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Australia Should Take Bold AI 'Moonshots', Says Former OpenAI Board Member

Capital Brief

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AI could help cure diseases and tackle climate change. Researcher Helen Toner says Australian public investment can have a key role to play.

Summary

The article presents Helen Toner's call for Australia to spearhead ambitious AI 'moonshot' projects with significant public investment, leveraging the country's scientific expertise. Toner, a former OpenAI board member, argues that while AI has immense potential to address global issues like climate change and disease curing, transformative breakthroughs might not come from traditional tech hubs. She emphasizes the opportunity for Australia to lead unique initiatives in energy and health sectors, highlighting the strategic advantage for countries not typically at the forefront of AI innovation. This vision underlines a distinct approach to AI policy, emphasizing national innovation capacity and strategic investments aligned with global challenges.

Body

Australia has a unique opportunity to make a global impact by funding and leading a handful of “moonshot” artificial intelligence projects, according to former OpenAI board member Helen Toner. AI has the potential to unlock new energy sources and develop cures for diseases, but Toner believes such breakthroughs are unlikely to come from either Big Tech companies or the US government. “Australia has fantastic scientists and engineers,” Toner told Capital Brief. “So the Australian government could identify a handful of ambitious goals — whether energy or health related — that AI could potentially help achieve, then fund dedicated projects.” "You don't actually need to be the biggest kid at the swimming pool to make progress on this."