Australia and the US diverge in their approaches to regulating AI and social media

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese advocated the need for rules on AI and social media during UN meetings, pointing to the Australian ban on social media for users under 16 and the forthcoming Digital Duty of Care legislation. According to the article, Australia was one of 19 countries that, together with the European Commission, issued a joint statement on the need to address AI risks and strengthen oversight of AI. Albanese also joined the leaders of France and Spain in establishing a coalition for children's rights and protection in the age of AI.

By contrast, US President Donald Trump, in a speech before the UN General Assembly, rejected any attempt to create a “globalist control scheme” for AI, which he described as a future “superintelligence”. He said he sees AI primarily in the context of competition between the US and China, in which he said the US is leading, and refused to yield to concerns from other countries about insufficient safeguards.

At the same time, the US embassy in Canberra, where the new ambassador David Brat recently took up his post, published a critical statement on the proposed Digital Duty of Care law. According to the statement from the US administration, the proposal threatens to restrict freedom of speech, defines “foreseeable harm” unclearly, and forces platforms to modify algorithms to avoid legal liability, which could lead to preemptive censorship and an excessive burden on US companies. Albanese responded to the criticism by saying that he would always defend the national interest of Australia, and defended the law as a tool intended to give control over content back to people, rather than to the government.