I’m Anthropic’s special envoy. Here’s how Australia can get ahead on AI

Today, the most advanced artificial intelligence systems in the world are being built in only two nations – the United States and China. This means that although AI’s effects will be felt in every household on every patch of land on this planet, its development is subject exclusively to the rules, norms, and conditions of two great powers. That may change.

The Australian government has committed to being the third nation to train AI – and to do so on its own terms. As a former US ambassador to Australia, a member of a frontier AI lab (Anthropic), the co-founder of an Australian centre on democracy and digital disruption, and a father of three children who came of age in the US and Australia, I have only two reactions to this news. Relief and gratitude.

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