Subject Guides: AI in Research: Regulation and Ethics

Standards

Australian Standards on Artificial Intelligence are available through an NSLHD Standards license. Use the "Need Some Help" yellow button on this page for further information.

AS ISO/IEC 42001:2023 - Information technology — Artificial intelligence — Management system
AS ISO/IEC 22989 - Information technology - Artificial intelligence - Artificial intelligence concepts and terminology
AS ISO/IEC 23053 - Framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems Using Machine Learning (ML)
AS ISO/IEC 23894 - Information technology - Artificial intelligence - Guidance on risk management
AS ISO/IEC 24668 - Information technology - Artificial intelligence - Process management framework for big data analytics
AS ISO/IEC 38507 - Information technology - Governance of IT - Governance implications of the use of artificial intelligence by organizations

Australian Regulation

Reports and documents relevant to AI regulation, frameworks and ethics in Australia.

ACN position statement on artificial intelligence AI is becoming more advanced, accurate, practical, effective, efficient, and economical for nursing care, providing the nursing profession with opportunities while also adding pressure to apply AI technology in patient care. As a human-centered profession, nursing must match the pace of development and implementation of AI while fully understanding the benefits, limitations, and risks of its use. The key issues for the nursing profession surrounding AI emphasise the delicate balance between the transformative potential of AI to improve patient care and the critical imperatives of data privacy, ethics, managing data bias and equitable access, all of which must be thoughtfully addressed to ensure that AI truly advances health care for everyone. Key recommendations That nurses who specialise in informatics be included in the bodies managing AI in health care within the healthcare system. The nursing profession must be committed to staying abreast of healthcare advancements, particularly in AI. Nursing informaticians must be integral to all aspects of AI application, adhering to Australian standards and management protocols. Nurses must play a central role in the design, implementation, and evaluation of AI applications, ensuring that ethical and practical considerations align with nursing requirements. Nursing should have a participatory role in the development of data governance models based on principles of integrity, transparency, auditability, accountability, stewardship, checks and balances, standardisation, and change management ACN advocates for AI to be developed within a robust safety framework, for the implementation of accreditation to assess AI safety and quality practice standards and the integration of the national AI ethical framework to support value-based health care.
AI Implementation in Hospitals: Literature review and environmental scan To harness the enormous benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare, implementation and use must be done safely and responsibly. The Commission engaged Macquarie University and the University of Wollongong to undertake a literature review and environmental scan to identify principles that enable the safe and responsible implementation of AI in healthcare. It presents evidence from the contemporary published literature about AI implemented in acute care as well as current, published legislation, policies, guidelines, and principles for AI implementation in healthcare.
AI system implementation issues and risk mitigation: living evidence Agency for Clinical Innovation. NSW Government. Living evidence tables provide high level summaries of key studies and evidence on a particular topic, and links to sources. They are reviewed regularly and updated as new evidence and information is published. Part of the Artificial Intelligence series.
AI trends for Healthcare: CSIRO CSIRO (2023) AI trends for healthcare. CSIRO, Herston. This report was authored by David Hansen, Denis Bauer, John Grimes, David Silvera, Liesel Higgins, Naomi Stekelenburg, Pierrick Bourgeat, Priya Ramarao-Milne, Hang (Hollie) Min, Rosita Shishegar, Teresa Wozniak, David Ireland and Filip Rusak.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and medical device software
Artificial Intelligence Strategy: NSW Govt
Australia’s AI Ethics Principles Australian Government. Department of Industry, Science and Resources. Australia’s 8 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics Principles are designed to ensure AI is safe, secure and reliable.
Meeting your professional obligations when using Artificial Intelligence in healthcare: AHPRA Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly becoming integrated into many areas of healthcare. This guidance explains how existing responsibilities in National Boards’ codes of conduct apply when practitioners use AI in their practice.
National Policy Roadmap for AI in Healthcare The Roadmap identifies potential gaps in Australia’s capability to translate AI into effective and safe clinical services, across areas such as industry capability, implementation, regulation and AI safety. It builds on the extensive work that has already been undertaken nationally and internationally, including existing national frameworks and policies that relate to AI, to provides guidance on how to close these gaps. The Roadmap provides 16 recommendations across 5 priority areas, and in the following sections each of these priority areas is described, focusing on national-scale challenges, and a set of recommendations which will see us progress over the next 2-5 years.
NSW Artificial Intelligence Assessment Framework The NSW AIAF has been established to guide NSW Government agencies through the ethical development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Its primary aim is to ensure AI solutions are designed, built and operated with a strict adherence to the mandatory AI Ethics Principles outlined in NSW Circular DCS-2024-04. This involves a systematic process for identifying, documenting and mitigating AI-specific risks. The Framework has an important role in promoting responsible AI use and ensuring community benefits, fairness, privacy and security, transparency and accountability are at the forefront of all AI initiatives within government operations.
Policy for the responsible use of AI in government The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the economy, society and government. While the technology is moving fast, the lasting impacts of AI on the activities of government are likely to be transformational. This policy provides a framework to position the Australian Government as an exemplar under its broader safe and responsible AI agenda. This policy is a first step in the journey to position government as an exemplar in its safe and responsible use of AI, in line with the Australian community’s expectations. It sits alongside whole-of-economy measures such as mandatory guardrails and voluntary industry safety measures. For government, the benefits of adopting AI include more efficient and accurate agency operations, better data analysis and evidence-based decisions, and improved service delivery for people and business. Many areas of the Australian Public Service (APS) already use AI to improve their work and engagement with the public. To unlock innovative use of AI, Australia needs a modern and effective regulatory system. Internationally, governments are introducing new regulations to address AI’s distinct risks, focused on preventative, risk-based guardrails that apply across the supply chain and throughout the AI lifecycle. The Australian Government’s consultations on safe and responsible AI show our current regulatory system is not fit for purpose to respond to the distinct risks that AI poses. The consultation also found that the public expects government to be an exemplar of safe and responsible adoption and use of AI technologies. Public trust in AI and government’s use of it is low, which acts as a handbrake on adoption. The preparedness and maturity for managing AI varies across the APS. AI technologies change at speed and scale, presenting further risks if not acted upon quickly to mitigate them. This means government has an elevated level of responsibility for its use of AI and should be held to a higher standard of ethical behaviour. The policy aims to create a coordinated approach to government’s use of AI and has been designed to complement and strengthen – not duplicate – existing frameworks in use by the APS. In recognition of the speed and scale of change in this area, the policy is designed to evolve over time as the technology changes, leading practices develop, and the broader regulatory environment matures. This policy comes into effect from 1 September 2024.
Supporting responsible AI: discussion paper Australian Government: Department of Industry, Science and Resources The Australian Government published its interim response to this consultation on 17 January 2024. The interim response covers: what we heard from stakeholders how the government will ensure AI is designed, developed and deployed safely and responsibly.
Supporting Safe and Responsible AI - Tech Council of Australia
Using public generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools safely Cybersecurity NSW

AI in Research

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Standards

Australian Regulation

Further Reading