Australian AI inquiry's early advice calls for independent safety checks on AI companies

The Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence sent "early advice" to the Prime Minister, ABC News reports. It recommends independent experts placed inside leading AI companies, with access to their systems and a duty to report safety findings and incidents to government; early access to new models for security agencies such as the Australian Signals Directorate, as a condition of arrangements that let frontier labs train models in Australia; and a requirement that frontier labs monitor and report incidents in a timely manner. It also recommends examining copyright settings, reserving a share of computing capacity for national security and university research, and an ongoing parliamentary joint standing committee on AI.

The government has signalled it hopes to introduce legislation on national standards for data centres and frontier AI models by the end of this year and pass it in early 2027. Independent Senator David Pocock raised concerns that the Prime Minister's office had marked up a draft. Labor and the Coalition denied interference; deputy chair Jonno Duniam said there had been none. The final report is due in November.

What it means for business: frontier AI developers working in Australia could face incident reporting and independent oversight; legislation is expected to be introduced by the end of 2026.