From Risk to Response: Mapping AI Harms and Unintended Consequences

This workshop is the final session in a four-part series delivered in the lead-up to the AI Safety Forum, bringing together cross-sector participants to examine what is needed for Australia to adopt AI safely, confidently and at scale. Building on previous roundtables, the session will focus on the opportunities, barriers and emerging harms associated with wider AI use across industry, government and society. It will ask how we can better identify future risks, anticipate unintended consequences, and prioritise the issues most likely to shape Australia’s AI readiness. Participants will work through structured prompts on current and future uses of AI, including how emerging harms or behaviours can be recognised, assessed and managed without defaulting too quickly to narrow regulatory or technical solutions. The workshop is designed to support a practical, cross-sector conversation about where Australia should focus its effort to build trust, capability and responsible adoption.