the importance of people having the right digital and AI skills for a modern labour market.
Modelling by non-profit organisation The Social Policy Group last year found a third of the Australian workforce could be disrupted by 2030 due to the adoption of AI.
Impacted industries included agriculture, mining, manufacturing, retail trade, telecommunications and real estate services, as AI streamlines operations, automates tasks and enables data-driven decision-making.
Australian businesses are already adopting AI through automating technology such as forklifts, irrigation systems and check-out systems in retail stores and supermarkets.
In manufacturing, robots are increasingly helping with tasks such as assembling, packaging and distribution.
AI is also listing properties, screening tenants and managing leases in real estate, as well as performing document reviews and legal research — tasks typically done by paralegals and junior lawyers.
But it's these disruptions that could deliver a $116 billion productivity boost to Australia's economy, according to the Productivity Commission's estimates.
Nicholas Davis is a co-director of the Human Technology Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, whose research focuses on ethical and responsible use of AI.
He said potential job losses due to AI fall into two categories.
"One category is where your job has a bunch of tasks that are relatively repetitive and routine and therefore can be understood and done by digital systems," Mr Davis said.
"The second is people who do things that are relatively complex and valuable but for which we see specific AI applications coming out now, like voice cloning."
Mr Davis said the more diverse a worker's job tasks are, the better their protection from AI.
"The more that is a mix of interactive, human facing, client facing, public facing activity, the more you're probably less worried at this stage," he said.
Ahead of the federal government's productivity round table next week, the Productivity Commission warned over-regulation could stifle AI's multi-billion-dollar economic potential.
At the time, Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the report, calling AI a "game changer" for the Australian economy.
"We can chart a middle course that makes our workers and our people and our industries' beneficiaries, not victims of technological change," he said.
Skills and Training Minister Andrew Giles said the government was focused on supporting Australians to make the most of the benefits of AI, "including in how people can upskill to use it in their day-to-day work".
"We recognise this is a deeply complex issue. We are stepping through these issues carefully, ensuring that our approach to AI regulation is aligned with Australian values, and benefits Australians," Mr Giles said.
In the past, technological advances have seen businesses expand, such as the introduction of ATMs.
"The fear was that would take away bank teller jobs and it actually ended up increasing employment," Mr Davis said.
"By making it easier to withdraw money, it lowered the cost of having the branch.
"It meant there was an expansion of other services, including lending mortgages and other aspects that increased net employment."
But Mr Davis warned it would be a mistake to assume that all productivity benefits would materialise.
"We're really focused on hoping that all these benefits will occur and trying to push off the thought that maybe some of it won't," Mr Davis said.
There are growing calls from unions and creative industries for better regulation of the technology to protect jobs.
Unions will head into next week's round table calling for mandatory enforceable agreements that would ensure employers consult with staff before new AI technologies can be introduced.
Mr Davis's research found businesses can harness greater benefits from AI if they include workers in the adoption process.
"Worker engagement around AI is not a nice to have ... it's actually an essential component of realising the productivity gains from the new technology."
He said there were currently "huge gaps" in privacy law and copyright intellectual law that needed to be filled.
"Far from being a barrier to innovation, the organisations I speak to want regulatory certainty, they want to know what the rules are, they want to know that makes them trustworthy as they use AI," he said.
"AI is a really powerful and transformative set of technologies.
"It would be silly of us to say let's just let it rip without saying, 'Hold on a second, what benefits do we want and how can we best get those?'"
Earlier this month former industry minister Ed Husic also advocated for an AI Act that could help to safeguard against its risks.
But Tech Council of Australia chair Scott Farquhar has urged the government not to regulate as a first resort.
Earlier this week, he said many of the harms that are known now are covered by existing regulation.
He expected some jobs would be lost, such as call centre workers, but said jobs could also be created out of AI and an increased number of data centres.
"I'm asking the unions to help us train new jobs and let's get them done faster so it's not a four-year apprenticeship," he told 730.
"I'm asking unions to help us evolve for jobs there are less of, how do we get those people into new jobs?"
Mr Cassidy has adapted to AI by engaging in more performative work, and is also exploring ethically cloning his voice.
He wants to see specific AI regulation as well as support for artists when it comes to enforcement of existing or future laws.
"I don't have the budget to take this to court and go the full mile," Mr Cassidy said.
"There are hundreds of situations like mine that need financial help, need legal help, need sponsorship in some way to actually communicate the depth, length and breadth of this problem."