Andrew Charlton on Slow down AI development

Andrew Charlton

Australian Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy

AI needs regulating because its harms are severe, hard to undo, borne by people who never chose them and sometimes invisible until they arrive. [...] The market will not fix this alone, because the incentives reward speed and capability, and even the people at the top of the industry cannot slow down by themselves.

AI Verified (Oct 8, 2026)

Source:

Andrew Charlton, Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy, speech at the Sydney Trust and Safety Festival, reported by ABC News, October 8, 2026.

1h ago

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Slow down AI development

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AI Verified The quote explicitly says firms’ incentives reward speed and that industry leaders cannot slow down by themselves; it supports slowing AI development. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 1h ago

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AI Verified For: Charlton says incentives reward speed and industry cannot slow itself, supporting a slowdown. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 1h ago

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AI Verified ABC News’s October 8, 2026 report quotes Charlton verbatim: “AI needs regulating…” and “the people at the top of the industry cannot slow down by themselves.” · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 1h ago

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Andrew Charlton votes Against

AI agents should be granted legal personhood as non-human corporations

An AI agent is not a legal person, and in our law liability for this type of incident always sits with a person or a company. The liability has to be traced back to the intent of a person or a company that created or directed the agent.

AI Verified source (Sep 25, 2026)

added 13d ago

Andrew Charlton votes For

[🇺🇸 Congress, Dec 2025] Establishing a National Security and Defense AI Institute

Since the release of the National AI Plan in December 2025, a top priority has been getting the AI Safety Institute (AISI) up and running with the right people to lead it. Because we are not building a think tank. We are building a national testing c...

more AI Verified source (Jul 7, 2026)

added 1mo ago

Andrew Charlton votes For

Require human-in-the-loop oversight for agentic AI systems acting in high-stakes domains