Arabic version: ماليناوسكاس يضع اللجنة الملكية للذكاء الاصطناعي في صدارة أجندته

According to The Guardian, South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has announced a royal commission into artificial intelligence, adding to a record of what he describes as “nation-leading” policy moves. Malinauskas says South Australia must turn its smaller size into agility and seek a first-mover advantage where possible, with the aim of creating economic opportunity and improving living standards.

The inquiry is set to examine AI’s risks and benefits in health, the public service, workplaces and the energy grid. Education is particularly important to the premier, including the challenge of teaching children how to use AI without allowing it to be used for homework. The commission will not examine datacentres, which Malinauskas calls the “mines of the future” and a physical manifestation of AI.

Malinauskas released a plan in June to benefit from the datacentre boom. He says datacentres could provide demand for South Australia’s renewable-energy generation, stating that the state will be 100% net renewables by the end of next year. During a two-day United States visit, he met Apple chief executive Tim Cook and Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown, and signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI president Greg Brockman.

The AI commission is Malinauskas’s third “forward-looking” royal commission intended to propose policy rather than investigate a specific incident. Earlier inquiries covered early childhood education and care in 2023, led by former prime minister Julia Gillard, and domestic, family and sexual violence in 2024, led by former Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja. The royal commission model enables the appointment of expert commissioners, additional resources and the potential to compel witnesses, including technology companies.

His government has also faced criticism over issues including abortion access, the algal bloom, hospital ramping, parklands redevelopment and MotoGP plans. Political scientist Rob Manwaring of Flinders University described Malinauskas as thoughtful and concerned about populism and democracy, while saying the premier has a degree of “Teflon-ness”. Malinauskas has repeatedly said he does not intend to enter federal politics, citing the scope of state government and the impact that travelling to Canberra would have on his family.