Perth’s Resources Technology Showcase 2019: Narrow path to tread on regulating artificial intelligence
Businesses have been told to engage with government on the use of artificial intelligence to ensure the appropriate regulatory settings are rolled out as the technology becomes more widely used.
Roland Stephens, Austrade’s senior industry expert, defence, advanced manufacturing and space, said during a panel discussion at the Resources Technology Showcase that regulation was a difficult area because it was a narrow path.
“On one hand this is coming and there is no regulation that will stop it and we shouldn’t try to,” he said during the debate on AI.
“But if you under-regulate it, you do lose that social licence and then you get over-regulation. It is a tough road for any government to travel.”
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WA mining billionaire Andrew Forrest argued this week that AI was like the wild west, only without a sheriff, as he called for regulatory settings for the technology.
“We are aware that it is the most powerful technology that mankind has ever invented but where there is upside, you have equal downside.
“We have to make sure we are in control of the downside and right Mr Stephens said during the RTS panel discussion that while in some sense the technology was “old technology”, at the cutting edge it was still under development and with that the regulatory framework was still under development.
“I think it is important for people who are working with the technology to be close to government to educate the government on what the requirements are,” he said.
“The answer is not don’t regulate it at all because you will see backlash in that sort of environment,” Mr Stephens said.
“The regulation will need to shift over time with the technology.”
Chen Zeng, chairman and chief executive of Citic Pacific Mining, who was on the AI panel discussion, said that human beings would always be smarter than machines and that would not change.
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“Rather than just look at all the negatives AI can do to the human being, we should see the positive side of trying to make this technology useful and improve our productivity,” he said.
“AI won’t stop us, AI will only open new doors.”
Mr Zeng added that Citic Pacific Mining might have a fully automated plant in WA and a significant amount of data but it was not yet capturing the upside of AI.
“We say we have a fully automated plant but we haven’t really used the data we generate and put all the tools in place to find ways to improve production and costs,” he said.
Mr Zeng said the company had to look at opportunities where it could apply AI to any “low hanging” fruits. He said once tested, the technology could then be expanded across the business.
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