MAY 20248 IN MY V EWTECHNOLOGY IS MAGIC AND MADNESSLike the soccer stadium that fills entirely with water in 47 minutes, starting with one drop and ending with you getting very wet, technology is about to overcome us. I use the stadium example of exponential growth because like a sudden rush of water, the technology of today is about to overwhelm us. It's clear from what appears to be the sudden rise (but is not) of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) that humans are not prepared for the pace, potential and the changes we must make in the way we work. Which means governments and organisations are also not prepared.TechnologyHumans created technology to help themselves perform tasks. Those tasks have become more and more complex as society developed. Some countries have been working with the problem better than others. Here in Australia, many believe we lag in the digital economy.What we need is the Australian Government and Public Service to work with the digital and data industry to lead the production of well-kept and distributed data assets, safe from cyber-attacks and used to move the community forward, reduce fraud against the Australian people and assist the workforce of the future.Robotic process automation easing the burden of repetitive processes; data centre storage across APAC in the trillions of bytes; mobile applications using data and creating digital democracy where there was none. Cloud technology; generative AI, data and digital technology continues to evolve, overwhelm, compliment and mystify the community, many organisations and governments. With so much to do, how do we keep up when things change in what seems like a drop of water? MagicThe current data and digital arena also present to us champions for the people, where we've all been using AI and data for some time on our smart phones. Improvements and applications that allow hands free dictation, optical character reading, screen reading and descriptions of the environment for visually impaired people improve lives. The New South Wales State Government has led the way in using technology to move previously physical assets such as licences and registration online into mobile apps. Generative AI is an opportunity to revolutionise the way we work ­ there are already so many examples of how it can take low complexity but high time and cost tasks and execute in seconds. The opportunity to free up the human mind for higher level, innovative and strategic thinking abounds.BY TANYA HENSHAW, SENIOR DIRECTOR BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICETanya Henshaw
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