US Tech Giant Pens Deal With Australia on AI Safety

U.S. artificial intelligence company Anthropic has pledged to work with the Australian Labor government on improving artificial intelligence (AI) safety.

Anthropic is best known as the developer of the Claude AI model.

Its co-founder Dario Amodei met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on April 1 to sign a memorandum of understanding, as part of a broader visit to launch its fourth office in the Asia-Pacific region in Sydney.

The company said it would cooperate with the Australian government on AI safety research and advance Australia’s National AI plan.

“We will share our findings on emerging model capabilities and risks, participate in joint safety and security evaluations, and collaborate on research with Australian academic institutions,” Anthropic  said in a statement.

As part of the MOU, Anthropic will share its economic index data with the federal government that will help track how AI is being adopted in industries like mining, farming, and healthcare, as well as its impact on workers.

“We’ll initially focus on sectors critical to Australia’s economy, including natural resources, agriculture, healthcare, and financial services,” Anthropic said.

“As part of this, we plan to develop ways to advance AI education and training within the workforce.”

Anthropic has previously revealed Australians and New Zealanders are one of the fastest adopters of its Claude platform, coming in fourth and eighth globally.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who also met with Amodei, said the deal would “maximise the economic benefits of AI” while minimising the “risks to people and communities.”

“Obviously we want to make sure that this massive interest in data centre investment in our country comes with obligations, including natural resource management, water, obviously energy, a whole range of relevant factors here,” Chalmers told reporters at Parliament House.

Data centre growth in Australia is expected to explode along with water and energy usage.

The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA), the nation’s peak water utility body, says developers are seeking about 5 to 40 million litres of water per day to cool down their facilities.

This is the first formal arrangement signed under Australia’s National AI plan.

Anthropic will also provide $3 million worth of Claude AI tools to universities and medical researchers, and explore investing in renewable-powered data centre infrastructure.

Amodei said he was “particularly excited” by the work Australian research institutions will do with Claude to advance disease diagnosis and treatment.

The government said it remains open to similar arrangements with other major AI companies.

Tensions with Trump Administration

The Australian deal comes amid Anthropic’s ongoing dispute with the Trump administration.

In late February, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic after the company refused to remove safety restrictions on its Claude AI for military use including mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons.

The Pentagon labelled Anthropic a “supply chain risk to national security.”

However, in late March a federal judge in California provided Anthropic with a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the ban.