Squiz Series: Do Aussies trust AI?
6/3/202619 min
Artificial intelligence is the topic of a lot of conversations at the moment - and recent research commissioned by Minderoo Foundation shows that us Aussies have a bunch of concerns. So thanks to Minderoo, we’ve been able to talk to some of those experts in a special Squiz Series of podcasts on AI. First up is Professor Nicole Gillespie - she’s the Chair of Organisational Trust with KPMG and she’s involved in polling the public on their level of trust in AI. So she’s an expert in public sentiment towards it - and she talks about how we’re feeling now in Australia, why we rank particularly low when it comes to attitudes towards AI, and where you can go if you’re keen to upskill. Resources: The SafeAI report, commissioned by Minderoo Foundation KPMG's Trust in AI report from 2025 The introduction to AI course Nicole mentions
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsNicole Gillespie· Guest0:00
This is a Squiz Podcast, [upbeat music] we're your shortcut to being informed. [gentle music] Compared to other countries, Australia is low on trust, we're low on acceptance, we're also low on adoption. The majority of people say that they're concerned that elections are being impacted by this, about what AI may over time do to our democratic processes. Through our evolution, we've had, you know, millennia of experience that's embedded in our DNA on how to trust other people, for example. Here, this very powerful tool that has some human-like capabilities comes along, yet we haven't really had much experience in thinking about how do we calibrate our trust in these tools.
Andrew Williams· Host0:41
[upbeat music] Good day, I'm Andrew Williams. With thanks to Minderoo Foundation, we're able to bring you this special series on AI, artificial intelligence. Minderoo Foundation is an Australian philanthropy that's driven by a commitment to create a future where people and the environment we depend on can thrive, and they have a focus on AI, particularly how we can find the right balance between protecting people and unlocking its benefits. So recent research commissioned by Minderoo found nearly two-thirds of Australians feel that the pace of AI is too fast, and you, our Squiz audience, have told us in the past via our own polling that trust is an issue. In fact, you trust independent experts over government or tech companies to set the rules for AI in Australia. So in this series, we're gonna talk to some of those experts, and first up is Professor Nicole Gillespie. She is