CONTESTED GROUND: When AI goes rogue – the emerging threat Australia isn’t ready for

Joint-capabilities
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By: Robyn Tongol

Artificial intelligence promises to transform productivity, business and government – but what happens when the technology starts making decisions its human operators never intended?

Artificial intelligence promises to transform productivity, business and government – but what happens when the technology starts making decisions its human operators never intended?

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Phil Tarrant is joined by Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson to examine the rapidly emerging security risks surrounding AI, from autonomous agents exploiting vulnerabilities to the growing challenge of keeping increasingly powerful systems inside appropriate guardrails.

With businesses racing to deploy AI and governments grappling with how – or whether – to regulate it, Tarrant and Thompson explore whether Australia is moving fast enough to understand the threat, protect critical systems and ensure the technology designed to make us more productive doesn’t become a new contested ground itself.

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Listen to previous episodes of the Defence Connect podcast:

Episode 11: PODCAST: Frontier AI, cyber warfare, and defending Australia’s military networks, with Wendi Whitmore and Tom Scully
Episode 10: PODCAST: Australia’s 2026 Intergenerational Report and national security implications, with Phillip Tarrant and Robert Dougherty
Episode 9: CONTESTED GROUND: AUKUS, deterrence, and the deepening Australia–UK strategic partnership
Episode 8: SPOTLIGHT: Unlocking Australia’s Defence estate through divestment, with Stantec Australia
Episode 7: CONTESTED GROUND: Is Australia ready to secure its place in an increasingly contested space domain?
Episode 6: THE PROGRESS REPORT: Building the future – Viviene Beins on aerospace engineering, women, and Australia’s defence industry
Episode 5: PODCAST: Australian defence industry faces a changing strategic landscape, with Phillip Tarrant and Robert Dougherty
Episode 4: CONTESTED GROUND: Is Australia slowly regulating away its own prosperity – and, with it, its national resilience?
Episode 3: SPOTLIGHT: Building an integrated ADF through cloud and emerging technology, with Jonathon Beesley and Richard Campbell
Episode 2: PODCAST: Australia’s defence procurement is narrowing and becoming less resilient, with 127 East Advisory’s Colin Storey