Senate Estimates always provides some amusement, if by amusement you mean schadenfreude. We’ve had plenty of that, plus action on AI regulation, and much more. Read on...
Here’s what I noticed since the previous edition on 26 May:
- Could Elon Musk kill the NBN?, asks Julian Bajkowski. “Starlink is like a wet dream in real life for the Coalition’s sometimes bizarre positions on physics that often seem to derive from the need to oppose those opposite.”
- On Thursday Australia’s Chief Scientist issued the Rapid Response Information Report: Generative AI. As The Mandarin reports, AI’s rapid evolution has experts warning change is coming faster than they can predict. And as a result, Australia considers ban on ‘high-risk’ uses of AI such as deepfakes and algorithmic bias. There’s a discussion paper, Responsible AI in Australia: have your say. Submissions close 26 July.
- “AI expert Vaibhav Namburi says Australia has a lot to learn about the technology before deciding how it should be regulated.”
- So last month I was amused by the cyber wardens concept. Turns out that “a $23 million grant for Australia’s small business council to train up to 60,000 cyber wardens over the next three years was handed to the peak body without a competitive process“.
- PMC has issued a new Ministry list as at 31 May 2023 and Ministerial offices, departments of state and guide to responsibilities: 31 May 2023.
- “Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has rejected two of the eight online safety codes developed by local tech industry associations for failing to provide ‘appropriate community safeguards’ and will now develop binding standards.”
- “An investigation into the selection of Salesforce as the provider of the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s new customer relationship management system has been ordered after potential issues with the procurement were uncovered.”
- Australia’s online gambling regulation far behind global pack, advocates find.
- I only noticed this after I’d posted last week’s edition, but Home Affairs is experimenting with ChatGPT in refugee and cyber divisions. One might be excused for thinking of this as a rogue act.
- From InnovationAus, a bunch more stories: Defence sites had 435 China-linked surveillance devices, not one; Security clearance issues threaten ASD’s REDSPICE workforce boost, because there’s a huge backlog of vetting to be done; and “a lack of visibility over the future direction of the Consumer Data Right is creating uncertainty“.
- And finally, not from Canberra as such, Five years on, the Startup Muster gets a 2023 reboot. Fuck I hate the constant hyping up of startups.
Please let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if there’s any specific items you’d like me to follow. Parliament returns on 19 June for two weeks, and then it’s the long winter break.
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[Photo: Australia’s Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic.]