Royal Commission into Artificial Intelligence

Extended submission to the Royal Commission into Artificial Intelligence from LifeArchitect.ai

Alan D. Thompson
LifeArchitect.ai
October 2026
67 pages incl extended matter.

The report

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Context
Prepared for Australia’s first royal commission into AI. The Commission began on 1 October 2026 and will report to the Governor by 1 July 2027. Its Terms of Reference direct it to consider ‘how South Australia can prepare for and respond to likely future developments’.

Abstract
For most of human history, intelligence has been scarce. This submission asks what happens when intelligence beyond the brightest human minds becomes available to everyone, and how South Australia can turn that possibility into longer, healthier, freer lives for every resident. Drawing on six years of public warnings, from GPT-3 in 2020 to the frontier models of 2026, it sets out the evidence that AI has already moved from conversation into medicine, materials science, robotics, and discovery. It compares the opportunity with the state’s own Hornsdale precedent, examines sovereignty, ownership, and the cost of delay, and tests two scenarios for the arrival of artificial superintelligence. It closes with five recommendations the state can begin acting on now, each mapped to the Commission’s Terms of Reference.

Recommendations

1. Put frontier intelligence in everyone’s hands.
2. Make South Australia the world’s first ASI-ready jurisdiction.
3. Deliver extraordinary living standards.
4. Make employment optional.
5. Replace government as we know it.

Contents
About LifeArchitect.ai
Executive summary
Introduction
GPT-3 was the fire alarm in 2020
Australia is ahead of the United States in AI adoption
Australians are also nervous about AI
AI’s capacity has rapidly translated into high performance
South Australia’s opportunity
The cost of delay
Sovereignty and strategic autonomy
Recognising artificial minds
Forecasts and scenarios
Recommendation 1: Put frontier intelligence in everyone’s hands
Recommendation 2: Make SA the world’s first ASI-ready jurisdiction
Recommendation 3: Deliver extraordinary living standards
Recommendation 4: Make employment optional
Recommendation 5: Replace government as we know it
Conclusion
Appendix A: Distractions from South Australia’s AI opportunity
Appendix B: Suggested further reading
Appendix C: Responses from frontier models GPT-6 and Fable 5
Appendix D: Large language model visualisations
Appendix E: Models Table highlights: 1,000+ Models

Cover image
Cover design by Alan D. Thompson. Cover art by ChatGPT Images 2.0.

Technical acknowledgments
Frontier AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic assisted with some research, checking, discussion, and copyediting. The central argument, evidence, recommendations, structure, and final wording are the author’s.

Copyediting and proofreading by Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic). Every copyediting suggestion made across successive revisions is published here: Royal Commission Copyedit.

Introduction (p. 6.)

Nearly a century ago, in May 1929, the temperature in Washington DC was a hot 33°C. Inside the United States Capitol building, a very new technology called ‘air conditioning’ held the chamber near 24°C. Representative John E. Rankin rose to complain that this artificial cooling was ‘enough to kill anybody if it continues’. The US Congressional Record notes that he was applauded.¹US Congressional Record, 28/May/1929: https://www.congress.gov/71/crecb/1929/05/28/GPO-CRECB-1929-pt2-v71-13-2.pdf This anxious resistance to new technology was later echoed in the White House, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt ‘had a strong dislike of air conditioning and never hesitated to say so. The outspoken comments that he frequently made to the press gave the installation some pretty bad publicity’.²https://www.mentalfloss.com/history/17-historical-reactions-air-conditioning

The complaints sound far-fetched and outrageous from our 2026 vantage point. Air conditioning has made life in hot climates more comfortable, and changed where people can live and work. Closer to home, in Darwin, researchers have described how cooled buildings helped make settlement there feel feasible, creating indoor climates and ‘habitable territory’.³https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.04.038 What the United States government initially feared became a natural and beneficial part of modern life.

Air conditioning also required electricity, refrigerants, and changes to buildings. Those demands became problems for human engineers to solve as the technology spread. People reflexively argued against it because change (and particularly large technological change) generally incites fear, anger, and resistance alongside its benefits.

I have seen that fear first-hand in Australia’s response to human intelligence…

See full submission

Alan D. Thompson is a world expert in artificial intelligence, advising everyone from Apple to the US Government on integrated AI. Throughout Mensa International’s history, both Isaac Asimov and Alan held leadership roles, each exploring the frontier between human and artificial minds. His landmark analysis of post-2020 AI—from his widely-cited Models Table to his regular intelligence briefing The Memo—has shaped how governments and Fortune 500s approach artificial intelligence. With popular tools like the Declaration on AI Consciousness, and the ASI checklist, Alan continues to illuminate humanity’s AI evolution. Technical highlights.

• 1
  US Congressional Record, 28/May/1929: https://www.congress.gov/71/crecb/1929/05/28/GPO-CRECB-1929-pt2-v71-13-2.pdf ↩︎
• 2
  https://www.mentalfloss.com/history/17-historical-reactions-air-conditioning ↩︎
• 3
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.04.038 ↩︎