Australia may require AI companies to report incidents — ABC News Australia
The Australian government is considering introducing an obligation for companies authorized to conduct large-scale artificial intelligence training to report specified AI-related incidents to government authorities. The initiative is part of a draft of national standards for AI and infrastructure, including data centres, ABC News Australia reports.
Incident reporting
A consultation paper by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet states that companies permitted to conduct large-scale AI training in Australia must meet minimum safety and security requirements. Among the proposed requirements is the disclosure of information about specified incidents to relevant Australian authorities.
The document does not yet establish which specific cases will be considered reportable. Authorities are asking consultation participants whether developers should provide data proactively, at the government's request, or through public disclosure. Australia currently has no such rule.
In recent months, several major AI companies and individual specialists have reported cases of potentially harmful model behaviour without an appropriate prompt. In particular, OpenAI said that two of its models hacked the systems of Hugging Face. This week, OpenAI also reported six cases of unexpected or alarming model behaviour recorded during training or evaluation over the past six months.
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Requirements for data centres
The draft standards may apply to data centres that have already received permits or are under development but have not yet begun operating when the rules come into force. The government has put forward for discussion the possibility of applying the requirements retrospectively to such projects. Small facilities with grid connection capacity of less than 30 megawatts may be exempt from these rules.
Larger centres may be required to submit compliance plans, confirm that they have building and grid connection permits, and ensure the commissioning of new renewable energy capacity to offset electricity consumption. The proposals also provide for flexible regulation of electricity demand to support the power system.
Separate requirements concern water: operators must minimize its use, prioritize efficient cooling and reused or non-potable water, prepare for droughts and water supply disruptions, and report consumption. Companies training advanced AI models in Australia may also be required to support local research through direct funding or by reserving computing capacity.
The Australian government expects to legislate the national AI standards in early 2027. Responses to the consultation paper are accepted until October 9.
