Australia’s AI adoption a ‘sovereignty’ issue amid evolution of global warfare: Marles

Australia’s AI uptake is an “important sovereignty question” for the nation, Defence Minister Richard Marles says, amid fears of the way the technology will be used in global defence efforts.

Mr Marles has met with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, at the Pentagon in Washington as Canberra seeks to bolster co-operation in areas such as defence and emerging technologies, including AI.

“AI is going to be a part of the way in which defence is undertaken around the world … It really matters that we have access to this technology, and it therefore matters that we have agency here,” he said, in response to a question about AI’s implications on warfare.

“That’s why collaborating in respect of this technology represents such an important national security opportunity, but such an important sovereignty opportunity for Australia.

“ … The question around data centres is a really good question, in terms of getting it right … (that is) very much the intention of the government.”

Australia still has to find a solution to allow AI companies to use copyrighted local content to train its models, but Mr Marles insisted the federal government had “a lot of focus” on striking the right deal.

The government is set to introduce new national standards for AI, including minimum obligations around water and energy usage for data centres, which it intends to legislate in early 2027.

The framework was expected to mandate developers to power the centres using renewables, though the push was vehemently opposed by the Queensland and Northern Territory governments.

Anthony Albanese said after last week’s national cabinet meeting in Sydney publicly owned generators powering data centres would be allowed to be powered with fossil fuels or batteries “if there is a surplus”.

But Energy Minister Chris Bowen later said there would be “no exceptions and no carve-outs” for any state.

“As we said we would, we are legislating nationally consistent standards across the board,” he told the ABC.

“The only change is that where a state owned government electricity company asserts that they can do it cheaper than renewables, they can apply to the Commonwealth to do that.”

Originally published as Australia’s AI adoption a ‘sovereignty’ issue amid evolution of global warfare: Marles