South Australia will hold a royal commission into artificial intelligence, Premier Peter Malinauskas announced on Monday, warning that society is at a "fork in the road" over the technology.
The inquiry is expected to begin on October 1 and deliver its report to the government by July 1 next year. Its cost is estimated at about A$3 million, with terms of reference due within four to six weeks and three commissioners to be appointed following an "international search."
"The use of artificial intelligence is an exciting opportunity to advance the cause of humanity but it is also true that unchecked artificial intelligence does represent a material risk to the way our society operates and a risk to the future of work if not thought through carefully," Malinauskas said.
The commission will examine AI's impacts on education, skills, work, public services such as health, and infrastructure including the electricity grid, hearing from businesses, unions, industry bodies, technology companies and academics. The premier stressed the inquiry focuses on how AI is used, not on the data centres underpinning it — infrastructure the state is actively trying to attract.
The announcement follows Malinauskas's recent trip to the United States, where he met representatives from OpenAI, Anthropic and Apple. He said he wanted AI companies to participate in the inquiry, noting that some other Australian states had opted for flat-out bans on ChatGPT in certain settings.
"There is no precedent for this — there is no precedent in humankind for a new form of intelligence that is able to match, and soon exceed, the capabilities of human beings," he said.
Toby Walsh, chief scientist of the UNSW AI Institute, welcomed the move, saying it could push the federal government to move faster on its recently announced AI framework.
