Artificial Intelligence Archives - Consumers' Federation of Australia

16 December , 2024

Consumer Affairs Ministers Set 2025 Agenda, Consumer Protection to remain at the forefront

Commonwealth, State, Territory and New Zealand Consumer Affairs Ministers met on Tuesday 10 December 2024 to renew their commitment to strengthen consumer protections across the country. Ministers attending the meeting, chaired by Commonwealth Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, acknowledged the substantial progress on key reforms to the Australian Consumer Law over the past year, including work to strengthen…

25 September , 2024

Regulators Release Working Paper on an AI Generative Model

The Digital Platform Regulators Forum (DP-REG) has published a working paper on multimodal foundation models (MFMs) used in generative artificial intelligence (AI). The latest working paper “Examination of technology – Multimodal Foundation Models” examines MFMs – a type of generative AI that can process and output multiple data types, such as image, audio or video…

12 September , 2024

Voluntary AI Safety Standard Available

A Voluntary AI Safety Standard has been made available by the Australian Government – it gives practical guidance to all Australian organisations on how to safely and responsibly use and innovate with artificial intelligence (AI). The standard consists of 10 voluntary guardrails that apply to all organisations throughout the AI supply chain and explain what…

25 June , 2024

Upcoming Australian Ad Observatory Webinar

Launched in 2021, The Australian Ad Observatory project at the ADM+S has pioneered a way to observe the targeting of social media advertising across populations of users. During phase one, the project generated the largest known collection of targeted ads that people encounter on Facebook in Australia – 328,107 unique ads from 1909 participants –and…

15 May , 2024

Free and accessible Artificial Intelligence course

The free ‘Introduction to Artificial Intelligence’ course provided by CSIRO National AI Centre (NAIC) will cover what AI is, common terminologies, real-world applications of AI, Australian AI case studies, advice from industry experts to start your career in AI, and more. The two-and-a-half-hour course provides a non-technical introduction to AI fundamentals and is designed for…

25 April , 2024

Global Experiment Reveals a ‘worrying margin of harm’ in AI Chatbots

23 April 2024 Last month we brought together a powerful cohort of consumer advocate groups, international organisations, business, government and civil society to call for Fair and Responsible AI on World Consumer Rights Day Friday March 15. AI is changing how millions of us experience the online world. Within just five days of the release of ChatGPT last…

15 April , 2024

The 2024 Ruby Hutchison Memorial Lecture – 50 Years of Consumer Advocacy

This year’s Ruby Hutchison Memorial lecture shone a light on just how much the consumer protection movement together with regulators has achieved in the last 50 years, and the complex consumer issues we’re still seeking answers to today. Bringing in a musical theme and recognising the rockstar influence of the speakers, the ACCC Deputy Chair…

15 March , 2024

Australians Want Regulation But Consumer Voice Missing in AI Debates

In light of World Consumer Rights Day and the 2024 theme, CHOICE and the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) have both released articles on artificial intelligence (AI) and the importance, and absence, of consumer voices when discussing use and regulation. Based on CHOICE’s recent research, almost 4 in 5 Australian’s think that business’s should be…

15 March , 2024

World Consumer Rights Day 2024: Fair and Responsible AI for Consumers

It’s March 15th and time for World Consumer Rights Day once more, a day to raise global and local awareness of consumer rights, protection and empowerment. The theme selected this year by Consumers International (CI) is ‘Fair and responsible AI for consumers’. For Australian consumers, the Federal Government released an interim response to safe and…

23 January , 2024

Safe and Responsible AI in Australia

While AI has immense potential to improve wellbeing and grow our economy, Australians want stronger protections in place to help manage the risks, according to the recent Australian Government’s interim response to the consultation on Safe and Responsible AI in Australia conducted last year. The interim response includes feedback from stakeholders and how the government…

19 January , 2024

Government Considers “mandatory guardrails” for AI Development

The Australian Government is taking action to help ensure that AI is safe and responsible, releasing its interim response to the Safe and Responsible AI in Australia consultation today.

The consultation made clear that while AI has immense potential to improve wellbeing and grow our economy, Australians want stronger protections in place to help manage the risks.

The Government’s response is targeted towards the use of AI in high-risk settings, where harms could be difficult to reverse, while ensuring that the vast majority of low risk AI use continues to flourish largely unimpeded.

19 January , 2024

Enforcement Technology and Consumer Protection

Enforcement Technology, also known as EnfTech, is technology used in any enforcement capacity for investigation, preventative measures, surveillance, remedies and/or sanctions and there could be a vital role for EnfTech to play in consumer protection. With the advent of the global digital market as the new norm for most consumers the need for consumer protection…