The NSW Government will back an artificial intelligence (AI) NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the development and use of AI across the state.
The Inquiry will determine whether NSW’s legislative framework is fit-for-purpose in regard to AI use. The Inquiry is said to explore areas such as health, transport, and cybersecurity, as well as assess facial recognition technology, biometric surveillance, and algorithmic programming.
The investigation will be spearheaded by the Committee of Law and Safety. The Committee will focus on “opportunities and potential uses of such emerging technologies and the surrounding policies and legislative frameworks for managing those technologies and any associated risks.” Despite recent misuse of AI, such as the CHOICE facial recognition debacle, the Committee is confident that the Inquiry will unearth broader benefits for AI use in NSW. Moreover, NSW Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government, Victor Dominello, commented saying that AI has the potential to improve service delivery and quality of life and “we must strike the right balance between advancing technology and safeguarding privacy and security.”
This Inquiry marks another step in the push to lead AI reform in NSW alongside the AI Strategy and Ethics Policy in 2020, the AI Assurance Framework in 2021, and the newly established AI Review Committee. The Inquiry is scheduled to be conducted following the results of the next state election in March 2023.
For a full reading of the media release, see here.
