KIM LANDERS: No longer the realm of sci-fi movies, many Australian companies are looking carefully at whether artificial intelligence could help their staff make decisions more quickly.
The Federal Government is working on guidelines for the future use of the technology, to make sure it's ethical and Australians are kept safe.
But cybersecurity experts warn the move towards AI could also leave companies even more vulnerable to hackers.
Political reporter Alexandra Beech has more.
(Sounds from a factory floor)
ALEXANDRA BEECH: On the factory floor at Ego Pharmaceuticals in Melbourne decisions are made without the help of robots – for now.
But the company's engineering manager, Stuart Haas, is preparing for change.
STUART HAAS: I think we'll have to adopt it in order to be just effective in what we do.
ALEXANDRA BEECH: Mr Haas is looking into how artificial intelligence could help with day-to-day operations, but he's taking a cautious approach.
STUART HAAS: We're preparing two steps ahead and we're likely to implement one step behind.
We're still waiting for it to really be entrenched as a good, reliable and robust kind of solution before we implement it into our business.
ALEXANDRA BEECH: He'd like to see more government support to help train people to use artificial intelligence properly – and that's an issue that's high on Karen Andrews' agenda.
The recently re-appointed Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Technology has just returned from G20 meetings in Japan, where she heard how other nations are approaching AI.
KAREN ANDREWS: Clearly all of the member countries that were there regard AI as a critical issue for the future.
It was referred to as the petroleum of the 21st century.
ALEXANDRA BEECH: The Government is working towards developing a roadmap to guide the future use of the technology. That has included seeking feedback on people's concerns.
And Ms Andrews says her focus now is on getting the policy settings right.
KAREN ANDREWS: Some people: that they are concerned that artificial intelligence will lead to a reduction in job opportunities and will lead to job losses.
So training people to transition into other industries will be a key part of our future policy with artificial intelligence.
We'll have to be very conscious of our cybersecurity, so we will be working with industry to look at developing software that we can use to assist our industries. But we also need to make sure that whatever we're doing is going to be secure.
ALEXANDRA BEECH: Fergus Hanson is a cybersecurity expert with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
He says Australia is already vulnerable to hackers and AI could make that worse.
FERGUS HANSON: So we're still seeing organisations being routinely broken into.
We see the Australian Parliament being broken into. It takes measures to defend itself and it gets broken into again.
We see ANU broken into; takes some measures to try and remediate the situation; gets broken into again.
As we start moving more into that automated space, you've basically got an escalation of the same situation that we have now where companies, organisations, parliaments find it very difficult to defend themselves. And those that are on the offence find it relatively easy to get in.
We're just going to be swapping out human operators for machines.
ALEXANDRA BEECH: But University of New South Wales artificial intelligence expert Toby Walsh says AI can also help companies fend off cyberattacks.
TOBY WALSH: AI is going to be both the problem and also, partly, the cure.
The only way you're going to be able to deal with the volume of attacks coming at you is going to be with more and more sophisticated AI-based software that helps defend themselves.
ALEXANDRA BEECH: Professor Walsh is pleased the Government is showing an interest in AI.
But he says other nations, like the United Kingdom and China, are putting billions of dollars towards the development of this technology and Australia can't afford to be left behind.
TOBY WALSH: The return is going to be immense and we don't have a low-wage economy. We really need to be jumping on this bandwagon to take advantage.
KIM LANDERS: Professor of artificial intelligence Toby Walsh, ending that report from Alexandra Beech.