In short:
The federal government will investigate creating a new criminal offence for AI companies that fail to prevent harmful conduct by their models.
asserted
that → investigate → models
It follows a review of September's OpenAI hack of the Medicare statistics portal.
asserted
It → follow → portal
The government is expected to release the rest of its AI standards by the end of the year.
asserted
government → expect → year
Australia could become the first country to prosecute AI companies for failing to take reasonable steps to prevent harmful conduct by their models.
uncertain
Australia → become → models
The federal government has announced it would consider a new criminal offence for tech companies over AI harm and an AI safety watchdog empowered to issue significant fines, as part of its response to September's OpenAI Medicare statistics hack.
asserted
it → announce → hack
"The law needs to get ahead of, and in some cases make sure that it catches up with, what is a very fast-changing world," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters yesterday.
asserted
Albanese → need → reporters
AI companies Anthropic, Google and Meta, which were not given a substantial forewarning of the government's response, did not respond to requests for comment.
asserted
which → give → comment
An OpenAI spokesperson told the ABC that the company was reviewing the government's proposals.
asserted
company → tell → proposals
OpenAI hack not being criminally investigated
asserted
hack → investigate → ?
When Mr Albanese disclosed the Medicare hack in September, he said the government would seek urgent advice on whether any offence had occurred and whether the incident should be referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
asserted
incident → disclose → Police
Yesterday, he did not answer questions about whether he believed OpenAI had committed a crime.
asserted
OpenAI → answer → crime
In a letter released last week, the AFP told a parliamentary inquiry it had received no formal report of a crime and had begun no criminal investigation or prosecution over the incident.
asserted
it → release → incident
Mr Albanese said the government had accepted all the recommendations of the review into the incident.
asserted
government → say → incident
One of those was to consider "options to reform the criminal law to improve AI safety".
asserted
One → consider → safety
An option to be considered is the creation of a "failure to prevent" offence for AI companies behind models that engage in harmful conduct and do not take reasonable steps to prevent the harm.
asserted
that → consider → harm
The other was to consider criminal penalties for egregious breaches of AI safety standards.
asserted
other → consider → standards
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the OpenAI hack prompted the government to clarify the law around criminal liability.
asserted
hack → say → liability
"It should never be the case that there's an argument that someone didn't know the computer was loaded," he said.
asserted
he → be → ?
What would criminal charges add?
asserted
charges → add → What
Monash University associate professor Michael Duffy said both criminal liability and civil remedies were "important" in dealing with harm from AI.
asserted
liability → say → AI
"It is good to see the government now trying to grapple with the issue of potential harm from AI, which could be quite significant," he said.
uncertain
he → see → AI
Dr Duffy said both routes could deter harmful conduct, and civil remedies could also compensate victims.
uncertain
remedies → say → victims
"The area will not be without difficulty, however, in terms of problems of proof, working out if harms were foreseeable and proving fault," he said.
asserted
he → work → fault
University of Technology Sydney industry professor Ed Santow said he saw the merit of a criminal provision as part of a suite of options.
asserted
he → say → options
"I think what will be much more useful is the civil one," he said.
asserted
he → think → ?
He said the measures would give the government more tools for dealing with companies that do not meet their safety obligations.
asserted
that → say → obligations
Professor Santow drew a parallel with workplace safety and said unreasonable conduct might warrant a civil penalty, while more serious conduct, such as acting recklessly with disregard for someone's safety, could warrant criminal charges.
uncertain
conduct → draw → charges
Australia's push to lead on AI regulation
The Albanese government has signposted its desire to lead the world on regulating AI, with the prime minister describing it as a "first mover in this space".
asserted
minister → lead → space
While other countries have pursued distinct criminal offences for AI harm, one centring on a failure to take reasonable steps to prevent harm would be the first of its kind at a national level.
asserted
one → pursue → level
Italy recently introduced a criminal offence for high-risk AI uses that do not have required technical safeguards or human oversight where a failure would be a serious threat to people or national security.
asserted
failure → introduce → people
No company or individual has been prosecuted under the law to date.
asserted
company → prosecute → date
It remains unclear whether Australia's OpenAI incident would reach the threshold of harmful conduct, but Mr Albanese yesterday described it as "minor in terms of direct implications".
uncertain
Albanese → remain → implications
The Aporia
