Anthony Albanese’s push to drive Australian economy with artificial intelligence

The Prime Minister is set to ramp up regulations around artificial intelligence data centres as he doubles down on their importance to the nation’s future economy and sovereignty.

Anthony Albanese is set to outline greater scope for the data centres at a meeting of high-level business leaders on Tuesday ahead of National Cabinet on Wednesday, where he will set out nationally consistent minimum obligations.

Central to this is ensuring appropriate locations and energy and water use, which have been among key concerns of some communities as data centre demand ramps up across the country.

Mr Albanese says Australia is in a strong position to attract data centre investment and must put itself in the best position possible.

“Hosting large scale AI training data centres, and unlocking frontier AI model training, will help Australia capture a larger share of the economic value, technical capability and strategic influence of AI,” he is expected to tell the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner on Tuesday evening.

The Commonwealth will legislate national standards, which will focus on energy and water usage. Data centres must make a ‘positive contribution” to the energy transition and minimise their water use, and report transparently on performance and consumption.

They must also minimise community impact — appropriately-sized for their infrastructure requirements and avoid “inappropriate” locations, such as near schools, homes, prime agricultural land and potential housing sites.

The Federal Government’s legislation will also deal with AI training rules around copyright, security, safety and skills development.

“We are leading the world in developing A.I. best practice, just as we have in the under-16 social media ban,” Mr Albanese is expected to say.

“Getting this right can ensure Australia is the infrastructure partner for our region, aided by our status as a Five Eyes Partner. It will advance our national sovereignty, and it is essential for our national security, business productivity, science, innovation and resilience.”