Ai Group welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the consultation on the Issues Paper, Positioning Australia as a leader in digital economy regulation – Automated Decision Making and AI Regulation, by the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet (PM&C) via the Digital Technology Taskforce.

Our members are businesses of all sizes and from many sectors across Australia. Rapidly advancing technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) are producing waves of wider innovation across the economy as businesses and individuals build new social practices and business models upon them. Ai Group’s members are grappling with these changes in different ways and with different levels of readiness and capability. The collective impact of these changes is part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

COVID-19 has also highlighted how interconnected many businesses are and digital technologies have been an enabler for many businesses to remain open and sustainable. This unstable environment presents an opportunity for industry to emerge more globally competitive by taking fuller advantage of Industry 4.0 and digitalisation. AI can play a timely and important role in this discussion.

For the purposes of this consultation, our submission provides preliminary comments regarding regulatory matters related to AI and automated decision making (ADM). As this consultation progresses, we look forward to further development and understanding of material issues and underlying causes (if any), followed by an exploration and assessment of potential options to address these including regulatory impact and cost benefits assessment.