On 1 June 2023, the Australian Government published the Safe and Responsible AI in Australia: Discussion Paper (“Discussion Paper”) to seek public feedback on identifying the potential gaps in the existing domestic governance landscape and possible additional AI governance mechanisms to support the “safe and responsible” development of AI. As noted in the Discussion Paper, although AI has been identified as a “critical technology in Australia’s national interest”, AI adoption rates across Australia remain relatively low. A key aim of the Discussion Paper is to inform the Australian Government on the steps that should be taken on AI regulation in order to increase “community trust and confidence in AI”. The Discussion Paper addresses a broad range of AI technologies and techniques, such as self-driving cars and generative pre-trained transformers (also known as GPT), and notes that any AI regulatory framework would need to consider existing as well as possible future uses of AI and any ensuing risks. The Discussion Paper has an eight (8) week consultation period ending on 26 July 2023.

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