Artificial intelligence companies will have to abide by new "mandatory" safeguards when operating in Australia, and a regulator will be established to enforce them, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
The measures would include "mandatory" reporting of AI security breaches and potential breaches of criminal law, as well as the independent evaluation of frontier AI models, Albanese told reporters on Tuesday.
The AI safety regulator will be tasked with implementing measures to keep the booming industry in check and will be able to impose penalties on AI companies that violate the rules.
The measures will form part of the federal government's upcoming AI safety regulation.
The government also released findings from a review into the breach of a Medicare statistics website by an OpenAI agent earlier this year.
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Albanese said the government would accept all 18 recommendations from a rapid review into the OpenAI breach.
The laws will also pave the way for independent evaluation of AI models used by tech companies.
"Our task is to make sure that we shape AI rather than AI shape us," Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
"It will have a drastic impact on the way that work occurs.
"AI offers Australia and the world generational opportunities if we seize and shape them properly and that is exactly what we're doing here."
The US-based OpenAI's technology accessed a Medicare statistics website in June, but the firm did not inform federal authorities about the incident until September.
"Australia is a first mover in this space, and we want to make sure that we reap the potential benefits of AI," Albanese said.
"But we need to ensure that we get it right, and social licence is absolutely critical."
