At a Senate hearing on Friday, Google executives faced tough questions after an AI chatbot unexpectedly interrupted their testimony, sparking concerns over whether artificial intelligence was being used to aid their responses. The disruption occurred as Lucinda Longcroft, Google’s Australian Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy, was responding to queries about the company’s AI policies via teleconference.

While Longcroft was speaking, a chatbot with a male, American voice suddenly interjected, stating, “Let’s explore responsible AI across the life cycle,” before continuing, “That’s a great statement, it highlights the …” Longcroft quickly cut in, adding, “There is Google, stepping in to be responsible.”

The incident prompted Independent Senator David Pocock to question whether AI had been involved in preparing Longcroft’s responses. “Can I ask what interrupted you earlier when we heard that voice? Is AI helping you on this call? Have you got a screen there that’s helping with answers?” Pocock asked.

Longcroft firmly denied the involvement of AI in her responses, stating, “I can categorically state that AI has not been involved in the answers to any of these questions here today. Aside from the small interjection from the assistant while I was delivering that opening statement, the assistant was not active at any point in this testimony.”

Despite her assurances, skepticism persisted among the senators. Labor Senator Tony Sheldon, who chaired the committee, requested that the transcript of the AI assistant’s prompts be submitted for review to clarify the extent of any AI involvement.

Meanwhile, Longcroft also defended Google’s search engine dominance in Australia, particularly in light of a recent U.S. federal court ruling that labeled Google’s search business as an illegal monopoly. “We consider ourselves one of many search engines in Australia, despite our popularity. We will be appealing against that U.S. federal court decision,” she stated.

The Senate hearing also put executives from Amazon and Microsoft under scrutiny as Australian lawmakers grappled with how to regulate the rapidly evolving field of generative AI technologies. Topics ranged from AI’s escalating energy consumption to the spread of deepfakes, the potential loss of jobs, and the broader economic implications of AI.

Senator Sheldon expressed concerns about AI’s impact on the voice acting industry. The Australian Association of Voice Actors had recently provided evidence that Amazon might be using AI-generated clones of their voices to produce audiobooks, a move that could threaten thousands of Australian jobs. Sheldon pressed Amazon executives, saying, “You have the audacity to sit there and not tell us why. You have got responsibility, you have come to the hearing, we want to know, and the public wants to know why you have made that decision.”

Amazon’s head of public policy for Australia and New Zealand, Matt Levey, responded by emphasizing that Audible, Amazon’s audiobook platform, is “approaching this thoughtfully.” He added, “They are engaging with the professional narration community and exploring how text-to-speech technology could be used to reach a broader audience.”

However, Sheldon remained unconvinced, asserting, “Your answers provide no comfort to people worried they are getting ripped off as a result of their life’s work, and if I were a writer or a voice actor listening to this, I would be terrified.”

Microsoft’s local managing director, Steven Worrall, also faced questions, particularly about AI’s increasing energy consumption. Worrall acknowledged the issue, stating, “There is no question. This is well documented – that AI models and the services that we’re talking about are far heavier consumers of power than the cloud services that predated them. For Microsoft, we have made a commitment to, by 2030, be carbon-neutral and water-positive as part of our overall sustainability strategy. We remain on track to deliver that commitment.”

As Australia works to keep up with the rapid advancements in AI, the Senate hearing underscored the pressing need for thoughtful regulation to address the challenges and risks posed by this transformative technology.