Assistant Minister Urges Caution Over Tech Industry’s Call to Slow AI Development

Assistant Technology Minister Andrew Charlton has warned the public against taking tech companies’ calls for a pause in AI development too seriously.

His comments come after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on the tech industry to slow the development of frontier AI models, citing concerns about growing risks.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and billionaire Elon Musk both supported this approach.

Amodei warned that if AI development continues at its current pace, a swarm of misaligned AI programs could coordinate to take over the internet within six to 12 months using a network of rogue bots.

However, Charlton warned that people should not place too much weight on commentary from these tech companies, given their “extremely strong financial incentives” to continue developing AI and making money.

“I am not in favour of leaving it to the companies and I’m not in favour of leaving it to the superpowers,” he said at an AI event hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

“I take that at face value but I don’t think we should care very much about what individual chief executives say or what individual executives claim they want to happen. I think we should care about what is actually happening.”

Charlton recently travelled to the G20 innovation meeting in North Carolina to progress Australia’s artificial intelligence plans.

Shadow Industry Minister Andrew Hastie also spoke at the ASPI event, warning that Australia risks losing its independence and power if it does not build its own advanced AI models domestically.

He suggested working with the United States through the AUKUS security partnership to develop this technology.

“Without a sovereign AI frontier model here in Australia, we are going to be a supplicant state, not a sovereign state,” Hastie said.

“People think it’s making memes on ChatGPT. We’re talking about the global order being changed and Australia falling behind.”

New AI Rules Are Coming

The debate comes as the Labor government prepares to introduce legislation for mandatory national AI standards in Parliament in early 2027.

“We will consult closely with industry and our trading partners to design a framework for faster decision-making, better supporting infrastructure and genuine community engagement,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during a speech at the University of Sydney in July.

“It is not our goal to try and legislate for every possible eventuality or risk.

“This is about having the flexibility to keep pace with change—and get out in front of it.”