The federal government can “explore” using artificial intelligence programs to write cabinet cases or cases of technological involvement in security risks 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.
While many public servants have said that AI tests have helped their work, others have expressed alarm at the poor quality, and the possibility of delays in scheduling.
“Interviews with Australian government agencies have highlighted that women may not be recognized as APS administrative staff in a trial of Microsoft Copilot.
Gallagher, also minister for the public service, told a conference the government wanted to see AI “widely taken up across government in every department” in a bid to “take hold of the opportunities that AI presents”.
Gallagher also launched a “whole of government AI plan, and results from a six-month trial of Microsoft’s Copilot across government.
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The main finding of the report is: “There are clear benefits to adopting Geneative Ai but also challenges to adoption and concerns that need to be addressed.”
The surveys found that most of the participants in the test, listening to the management and executives who specifically report the benefits of productivity and help in an hour through AI that helps with information, write the first drafts, or search for information.
About 69% said it helped them work faster and 61% said it improved the quality of their work.
However, a variety of negatives were also reported, including the “inaccuracy” of the AI output, with 60% of the participants saying that they should make them “moderate in the main tasks of the AI. There are also concerns about the “Potential of the Copilot and Lack of Contextual Knowledge”.
The AI plan sets a goal “that every public servant has training and access to generative AI tools”. It said that the development of the Govai chat program that has been rolled out by many, is expected to be in the first part of the public administrators of the public platforms of “Claini, to maintain public information at the” official “level of classification.
Which includes “Novel” proposals from participants to use AI for evaluating documents, writing public documents, and “drafting business cases and cabinet submissions”. The report includes these ideas under the heading of “Opportunities to Continue Exploring Use Cases”.
But the Copilot report also raised security issues with data, with instances of “Copilot inappropriate access to sensitive information”.
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“The use of Copilot enabled some participants to access documents that they should not have had permission to access. The test participants were raised by staff that were not classified or stored appropriately,” it said.
“Most of this is because their organization is not sure of the security and storage of some instances of data and information before the copilots data can still activate the risks of APS.”
The report also noted public expectations around data management.
“In the wake of the royal commission on the robodobt scheme, public scrutiny of the use of technology and automation will be supported.
Gallagher promised continued consultation with staff and unions about the job changes, stressing that the government “does not see widespread unemployment as a way to replace people”. The Community and Public Sector Union has been contacted for comment.
Vivek Puthucode, Microsoft’s General Manager of the Public Store, supported the government’s plan and said that the new technology “will help strengthen the results of the service and make the government results in the needs of the community”.