Digital Rights Watch welcomes the opportunity to support the work of the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is a large and complex issue that has effects on vast swathes of Australian society, for good and ill. Current regulatory approaches have not been sufficient to protect human rights, and so it is encouraging to see new approaches for collaborative parliamentary scrutiny over the AI industry.
Our position on AI is that it must work for all Australians, not just be an avenue by which the interests of large American tech corporations are promoted over the wellbeing of Australian workers, creatives, children, and other cohorts.
We are sceptical of the claims of AI benefits that are regularly provided by companies selling AI products and services, and would like to see Australia following an evidence-led approach that promotes both the human rights of individuals as well as curiosity for how the technology might be used to better our society.