Labor ministers warned over expanded use of AI in immigration and biosecurity decisions

Senate committee queries new regulations that mean decisions normally made by ministers and officials are now automated

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The federal government's increasing use of computers to make decisions is raising alarm - including from its own ranks - with a bipartisan committee warning automation could jeopardise important safeguards that human discretion provides.

Urging the government to heed the findings of the robodebt royal commission and the commonwealth ombudsman's artificial intelligence guidelines, a Senate committee has queried moves by the home affairs minister, Clare O'Neil, and the agriculture minister, Murray Watt, to expand the use of automated decision-making in immigration and biosecurity.

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