Anthony Albanese is backing a worldwide effort to impose stronger oversight on artificial intelligence, placing him at odds with US President Donald Trump, who has criticised attempts to regulate the rapidly advancing technology.
Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday local time, Trump said he “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control artificial intelligence”.
His remarks came a day after Albanese joined more than 20 countries in calling for greater international supervision of AI. The nations warned that governments risk falling behind the technology’s rapid development.
The joint declaration, signed by countries including Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and South Africa, said artificial intelligence must remain under human control and comply with international law.
“AI must remain under human direction, oversight and control. It must be developed and used in line with international law,” the statement said.
Trump, by contrast, said governments should promote AI’s development rather than place restrictions on it.
“Whoever wins super intelligence, wins,” Trump said. “We’re leading now over China by a lot, and everyone else. And we’re going to keep it that way.
“I’m not going to stifle growth of something that many say is bigger than the industrial revolution or the internet itself. We’re going to encourage it, not rein it in.”
Albanese was in the audience as US President Donald Trump criticised the idea of creating an international body to oversee artificial intelligence regulation
Trump said he opposed guardrails that could weaken the United States’ competitive advantage in AI development
The international statement also urged technology companies to establish safety protocols and called on governments to co-ordinate common standards.
Albanese’s push for tighter technology safeguards has also drawn criticism from the US administration after Labor unveiled its digital duty of care regime earlier this month.
The proposed laws would allow social media users to opt out of algorithm-driven feeds. They have faced strong opposition from the US Embassy in Canberra, which issued an unusual statement warning the measures could amount to online censorship.
“The US government would likely consider such a measure as facilitating censorship,” the statement said.
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“We ask that Australia withdraw any plans to mandate that platforms algorithmically suppress content based on ambiguous, government-defined safety criteria.”
The embassy also said the legislation could create significant concerns over fair competition, market access and trade treatment for US companies, independent media outlets and content creators.
The statement was released just hours before Albanese was scheduled to speak at a UN General Assembly event focused on protecting children online.
Albanese is due to address the Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of AI alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
He said safety concerns raised from within the AI industry were coming from the “very same people” who catastrophise climate change
The prime minister is expected to say Australia’s digital duty of care laws build on the world-first reforms that prohibit children under 16 from holding social media accounts.
‘Australia is now introducing additional laws… to put choice back into the hands of Australia over the algorithm,’ Albanese will say.
‘They will make social media platforms give people the choice.’
Albanese also discussed the social media measures with former Apple chief executive Tim Cook at the tech giant’s California headquarters on Sunday.
The pair had a one-hour closed-door meeting after Mr Cook extended an invitation to the PM following a phone conversation about child safety measures on Apple devices.
Some of those measures were inspired by the social media ban.
Albanese will tell the UN coalition the social media ban is showing results.
‘Our ban gives our children precious breathing space in which to mature and make safer social media decisions,’ he will say.
‘We must give children back their childhood. The ban is making a difference.’