Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Photo: Collected.
Australia is seeking stronger cooperation from major technology companies as it tightens rules on online safety for children and prepares new standards for artificial intelligence, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after meeting Apple executive chairman Tim Cook in California.
Albanese met Cook at Apple’s headquarters on Saturday during his US visit, where the two discussed Australia’s efforts to protect children from online harm and regulate emerging technologies. Albanese said Australia could not address the risks alone and that cooperation from big tech would be essential.
Cook said Apple had shown Albanese new parental controls designed to help protect children online. The features include controls over apps, content and contacts, screen-time limits and protections against exposure to graphic material.
Australia has already introduced a ban on social media use by children under 16, making it the first country to impose such a restriction. The government is now preparing broader digital safety legislation that would require platforms to take steps to reduce foreseeable harm.
The proposed rules would also give Australians the option to turn off algorithmically recommended content and instead see posts from accounts they follow. Platforms could face fines of more than $100 million for failing to meet their obligations.
The government plans to introduce the draft legislation to parliament later this year after consulting social media companies, industry groups and civil society organisations.
The push comes after data showed that Australian children under 16 were continuing to use platforms such as Instagram and TikTok despite the existing restrictions.
Albanese has also used his US visit to press for stronger international cooperation on AI safety. He said Australia would introduce national AI standards and argued that countries needed common rules to ensure humans remain in control as the technology develops rapidly.
Australia is currently developing standards covering AI and data centres, with the government considering safety, security, environmental and industrial requirements. It has also proposed requiring companies involved in large-scale AI training to report defined safety incidents to Australian authorities.
Speaking to ABC, Albanese said the central challenge was ensuring that AI development did not progress to a point where humans lost control over how the technology operates and what it produces.
He is expected to raise the issue of global AI rules during meetings with world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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