We are committed to using technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to enhance our capability to be an efficient and effective economic regulator accelerating carbon abatement for Australia.
We don’t currently use AI in any of the services or advice we provide. As we adopt AI capabilities, we will update this statement to outline:
- its use
- why we use it
- how we'll monitor the effectiveness of its use.
We will review this AI transparency statement and update it annually, or when any new factors impact this statement.
Background
The Digital Transformation Agency's policy for the responsible use of AI in government sets out the Australian Government's approach to embracing AI's opportunities. It also provides for the safe and responsible use of AI. Transparency is critical to building public trust and is an important aim of the policy and broader APS Reform agenda.
Definition of AI
We use the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development definition of AI:
An AI system is a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. Different AI systems vary in their levels of autonomy and adaptiveness after deployment.
Principles
- We are committed to the ethical use of AI. Our AI systems will be developed and deployed with fairness, accountability, privacy, protection, security, reliability, safety, contestability and transparency in mind. We will regularly review our AI practices to ensure they align with ethical standards and do not perpetuate biases or discrimination.
- We will use our AI systems to help, not replace, human decision-making. Human-in-the-loop will ensure all critical decisions are reviewed and approved by qualified public officials to ensure accuracy and accountability.
- We are transparent about our AI use and its impact. We provide regular updates on our AI initiatives and their outcomes on our website.
- We will consider all AI use cases against our compliance with legislation, regulations and requirements under all relevant statutory bodies and the policy for responsible use of AI in government.
Governance
Our accountable officials enable and prepare, responsibly engage with, and evolve and integrate AI. These are the:
- Chief Data Officer and primary official
- Chief Information Officer
- Chief Risk Officer.
These officials report to our Chair (accountable authority) and convene an AI steering committee (chaired by the Chief Data Officer) to oversee and drive our AI capability maturity. Our AI investment and implementations will be governed through existing transformation and sustainment governance arrangements.
Use of AI
We will consider AI use to provide analytics for and insights into the schemes we regulate on behalf of the Australian Government. We will also consider AI use in the following usage patterns and domains.
- Automation of repetitive tasks
- Data-driven decision augmentation
- Advancing collaboration
- Efficient content creation
We are already using automation for efficient and effective activities, such as in the:
- solar panel verification arrangements for the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme
- preload geoprocessing service, that has automated the upload and processing of geospatial datasets for the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme.
We will investigate the use of AI to provide further efficiencies in our verification processes.
We will look to use AI to:
- monitor for anomalies in usage patterns to detect potential fraudulent activities in the government schemes we administer
- continue to analyse AI trends and consider how emerging products and approaches can further strengthen our cyber security posture.
For questions or further information about our AI usage, contact ai@cer.gov.au.