The next government will shape whether AI becomes a powerful force for good or causes catastrophic harm. Australia needs swift and globally coordinated action to address the risks of AI so Australians can fully seize its opportunities.
We can fly with confidence because we know airlines are subject to robust safety standards—the same should be true for AI.
Therefore, we call on the Australian Government to:
<ul><li>Deliver on its commitments by creating an Australian AI Safety Institute. While massive investments are accelerating AI capabilities, there is minimal funding dedicated to understanding and addressing its risks. We need independent technical expertise within government to join global AI risk research, and help ensure regulation and policy meet Australia&#39;s needs. </li>
<li>Introduce an Australian AI Act that imposes mandatory guardrails on AI developers and deployers. The Act should ensure that powerful AI systems meet robust safety standards and clarify liability for developers and deployers. </li></ul>
AI development is already rapid, can be unexpected, and will have significant consequences for Australians. AI stands to fundamentally transform our society, economy, and democracy – for better or worse. Australians expect our government to take the widespread implications of AI seriously, to work with the global community to ensure AI is well governed, and to be adaptable in protecting us from AI risks while enabling us to realise its benefits.
We, the undersigned, call on the Australian Government to make AI safe before it&#39;s too late.<dangerous></dangerous>

To realise AI’s immense benefits, we must first confront its escalating risks—starting now.

Australia Must Act on AI Risks Now

Dear Senators,

In July 2023, Australians for AI Safety <a data-preserve-html-node="true" href="https://australiansforaisafety.com.au/july-2023-letter" style="text-decoration: underline;">wrote to the Minister for Industry Science and Technology</a>, highlighting the importance of AI safety.1 The letter was in the context of the Safe and Responsible AI (SRAI) Consultation and built on similar letters from global AI leaders.2
The letter made four specific requests of the Australian Government: 
<ul>
<li>Recognise that catastrophic consequences from increasingly advanced AI systems are possible </li>
<li>Take steps to mitigate these extreme risks, alongside other important work</li>
<li>Work internationally to shape the global approach to these risks, and </li>
<li>Increase support for research into AI safety.</li>
</ul>
Australia’s endorsement of the Bletchley Declaration on AI Safety in November 2023 was a critical step towards Australia delivering on these requests.3 By signing the Bletchley Declaration, Australia acknowledged that highly capable general-purpose AI models have the potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm. Australia resolved to mitigate these risks through global cooperation and by supporting scientific research on the safety of the most capable AI models at the frontier of research and development.
Despite our endorsement of the Bletchley Declaration, Australia has yet to position itself to learn from and contribute to growing global efforts. To achieve the economic and social benefits that AI promises, we need to be active in global action to ensure the safety of AI systems that approach or surpass human-level capabilities.
We recommend:
<ul>
<li>The urgent creation of an Australian AI Safety Institute. The National AI Centre’s mission is driving the responsible adoption of AI by Australian industry. A separate institution is now needed to ensure the safety and security4 of the small number of models at the frontier of AI research and development. Countries – including the US, UK, Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea – are establishing AI Safety Institutes to address this small class of models. An Australian AI Safety Institute would be focused on evaluating these models – including assessing models for dangerous capabilities, considering risks that could emerge from deployment in complex systems, “red-teaming” the adequacy of safeguards, and providing overall advice on their implications. An Australian AI Safety Institute would also drive AI safety research and deliver the Government's commitment to collaborate internationally on scientific research on frontier AI safety.5
</li>
<li>New safeguards must keep pace with new AI capabilities and new risks. AI is progressing rapidly, and new capabilities are hard to predict. The Government’s interim response to SRAI consultation agreed that, "Governments must respond with agility when known risks change and new risks emerge".6 Unfortunately, this is yet to happen. For instance, the UK and US adopted new regulations for “mail-order DNA” in response to the possibility that next-generation AI models will be able to help terrorists make biological weapons.7 Six months after the US took action, Australia has yet to update its equivalent biosafety regulations. This was a test of our agility, and we have failed. Australia needs a streamlined approach to risk identification and mitigation so that new safeguards keep pace with new risks in this fast-paced environment. 
</li>
<li>Ensure the regulation of high-risk AI systems includes those that could have catastrophic consequences. Government, through the Safe and Responsible AI Consultation, identified the pressing need to regulate high-risk AI systems.8 In addition to the examples given in the Interim Response, “high risk” should also include systems where the consequence of something going wrong could be catastrophic. This should include highly-capable agents that can interact with other systems; autonomous goal-directed systems; and frontier models with capabilities relating to cyber offence, biotechnology, or risks to democratic institutions.9
</li>
</ul>
Too often, lessons are learned only after something goes wrong. With AI systems that might approach or surpass human-level capabilities, we cannot afford for that to be the case. 
Yours faithfully,

Senate Inquiry on Adopting Artificial Intelligence

Dear Minister,
We write to call for the Australian Government to take the risks of AI seriously.
The economic potential of advanced AI systems will only be realised if we make them ethical and safe. Ethical challenges from today’s systems are already causing serious harms, and as systems become more powerful the risks of misuse, accident, and catastrophe become more acute. 
The safe use of AI requires considering that, in the future, AI could represent a catastrophic or existential risk that could jeopardise all of humanity.1 While we have to be frank about the uncertainty, many experts have raised the alarm, and governments must listen.2 Mitigating catastrophic risk should never be left to chance.
As part of a due-diligence-based approach, the Australian Government should:
<ul>
<li>Recognise the risk. The Australian Government’s AI strategy must recognise that catastrophic and existential consequences are possible. The AI strategy should highlight that mature risk management processes treat uncertainty as a cause for concern, not comfort. 
</li>
<li>Take a portfolio approach to mitigating risk. The Australian Government’s risk-based approach to AI should be holistic, including preparing for problems that may only arise when AI systems are more advanced.3 Mitigations need to be in place for the risks we are experiencing today, like targeted harassment, dual-use technologies, deepfakes, and other forms of misinformation and disinformation.4 Risks with uncertain likelihood, but catastrophic consequences, must also be mitigated within the portfolio.5
</li>
<li>Work with the global community. The rest of the world is moving quickly, and we should contribute. Australia has led on the risks of nuclear and biological weapons – we can and should lead on mitigating similar risks from AI.6 Specifically, our contributions to international agreements and standards development should be mindful of managing longer-term and catastrophic risks while also addressing ethical concerns and ensuring economic benefits. 
</li>
<li>Support research into AI safety. In addition to policy leadership, we need technical solutions that greatly improve AI interpretability and alignment to human values. We must not leave the risks of AI to chance – or private interests and foreign companies. This requires governments to support research into AI safety, and urgently train the AI safety auditors that industry will soon need.7 Technical problems take time to solve, so we need to start now.
</li>
</ul>
A powerful first step from this consultation would be the creation of an AI Commission, or similar body, tasked with ensuring Australia takes a world-leading approach to understanding and mitigating the full range of risks posed by AI.
An AI Commission should approach its work on AI safety in a similar way to how we approach aviation safety. Government doesn’t need all the technical answers – but it does need to set the expectation of a culture of safety and transparency, create an independent investigator and a strong regulator, back them with a robust legal regime, and connect them with a global peak body that our Government helps to shape. This is how the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the International Civil Aviation Organization give Australians the confidence to fly. An AI Commission must ensure AI has the same kind of governance so that Australians can give it the same kind of trust.
An AI Commission should be set up urgently to ensure the law is clear about who is liable for harms caused by AI. This should include joint culpability between AI labs and AI providers, as well as anyone who uses AI to cause harm. We wouldn’t allow aircraft manufacturers to sell planes in Australia without knowing the product is safe, and we wouldn’t excuse a business for being ignorant about the potential harms of its products, so the law should similarly ensure adequate legal responsibility for the harms of AI.8
Importantly, this globally coordinated regulatory approach to aviation hasn’t stifled innovation. Indeed, certainty and structure of this kind helps new participants by providing them a framework through which to participate.

Australians for AI Safety Open Letters

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Australia Must Act on AI Risks Now

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