Anthony Albanese to announce Office of AI, pledges national frameworkAnthony Albanese says he is taking a world-first approach to AI – and it begins today.Nathan Schmidt4 min readJuly 14, 2026 - 10:30PMNewsWireAnthony Albanese will establish an Office of Artificial Intelligence in what he says will be a world-first national approach to the burgeoning, but controversial, technology.The Prime Minister is expected to front a packed media event in Sydney on Wednesday as Australia, like “every country on earth”, grapples with the advent of generative AI.At the forefront of the speech will be an “Office of AI”, which will be established within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and will be “effective” from Wednesday.Mr Albanese is expected to state Australia will be the first country in the world “to bring these issues (relating to AI) into a single, national framework”.“Getting this right will enhance our appeal to international investors, by delivering greater clarity and speed for approvals, and a streamlined process for verifying compliance,” Mr Albanese will state.“It also imposes an important discipline on government. AI touches on the work of every minister and department, so it is only natural that, up until now, our response has been issue-by-issue, sector-by-sector.”Others you may likenewsnewsMr Albanese likened the new AI office to government developed co-ordinated approaches to other major technological advancements, such as the advent of civil aviation in the 1920s and genetics in 1990s.Anthony Albanese will establish an Office of Artificial Intelligence in what he says will be a world-first national approach. Picture: NewsWire/ Nadir KinaniThe office will work closely with Industry Minister Tim Ayres and Assistant Minister Andrew Charlton, who will co-design new Australian standards for AI.Energy Minister Chris Bowen will also work with states and territories – as well as energy market bodies – while Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has been “facilitating consultation on copyright and artist protections where AI training is involved”, Mr Albanese will say.“Treasurer (Jim Chalmers) will have responsibility for the pivotal role of AI in our productivity agenda, the Minister for Employment (Amanda Rishworth) is engaging with employers, workers and unions on AI’s role in the workplace, and the Education Minister (Jason Clare) is meeting with his counterparts ... to discuss the impact of AI in schools,” he will say. “This is in addition to ongoing work in everything from the design of our digital duty of care, to the risks that chatbots pose to children to the intersection of AI and skills and manufacturing, and – importantly – AI in defence and national security.”‘Reliant on the good grace of the United States’The announcement comes just over six months after the government announced its AI strategy, which aimed to speed up AI adoption while maintaining safeguards. However, it comes at time of heightened tension over safe and equitable use of AI as adoption becomes more widespread.Earlier this month, a delegation of leading creative industry bodies, including in music and literature, travelled to Canberra to lobby for safeguards around the scrapping of Australian intellectual property to train generative AI models. AI companies are required to get permission to use Australian creative works in model training under existing copyright laws.Independent Senator David Pocock expressed fears at the time, however, that the government was considering a carve-out for AI in return for capital to fund local data centre infrastructure – a claim the government has strenuously denied. The news industry has also raised alarm bells over content being scraped and stolen for use in AI models.News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller last year warned the country was at risk of losing its voice and identity to artificial intelligence unless the government held the line on copyright.Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie said the AI revolution was ‘already here’. Picture: NewsWire / Martin OllmanCalls have also grown from across the political spectrum for a potential sovereign AI – including models and data centres – amid concerns about the power over popular models such as OpenAI and Claude wielded by Washington and Silicon Valley. Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie told ABC on Monday the AI revolution was “already here … and we’re either going to miss out and become weaker as a consequence, or we’ve got to seize the opportunity and make it work in our national interest”.“We’re not going to have our own frontier model. Anthropic and Google and Meta and OpenAI and XAI, the big AI companies in the US are already developing frontier models,” he said.“My belief is that we should have a sovereign compute down here.”He continued: “It’s just that we don’t have any agency over our AI future at the moment. We’re reliant on the good grace of the United States and these AI companies to keep providing the services that we have. In the event of a crisis or a war, if we’re only connected by submarine cables, our capability can easily be taken away from us.”Mr Albanese is expected to say that this year’s National Defence Strategy identified AI and machine learning as holding “the most significant potential for technological disruption’ in the years ahead”.“We know that both extremists and state actors already use AI to create propaganda aimed at young people – and to spread disinformation that targets democracies,” he will say.“The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs are working closely with their agencies – and our Five Eyes Partners – on these matters of national security.”More CoverageTeen uses AI for massacre fantasy: courtKate StephensonGreen light given to surprising new AI useDavid HannantIn a June address, AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett warned AI was “accelerating and lowering the skills required to actively target victims online”. “As technology advances exponentially, vulnerable people, including youth, will face the greatest harm,” she said. “Increasingly, AI chat bots are being used by criminals to recruit and victimise youth.”Read related topics:Anthony AlbaneseJoin the conversationAdd your comment to this storyTo join the conversation, please log in. 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