Australia’s Department of Defence has partnered with the University of South Australia and the United Kingdom’s Alan Turing Institute to advance research and development in artificial intelligence and data science. The three organizations formalized the collaboration through a memorandum of understanding on Monday.
The partnership will focus on key areas such as autonomous systems, cyber defense and natural language processing. “Working with Australia’s world-class research institutions will help us to tackle shared challenges and, ultimately, help both nations harness new technologies to meet societal needs,” said Sascha Babuta, director of the Center for Emerging Technology and Security at the Alan Turing Institute, the U.K.’s national institute for data science and AI.
Australia’s Chief Defence Scientist Tanya Monro echoed Babuta’s sentiment, emphasizing the importance of academic and international partnerships for capability development. “Collaborating internationally is also essential to enabling Defence to access a greater range of innovative science and technology expertise, infrastructure and technical data to help address mutual problems,” Monro said.
This collaboration builds upon Canberra’s broader engagement in AI development within the AUKUS trilateral security partnership with the U.K. and the United States. Last August, AUKUS partners advanced their joint development of a resilient and autonomous AI technology by testing AI algorithms for improved target detection and decision-making.
AI is among the priorities of AUKUS’ second pillar, which aims to strengthen cooperation in critical technologies to enhance security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.