Attorney-General's Dept backs Copilot Chat, Google NotebookLM - iTnews

Ah, the Australian Attorney-General's Department — the very people who spent years trying to ban encryption — have now graciously allowed their staff to use Microsoft Copilot Chat and Google NotebookLM. On 'protected' data, no less. Because nothing says 'responsible AI governance' quite like handing the legal eagles a chatbot that might confidently cite a precedent from the planet Zargothrax. At least they called them 'controlled' tools, which in public sector speak means 'we've blocked the naughty words and hope for the best'.

Let's be honest: deploying Copilot Chat and NotebookLM inside a department that writes laws and prosecutes people is like giving a toddler a loaded crayon. Copilot Chat famously hallucinates, NotebookLM summarises with creative flair, and the 'protected' classification is the lowest rung of the Australian government's data ladder — so the really juicy secrets are still safe. For now. The department's press release probably sounded a lot like 'we are exploring the innovative potential of generative AI in a risk-managed environment' — which is bureaucrat-speak for 'the minister saw a demo at an IT conference and demanded we try it.'

What could possibly go wrong? Imagine an internal memo on sentencing guidelines that accidentally borrows from a Reddit thread. Or a policy brief that includes a recipe for pavlova because the model detected the word 'case'. But hey, every government department needs its own AI fiasco, and the Attorney-General's is late to the party. The real joke is that this cautious, 'controlled' rollout will inevitably be followed by a frantic inquiry after the first embarrassing incident — and then a memo banning all AI tools. Cheers to progress, mate. At least it's not a robot judge. Yet.