In a joint statement, the ACTU and prominent AI academics argued the government must force investment in domestic AI capability and infrastructure rather than relying on foreign companies to provide access to the technology.
The ABC has reported that under the proposal, US companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI would be required to hand over a portion of their data centre computing capacity in return for developing AI on Australian soil. The siphoned "compute", or processing power, would be pooled and distributed by the federal government. An "AI capability contribution" may also be paid by those same companies to fund the people, software and infrastructure needed to use it.
Leading AI researcher Sue Keay from UNSW said Australia did not have a shortage of talent but lacked the "confidence, investment and coordination" to back its own ability.
"The Medicare incident is a reminder that buying AI from overseas does not outsource the risks or our responsibility to manage them," Dr Keay said. "If AI is going to shape our health care, public services, workplaces and economy, Australians need genuine influence over how those systems are developed, governed and deployed."