The foundation model, the technology underpinning the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), will increase Australia's productivity, strengthen its economy and transform industries, according to a new report from Australia's national science agency CSIRO. It is said that there is a possibility.
The underlying models, trained on vast amounts of data and able to perform a wide range of complex and generalized tasks, power AI products such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, and Google's Gemini.
At least 125 foundational models have been developed around the world in the past few years, mostly from the United States (73%), China (15%), and Europe. Most of them are manufactured by private technology companies.
CSIRO's report on AI infrastructure models outlines opportunities for Australians to minimize risk and maximize benefits, providing an easy-to-understand overview of the rapidly changing global infrastructure model landscape.
Lead author Dr Stefan Hajkovic said underlying the hype was the potential to localize this global technology and improve a wide range of industries and services in Australia.
“We're all impressed by the way these models write wedding speeches and poems. But the speed, power, and huge scale of data analysis they can achieve is what sets our biggest… It has the potential to help solve challenges, increase productivity and save lives,” said Dr Hajković.
“For example, the healthcare foundation model helps uncover the complex relationships hidden in patient health records, helping to reduce the more than 140,000 medical misdiagnoses caused by human error in Australia each year.”
CSIRO Executive Director for Digital, National Facilities and Collections, Professor Elanor Huntington, said building Australia's sovereign capacity in this new class of infrastructure required an integrated approach.
“Tweaking existing models has significant advantages in terms of cost and speed of innovation, but using foreign models poses security and reliability risks,” Professor Huntington said. .
“It could also result in tools that are not culturally appropriate in the Australian context or that do not deliver the benefits for workers that we want.”
Opportunities for Australia to maximize the positive impact of foundational models that benefit our people include developing public sector AI models, democratizing access to high-performance computing, sharing datasets, and fostering skills development. This includes promoting international cooperation.
“Australia needs to be alert to the risks and opportunities posed by this innovative technology, and this report will help make basic models more accessible, start a conversation and encourage further growth of our country's basic modeling capabilities. We hope this will be of use to you,” Professor Huntington said.
Reading the Artificial Intelligence Foundation Model: Industrial enablement, productivity growth, policy instruments and sovereign function considerations in Australia.
