Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will describe the progress of AI as an inflection point for society on par with the renewable energy transition in a speech in Sydney on Wednesday, but is not expected to detail progress on copyright reforms. The speech addresses concerns around social licence and policy guardrails for AI, datacentres, and big tech profiting from Australian intellectual property. Newly released government documents show AI giant Anthropic cited Australia’s policy uncertainty as a major impediment to new investments. According to Labor sources, Albanese will focus on safety and compliance, including building trust about workforce changes, defence implications, and energy-intensive infrastructure. Labor plans a more active role in the sector, which is potentially worth billions, but has observed heated community division over datacentres overseas. A Guardian Essential poll in May found 36% of voters thought AI carried more risk than opportunity, 41% saw risk and opportunity about the same, and 22% thought AI had more opportunity than risk. The speech invitation says it will discuss “the challenges and opportunities” of AI and “the responsibility this creates for government”.