Region: Australia

AI continues to be affected or unaffected by the general downturn in tech investment, depending on how you look at: deals by volume are down compared to Q2, while the total value of all funding has risen slightly. Elsewhere 19 countries have signed a joint agreement on guidelines for secure AI system development – a spark of international cooperation following the Bletchley promises.

27 November 2023

Australia’s data regulator has taken an enforcement step over a data breach, signalling a change in regulatory approach.

06 November 2023

All eyes are on Bletchley Park for the UK’s much-vaunted AI Safety Summit this week, even if the attendee list is turning out to be slightly more B-list than Prime Minister Rishi Sunak might have hoped. The prospect of a comprehensive international policy agreement hasn’t stemmed the ongoing flood of guidelines and codes of conduct – this time from the G7 and the UK itself on the government side and the Frontier Model Forum from industry.

30 October 2023

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A major review of the Privacy Act sets out 116 proposals for reform, which could transform Australia’s privacy landscape. If adopted, the proposals would strengthen protection of personal information, as well as enhancing the Information Commissioner’s powers to enforce obligations and to identify systemic issues and address breaches.

29 September 2023

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Australia, along with the rest of the world, is moving towards comprehensive cybersecurity legislation that is better equipped to manage ransomware and cybersecurity threats than the current ad hoc regime. Its commitment in this area is highlighted by ongoing investigations into data breaches at Mediabank and Optus.

29 September 2023

The importance of marching in lockstep to develop harmonised standards for AI continues to be on the lips of every politician in front of a microphone, while at home governments are busy doing whatever they think best – the UK with its new safety evaluation process, the US with yet another boldly bipartisan proposal, and Japan with a new proposal for some guidelines. Meanwhile, yet another global tech giant has deployed a large language model.

11 September 2023

Ten data protection authorities have warned social media network operators of the need to comply with data scraping rules.

24 August 2023

The flood of public statements by tech companies seeking to preserve as much freedom as possible without setting themselves wholly at odds with governments over regulation continues, as those authorities cast around for views on just what regulation would even look like. The money, as always, speaks louder, and the biggest global companies are turning their attention to what AI could mean for their bottom line.

07 August 2023

A court has ordered Meta to pay a A$20 million (€12.2 million) fine after the company agreed that two of its subsidiaries violated Australian consumer law.

27 July 2023

Australia’s consumer watchdog has designated the data broker industry as the next target of its digital platform services inquiry, and invited information about its business practices to uncover possible competition and consumer issues in the sector.

11 July 2023