As big tech heads Down Under, some fear Australia risks giving up control

AI companies are looking at investing in countries outside of the United States to build data centres. (Four Corners: Mark Hiney) Link copiedShareShare articleA former Labor minister says the federal government "blinked" on AI regulation, shelving plans to make it safer for consumers rather than provoke US President Donald Trump. When he was minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic was planning to bring in "mandatory guardrails" on high-risk AI as part of a standalone act that aimed to protect the community against the technology's potential harms. After the election in May 2025, he was dumped from the ministry in a factional deal. By the end of the year his policy proposal was also gone. "We put AI regulation in a 'too hard' basket. We blinked in the face of Donald Trump and decided that we just couldn't get away with our own approach on this," he told Four Corners. "We were already attracting heat from him [Trump] and Elon Musk on social media laws. You saw the treatment of our own eSafety Commissioner by that administration and prominent figures in the US, and so we just figured we'd duck that fight." Four Corners investigates the AI race tonight from 8:30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview. Minister for Industry and Science Tim Ayres disputes Mr Husic's interpretation of the decision, telling Four Corners the policy shift had nothing to do with Trump administration. "The Albanese government has demonstrated that we are absolutely prepared to regulate big tech where it's in the national interest. We've moved with world-leading legislation to limit the access of under-16s to social media," he said. "We've delivered an Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute. It will work across government. It will work with community institutions and with experts here in Australia." But as big tech begins investing in Australia, there are fears the government's regulatory retreat could have serious consequences. Some companies behind popular AI chatbots are looking to invest in Australia. (Four Corners: Mark Hiney) There are growing concerns about AI safety across the world, including the US, where there have been a series of lawsuits against AI giants by parents who allege their children were coached by chatbots to self-harm or suicide. OpenAI's ChatGPT has been the subject of a study called Fake Friend, run by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. "We created fake profiles as young people. We then went and asked it a series of structured questions, with a child who is thinking about killing themselves. Within two minutes we were able to get ChatGPT to tell us how we can cut ourselves safely," CEO Imran Ahmed said. "Within 65 minutes it was giving us a full personalised suicide plan and drafting suicide notes for our family and friends. Imran Ahmed runs the Center for Countering Digital Hate. (Four Corners: Mark Hiney) A spokesperson for OpenAI told Four Corners that the wellbeing of teenagers is a "top priority". "We have safeguards in place today … and we're continuing to strengthen them," they said. There were a range of safety concerns at the heart of Mr Husic's plan for an AI Act, including minimising harm to children, protecting physical and mental wellbeing and preserving civil liberties and judicial rights. However, Senator Ayres believes the existing legislation provides enough protection when properly enforced. After abandoning Mr Husic's proposed guardrails, the federal government unveiled a National AI Plan in December last year. The plan stresses that existing laws are the best way of dealing with AI-related risks. As an example, the plan points to what it calls Australia's "robust privacy protections". However, Professor Ed Santow from the Human Technology Institute, who ran an inquiry into the human implications of AI while human rights commissioner, said the current privacy laws are anything but robust. "Our privacy law is dangerously out of date. It was largely drafted before the internet, let alone the age of artificial intelligence," he said. "If you can update our privacy law, that's probably the single biggest step you could take to protect Australians from their personal information being used against them in the age of AI." Mr Husic is deeply concerned by the government's sudden pivot on its approach to AI, and fears it could be detrimental. "We've done a 180-degree turn. We've gone from recognising the risk and recognising that we should do something now to having a hands-off approach," he said. Ed Husic believes the government has taken a "hands-off" approach to regulating AI. (Four Corners: Mark Hiney) In April, two of the world's biggest tech titans visited Australia, promising investment opportunities right when the federal government needed them most: while the economy is flat and productivity continues to lag. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, visited Parliament House in Canberra and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the government to "work together

As big tech heads Down Under, some fear Australia risks giving up control

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