Politics With Michelle Grattan: Andrew Charlton's Warning On Data Centres' Impact On Power Bills

(MENAFN- The Conversation)

Household and business power prices could rise if artificial intelligence (AI) data centres end up being powered by coal or gas generation, a federal assistant minister has said.

Cabinet Secretary and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy Andrew Charlton spoke to The Conversation's politics podcast on Wednesday afternoon – before the details of a national agreement on AI emerged from a National Cabinet meeting between the prime minister and state and territory leaders.

During the interview, Charlton defended his government's push for national agreement that new data centres be powered by new renewable energy projects, backed by gas, warning that the alternative would“push up the price” of power.

But Wednesday's National Cabinet meeting ended with Queensland and the Northern Territory winning agreement that they could power their data centres with coal and gas.

Read more: Australia's backdown on data centres allows them to use energy from coal and gas. Here's what that means

That backdown came after Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen had previously threatened to override state governments that didn't use renewables to power their data centres.

'Very serious' public concerns

Charlton, who is playing a central role in shaping the government's AI strategy, said he accepted that the public had“real” concerns about data centres.

On AI and productivity

When asked if AI would be a“small silver bullet” to increase productivity, Charlton said:

On managing AI risks

Charlton flagged further reform to come on AI safety:

On Australia's inflation challenge

Charlton declared inflation is“a terrible feature of our economy”, while defending his government's record in bringing it down from recent highs and acknowledging“there's no question we've got more work to do”.

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