The Audit Office of New South Wales is about one month into a “multi-year partnership” with CSIRO’s Data61 to explore ways to apply AI to government auditing.
The partnership struck in October has scope that includes “identifying new AI use cases, scoping pilot projects, and assessing technology and solution options”, Data61 said in a statement.
The intent is “to create a more transparent, resilient, and efficient public audit function that responsibly harnesses AI while safeguarding public trust and accountability,” the two organisations said.
“Early indicators show promise and I’m looking forward to exploring more advances in predictive analytics and in the sensemaking of large-scale documents,” NSW Auditor-General Bola Oyetunji said.
Data61 group leader of privacy technology Dr Ming Ding suggested that the research agency could also benefit from audit methods when wrapping governance around AI systems.
“Established audit oversight methods provide valuable guidance for supervising AI systems,” Ding said.
“Audit practice, by nature, examines how others conduct their work, both in process and in outcome, through a structured model of oversight.
“This perspective maps closely onto the emerging challenge of supervising AI systems.
“Established audit methods offer practical analogies and guidance for designing effective human oversight of AI.”
Ding said that insights from the program could help shape “how oversight frameworks for advanced AI are implemented across government and industry.”