The Senate Select Committee on the Adoption of Artificial Intelligence was tasked with examining the opportunities and challenges AI presents to Australia. His inquiry covered a wide range of areas. Economic benefits of AI-powered productivity Risks of bias And Environmental effects.
of the committee Final report concluded that global tech firms lacked transparency about aspects of their LLM, such as the use of Australian training data. Its recommendations include the introduction of AI legislation and requiring employers to consult with employees if AI is used in the workplace.
According to the report, big tech firms and their AI models lack transparency.
The committee said in its report that much time was devoted to discussing the structure, growth and impact of the world’s “general-purpose AI models,” including the LLM developed by large multinational tech companies. Open AI, Amazon, meta, And Google.
The committee said concerns raised included a lack of transparency around the models, the market power these companies enjoy in their respective sectors, “their record of aversion to accountability and regulatory compliance” and “Australian “Open and flagrant theft of copyrighted information from copyright holders”. ”
The government agency also listed “non-consensual scrapping. Personal and private information“The potential breadth and scale of applications of the models in the Australian context,” and “the disappointing avoidance of this committee’s questions on these topics” as areas of concern.
“The committee believes these issues warrant a regulatory response that clearly characterizes general-purpose AI models as high risk,” the report states. “In doing so, these developers will be held to higher scrutiny, transparency and accountability requirements than many low-risk, low-impact uses of AI.”
While acknowledging AI will improve economic productivity, the committee acknowledged the high potential for job losses through automation. These disadvantages may affect jobs with lower education and training requirements or with vulnerable groups such as women and people from lower socioeconomic groups.
The committee also expressed concern about evidence provided to it about the impact of AI on workers’ rights and working conditions in Australia, particularly where AI systems are used to plan, manage and monitor the workforce in the workplace. are used for such cases.
The report states that “the committee notes that such systems are already being implemented in workplaces, in many cases by large multinational companies to maximize productivity from their employees and maximize profits.” Looking for.”
See: Dovetail CEO advocates a balanced approach to AI innovation regulation.
“Evidence received from the inquiry shows that these aggressive and dehumanizing uses of AI in the workplace undermine consultation in the workplace, as well as workers’ rights and conditions more generally.”
What to take from the recommendations of the IT Steering Committee?
The Committee recommended to the Australian Government:
- Ensure that the final definition of high-risk AI clearly includes applications that affect workers’ rights.
- Expand existing occupational health and safety legislative frameworks to address workplace risks associated with AI adoption.
- Ensure that workers and employers are “thoroughly consulted on the need for a further regulatory response, and best approaches, to address the impact of AI on work and workplaces.”
See: Why organizations should use AI to become more responsive and flexible.
The Australian government is not required to act on the committee’s report. However, it should encourage local IT leaders to ensure that they responsibly consider all aspects of applying AI technologies and tools within their organizations while reaping the expected productivity benefits.
First, many organizations have already considered how implementing different LLMs affects them from a legal or reputational perspective based on the training data used. . IT leaders should continue to consider core training data when applying any LLM in their organization.
AI is expected to have a significant impact on the workforce, and IT will play a key role in enabling it. IT leaders can encourage more “employee voice” initiatives in the introduction of AI, which can support both employee engagement with the organization. and the use of AI technologies and tools.