Dr. Fitriani

Bethany Allen

Dr Nathan Attrill

Afeeya Akhand

Connecting the Indo-Pacific: the future of subsea cables and opportunities for Australia

This report examines the role of hyperscalers as drivers of the subcable market and the geostrategic context of subcable systems; it highlights the significance of these developments for Australia, exploring both the potential benefits and challenges.

Submarine cable networks are critical infrastructure; they carry nearly all public internet and private network data traffic, facilitating global economic and financial activity as well as government and military communications and operations.

The submarine cable landscape has entered a new era and is now shaped by the rising participation of hyperscalers—hyperscale cloud and content providers— as well as the strategic actions of major powers and minilateral groups. The report examines the significance of this for Australia and explores how Australia can capitalise on these evolving dynamics to solidify its position as a regional digital hub in the Indo-Pacific by improving regional subcable resilience and digital connectivity, including its own.

This report makes five key recommendations, including that the Australian Government supports and strengthens regional repair and maintenance capabilities, ensuring that the management and protection of cables remains best practice, while continuing to work with regional partners to shape the regulatory norms and standards of the region. Additionally, to manage risks to Australia’s data security and digital economy ambitions, this report recommends that the Australian Government engages more closely with industry, makes potential regulatory adjustments, and maintains strategic oversight and vigilance to digital supply-chain dependency risks and anticompetitive behaviour.

Not only will those measures build connectivity and resilience domestically and regionally, but they align with Australia’s foreign-policy, development, security and cyber objectives, and will also support Australia’s growth and attractiveness as a subcables hub.

The future of intelligence analysis: US-Australia project on AI and human machine teaming


Dr Alex Caples is Director of The Sydney Dialogue, ASPI’s annual summit for critical, emerging and cyber technologies.

Previously, she was Director of Cyber, Technology and Security at ASPI.

Alex is a former diplomat and national security official whose career spans over 20 years’ in Defence, the Office of National Intelligence, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Foreign Affairs, including postings to Canada and Afghanistan.

Between 2019-2023, Alex was an Associate Director, Operations Advisory and Director, Policy Evaluation and Public Impact at professional services firm KPMG, supporting Commonwealth and State Governments on policy and program design and implementation.

Prior to this, Alex held various senior policy advisor roles in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s National Security Division, including Director of Law Enforcement and Border Security, Director Cyber Security Policy and Director Crisis Management. In this capacity Alex provided advice to Government on a wide range of security legislation, policy and operations, including critical infrastructure security, foreign interference, cyberspace, telecommunications security, digital identity management, intelligence and border security.

During 2011-2012, Alex was a Senior Analyst for Transnational Issues at the Office of National Intelligence, where she provided senior executives and Ministers with all-source analysis on people smuggling, regional law enforcement and transnational crime.

Alex is an Australian Defence Force Academy Graduate. She holds a PhD in International Relations from Monash University (2007).

Australia’s new digital ID system: finding the right way to implement it

This report reviews the Australian Government’s proposed plans for establishing a digital ID, and the ways the new system is expected to work. It explores the planned digital ID system, the key features of the approach, and the privacy and security protections that have been built into the proposals.

Australia has had a long and troubled history with national ID systems, dating back to the mid-1980 when the government failed to introduce the Australia Card. Since then, Australia has ended up with a clunky and inefficient process to identify peoples’ identities online. It has led to an oversharing and storage of sensitive personal data. As the Medibank and Optus data breaches has shown, this creates serious cybersecurity risks.

Now that Parliament has passed the Digital ID legislation, it’s critical that government gets the implementation right.

The report outlines that, although the proposed federated model for a digital ID system is commendable and a needed step-forward, there is a need to still address a range of policy issues that – if left unresolved – would jeopardise trust in the system.

ASPI co-hosts Australia-ROK Critical Tech Track 1.5 in Seoul

On July 9, 2024, ASPI co-hosted the Australia-Republic of Korea Critical Technologies Track 1.5 Dialogue in Seoul with the Science & Technology Policy Institute (STEPI).

The Track 1.5 brought together Australian and Korean government, industry and research stakeholders for a dialogue about the role of critical technologies such as biotechnology, AI, quantum and space technologies for regional stability. The discussions focused on how Australia and the Republic of Korea can deepen cooperation on critical technologies, the role of broader regional engagement on technologies through multilateral bodies and how to prioritise which technologies are the most critical areas for cooperation.

The insights from the Track 1.5 will inform an upcoming ASPI report to be co-authored by ASPI’s Afeeya Akhand and Atitaya (Angie) Suriyasenee and will be launched by ASPI’s Executive Director, Mr Justin Bassi, in Canberra in November 2024. The Track 1.5 and report has been generously funded by the Korea Foundation.

Negotiating technical standards for artificial intelligence

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is delighted to share its latest report – the result of a multi-year project on Artificial Intelligence (AI), technical standards and diplomacy – that conducts a deep-dive into the important, yet often opaque and complicated world of technical standards.

At the heart of how AI technologies are developed, deployed and used in a responsible manner sit a suite of technical standards: rules, guidelines and characteristics that ensure the safety, security and interoperability of a product.

The report authors highlight that the Indo-Pacific, including Australia and India, are largely playing catch-up in AI standards initiatives. The United States and China are leading the pack, followed by European nations thanks to their size, scope and resources of their national standardisation communities as well as their domestic AI sectors.

Not being strongly represented in the world of AI governance and technical standards is a strategic risk for Indo-Pacific nations. For a region that’s banking on the opportunities of a digital and technology-enabled economy and has large swathes of its population in at-risk jobs, it’s a matter of national and economic security that Indo-Pacific stakeholders are active and have a big say in how AI technologies will operate and be used.

Being part of the conversations and negotiations is everything, and as such, governments in the Indo-Pacific – including Australia and India – should invest more in whole-of-nation techdiplomacy capabilities.

Authored by analysts at ASPI and India’s Centre for Internet and Society, this new report ‘Negotiating technical standards for artificial intelligence: A techdiplomacy playbook for policymakers and technologists in the Indo-Pacific’ – and accompanying website (https://www.techdiplomacy.aspi.org.au/) – explains the current state of play in global AI governance, looks at the role of technical standards, outlines how agreements on technical standards are negotiated and created, and describes who are the biggest ‘movers and shakers’.

The authors note that there are currently no representatives from Southeast Asia (except Singapore), Australia, NZ or the Pacific Islands on the UN Secretary-General Advisory Body on AI – a body that’s tasked to come up with suggestions on how to govern AI in a representative and inclusive manner with an eye to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The capacity of the Indo-Pacific to engage in critical technology standards has historically been lower in comparison to other regions. However, given the rapid and global impact of AI and the crucial role of technical standards, the report authors argue that dialogue and greater collaboration between policymakers, technologists and civil society has never been more important.

It is hoped this playbook will help key stakeholders – governments, industry, civil society and academia – step through the different aspects of negotiating technical standards for AI, while also encouraging the Indo-Pacific region to step up and get more involved.

The Sydney Dialogue to return in September

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is pleased to announce that the third Sydney Dialogue for critical, emerging and cyber technologies will be held on 2-3 September 2024.

The Sydney Dialogue (TSD) brings together world leaders, global technology industry innovators and top experts in cyber and critical technology for frank and productive discussions, with a specific focus on the Indo-Pacific.

TSD 2024 will generate conversations that address the awesome advances being made across these technologies, their impact on our societies, economies and national security, and how we can best manage their adoption over the next decade and beyond. These will include generative artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, biotechnology, climate and space technologies.

We will prioritise speakers and topics that push the boundaries and generate new insights into these fields, while also promoting diverse views, including from the Pacific, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

This year’s event will also capture the key trends that are dominating international technology, security and geopolitical discussions. With more than 80 national elections set to take place around the world in 2024, the event will also focus on the importance of political leadership, global cooperation and the stable development of technologies amid great power transition, geopolitical uncertainty and ongoing conflict.

ASPI is pleased to have the support once again of the Australian Government for TSD in 2024.

Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security, the Hon Clare O’Neil MP said: “The threats we face from cyber attacks and tech-enabled perils such as disinformation and foreign interference are only growing as the power of artificial intelligence gathers pace.

“The kind of constructive debate that the Sydney Dialogue fosters helps ensure that the rapid advances in critical technologies and cyber bring better living standards for our people rather than new security threats. Closer engagement with our international partners and with industry on these challenges has never been more important than it is today.”

TSD 2024 will build on the momentum of the previous two dialogues, which featured keynote addresses from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and former Chief Executive Officer of Google Eric Schmidt. A full list of previous TSD speakers can be found here. You can also watch previous TSD sessions here.

TSD 2024 will be held in person and will feature a mix of keynote addresses, panel discussions, closed-room sessions and media engagements.

Topics for discussion will also include technological disruptors, cybercrime, online disinformation, hybrid warfare, electoral interference, climate security, international standards and norms, as well as technology design with the aim of enhancing partnerships, trust and global co-operation.

Justin Bassi, the Executive Director of ASPI, said: “The Sydney Dialogue 2024 will continue to build on the great success ASPI has established since 2021. These technologies are affecting our security and economies faster, and more profoundly, than we ever imagined. We need frank, open debate about how, as a globe, we manage their adoption into our lives.

“We are proud to be focusing on our Indo-Pacific region and encouraging a wide and diverse range of perspectives on some of the most important challenges of our time.”

More information and updates on the Sydney Dialogue can be found at tsd.aspi.org.au.