Paul Spain: Gorilla Technology CEO on Australia establishing Government AI office

Australia's moving to protect local content, as it pushes through on mandatory AI standards.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to pass legislation by early next year.

The protective controls will include barring AI companies using Australian books, music, art or news to build or train AI without the creator's consent and control. 

Gorilla Technology CEO, Paul Spain, says he thinks music will be a particular focus.

"What they're probably not going to tolerate is music that is too obvious as a rip-off of Australian music, and we would see that across a whole range of areas." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the Aussie government has outlined a world first AI policy.
They want to fast track new data centers, give ossie
artists greater protection over their work and protect them from
AI scraping. Paul Spain is the CEO and futurist at
Guerrilla Technology and with US.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi Paul Hi, Hannah.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
What are they predominantly worried about here? What do you
get from Albanezy's speech? Is it loss of jobs or
loss of copyright?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Look, I think the copyright side they're really they're really
leaning into. And this is partly because it has a
financial impact, and yeah, that ultimately puts jobs at risk.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Okay, so how do you actually stop this from happening? Like,
what are the regulations they can come up with?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, yeah, I mean they haven't really given a lot
of detail at the stage, so it's going to be
interesting to see how it plays out. But I think
they're wanting to have more control over the big global
AI players as it comes to Australian created content and

(01:02):
they're going to really you know, put their foot down
on on that basis. And you know, I guess we
think of all sorts of things are generated by AI,
but if you know, if you, for instance, look at music.
What they're not going to probably not going to tolerate
is music that is is too obvious as a ripoff
of Australia music. And we would see that across in

(01:24):
a whole range of areas. When it comes to when
it comes to Ai.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Paul, Let's say, let's say AI makes a song and
it sounds a hell of a lot like do the locomotion?
What's Albaneze going to do about it?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, I mean, when it comes down to individual cases,
you know, I don't know how that will actually play
out and can you actually do that? Right? Is it
even possible?

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Exactly? Is this not the same thing as the b
SA in New Zealand trying to police the internet. When
it comes to the Internet, it's so bloody heart to
do this stuff, and Albanize is probably just virtue signaling.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well that that could be the case. So I guess,
you know, it will come down to what they actually
come up with, because we've really got the you know,
the political announcement today without really seeing the full detail
of how this will play out.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
What do you make though of the data centers? That's fascinating.
So they want to fast track the data centers, but
they want to restrict the water use. What's going on there?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, well, I think that this is one of the
concerns that people that are having. You know, we've seen
a lot of pushback in the US against data centers,
you know, AI data centers appearing in different regions because
it uses up a lot of water and power, and
so as there's that requirement on the companies that are

(02:43):
establishing the data centers to actually sort the power, sort
the water so it doesn't push up local prices and
have an impact. You know that that's something I think
then it becomes a net positive to have these data
centers coming into into the country.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Thanks y much, always appreciate your expertise. Paul Spain, Guerrilla
Technology CEO and Futurist.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
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