How Can Australia Get a Piece of the AI Action? — Danielle Wood

Danielle Wood is an Australian economist and the current chair of the Australian Productivity Commission. Had a lot of fun chatting with Dani about how she's making sense of AI and its implications for policy. We discuss: whether AI will be more like the internet or the Industrial Revolution, where in the AI stack the profits will ultimately flow (and why it might not be the model layer), why diffusion is the "main game" for Australian policymakers, whether there's a case for government support of data centres, why the AI jobpocalypse story is too crude (and why humans may still have jobs even under transformative AI), whether AI will turn out to be a normal or abnormal technology, or both, and why in either case Australia shouldn't follow the EU in legislating an AI Act. Sponsors Effective Altruism Australia: how Australians give to GiveWell's top charities — tax-deductibly, and with 100% pass-through. Until June 30, 2026, EAA is matching new donations up to $300,000. Donate at https://www.eaa.org.au/joewalker. e61: a non-partisan economic research institute focused on Australian public policy. To receive a copy of the new essay I co-authored with e61 on data centres and the compute economy, go to https://www.e61.in/joewalker. Vanta: helps businesses automate security and compliance needs. For a limited time, get one thousand dollars off Vanta at https://www.vanta.com/joe. Use the discount code "JOE". To sponsor a future episode, go to https://josephnoelwalker.com/sponsor/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.