If you read, watched or listened to most of the mainstream political analysis of Anthony Albanese’s “landmark” speech on AI, delivered on Wednesday, you would have the impression our Prime Minister had weighed up the competing interests of big tech, the arts sector and the union movement and, in an almost divine manner, struck the balance exactly right.
This is not that surprising when you consider the entire point of the exercise – which included backgrounding reporters about how much “pressure” Labor was facing from AI companies wanting to build data centres in Australia and how divided the party is on the issue – was to create exactly that impression.
It should be remarkable that a speech that outlined virtually nothing of substance and has left a huge amount of uncertainty over the future policy direction the government will take on one of the most consequential issues of our lifetime has been received so warmly, but it’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect from federal political reporters.
