CANBERRA, Nov 10 — The Australian government plans to introduce mandatory safety and security standards for frontier artificial intelligence (AI) developers and establish a new regulator to enforce them, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday.
Xinhua reported that the proposed regulator will operate under legislation setting out safety and security requirements for all frontier AI companies seeking to operate in Australia.
Under the proposed rules, companies will be required to allow independent evaluations of their AI models, maintain security controls throughout development and deployment, and promptly notify the government of incidents.
The regulator will have the authority to impose significant penalties on companies that fail to meet their obligations.
“Our task is to make sure that we shape AI rather than AI shape us. AI offers Australia and the world generational opportunities if we seize and shape them properly, and that is exactly what we are doing here,” Albanese told the media in Canberra.
The government also released 18 recommendations from a rapid review into Australia’s arrangements for handling AI-related cyber incidents.
The review was commissioned in September following an incident in June in which an OpenAI AI agent gained unauthorised access to a government portal linked to Australia’s Medicare system.
Recommendations included mandatory reporting of misaligned AI behaviour and cyber incidents, as well as consideration of criminal law reforms in cases of serious misconduct.
He added that the government accepted all 18 recommendations and has begun work on implementing them.
