Australia risks ceding sovereign control to foreign interests on AI

Without urgent investment in building a sovereign capability in locally developed artificial intelligence tools, Australia risks ceding control of its strategic systems and technology to foreign Interests, a group of eminent scientists have warned. An open letter from 14 of the nation's leading experts on AI and robotics published on Wednesday called for the urgent development of national research and education strategies to build locally-owned and operated AI capacity. The so-called Kingston AI Group, which includes professors from eight universities, says Australia must build a domestic pipeline of top AI talent in order to reduce the significant risks and maximise the potential economic and security benefits of this rapidly emerging technology. "A failure to deliver the AI workforce Australia needs will harm our future economic growth, shrink our economic complexity, and weaken our sovereign control in key industry sectors," the authors of the paper say. "If done strategically, a major investment would result in Australia becoming one of the leading countries in AI."