A parliamentary inquiry into AI has written to the Prime Minister ahead of its reporting date with advice on safeguards, data centre standards and action needed to support local capabilities.

The fast-changing nature of artificial intelligence and the urgent need to safeguard the nation and provide certainty have driven the early update, the inquiry committee says.

“It is clear that AI presents not only economic benefits of which we must take advantage, but also risks which must be managed,” it says.

Safeguarding recommendations include that the government require frontier AI labs to monitor and report incidents in a timely manner, with clear reporting deadlines.

The government should have nationally consistent standards for the development and operation of data centres and consistent requirements and planning principles for strategically important AI infrastructure.

That includes access to reliable and competitively priced energy, water, telecommunications, computing capacity and secure supply chains, while arrangements should support timely investment and infrastructure development, and manage impacts on communities, energy systems and national resilience.

“The overarching objective should be to ensure that Australia is not merely a consumer of AI technologies developed elsewhere, but a trusted, competitive and strategically capable participant in the global AI industry,” the committee says.

It proposes the government facilitate better community and business understanding of AI benefits and develop a national approach to improving AI literacy, technical expertise and workforce readiness.

The Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence has received more than 200 submissions and is midway through hearings. The final report is due by November 30.