Extract from ABC News
The use of a powerful AI model has been limited by the US company due to its cybersecurity capabilities. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic)
In short:
The Australian government and several private companies have gained access to a powerful artificial intelligence model not released publicly due to its cybersecurity risk.
Anthropic has granted 150 organisations across 15 countries, including Australia, access to its Claude Mythos Preview as part of the expansion of its Project Glasswing.
What's next?
Independent MP Kate Chaney is calling on the government to step up its response to AI amid concerns Australia is not preparing fast enough for the opportunities or risks.
Australia has gained access to a highly advanced artificial intelligence system deemed too dangerous for public release, as the federal government is urged to speed up its response to the risks and opportunities of AI.
Several private companies and the government are among 150 additional organisations across 15 countries granted use of Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview AI model, which the US company has not made widely available due to its cybersecurity capabilities.
Australia's inclusion in Anthropic's "Project Glasswing" on Wednesday was welcomed by the nation's cyber security agency, but the government has declined to confirm any specifics around its Mythos access.
Labor is also facing calls from an independent MP to step up its efforts to keep pace with the rapid AI advances impacting the economy, workplaces and national security.
Mythos is a powerful AI model able to identify software and network flaws that would pose a significant cybersecurity risk in the wrong hands.
As a result, Anthropic has previously only released access to a preview of Mythos to the UK and US governments as well as about 50 American companies in an effort to help these organisations identify and address any cyber weaknesses.
The expansion of Project Glasswing is understood to include members of the NATO military alliance and European Union, with Anthropic confirming in a statement the organisations offered access to Mythos included critical industries like energy, water, healthcare and communication operators.
"Many of the new partners are vendors — companies or non-profits that maintain codebases that are relied upon by lots of other organisations around the world, including governments," the Anthropic statement said.
"What each partner has in common is that a successful attack on their codebase could be catastrophic."
Anthropic previously provided briefings about Mythos to officials from the Reserve Bank of Australia, Treasury and 170 representatives from what are known as Systems of National Significance like banks, grocery, transport and health services.
A spokesperson for the Australian Signals Directorate said they "welcome" Anthropic's decision to "expand Project Glasswing to approximately 150 additional entities globally, including the Australian government and other Australian private companies".
The office of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke declined to comment on the Anthropic announcement.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says he thinks AI could enhance democracies. (ABC News: Supplied: Futures Forum)
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei was in Canberra earlier this year where he said he believed AI could enhance democracies and their institutions.
"AI is a powerful technology," he said.
"I don't want autocracies to be militarily more powerful than democracies.
"I want to make sure democracies continue to have the upper hand."
Trump asks AI companies to submit models for cybersecurity assessment
US President Donald Trump signed a new executive order earlier this week asking American tech companies to voluntarily share their powerful AI models for government cybersecurity testing up to 30 days before they are publicly released.
Mr Trump has previously resisted regulating tech, and his new order stated the US "continues to lead the world in AI" and won't "stifle" that innovation with "overly burdensome regulation".
US President Donald Trump is against stifling innovation with "overly burdensome regulation". (Reuters: Evan Vucci)
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said the order "gets the balance right".
"The US should lead on AI by continuing to develop the very best models, making sure they're safe, and getting cyber tools into the hands of trusted defenders," he said.
Mr Altman and his company, which operates ChatGPT, is being sued by the US state of Florida over the chatbot's alleged links to violence.
Incidents raised in the complaint, which was filed this week, include a shooting that killed two people at the Florida State University allegedly planned in part through conversations with ChatGPT.
Mr Altman and OpenAI has denied wrongdoing in relation to the case.
But Florida has accused OpenAI of deceiving consumers about the safety of ChatGPT while knowingly promoting a product its own research had flagged as dangerous.
OpenAI allegedly ran advertising campaigns targeting families, including specifically teen users, even as internal researchers were raising concerns about the chatbot's propensity to provide dangerous advice, encourage self-harm or foster behavioural addiction.
Labor under pressure to speed up its AI responses
Independent Curtin MP Kate Chaney on Wednesday launched an AI discussion paper amid concerns the government was moving "too slowly" to both capture the opportunities and manage the risks posed by the technology.
"I think the government's approach to AI is pretty hands off, it seems to be, 'we'll see what happens, it's going to be fine, it's probably not going to change as fast as everybody says it will', and I think that's really concerning," she said.
"If we want to actually make the most of the opportunities, we are going to need to actually have safeguards in place to build the public trust in AI, and I think that requires a much more active approach than the government is taking."
Independent MP Kate Chaney highlighted concerns around the AI generation of child sex abuse material as one of 18 urgent priorities. (Supplied: ABC News Canberra)
Ms Chaney's paper outlined 18 "policy priorities" including urgently addressing the "current harms" of AI like the generation of child sex abuse material, risks posed to children by AI chatbots that simulate emotional intimacy and "overwhelming" volume of AI deepfakes and disinformation.
Other issues identified included the need to increase resourcing for the Australian AI Safety Institute so it could "keep pace" with developments and conduct analysis of likely job losses caused by AI.
Ms Chaney has also called for the government's Data Centre Expectations to be made into binding obligations.
It is understood work is already underway with state and territory ministers to translate the non-binding expectations into requirements around water and energy consumption for data centre developments.
A new Greenpeace report last month found data centres powering the AI boom could demand more new electricity in the next 15 years than Australia's cars or homes.
Data centres fuel economic growth in Australia amid trust concerns
Assistant Technology Minister Andrew Charlton this week warned a "shortage of trust" was the greatest single threat to Australia's AI "success".
"Unless we can look an Australian family in the eye and tell them, truthfully, that data centres will not push up their power bills, will not threaten their water, and will not degrade their neighbourhood, this industry will spend the next decade on the back foot, fighting the same losing battle we are watching play out overseas," he said.
Andrew Charlton says mistrust towards AI is its biggest threat. (ABC News: Matt Roberts )
Significant investment in data centres was a major factor in economic growth figures released on Wednesday.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said data centre investment was a "big part of the story" behind Australia's economy growing by 0.3 per cent in the first three months of the year.
"This government has always said that when we see this welcome investment in tech infrastructure, we want to make sure it's consistent with all our other obligations — whether it be natural resource management, whether it be skills, issues around foreign investment and the like," he said.
"This investment is overwhelmingly a good thing, but the government's AI plan and the work that the government is doing is all about making the most of it and making sure that all of this investment serves our national economic interest."
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