Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Sept. 8, 2026. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed part of his government’s “world leading” standards on regulating artificial intelligence (AI).
The Labor leader earmarked the plan in July and has since steadily released details.
“We’ve seen what’s happened in other parts of the world without guardrails or standards,” he told reporters on Nov. 10.
“Social licence has slipped while safety and security have been undermined.”
Albanese announced a new AI safety regulator, who will be tasked with enforcing rules on major AI companies.
The tech firms will also need to maintain security controls across all stages of AI development, identifying any potential risks, and notifying the government of any problems.
Related Stories
Further, companies need to allow for independent access and evaluation of their programs, while maintaining open security frameworks.
Albanese also announced 18 recommendations coming out of the Rapid Review into the June incident, where an experimental OpenAI agent managed to find its way around government restrictions to access non-public Medicare files.
“This incident was completely unacceptable, as I outlined to OpenAI’s CEO at the time, and it can’t be allowed to happen again,” the prime minister said.
The Review also recommends shrinking the size of the Australian government’s entire digital presence by consolidating or shutting down systems, and sending some systems offline.
In response, Greens leader David Shoebridge said the AI regulator would be toothless, calling for a moratorium on data centres—a move that would limit the computing power of AI systems.
“The prime minister had the gall to announce another regulator without the powers and protections needed to hold these corporations to account,” he said.
