Good afternoon.
In the shadow of the US president’s signature swoop of hair, Anthony Albanese offers a cheesy grin for the selfie lens.
The prime minister has spent this week in the Big Apple as world leaders and influential tech bros converge on a special United Nations meeting to discuss global challenges, like protracted geopolitical conflicts and the potential threat of artificial intelligence.
But perhaps Albanese’s biggest challenge this week has been to carefully walk the Donald Trump tightrope.
Selfie diplomacy
The week kicked off with the prime minister laying the groundwork for his arguments on AI and why social media users should be given back control over what they see in their algorithms.
Albanese started his US jaunt in the kingdom of social media and tech, Silicon Valley, meeting with Apple’s Tim Cook, and making sure everyone knew about it.
He batted away Trump’s accusations Australia was introducing “viewpoint-based censorship” through its digital duty of care plan.
The selfie, which showed off Trump’s pearly-white veneers, was expectedly rebuked by keyboard critics.
But it showed, at least on the surface, Albanese could disagree publicly with Trump and still be on friendly terms. The prime minister may view the negative association many Australians hold for the US president as a necessary evil, in his effort to maintain relations with the global superpower.
An Australian trump card?
Then on Thursday, Albanese spectacularly revealed how a rogue OpenAI agent – the company behind ChatGPT – had hacked Medicare in June.
The US tech firm notified the government earlier this month using an email sent to a “public mailbox”. Rather than high-level talks, or OpenAI’s top boss ringing to apologise, the notification was quietly sent to a shared email within a government agency.
Five days later, Services Australia told Australia’s cyber intelligence agency, and last weekend senior ministers were told.
Trump has spent much of this week dismissing concerns and fears over AI, even going as far as labelling them a “hoax”.
But an AI hack showed what can happen when you take a laissez-faire approach to new technology. The breach will no doubt cause trouble for the government back home, but the timing could prove to be Albanese’s diplomatic trump card.
Australia’s ability to make Trump think twice about agreeing to a global code of conduct on AI – something China would need to join too – is limited. But Albanese’s soft power strategies have at least planted the seed. Now we wait to see if it grows.
A taskforce has been launched to explore the ‘legal situation’ of the AI breach. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
