The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, announced that he will enact laws to regulate the use of energy and water by artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, as well as to protect the copyright of creative works.
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In a speech given this Wednesday, July 15, at the University of Sydney, he warned that the country has a limited time to establish the “social license” for AI.
Albanese anticipated that, within the next month, he will meet with the leaders of the states and territories of Australia, with the aim of discussing the new laws.
The government plans for the regulations to be presented early next year, with the goal of building trust in AI and protecting national security.
The Prime Minister stated during his speech that, through mandatory national standards, they will seek for data centers to minimize water consumption and finance their own electricity supply.
Along with this, he assured Australian musicians, writers, and artists that they will maintain control over their work and will be able to set the price in any copyright agreement with AI companies.
“Anything else is theft,” he said, according to the official transcript of the speech.
During the event, Albanese highlighted that Australia had already gotten ahead of other countries by imposing limits on social media use by children. However, he added, the challenge of AI has been greater and has required immediate action.
“If we fall behind and stand still, this will simply overwhelm us”, he emphasized.
And he stressed: “Our great country can be much more than a data warehouse for AI products made overseas.”
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According to the Prime Minister, the creative content of musicians, writers, and publishers in his country is not “at stake.”
“No company should use Australian books, music, art, or news to develop or train AI without the artist’s control”.
Albanese also confirmed the opening of a new AI Office, integrated within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, to coordinate the work already underway in the areas of education, employment, climate and energy, copyright, and defense.
Similarly, he stated that this technology will become a central element of productivity, economic resilience, and Australia’s sovereign capacity.
“We must not consider AI as a threat to quality jobs; we must use it as a tool to help create them”.
According to the Prime Minister, “it is about Australia shaping the future, rather than letting the future shape us.”
“Our nation hosts world leaders in AI, and I am pleased that so many of them are with us today, but you don’t need to be an AI expert to have a voice or interest in it. We are all involved. Because the real challenges posed by AI are not technical, but economic, legal, social, and, as Pope Leo XIII made clear in his magnificent first papal encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, also moral and spiritual. They are tests of our values and national interests, and of our determination, cooperation, and ambition.”
Along these lines, he emphasized: “If we mobilize our resources and coordinate our efforts, if we act with the urgency demanded by the speed of this change, if we develop solutions worthy of the opportunity this moment offers us, and if we do it in the Australian way, true to our values and standards, we can make AI benefit Australia’s national interests.”
