Australian government could explore using AI for cabinet submissions despite security concerns

Katy Gallagher says the government wants to see AI ‘widely taken up’ in every department after a six-month trial of Microsoft Copilot received mostly positive feedback but also raised security issues with data. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The federal government could “explore” using artificial intelligence programs to write sensitive cabinet submissions or business cases, as part of a major initiative to embed AI across the public service, despite concerns about the technology increasing risks of security and data breaches.

The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also announced on Wednesday the public service would build its own special AI program for government workers, spruiking productivity benefits for rolling out generative programs such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini to departments.