Australia's Human Rights Commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, has warned that the unchecked use of artificial intelligence could entrench racism and sexism in the country. Speaking amid internal Labor Party debate on how to regulate the emerging technology, Finlay stressed that productivity gains from AI should not come at the expense of discrimination.
Finlay highlighted the risks of algorithmic bias, where bias is built into AI tools due to a lack of transparency in training data. She noted that when combined with automation bias—where humans overly rely on machine decisions—there is a real danger of creating entrenched discrimination that goes unnoticed.
The commissioner's comments follow Labor Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah's call to free Australian data for tech companies to train AI models, ensuring they reflect Australian life and culture. Ananda-Rajah opposes a dedicated AI act but supports paying content creators for their work. She argued that without using Australian data, the country would perpetually rent AI models from overseas tech behemoths with no oversight.
Media and arts groups have warned of 'rampant theft' of intellectual property if big tech companies use their content to train AI without permission. Productivity gains from AI are set to be discussed at the federal government's economic summit next week, where unions and industry bodies will raise concerns about copyright and privacy protections.
Finlay urged the government to establish new legislative guardrails urgently, including bias testing, auditing, and proper human oversight. She noted that the Human Rights Commission has consistently advocated for an AI act to bolster existing legislation like the Privacy Act. A recent Australian study found that AI recruiters risk discriminating against candidates with accents or disabilities.
