Let me tell you why I wanted to speak to you today.
It is because I know that the public sector needs to uplift our skill in Artificial Intelligence.
There is no other option.
Ministers like myself are seeing reports delivered to government by advocacy groups that have been developed by AI. In my electorate I know that the letters I receive from constituents that are now written, in part, by my newest constituents, ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
We are seeing artificial intelligence change our communities.
It is helping, and challenging, small businesses. And the legislative challenges we will face require careful thinking.
So this is a conversation that every parliamentarian, and every public servant, needs to be a part of.
APS as an early adopter of technology
Picture this. It is the early 2000s. Silverchair is on the radio. The four original Wiggles are still performing together.
You have just returned home from a long flight at Brisbane Airport. Exhausted, sleep-deprived, and likely jet-lagged. You wait to get off the plane. You wait to collect your luggage. Then, you wait in a long line for passport checks. Watching as passport after passport is manually inspected by the customs and immigration officers. The journey through the airport is almost as arduous as the flight itself.
Fast forward to the present. You arrive at the Airport. You head towards the Smart Gates. Then you are straight out the airport doors.
Done.
In no time, you are talking to the relative you have roped into pick up duty. The technological transformation over the last couple of decades has been remarkable. In the early 2000’s, fewer than 7 per cent of people globally had access to the internet. You had to get your Silverchair albums on a CD from Sanity.
Today, more than 65 per cent of the world is online. Mobile phone subscriptions have skyrocketed from 740 million to over 8 billion. And if you are doing the maths, yes, there are now as many mobile phones in the world as people.
Australia has always been an early adopter, if not a leader of technological advancement. Australians are proud of our advancements. Leading innovations like cochlear, Gardasil and even further back - climate science, fire management and some of the earliest uses of anaesthetics.
Now, the twenty-first century has delivered a truly unprecedented rate of technological advancement. It is impacting every sector of our society in a very real way.
After the space race, satellite technology changed the way we view our Earth. It informs so many of the things we now take for granted, 60 years on. From pulling out our phones to check our weather apps, confirming that – yes - we need to bring our washing in. To knowing how quickly a freeway exit is approaching, to save ourselves a high speed, last minute lane change.
Technology is transforming the way Government works to improve the lives of all Australians. Geoscience Australia uses satellite imagery to monitor a range of changes to our landscape. Everything from bushfires, coastline movements and floods; to agriculture and mining industries. In a land of ‘drought and flooding rains’ and in a changing climate, this data has never been more important to access.
Digitisation has revolutionised so many of the aspects of Government service delivery. Medicare - when first opened in 1984 - meant a lunch time queue for your $8.50 Medicare payment. We experienced it when filing our paper-based “tax pack” became as simple as a few clicks, quite literally at our fingertips.
Even in Parliament, the times have changed rapidly. It was the Howard Government in 2006 that first moved to use Blackberries. Mobile email is now essential to government, although a Blackberry is now as rare as a fax machine.
Or, 6 years ago, the addition of Microsoft Teams to our lives. Now AI tools are appearing in web browsers and desktop applications.
AI in the public sector
Generative AI has captured the world’s imagination. It has created urgency in the public sector and some apprehension. It has created a need for new guidance in the public sector.
AI is already promising so much for the public service, giving us a glimpse of the future. Like earlier parts of the digital revolution, AI could simplify routine tasks, allowing public servants to deliver more services and policy to better support Australians.
AI best practice
This is another race. The Australian Public Service can either lead as a policy innovator, or fall behind.
Australia led the charge, becoming one of the first governments in the world to adopt an Ethical AI Framework for government in 2019. Within months of GPT4 being released, we began consulting on translating principles into mandatory guardrails. A whole of government AI taskforce was created.
Around the world, other countries are taking decisive action too.
In the United States, the White House is taking steps to ensure AI is safe to use In late 2023, President Joe Biden issued an executive order. Directing government agencies to follow a whole-of-government approach to the safe and responsible development of AI.
The United Kingdom Government published a white paper in 2023 titled ‘A Pro-Innovation Approach to AI Regulation.’ And in November last year, the UK hosted the first international AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park.
The Summit’s objective was:
‘…to turbocharge action on the safe and responsible development of frontier AI around the world.’
Here in the Asia-Pacific, Singapore’s Government released a National AI Strategy in December last year. The Singaporean Government is working with the Singapore General Hospital to pilot a dementia test study using AI – titled ‘Project Pensieve.’ The digital drawing test takes five minutes to complete and results are available immediately. Drawings are scored by AI based on the drawings and the drawing stroke sequence. This enables dementia screening to be done much more efficiently and scaled to be proactive.
And right here in Australia, our corporate sector is taking steps into the world of AI. Australian companies like Canva, NewsCorp and Atlassian all accelerating their AI products. Just last week the Australian Financial Review hosted its own AI Summit.
Australia cannot afford to be left behind, when everyone else has heard the starting gun.
Not left behind
AI is the next chapter of technological advancement for our society. I am determined Australia’s public servants seek out the massive benefits of AI and use it in a safe and transparent way.
That is why the Australian Government has committed $39.9 million over 5 years to support the adoption and use of AI safely and responsibly. And just last week, our Government announced four new AI Adopt projects.
Enabling Australian small to medium sized businesses to now have access to expert advice on how to safely adopt artificial intelligence into their operations. The four AI Adopt Centres, under the $17 million AI Adopt Program, which will act as a front door to connect business with AI expertise.
Making sure our country can capitalise on the opportunities ahead of us safely, to benefit every Australian.
AI-ready workforce
Many of you might know about the Government’s ambitious plan to invest in and strengthen the public service. It means having the trust of the Australian people that we are using AI in the right way. In a way that benefits people, businesses and our communities.
If we are going to keep attracting the best and brightest, we need to use modern technologies in our work. Joining the APS should not mean joining an ICT system of the early 2000s. AI in Government will not be possible without the right skills and capabilities to use it well.
Building an AI-ready public-sector workforce will require considered effort from people, systems and culture. The APS Academy will play a role in building capability on how we can best and safely use AI for the future.
AI guidance
Last year, the Government released interim guidance for agency use of public generative AI tools.
The first principle is Accountability. APS employees must be able to explain, justify, and take ownership of any advice or decisions informed by generative AI tools.
The second principle is Transparency and explainability. Agencies should consider clearly marking where generative AI is used, and are to critically examine information generated by AI.
Third is Privacy protection and security. The government should not use public generative AI tools with any classified, personal, or sensitive information, ensuring it follows relevant laws and policies.
Number four is Fairness and human-centred values. The government should avoid biases in generative AI tools that could harm some groups, and should involve relevant communities in decision-making.
And fifth is Human, societal, and environmental wellbeing. The government should use generative AI tools in a way that improves the wellbeing of the community.
This includes respecting right holders, and carefully considering Indigenous data sovereignty and governance.
My message is clear.
Public servants should use AI. And use it wisely.
They must think about the policy challenges it brings. And make sure we grab the opportunities available.
The Digital Transformation Agency has led this including a Request for Information process allowing vendors to present solutions that could support the Government.
Current use of AI
In many corners of the public sector, AI is already making a difference.
The Australian Taxation Office is making intelligence available to the right staff at the right time to ensure they focus on the highest tax risks. This enables them to focus on activities that require human decision making, interactions and empathy. The ATO also uses AI to develop analytical models to help identify taxpayer populations and identify risks for further review. It helps reduce the likelihood of the ATO unnecessarily reviewing taxpayers when they are compliant.
At the ATO, AI enables entitlement calculation and natural language processing. Ensuring more personalised service.
At the Australian Bureau of Statistics, statisticians have utilised AI alongside their usual statisticians and analysts. Helping to update the massive datasets of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations – for the first time since 2006.
AI plays a key role in the Australian Signals Directorate’s Project REDSPICE Capability Project. Going forward, ASD will focus on utilising the role of AI in intelligence and Cyber Capability. To make sure Australia is getting the best information in our intelligence monitoring.
Currently, the Australian Government is conducting a 6-month trial of Co-pilot for Microsoft 365. The Digital Transformation Agency, in partnership with the AI Taskforce, will evaluate the trial and advise government on its outcomes and potential next steps. The trial will evaluate the Copilot for Microsoft 365 product as well as the use of generative AI tools. As a requirement for participating in the trial, agencies will provide data and insights to the Digital Transformation Agency to inform the final evaluation report.
This puts us at the leading edge, worldwide, of deploying generative AI tools across government. The Digital Transformation Agency, in partnership with the AI Taskforce, will evaluate the trial and advise government on its outcomes and proposed next steps.
AI is at its best when it supports the work of our public servants to serve Australia in the important work they do. Building APS-wide capability in a completely new way. Balancing innovation and risk is a priority.
As we introduce AI into the public sector, we must learn from the past and apply those lessons wisely.
The importance of humans
The recent Robodebt scandal that used automated decision making taught us that when making decisions and creating processes that directly impact people’s lives, we cannot take the human out of the equation.
At every level and step, the human factor is the most important factor. Our government is committed to putting people at the centre of the decisions we make in design, policy and technology.
It is against this backdrop of caution, that I am genuinely optimistic.
Conclusion
Today, we don’t think much of facial recognition technology as we pass through the Smart Gates in our airports. Yet, this technology is helping thousands of people daily, streamlining their journeys.
It uses AI to speed up passport review.
Since it was rolled out in 2007, SmartGate has processed up to 81% of eligible passengers per year. That is 165 million travellers in total.
By automating routine tasks, it helps Border Force Officers focus on providing better services to travellers. It is redefining how technology can complement humans, not replace them.
What was once a concept in science fiction has today become a familiar part of everyday life. If we find the right balance, AI can similarly benefit our society and its people.
Today’s conversations on this topic are essential. I am excited to hear your thoughts on the opportunities.
Thank you.