The tech sector has spruiked the productivity gains offered by AI and the data centres that power it, but the Australian public and environment advocates are increasingly spotlighting its risks.
Even Pope Leo XIV has weighed in, questioning the impact AI has on humanity and insisting there is a need to ensure technology is not concentrated in the hands of the few.
Federal Innovation Minister Tim Ayres said he and the government were alert to the issues as he recommended Australians read the Pope's latest encyclical.
"His Holiness asks whether technological progress will diminish or amplify human dignity," he told the Australian Data Centres Power and Water Summit on Thursday.
"That's not just about the technology itself, it's about human choice and human agency.
"Australia is making clear-eyed pragmatic choices and judgments that embrace the extraordinary opportunities of the artificial intelligence age while protecting fundamental Australian values: dignity, fairness and a commitment to the common good."
Australians are among the most distrustful of AI in the world, with 68 per cent concerned about losing control over decisions made by the technology on their behalf, according to an EY survey conducted across 23 countries.
Community groups in Melbourne and parts of Sydney have launched efforts to oppose local data centre proposals.
Senator Ayres acknowledged the risk AI poses to the stability of the nation's electricity grid, water security, children's safety, privacy, national security, access to accurate information, and democratic cohesion.
But he warned scaling back the nation's adoption of AI would not address these problems.
"The most dangerous response to risk is retreat ... and hoping that this technology goes away," the senator said.
"We (would) become customers at the far end of global supply chains, wholly dependent upon data stored elsewhere, models trained somewhere else, programs and applications built overseas, and value captured by somebody else.
"The question isn't whether data centres will be built, the question is on whose terms."
If tech companies are set to use Australian land, energy, water and workers, Australians must see a fair share of the benefits, Independent senator David Pocock has said.
"It's not hard to imagine a future where Australians are paying the cost of hosting this sort of infrastructure, and Australian businesses are paying international prices to access data processing here in Australia," he told AAP on Tuesday.
The federal government in April signed a memorandum of understanding with US tech giant Anthropic on AI safety, and on Tuesday made a similar agreement with Microsoft with the aim of protecting digital infrastructure.
Microsoft in April also pledged $25 billion over three years to boost data centres, job training and cybersecurity.
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