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Minister Tim Ayres says job fears shouldn't hold Australia back on Artificial Intelligence, productivity
Australia must embrace the opportunities of artificial intelligence in the job market or risk falling behind in the global race to adopt digital technology, says new Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres.
In an exclusive interview with The Nightly, Senator Ayres said that eschewing the advantages of cutting-edge AI in the workplace over job fears would be more detrimental to the employment market overall, urging the country to adapt with the times to boost productivity.
Investing in technology was 'not a zero-sum game' for the labour market, he said, calling for a 'big national conversation' between institutions, trade unions, business groups and the research and development sector to set objectives in the country's best interests.
In wide-ranging comments, he spruiked his ambition to make Australia a top-shelf destination for data centres and to invest in infrastructure that would shape the nation's digital future rather than leave it 'at the end of someone else's technological supply chain.'
He also hinted at a lighter touch approach to regulating rapidly advancing technology while stressing the urgency of finding the right safeguards.
Senator Ayres had just moved into his new ministerial office in Parliament House when The Nightly spoke with him, but Toby Walsh's The Shortest History of AI was already one of two books sitting prominently on his desk.
It offers a glimpse into the daunting challenges he faces to maximise the benefits of artificial intelligence while protecting the country from its risks.
This includes concerns about how to weigh up technological progress with the impact of AI on jobs in manufacturing and other sectors.
Senator Ayres, who had a long career as a senior official in the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union before entering parliament, acknowledged the hurdles but underscored the potential for more job creation.
'The only thing that would be more disruptive in terms of employment and job opportunities is stepping back, having economies that pass us by,' he said.
'I'm absolutely seized of the importance of investment and economic growth and good jobs and productivity in terms of leaning into the challenge.
'That's not without risks, and we need to work together in an Australian formulation, working collectively across the economy to make sure we get the best outcome for the country.'
Every wave of technological change involved reshaping the labour market, Senator Ayres argued.
'My experience in manufacturing, as automation stepped up, as adoption of digital technology stepped up, is that involved jobs changing, some jobs going and investment in new jobs and capability,' he said.
Senator Ayres said he was seeking a 'pragmatic' path between 'artificial intelligence boosters' promoting a utopian approach and 'artificial intelligence doomsayers.'
The Minister said he was determined to put the tech sector and investment in new industrial capabilities at the centre of the debate as the Government prepares to host a productivity roundtable on August 19 to 21.
The meeting in the Cabinet room will draw together senior politicians with business, union and civil society representatives to find common ground on long-term economic reform.
Australia's challenges in tackling sluggish productivity growth were not unique among Western nations, argued Senator Ayres.
'Australia can't afford to step backwards in technological terms, because that will be one of the key drivers of productivity growth over the coming decade,' he said.
But beyond the roundtable and ongoing productivity debate, the Senator must also help set the direction for major Government decisions on a national strategy for safety standards for AI and the digital economy, whether through regulation or voluntary codes.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers set the tone of the approach earlier this month at a speech at the National Press Club outlining his ministry's priorities for the new term.
Dr Chalmers said he would work with Senator Ayres and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy Dr Andrew Charlton to 'capitalise on the huge gains on offer, not just set guardrails'.
'We want to get the best out of new technology and investment in data infrastructure in ways that leverage our strengths, work for our people and best manage impacts on our energy system and natural environment,' Dr Chalmers said.
Landing on a risk-based model for regulating AI is unfinished business from Labor's first term, and an issue where the Government is coming under increasing pressure to act and to more clearly define its policy.
Senator Ayres' predecessor Ed Husic last term launched a 'mandatory guardrails' consultation to moot an Australian AI Act that would impose minimum standards on high-risk AI models across the economy.
Mr Husic backs the proposal of an AI Act to provide certainty about how to mitigate the risks in what he describes as the current 'Swiss cheese landscape' of regulation.
But Senator Ayres indicated he was going to take a cautious path, and said he was not yet ready to commit to major policy decisions without further consultation.
'I'm going to work carefully through that set of issues and talk to colleagues before I reach a final view about the right approach on the regulatory front and the legislative front,' he said.
As a new Minister, he wanted to evaluate work already underway 'before I shoot my mouth off about where we land on these precise sort of regulatory architecture questions,' he said.
He insisted would reach the 'right outcome in short order' to give guidance to industry and the public.
'My instinctive response is leaning into the opportunity. That's the overall setting here, and that's my starting point,' he said.
Senator Ayres stressed that no country on Earth believed there should be a completely unregulated approach to artificial intelligence development or adoption and signalled he was assessing the models and approaches of partner economies.
But less than two months into the job, the Minister already faces rising calls from industry bodies, experts and civil society groups to better define policies to allow AI to boost innovation, living standards and productivity and also to mitigate the risks.
A landmark report by the Business Council of Australia (BCA) released in early June outlined a blueprint to make the nation a global leader in AI by 2028, and called among multiple recommendations for 'clear, practical and risk-based AI regulations that encourage innovation'.
The BCA report warned that without immediate action, Australia risked falling behind competitor nations racing ahead in AI capability and adoption.
Senator Ayres said he was acting on the 'urgency' of the issues.
'I don't want to set a timeframe but I am absolutely seized of the urgency of it, absolutely engaged with the tech sector and the investment community where there is a very consistent message about the sense of urgency about these questions,' he said.
'I'm absolutely seized as well of aligning this line of effort with the other lines of effort that the Government has on the productivity and investment side.'
