The Australian Prime Minister has again called for stronger guardrails for AI while making a pitch for the country to join the United Nations Security Council.
“AI can improve lives, boost growth and productivity, provide revolutionary breakthroughs in healthcare and other fields – but leaders of AI companies themselves have warned of the potential risks of allowing frontier AI to develop too fast without guardrails,” Anthony Albanese said during his pitch at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Unsurprisingly, Albanese brought up the hacking incident he had revealed the day before, using the agentic breach of a Medicare statistics portal to back up his argument for stronger AI standards.
“Recently, an AI agent infiltrated an Australian government website. This is unacceptable. And it is why Australia has been leading the way in establishing Australian standards for AI. Standards to ensure that AI will work and deliver for people, not the other way around,” Albanese said.
“We can’t ignore AI or prevent it. And it’s why we joined with other nations this week to call for action to shape AI development, rather than be passively shaped by it.”
Albanese was one of 22 world leaders who signed an open declaration calling for greater control of frontier AI earlier this week.
“Leading scientists and executives are warning that the pace of development could outpace our ability to manage emerging risks,” the declaration said.
“To realise AI’s potential, industry, governments and society must act now. We must address these risks and strengthen oversight – without widening the gap between countries in access to the benefits of AI.”
Albanese said at the time that Australia had played a “central role” in the drafting of the declaration.
“AI has the potential to improve lives, to strengthen our economy and productivity, and to massively advance science and medical breakthroughs,” Albanese said.
“But humans need to be in control of it. If it’s going to be successful, then we need to make sure that humans are at the centre of everything that occurs.”
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