Australia and India have yet to put in place effective mechanisms for public consultations to address the impact on peace and stability of critical emerging technologies, such as AI.
This is the conclusion of a new report funded by the Australia India Cyber and Critical Technologies Partnership and undertaken by nine researchers and educators from the two countries. Funding was announced by the two foreign ministers on 5 November 2024. The project focuses on technology assessment affecting peace and stability. AI was one of several cases reviewed against an extensive background analysis of best practices for technology assessment. Further information.
“Australia and India now face choices about where in the machinery of governance each should seat the most effective forms of multi-stakeholder impact analysis of AI for peace and stability”, said Professor Glenn Withers from ANU’s Crawford School. “Should it be the national parliament, in government agencies or statutory authorities, and/or in specially convened task forces or commissions of inquiry representing key specialists and wider interests of business and the community?”
“The report took a broad look at impact analysis for critical and emerging technologies in both countries”, observed Karthik Bappanad, from InKlude Labs in Bengaluru, and the co-leader of the project with Professor Withers. “The two countries have made important foundational strides for impact analysis of AI in generic terms, and India produced an impact assessment of AI-enabled facial recognition technologies in 2022.”
The report concludes: “In both Australia and India, there is only a modest record of impact assessments for critical emerging technologies affecting peace and stability. We could not easily identify cases of best practice assessment by either country. This paper makes a case for greater use of such assessments and the adoption of more credible and more comprehensive evidence-based approaches” in setting policy for these new technologies that affect peace and security.
The project draws together scholars and experts from the Australian University, the Social Cyber Institute, Southern Cross University, Blended Learning International in Australia, Arizona State University in USA and InKlude Labs in India with Takshashila Institution as a knowledge partner. Team members include Professor Glenn Withers, Professor Katina Michael, Karthik Bappanad, Pranay Kothastane, Bharath Reddy, Professor Greg Austin, Dr Brendan Walker-Munro, Lisa Materano and Adam P. Henry.
Contact details:
Professor Glenn Withers +61 416249350 (Sydney time zone ) [email protected]
Karthik Bappanad +91 9819078294 (Bengaluru time zone) [email protected]
Media Background: Professor Greg Austin +61 450190323 [email protected]