May 15, 2023
Australia’s human rights commissioner Lorraine Finlay has warned artificial intelligence will turn into an Orwellian nightmare that presents fiction as fact and spreads disinformation if the federal government and business fail to rein in the growing technology.
Ms Finlay’s comments come as the opposition said AI could be captured by special interests or ideologies at odds with liberal democratic values, and called on the Albanese government to intervene to ensure the technology was deployed ethically and transparently.
The AHRC Commissioner, writing in The Australian, declared that AI mirrored the Ministry of Truth — the propaganda arm of the totalitarian regime in George Orwell’s literary classic 1984 — which sought to control the thoughts and feelings of citizens.
Ms Finlay said Australia needed to be a world leader in the regulation of AI and warned the technology posed a risk to human rights in the absence of leadership.
“The expeditious rise of generative AI products such as ChatGPT and Bard would be an alluring tool for the fictitious Ministry of Truth. These AI products can alter our perception of reality — presenting fiction as fact, and potentially giving biased answers and misinformation a veneer of objective truth,” she writes.
“Unless we place humanity at the heart of AI, we will see the spectre of Orwell’s Ministry of Truth manifest itself across the globe – with the real risk that those who control the AI technology will end up controlling our past, our present and our future.”
Ms Finlay’s warning comes amid growing concern over AI chatbots and after The Australian revealed Google’s Bard backed the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament and praised Anthony Albanese while labelling Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison as “controversial”.
Bard is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which launched last year and is able to write conversations, essays and poetry.
Opposition Home Affairs spokesman James Paterson said the new technologies had the potential to transform the distribution and consumption of information and the technology company owners had a responsibility to explain how the AI models were trained and moderated.
“While AI has the potential for incredible innovation, if left unchecked, this technology could be captured by special interests or ideologies at odds with our liberal democratic values,” he said.
“The Australian Government has an important role to play in the global debate around AI to ensure that this new wave of technology is deployed ethically and transparently so that we can fully harness the potential of these tools while managing emerging risks or unforeseen consequences.”
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic has flagged new legislation that would regulate the use of AI technology and commissioned the National Science and Technology Council to assist in shaping a policy response.
A spokesman for Mr Husic said the council’s advice was delivered in late March and was currently under consideration by government.
“In February, the federal government commissioned advice from its pre-eminent science and technology body, the National Science and Technology Council, on near term implications of generative AI including steps being taken by other countries,” he said.
UNSW AI Institute Chief Scientist Toby Walsh said AI risked repeating the harm wrought by social media and the notion of getting the technology into as many hands as quickly as possible was irresponsible.
“We will no longer be able to distinguish between what is true and false,” he said. “We will drown in a sea of fake information.”
Gradient Institute Chief Scientist Tiberio Caetano said there was the potential that AI could be used to manipulate people.
