Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence

Background

The Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence was appointed by resolution of the House of Representatives and the Senate on 20 August 2026. Its terms of reference cover the opportunities AI presents for Australia, sovereign AI capability, workforce and skills, the adequacy of Australia's existing laws and regulatory frameworks, the risks and harms arising from AI, and the implications of emerging AI capability for national security, including the ability of regulators and the Australian AI Safety Institute to identify and respond to emerging risks. Submissions closed on 14 September 2026, and the committee is due to report by 30 November 2026.

Our submission

The submission, Risks and Influence in the Age of AI, argues that risks from AI are increasing alongside capability. Australia has little influence over a technology on track to upend geopolitics, the global economy, and national security. To manage these risks and protect our national interests, Australia needs more influence over how AI develops, the right information and expertise, and laws fit for the technology.

AI is more capable, and consequential, than many people realise. Advanced AI can be deliberately misused, it can malfunction (including escaping human control), and it can cause systemic harms such as labour-market disruption and the concentration of power. These harms are already occurring, and are warning shots of worse to come. Australia is exposed to these risks, and unprepared for them.

To manage these risks and protect national interests, Australia needs:

1. Influence over how AI develops. Australia must secure valuable positions in the AI value chain, and use them to secure our national interests.

• Hosting frontier AI training may be the most valuable position Australia could fill. This would strengthen Australia's position to negotiate for continued access to frontier models and oversight of how they are developed.
• Building inference capacity would reduce Australia's dependence on foreign compute and allow us to provide secure, trusted AI to regional partners.
• Copyright is a barrier to both. Government must develop an Australian copyright approach that enables AI training and inference to occur in Australia while supporting creators. This does not need to be the perfect solution—rights holders can choose to opt out and negotiate their own agreements.

2. The information and expertise to act on AI risks. The Australian Government lacks the information and capability needed to protect Australians from AI risks.

• Government should require frontier AI developers to be transparent about the risks of their models, and to report critical safety incidents.
• Australia should make its AI Safety Institute world-leading by ensuring it is properly funded and making meaningful contributions to one or more critical areas of technical AI safety, such as compute verification.

3. Regulations fit for the technology. Regulators are not managing some emerging AI-specific risks.

• Government should mandate gene synthesis screening to reduce AI-enabled biosecurity risk. The Department of Agriculture already has the power to act under the Biosecurity Act 2015, at near-zero cost.
• Government should establish who is liable when AI agents cause harm.

If Australia does not act soon, we will inherit the decisions made offshore by very few countries, companies, and people. The window for securing our national interests in the age of AI is closing fast.

The submission makes nine recommendations:

1. The Committee's report should acknowledge that AI poses catastrophic and potentially existential risks, and that a proportionate government response is warranted.
2. Attract AI training to Australia and apply national interest conditions.
3. Ensure Australia can meet its own inference demand and serve the region.
4. Develop copyright pathways that allow AI training and inference to occur in Australia while supporting creators.
5. Clarify the position of inference under Australian law and ensure copyright law is fit for purpose.
6. Get Australian policymakers the information they need.
7. Make the Australian AI Safety Institute a world leader.
8. Require imported synthetic nucleic acids to come from providers that screen.
9. Ensure accountability for harms caused by AI agents.

The submission draws on Australia's Position in the Age of AI, our recent report, and attaches our consultation paper on an Australian AI Training Scheme along with a summary of consultation feedback so far.