Anthony Albanese promises fast-track approvals for datacentres to shore up AI investment

PM to declare Australia the first country worldwide to bring economic, social, security and environmental issues from AI under single office in major speech

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Anthony Albanese says the federal government will introduce faster approval processes for AI projects, including datacentres, across Australia, seeking to shore up investor certainty and maintain community confidence in the rapidly advancing technology .

Announcing the creation of a new office of AI to be established within his department in a major speech on Wednesday, the prime minister will declare Australia is set to become the first country in the world to bring the economic, social, national security and environmental issues stemming from AI into a single, national framework.

Excepts of the speech provided to Guardian Australia did not detail the government’s plans on copyright laws , as Labor comes under intense pressure from AI companies seeking exemptions or carve outs to train large language models.

“Getting this right will enhance our appeal to international investors, by delivering greater clarity and speed for approvals, and a streamlined process for verifying compliance,” Albanese will tell an event . “It also imposes an important discipline on government.”

The speech – set to be closely watched at home and abroad – comes as Labor seeks to better grapple with the societal freight train that is AI, including growing angst about massive datacentre infrastructure, energy systems and protection for intellectual property of Australian writers, musicians, film-makers and journalists.

AI platforms are already preparing pitches for a significant expansion of the government’s own GovAI artificial intelligence service, established to drive secure and ethical adoption of new technologies in the Australian public service.

The finance department launched a new multi-stage procurement process in recent days, asking for industry to develop new tools for service delivery and policymaking, including AI chat, already being used to boost efficiency within government departments.

Talking up the social licence of AI and seeking to reassure workers about adequate guardrails to govern investment and development, Albanese will say AI requires a coordinated government approach, akin to the development of civil aviation in the 1920s and genetics in the 1990s.

The new office of AI, to be created within the department of the prime minister and cabinet with immediate effect, is expected to work with the minister for industry and innovation, Tim Ayres, and the assistance science and technology minister, Andrew Charlton.

It will design new Australian AI standards and coordinate cross-government work.

Albanese will point to work on AI already under way within the federal government, including on the national security risks and necessary protection being dramatically expanded.

The newly released national defence strategy labelled AI and machine learning as holding “the most significant potential for technological disruption” facing the country in the years ahead.

“We know that both extremists and state actors already use AI to create propaganda aimed at young people, and to spread disinformation that targets democracies,” Albanese will say, according to preview excerpts.

The defence minister, Richard Marles, and the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, are already working closely with national security agencies and Australia’s Five Eyes intelligence allies on the possible threat.

Ayres said on Tuesday that the speech would address concerns from AI companies about Australian copyright laws and their desire to use Australian content to train large models.

Ahead of meetings with senior cabinet ministers earlier this year, AI giant Anthropic cited Australia’s policy uncertainty as a major impediment to new investments in the country.

“Tomorrow, the prime minister will have something to say about all of this,” Ayres said.

“We have made it very clear as a government that there won’t be a text and data mining exception in Australia, but we are working hard to secure these investments because they are in the Australian national interest.”

The Climate Council chief executive, Amanda McKenzie, called on Labor to align the expansion in datacentres with climate action.

“Datacentres are hungry for energy,” she said. “Governments must proactively manage the surging demand, making sure that they are powered with clean renewable power.

“If they don’t, there is a big risk that they will push up pollution from coal and gas at a time when we’re already living through more frequent floods, and ferocious fires.”