Rogue AI hacking a government database, a looming rate hike, a "super" El Niño summer and a no-end-in-sight war sending petrol prices sky high.
asserted
AI → loom → prices
Oh, and according to Treasury's new long term forecasts, young Australians are on track to work longer and still struggle to accumulate wealth.
uncertain
Australians → accord → wealth
Safe to say it is a rough time to be an optimist.
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it → say → ?
Most of the issues fuelling the creeping sense of existential dread this week have been simmering away for some time — in the case of the planet's temperature, quite literally.
But the explosive revelation of the OpenAI breach has accelerated the feeling.
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revelation → fuel → feeling
Australians did not need another reason to suspect, fear or downright loathe the technology that will soon underpin almost every facet of everyday life.
But they now can add "autonomous agent accessing non-public Medicare statistics without being asked" to the list.
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they → need → list
The 40-year forecast
AI's social licence has eroded almost as quickly as public awareness of the technology has grown.
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awareness → erode → technology
That is and should be largely a problem for the tech giants (they're the ones seeking trillion-dollar valuations).
But it is also a significant issue for governments, and one that Australia is particularly alive to.
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Australia → seek → that
The country's 40-year outlook as per the Intergenerational Report released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers this week was hardly a doomsday scenario, but it could be sunnier.
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it → release → Chalmers
An older population, weaker productivity growth, mounting costs, growing exposure to climate change, geopolitical instability and technological disruption are among the downsides.
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population → mount → downsides
But as has been noted with some irony, a potential solve to many of these problems could actually be the effective application of AI across the economy.
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solve → note → economy
We're at an important crossroads
There are senior MPs across the political divide who understand that Australia is at an important crossroads.
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Australia → be → crossroads
Frontier AI companies are searching for a reliable and secure second home — an insurance policy against the instability of their current backyard — and Australia is a prime potential candidate.
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Australia → search → backyard
Hosting AI training and development could bring billions of dollars in initial investment while establishing the country as a hub for cutting-edge research, science and commerce.
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Hosting → host → research
Becoming a base for frontier AI could also give Australia greater influence over how the technology is governed.
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technology → become → influence
On the one hand, the revelation dovetailed impeccably with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's attendance at the UN General Assembly in New York this week.
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revelation → dovetail → York
Right as US President Donald Trump was railing against the calls to impose AI guardrails, OpenAI were briefing ministers in Canberra about the very type of incident Australia had been warning about.
But also, just as Australia is trying to land some Goldilocks principles to regulate the risks of AI without stifling the opportunities, the country has been reminded how little control anyone really has over this technology.
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anyone → rail → technology
For months there has been speculation Australia is inching toward multi-billion dollar deals with the likes of Anthropic or OpenAI — agreements now even more likely to spark public backlash.
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Australia → inch → backlash
Uncomfortable questions remain
There is still a lot Australia does not know about the OpenAI breach, where a rogue agent hacked into an old online portal to access some aggregated Medicare data.
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agent → remain → data
Uncomfortable questions must be answered.
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questions → answer → ?
Most of those will be directed at OpenAI — like how it took the company a month to alert Australia to the incident and why they chose the digital equivalent of a carrier pigeon to deliver that message.
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they → direct → message
It's not really anyone's fault that a random bureaucrat did not immediately discern that the contents of a generic email to a public inbox were worthy of the Australian Signals Directorate's attention.
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contents → discern → attention
But for too long many people have not heeded the flood of advisories from the ASD practically begging the public and private sector alike to up their digital security.
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people → heed → security
ASD has repeatedly warned that AI is changing the cyber threat landscape by making malicious activity faster and more sophisticated.
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activity → warn → landscape
Specifically, the cyber spooks have identified legacy technology and aging systems — like, say, an all-but-defunct government data portal — as a "significant and enduring" risk.
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spooks → identify → risk
Then there is the bigger question of whether OpenAI has actually broken any Australian laws.
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OpenAI → be → laws
That is something the rapid review launched by the government in the wake of the breach is determined to ascertain, though many in Labor already feel the likely answer is "no".
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answer → launch → Labor
To dial down the dread a touch, it is important not to overstate the severity of the OpenAI breach.
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it → dial → breach
The government has been told no personal data was accessed and have found no evidence to suggest otherwise.
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data → tell → evidence
The website that was compromised was fronted by what one government source described to this column as a door so old and rickety that it probably only took a "light push" for it to "fall off its hinges".
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it → compromise → hinges
Another minister privately made the point that had such an attempt been made on genuinely sensitive data held by Medicare, those agents would have come up against much stronger doors.
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agents → make → doors
There is still a lot to concern researchers — particularly that the OpenAI agents were never instructed to consider hacking as an option.
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agents → be → option
The challenge now
Setting aside the risks posed by AI, the more familiar pressures facing Australians are hardly easing.
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pressures → set → Australians
There's not an economist left who doesn't think the Reserve Bank is going to raise the cash rate next week.
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Bank → be → rate
Meanwhile, Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has gone all the way to Saudi Arabia as he continues to hunt every nook and cranny of the globe for available barrels of oil.
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he → go → oil
He will also be using the trip to urge the Saudis to sign on to a stronger electrification commitment at the next climate conference.
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He → use → conference
But while the world scrambles for fuel amid a growing supply crisis caused by the Trump Administration's war with Iran, talks of how to ditch reliance on fossil fuels are not a prominent public issue.
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talks → scramble → fuels
It's a depressing backdrop for new forecasts of the "super" El Niño coming this summer, which is expected to cause an extra 260 extra heat-related deaths in Australia between now and February, according to the Climate Impact Lab.
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which → come → Lab
All the doom and gloom does help explain why Australia cannot afford to write off a technology that could prove useful in tackling some of these problems, from scientific breakthroughs and energy transition to the productivity slump threatening future living standards.
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that → help → standards
The uncomfortable part is that the same technology comes with risks governments are only beginning to understand, let alone control.
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governments → come → risks
Australia has plenty of reasons to want AI to live up to its promise, but it has just experienced how easily things can go wrong.
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things → have → promise
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
