A new project that aims to establish a national set of regulations for the effective governance of artificial intelligence systems in Australia will be launched at The University of Western Australia next month.

Autonomy under Law: Legal Guardrails for AI will introduce the experiment, the legal harness architecture and partners behind the project on Thursday 3 September.

A team of scientists, engineers and legal experts from UWA Data Institute, Nooriam, UWA, Curtin University, the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, LexChip, Stirling & Rose and Murdoch University are working together to build empirical evidence as to how Australian-built techno-legal infrastructure can reduce the threat of AI harms.

Associate Professor Wei Liu, deputy director of UWA Data Institute, said the project would inform policy around AI for use at state and national levels.

“Autonomous AI systems are proliferating, and it is imperative we identify risks through sandpit experiments first in order to determine legal guardrails for use,” Associate Professor Wei Liu said.

“Effective governance isn’t just an Australian problem it’s a global problem that no one has solved, which is a major social-economic threat to Australia.”

Over four months, the consortium will run extensive simulation testing on Pawsey's supercomputing infrastructure, comparing AI agents using legal guardrails against AI without legal guardrails.

The project will measure whether a techno-legal harness can reduce agent harms. The results will be published in a joint technical report that will be shared with government and industry.

Major government and industry representatives have been invited to the launch event and media are welcome to attend but places are limited.

The launch event will run from 5.30pm to 8pm at UWA’s Business School in Crawley and attendees must register by Friday 21 August. To register click here.