Back

Australia can gain from stronger diplomacy on AI

Social Cyber Institute

A new report from an interdisciplinary international team of eight researchers has recommended a boost in Australian diplomacy to help Indo-Pacific countries assess the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI).

 

The report, 'Technology Impact Assessment for Peace and Stability: Diplomatic Opportunities for Australia and India', was funded by the Australia India Cyber and Critical Technologies Partnership through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 

 

“No country has the capacity to assess the impact of the current and future uses of AI across its many applications”, said Professor Glenn Withers AO from ANU’s Crawford School and co-leader of the project. “Our latest paper argues for a pooling of national efforts across partner countries to get this job done more quickly and more comprehensively.” Withers is a former chair of the Australian Council of Learned Academies and of the World Bank’s Global Development Learning Network.

 

“Australia and India could establish a standing mechanism for bilateral impact assessment of critical technologies that could become the hub or model for a wider regional initiative”, according to Professor Katina Michael, a Senior Visiting Scientist at Arizona State University. “Australia can help to build a community of practice for specialists, officials, and other stakeholders committed to and trained in technology assessment, especially for the sub-fields of AI.”

 

Greg Austin, an Adjunct Professor at the Australia China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, noted the paper’s view that joint technology assessments of sub-technologies in the field of artificial intelligence demand “global common approaches on responsible use that dictate putting aside, as far as possible, the sorts of geopolitical tensions that Australia and India both experienced in their relations with China”. 

 

Dr Brendan Walker-Munro an expert in national security law at Southern Cross University, believes that the time is right for technology impact assessments to form part of securing innovations in technology like AI as part of the national interest. "Emerging and critical technologies are increasingly becoming tools for States to exercise diplomatic, political and foreign policy power. That means we need to know how to keep those technologies safe from acts of espionage, foreign interference or cyber theft, and keep our research sector robust and secure as a matter of national interest".

                                                                                                                                     

About us:

On 5 November 2024, Australia’s Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong announced in a joint press statement with the Indian Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar a grant for this project under the Australia India Cyber and Critical Technologies Partnership (AICCTP). Co-leaders of the grant have been the Australian National University and InKlude Labs in Bengaluru. Researchers involved in the work also come from the Takshashila Institution, Social Cyber Institute, Arizona State University, Southern Cross University, Blended Learning International and RMIT University. This project sought to promote rigorous ethical approaches to technology assessments of critical emerging technologies that impact peace and stability. Six members of the eight-person team are executives or Fellows with the Social Cyber Institute..