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Articles by Alex Antic
Medicare’s AI found more leads. The workflow could not absorb them
The government’s Medicare AI experiment did not produce a simple success or failure. It exposed a more practical problem: the technology produced more potential leads than the organisation could process. That matters as governments move from experimenting with AI to using it in regulation, service delivery, and public administration. A recent audit by the Australian National Audit Office examined how the Department of Health, Disability, and Ageing used AI to support Medicare compliance.
AI sovereignty is the power to leave
Onshore infrastructure matters, but it does not by itself give Australia control. A better test of sovereignty is whether government can move, inspect, adapt and sustain its critical AI systems, and switch providers without losing its ability to govern. The most useful test of Australia’s emerging AI sovereignty agenda did not come from the prime minister’s recent speech. It came from the Commonwealth’s new whole-of-government cloud policy.
Recollections of a digital heart: AI, productivity, and public purpose
After another rewarding chapter in the APS, I’ve recently returned to academia with a renewed sense of purpose and a deeper appreciation for the shared mission that binds both sectors. Amid the rapid rise of AI, I believe there’s never been a more important time for universities and the APS to work together — not just in parallel, but in true partnership — to build capability, foster trust, and drive productivity for the benefit of all Australians. AI is no longer a distant concept.
Alex Antic: Julian Assange and a Trump Rally
Late last year, I joined a Parliamentary delegation to the United States to speak to US lawmakers and department heads to discuss the plight of Australian citizen Julian Assange. I was joined by Dr Monique Ryan MP, Barnaby Joyce MP, Tony Zappia MP, and Senators David Shoebridge and Peter Whish-Wilson. It was a brief trip organised by the Free Assange group involving meetings in Washington DC.
The Voice of the Quiet Australians
The so-called ‘progressive left’s’ presumption of moral superiority often leads it to assertively present the views of activists as ‘mainstream’ while ignoring the worldview of everyday Australians. It is hard to imagine how the proponents of the ‘Yes’ campaign could have got it so wrong. That is unless you understand the psyche of these people. They start their daily routine with the ABC’s morning RN broadcast, followed by a perusal of the Guardian over breakfast.
The magical (and contested) road ahead for government AI Archives
Public servants need to get their heads around the impact artificial intelligence and machine learning will have on services and citizens’ lives. Why? Because public confidence and trust in government are at stake. The legislative and technology choices governments make now are sure to have a big impact on whether AI will be a help or hindrance as society embarks on a fully digital future. We’ve already seen how nascent technology such as ChatGPT creates a storm of potential use cases and threats.
AI promises to revolutionise the public service, but only if it plays by our rules
In November 2022, the world was enthralled by the unveiling of an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that created complex written content at incredible speed. OpenAI’s ChatGPT was the latest breakthrough in the field of generative AI, alongside other tools that create art or write music, and demonstrated the ease with which computers could now perform tasks that were previously the domain of humans.
The oblique state of ‘explainable’ AI in government
Artificial intelligence has the potential to assist in faster and more accurate decision-making for a range of outcomes, especially in health and defence. Important for its success is trust in AI processes. This means ensuring processes used for decisions and outcomes are clearly understood by those using the technology and impacted by it. Global research on AI awareness, however, shows that the technology is not well understood.
What happens when powerful technology falls into the wrong hands
The United Kingdom is set to hold a global summit on artificial intelligence in November so countries can better understand its capabilities, capitalise on its positives and work out how to minimise the threats. This summit was flagged during the recent United Nations General Assembly by British deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden. He said artificial intelligence could help resolve some of the greatest problems facing humankind.
Safety first: Why AI standards need to be ‘medical grade’
Before ChatGPT hit mass public adoption, the big question about AI used to be, “Will robots take my job?” Now more people are seriously asking, “How to make AI work (for you) at work”.
Navigating the nexus of AI, ML and automation
The pace of technology innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and automation, and the methodical, cautious approach to decision-making intrinsic to public sector operations, presents an uncomfortable misalignment in philosophies.
Navigating AI adoption as it outpaces regulation
Business transformation within government departments is almost constant. While departments look to accelerate their rate of transformation and remain relevant through the introduction of AI technologies, the lack of existing governance means increased risk to safe, secure, and trusted delivery of public administration, public policy, and public services offered in delivering the government’s agenda.
Steep learning curve: The future of education with AI
School days may look very different in the future. “Imagine a classroom in which students spend part of their days engaging with AI, learning one-on-one,” says Dr Vitomir Kovanović, senior lecturer in learning analytics at the University of South Australia. “After that, they enter a different kind of classroom, where the focus is on social connections, discussion and peer learning.
Follow the money: Australian Taxation Office sets the pace for government adoption of AI
The generative query would go something like this: “the top 10 recommendations for tax expenses I can claim in Australia and how to prove them”. That’s the rather awkward scenario the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), arguably one of the nation’s leading data science trailblazers, is facing as it once again cautions taxpayers not to make up or falsify claims. It’s only a matter of when, not if, they are caught.
Artificial intelligence will transform the public sector, but at what cost?
Almost a year after ChatGPT ignited an AI gold rush, is the public sector ready for an AI makeover? Computer vision, natural language processing (NLP) and autonomous robotics can transform defence, healthcare, transportation and policy making.
Developing public sector AI promises to be a tricky and exciting ride
Artificial intelligence is currently high on the hype cycle — again. When AI is high on the cycle, everyone wants it (remember cognitive computing?), but many are still a little unsure about what it actually is. AI refers to a group of technologies that simulate human intelligence to perform processes that have historically required humans to complete. The ATO and Home Affairs, as examples, have been using machine learning (a subfield of AI) for over a decade.
‘Far Right’ or Traditional Liberal?
When it comes to avoiding the intellectual rigour of constructing and prosecuting a cogent argument, those who occupy the left of the political spectrum are often shamelessly ill-equipped. It is much easier to latch onto the latest leftist buzzword of the day than to give an issue due consideration.
AI regulation: It’s time to act, Australia
Is the AI apocalypse upon us? A quick read of each day’s media and social media articles on the topic shows a bewildering variety of views. In our careers as data scientists, we have been building machine learning models (a subset of AI) for production applications for over a decade.
Data and digital strategy a good start but APS culture remains the stumbling block
It was with relatively little fanfare that the federal government released the draft Data and Digital Government Strategy: The data and digital vision for a world-leading APS to 2030 alongside the Budget. The strategy deserves attention, however. It does not overstate the case when it says that data and digital technologies are increasingly critical to the Australian government’s activities.
Who qualifies for the Voice?
The so-called ‘Voice to Parliament’ is a proposal for a race-based advisory body established via a referendum to amend Australia’s Constitution. We have only just commenced this corrosive process and already, we are seeing more questions than answers. I oppose the Voice as a matter of principle.
The Labor Government Wants to Take Your Most Sensitive Personal Data
The Labor Government Wants to Take Your Most Sensitive Personal Data SIGN THIS PETITION TO SCRAP THE ‘DIGITAL IDENTITY’ POWER GRAB By Alex Antic The Labor government wants to take your most sensitive personal data. They want to cram it into a central government-run database – the perfect target for a hacker. They want to generate a ‘digital identity’ with this data. Then they will force you to use this ‘digital identity’ to transact online or access online services. The worst part?
Urgent: Let's Make Politicians Disclose their Connections to Organisations like the World Economic Forum
Urgent: Let’s Make Politicians Disclose their Connections to Organisations like the World Economic Forum By Alex Antic | Liberal Senator for South Australia Sign the petition and tell Politicians that you want all the facts! You deserve all the facts. This transparency should be one of Parliament’s highest priorities. Australia’s Parliament deserves freedom from foreign influence. You’ve seen that there are many international organisations which say they want to solve the world’s problems.
A hill to die on
In July 2021, when ‘vaccine passports’ were still a crazy conspiracy theory, I wrote an article for The Spectator Australia arguing that Australia must not become a checkpoint society based on proof of Covid vaccination. To allow such tyranny would be illiberal and draconian, and contradict everything that the Liberal Party, as conceptualised by Sir Robert Menzies, stood for.
Political gaslighting
When it comes to political analysis, Shakespeare may not get the credit he deserves. One of his most memorable lines was delivered by Queen Gertrude in Hamlet when, in response to the overacting of an actor in a play created by Hamlet, the Queen says, ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks.’ When it comes to protesting too much, the left wing of politics are the standard bearers and do it better than anyone.
Australian notes
The past two years have seen the trust many Australians’ have in their institutions brought to an all-time low through a period of relentless incursions into their lives and liberty. In many instances, these intrusions were cruel and unnecessary, and failed to address the concerns of Australians who valued the fast-evaporating tenet of freedom of choice.
Urgent: Let’s Make Politicians Disclose Their Connections to Organisations Like the World Economic Forum
Urgent: Let’s Make Politicians Disclose Their Connections to Organisations Like the World Economic Forum You deserve all the facts. This transparency should be one of Parliament’s highest priorities. You’ve seen that there are many international organisations which say they want to solve the world’s problems. They claim to be striving to end global poverty or saving the environment. But are they just trying to sell their agenda for change by influencing the policies of national governments?
Switch off the fear porn
A vigorous and investigative media is critical to the wellbeing of any free, liberal democracy like Australia. For a democracy to function well, there must be a genuine exchange of ideas in the public sphere. Mainstream media outlets such as newspapers, radio, and television have traditionally played a key role in facilitating these discussions.
Politicians need to ditch the faux celebrity act
There’s an old adage which says that politics is “show business for ugly people”; the idea being that if you’re not attractive or talented enough to make it on the big screen, you can still find vapid adulation in politics.
South Australia’s Covid app: the last straw
Communist China is amassing unrivalled amounts of individual and company data as part of its plans to build a “social credit” system designed to control the lives of the Chinese people. The concept has been condemned as Orwellian utilising surveillance, big data collection and analysis to monitor the behaviour of its citizens.
EXCLUSIVE Liberal Senator: we must reject vaccine passports
Everyone should be entitled to make up their own mind about their own medical care. There are many Australians who are concerned about the COVID 19 vaccines and many more who hold religious views which restrict them from taking the vaccine. To be so inclined is their right. The recent announcement of a “Four-Phase Plan” to return to pre-pandemic conditions, details the use of a digital Medicare vaccination certificate and for all intents and purposes represents a “vaccine passport”.
Want cultural change in politics? Rescue politics from the political class
The entrenchment of the political class in parliaments across the nation is a rising issue in Australian politics. It is a problem which has plagued the political landscape in the United States with recently electedUS President Joe Biden returning Washington to the political class by appointing a wave of long-time Democratfunctionaries, political staffers and lobbyists to key positions in his administration.
Interview with Matthew Mayo (Editor of KDnuggets)
Matthew Mayo is a Machine Learning Researcher and the Editor of KDnuggets, the seminal online Machine Learning and Data Science resource. It was an absolute treat to interview Matthew, who’s a huge inspiration to the Data Science community, and to have him share his invaluable insights and advice. He was also kind enough to offer an incredibly helpful list of resources for aspiring and junior Data Scientists.
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