AI experts say that AI could potentially start new cults, become an influential propaganda machine, disseminate misinformation and fake news, incite widespread public distrust of the media, thus corrupt free speech, and can ultimately defenestrate democracy.

Today, the Australians for Artificial Intelligence Safety Group created an open letter calling for the Australian government to take AI safety seriously and regulate the industry.

Despite calls around the globe and mounting concerns of the real-world harms that AI contributes to, a spokesperson for Australians for AI Safety Group said Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, dismissed these warnings stating they are “darkly negative.” Members of the government, then, are not taking the catastrophic or existential risks of AI seriously, unlike other countries including Singapore and the UK. Singapore has created the AI Verify Foundation, working to develop AI testing tools to enable safe and responsible AI. Similar safety-focused government labs are proposed in the UK.  Australia is yet to propose a national lab of this kind.

The Wire’s Bianca Mulheron spoke with Professor Peter Vamplew, an expert in information technology at Federation University on the increasing dangers of Artificial Intelligence.

Produced By: Bianca Mulheron

First aired on The Wire, Friday 21 July 2023