Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today announced the creation of a government agency dedicated to artificial intelligence (IA), with the aim of establishing standards that regulate different aspects of this technology.
© Shutterstock
15/07/2026
by
Lusa
“ A starting today, I set up the ‘AI Office’ in my administration [...] to coordinate the creation of new national standards’,” said the head of government during a speech at the University of Sydney.
The Albanese Executive announced in March to have plans for large AI data centers in the country, including minimizing water consumption and maximizing energy efficiency.
“Our goal is to present legislation to Parliament early next year,” the Labour leader said, adding that regulation should allow “a more agile decision making”.
“Our goal is not to legislate for every possible eventuality or risk. This would only create the risk of Australia losing investments completely,” he said.
In April, the Australian Government signed a memorandum of understanding with American technology Anthropic – one of the leading AI emerging companies known by its assistant Claude – to strengthen collaboration in the development and safe use of this technology.
At the time, Anthropic expressed interest in investing in data centres and energy infrastructure in Australia, as well as expanding its presence in Asia Pacific, with the planned opening of an office in Sydney.
Also in April, Microsoft announced the company's biggest economic commitment in the country: an investment of 25 billion Australian dollars (15 billion euros) by 2029 to expand its AI infrastructure by more than 140%.
Australia has intensified its commitment to artificial intelligence as an engine for economic growth and modernization, with the authorities of the country launching a National AI Plan at the end of 2025.