Enable and prepare
Principles
- Safely engage with AI to enhance productivity, decision-making, policy outcomes and government service delivery for the benefit of Australians.
- APS officers need to be able to explain, justify and take ownership of advice and decisions when utilising AI.
- Have clear accountabilities for the adoption of AI and understand its use.
- Build AI capability for the long term.
Mandatory requirements
Accountable officials
Agencies must designate accountability for implementing this policy to accountable official(s) within 90 days of this policy taking effect.
The responsibilities may be vested in an individual or in the chair of a body. The responsibilities may also be split across officials or existing roles (such as Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer or Chief Data Officer) to suit agency preferences.
The responsibilities of the accountable officials are to:
- be accountable for implementation of this policy within their agencies
- notify the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) where the agency has identified a new high-risk use case by emailing ai@dta.gov.au. This information will be used by the DTA to build visibility and inform the development of further risk mitigation approaches. Agencies may wish to use the risk matrix to determine risk ratings.
- be a contact point for whole-of-government AI coordination
- engage in whole-of-government AI forums and processes
- keep up to date with changing requirements as they evolve over time.
Agencies are to email the DTA when they designate and make any changes to their accountable official(s) by emailing ai@dta.gov.au
Recommended actions
Staff training on AI
It is strongly recommended that agencies implement:
- AI fundamentals training for all staff, aligned to the approach under the policy guidance, within 6 months of this policy taking effect
- additional training for staff as required, in consideration of their roles and responsibilities, such as those responsible for the procurement, development, training and deployment of AI systems.
Guidance for staff training on AI
Guidance for providing staff with training on AI is available at the link below.
Agencies should consider
Understanding AI use
Understanding where and how AI is being used within agencies and developing an internal register with this information.
Existing frameworks
Integrating AI considerations into existing frameworks such as privacy, protective security, record keeping, cyber and data.