Supporting Safe and Responsible AI in Australia
Resources
For Australians, by AI?
Safe and responsible applications of artificial intelligence in arts, culture and creativity
A New Approach (ANA) welcomes this opportunity to help strike the right balance between unlocking the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and mitigating its risks. ANA believes that with the right governance and collaboration, AI can be a part of Australia reaching its full potential as a cultural powerhouse.
ANA welcomes the AI investments in the 2023-24 Budget, including extending the National AI Centre and its role in supporting responsible AI usage through developing governance and industry capabilities.
This submission outlines a range of Australian arts, culture and creativity where AI plays a role and explains the impacts of AI on Australians’ access to arts and cultural experiences. It also sketches out steps to help Australia become a world leader in safe and responsible AI while securing its potential as a cultural powerhouse. No matter the artform, content platform or community, the opportunities and risks of AI are real. AI has the potential to affect incentives to create, cultural and social inclusion and freedom of expression in arts, culture and creativity. This is true, not only of generative AI-based chatbots, but of all applications of AI.
This submission provides insights into the known risks of applying AI in arts, culture and creativity, including who they impact and how. It highlights areas where applications of AI already pose risks to Australians and further mitigation (through regulation or other means) would assist. Noting AI continues to broaden scope and deepen impact, this submission poses some approaches to regulation of AI to unlock opportunities while mitigating risks.
With governance of AI that balances incentive to create and freedom of expression with other public interests, Australia can become a cultural powerhouse whose compelling creativity is locally loved, nationally valued and globally influential. The federal government has a critical role to play in achieving this potential.
Key points
1. Arts, culture and creativity are ingrained in Australian life
Australia can become a cultural powerhouse, generating social, economic and environmental benefits. We are home to the world’s oldest living cultures. We have globally high rates of cultural attendance and direct creative participation is growing, especially among young people. We have a rich cultural inheritance in our institutions and legal protections of both copyright and freedom of expression.
ANA and Treasury research show middle Australians3 believe cultural participation creates ‘agile, skilled, inclusive and resilient’ people and communities and helps us connect across generations, cultures, geographies and viewpoints. We have residents from every nation on earth, and Australia is the first English-speaking country in the world to be a migrant-majority nation.
Middle Australians have told us they believe arts and culture are fundamental to their way of life and to being human.
2. AI already has major impacts in arts, culture and creativity
While applications of AI are growing and evolving, they already impact Australian arts and cultural life. Some applications, such as chatbots, are more obvious than others but no matter the artform, content platform or community, the opportunities and risks of AI are real. As AI continues to grow and evolve, regulation of AI will need to adapt to unlock opportunities and mitigate risks.
3. More work is needed to ensure safe and responsible AI in arts, culture and creativity
Applications of AI already have major impacts and a broad, risk-based approach is needed to help to safeguard Australians’ interests, including in arts, culture and creativity. ANA welcomes the Department’s current work on safe and responsible AI, and the National AI Centre’s work through the Responsible AI Network. Both will help to coordinate action and put expertise into practice. In this submission, ANA sets out potential risks and ways to mitigate them.
For the full submission, please download the PDF