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Trustworthy AI and the Automated City:
Renew Economy. Can we power both humanity and machines with cheap renewables? 26 March 2025
In this co-authored piece with Gabriel Wong, co-founder and director of Positive Good, we argue that it's time to think about a tiered energy system (excerpt below):
Do we need a tiered energy system?
Humans, AI and robots will compete for the same energy resources and now is the time to rethink energy allocation itself. We need a tiered system, one that distinguishes between Energy for Humans and Energy for Robots.
Energy for Humans covers residential, commercial, and essential services – things like housing, hospitals, schools, and the human-facing parts of industry.
Energy for Robots includes the high-intensity power demands of data centres, autonomous machines, and AI-driven production facilities.
Without deliberate governance, AI-powered industries could leverage their size and influence to negotiate bulk rates, preferential access, and firm renewable energy contracts, potentially pricing out human consumers. The emerging industrial oligopoly of hyperscale AI providers could result in energy market distortions where robots get cheaper, greener power, while households pay more for the same electrons.
The question remains around who maintains control over the allocation of Australia’s renewable energy assets. Will it be up to government agencies, planners and regulators to ensure there is equitable access, or multinational corporations who are securing clean energy and Power Purchase Agreements for their data centres and factories?
Without policy safeguards, we risk repeating past mistakes—where industrial priorities supersede human needs. The aluminium industry’s long-term, low-cost power deals with state governments left many wondering whether the public got a fair return. Now, history threatens to repeat itself on a much larger scale.
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding:
Buoyant Urbanism and the Blue Economy
Floating Cities and Buoyant Urbanism in International Law: Inundation, Territory and Erga Omnes Obligations.
World Conference on Floating Solutions. Hong Kong, China.
2-4 December 2024.
The increasing vulnerability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and in particular low-lying South Pacific nations, due to climate change necessitates innovative and sustainable adaptation strategies. One such strategy is the development of floating cities, which offers the promise of mitigating the effects of rising sea levels and the incursion of water in urban centres, while ensuring the continued socio-economic stability in the region.
I argue that the creation and enforcement of legal frame-works supporting floating cities needs to be examined at international law. While steps have been taken to fix maritime baselines to set out the territorial waters of island states subjected to inundation, the legal concept of Statehood in international law requires us to address the fundamental question of a ‘de-fined territory’ and how the ambit of the definition of ‘territory’ could be addressed by floating structures.
My peer-reviewed conference paper argues that the recognition of floating structures as ‘territory’ is crucial as it allows states to avoid costly and significantly delayed responses through land reclamation. To aid this recognition of floating structures as ‘territory’, this paper argues that such recognition should be treated as an erga omnes obligation—an obligation owed by states to the international community as a whole.
This paper examines the international legal precedents, proposed legal frameworks, and the technical solution of floating cities to argue for the legal necessity of such urban interventions. It concludes by asserting that the recognition of legal support for floating cities as an erga omnes obligation is not only a legal necessity but also a moral imperative to ensure the survival and prosperity of vulnerable populations in the face of global climate change.
GenAI, LLM and Contract Drafting:
Law, Technology and Humans. Prompts and Large Language Models: A New Tool for Drafting, Reviewing and Interpreting Contracts? Vol 6, Issue 2. pp 88-106. July 2024.
The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) in the field of generative AI and the practice of designing inputs (prompts) to drive optimal outputs for these models are transforming legal practice. This article examines the legal status of these prompts that are used to generate contractual clauses and the potential of prompts to be used for interpreting ambiguous contractual terms. In doing so, it presents a novel analysis of the interaction of prompts with the parol evidence rule. The article begins with an introduction to the promise offered by LLMs in the field of contract drafting before venturing into a non-technical explanation of LLMs. It then explores the current use of LLMs in the automation of the contract drafting process and challenges in deploying LLMs in legal practice. The article then proceeds to explore four scenarios of potential uses of LLMs in contract drafting and how these might impact the legal status of prompts and their interaction with the parol evidence rule. Finally, the article sets out suggested practice approaches for incorporating prompts into the contracting process for clarity and enforceability before presenting a conclusion on the state of the evolving landscape of AI-powered legal practice and the drafting of contracts.
Trustworthy AI and Future of Legal Service:
ANU Law School. Industry 4.0 - Navigating the Future of Legal Services. Canberra. 14 - 15 June 2024.
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding:
International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE). Underpinning the Value of Buoyant Urbanism: Returning Torrens to the Sea. Singapore. 9-14 June 2024. Co-authored with A/Prof Lucy Cradduck and Dr Kim Weinert.
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding:
Floating Habitat Symposium. Bridging Land and Sea: How Market Forces, Social Norms, and Technological Advancements Drive the Legal Construction of Floating Cities. Italy-Australia Virtual Conference. 28-30 May 2024
One of the most formidable obstacles hindering the offshore development of floating cities lies in the intricate web of overlapping legal frameworks governing ocean space and the very legality of such developments. This paper examines the intricate interplay between market forces and social norms, meticulously tracing their influence on the emergence of floating structure technology and its subsequent impact on legal structures. Six broad and overlapping waves of development are examined, each iteration building on its predecessors. This historical analysis reveals how early floating settlements became subsumed within the overarching terrestrial legal frameworks, which predominantly prioritise land-based conceptions of property. Then, the burgeoning tide of marine utopian proposals that crested in the 1950s to 1970s, driven by concerns over population density and land scarcity, spurred developments in intellectual property law. However, these changes to the law proved insufficient to sustain a viable market for floating developments. The subsequent shift away from those ambitious attempts at ‘future-proofing’ cities paved the way for the third wave: floating cities as leisure colonies. This wave resonates with modern-day initiatives such as seasteading, floating Olympic projects, and the opulent cruise liners that dot the oceans. Yet, the legal seascape surrounding these floating assets remains murky and fraught with uncertainties, with the courts grappling with judicial interpretation of the structural characteristics inherent to these projects and their legal classification. The fifth wave has witnessed a paradigm shift, with engineers harnessing the potential of floating structures to accommodate critical infrastructure on the water’s surface. This wave of offshore projects spurred the development of dedicated legislation, such as Japan’s 2018 Act on Promoting the Utilization of Sea Areas for the Development of Marine Renewable Energy Power Generation Facilities and Australia’s 2021 Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act. The final wave ushers in the exploration of buoyant urbanism and the use of floating structures to bolster the resilience of coastal cities against the encroaching threat of rising sea levels and increasingly torrential rainfall patterns associated with a warming and wetter climate. This paper concludes with a brief exploration of the emerging legal questions around how new planning and development laws will interact with the emerging public consciousness around environmental human rights.
Trustworthiness and Data Privacy:
GBN News. Google issues new warning for all Chrome users over tracking in its Incognito Mode. 21 Jan 2024
Trustworthiness and Data Privacy:
ABC News. Google to warn users they can be tracked while in Chrome's 'Incognito' mode. 18 January 2024
Trustworthy AI and data governance:
Law Technology Humanities Conference Deus Ex Machina. Trustworthy Visibility Regimes: Signals of Benevolence in transparency, consensus mechanisms and seams in dataveillance and automated decision-making. 11-December 2023. Brisbane, Australia. [Note: I also got to showcase a preview of my Lex Machin(Art) exhibition and a Q&A artist talk with Dr Kim Weinert.
The contemporary landscape of dataveillance and automated decision-making is marked by complex visibility regimes that have far-reaching implications for individual privacy, autonomy, and the exercise of state and corporate power. This paper explores the multifaceted concept of visibility regimes and their intersection with the signals of benevolence: transparency practices, consensus-building mechanisms, and boundaries that
support oversight of algorithmic systems. Visibility regimes, as conceived through the lens of Brighenti (2010), are systema c patterns of interactions, architectural configurations, and normative questions that dictate who can see and be seen in society's technological complexes. They inherently involve exercises of power and control over information and the mediation of visibility. In the context of surveillance through data and automated decision-making, understanding these regimes is vital to comprehend the ethical and legal dimensions of these practices. A central concern in the discussion is how benevolence as a signal of trustworthiness can be conveyed by examining new visibility regimes that are emergent in algorithmic systems. This paper investigates how algorithmic visibility regimes are affecting the signals of benevolence in: first, impacting transparency practices that enable greater accountability; second, serving as a form of gatekeeping, allowing modulation of user interactions and behaviours that affect consensus-building mechanisms; and third, pose challenges in the era of seamlessness in dataveillance and automated decision-making. The paper argues that while visibility regimes pose challenges in the era of dataveillance and automated decision-making, they also offer opportunities for establishing trust, building consensus, and reinforcing democratic values. It is imperative that these regimes be critically examined, and mechanisms for oversight, transparency, and accountability be developed and strengthened to ensure that benevolent signals are not merely cosmetic but translate into genuine safeguards for individuals in an increasingly connected and surveilled world. This research contributes to the ongoing discourse on the ethical and legal dimensions of surveillance and automated decision-making in the digital age.
Second paper at the same conference:
Veiled Influence: Unpacking the Third Dimension of Power in Technology Platforms. Co-authored with A/Prof Michael Guihot.
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding:
World Conference on Floating Solutions. Development of the legal definition of the floating city: Judicial interpretation of structural characteristics of floating homes and developments. 28-29 August. Tokyo, Japan. WCFS2023.
Trustworthy AI and urban development:
Media Architecture Biennale. An Updated Model of Trust and Trustworthiness for the use of Digital Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in City Making. 21-26 June. Toronto, Canada. MAB'23.
Trustworthiness, urban development and environmental vulnerability (Water):
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Environmental Personhood, Legal Fiction and Vulnerability in Novel Rights. 31 July - 4 August 2023. Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium, Joensuu, Finland. Co-authored conference paper with Prof Amanda Kennedy.
Trustworthiness, urban development and environmental vulnerability (Water):
Legal Person and River Rights Workshop. Animating Environmental Personhood in the Great Barrier Reef: Vulnerability in Novel Rights and Legal Fiction. 6-7 July 2023. UNSW, Sydney, Australia. Co-authored conference paper with Prof Amanda Kennedy.
Trustworthiness, urban development and environmental vulnerability (Water):
International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering. Regulatory Reform and the Potential Use of Floating Artificial Reefs under Blue Carbon and Ocean Carbon Methodologies. 11-16 June 2023. Melbourne, Australia.
Trustworthy signal of Integrity in International Law:
Workshop International Architecture. Architecture and Aspiration in International Law: designing the buildings of the United Nations. 19-20 October 2022. Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Co-authored conference paper with Prof Rain Liivoja. This has been developed into a forthcoming book chapter in International Law and Architecture to be published with Edward Elgar.
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding:
Asia Pacific Architecture Festival. Ultramarine Conversions: Architecture and the Environment. 24 March 2022. Panel session with myself, Dr Margaret Cook and Dirk Yates at UQ Art Museum for a discussion about water environments and examples of how architecture has responded to these places in the past and future propositions.
Trustworthy automation & datafication of the city:
IP Observatory. Automating Cities: Welcome to the Machine Metropolis. Remaking the Maker Movement. 3 Feb 2021.
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding:
International Conference on Sustainable Civil Engineering and Architecture. Floating Solutions for Challenges Facing Humanity. 24 -26 Oct 2019.
Trustworthy data governance and the city:
IP Observatory. Open Cities: Openness as a basis for Trustworthiness in Smart Cities. Open Innovation. 24 Oct 2019
Automating Trustworthiness in Construction Contracts:
QUT Three Minute Thesis (3MT). People's Choice Winner and Winner of the Faculty of Law and Justice Round.
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding &
rising sea levels:
ABC Radio National 'Future Tense'. Offshore Architecture and Marine Urban Sprawl. 6 Oct 2019. Radio interview with Antony Funnell
Trustworthy data governance and the city:
Association of Internet Researchers. Can we Automate Trust? Assessing the Trustworthiness of Machine Superintendents on Smart City Building Projects. #AoIR2019 Conference. 2-5 Oct 2019. [Honorable Mention for Best Student Paper Award]
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding &
rising sea levels:
Seeker. How Close Are We to Living in the Ocean? 20 June 2019. [Interview with California Science, Technology and Culture Media Company, 436k views]
Trustworthy urban solutions to flooding &
rising sea levels:
The Conversation. Floating cities: The future or a washed-up idea? 3 June 2019. [featured article]
The Trustworthy signal of Integrity in Law:
Lawyers Weekly. Asian world view gaining popularity in legal circles. 20 June 2018. (Launch of the Queensland chapter of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association)
(excerpt below)
Mr Kirby reflected on his time as president of the NSW Court of Appeal (during 1984 to 1996), when he would remark to his judicial peers on the low numbers of Asian lawyers being admitted. The retired judge said that when he was conducting admission ceremonies, he would query how the law could be more attractive to Asian Australians. He suggested that the low rate of admission may stem from the Asian Australian community shying away from the adversarial nature of the profession.
"The law is a profession about power,” Mr Kirby said. “The law is a profession about values – you bring to the values your background, your experiences, some aspect of your religion, your sense of justice and fairness; and that is a special gift, and if you are all the same then you are missing out; we in Australia can be a microcosm of the world, and a good example to the world, and the law is a place where it matters.”
He also observed that the LGBTI community and their struggle for equality offered valuable lessons for Asian Australian lawyers seeking to enhance cultural diversity in the profession. Foremost was the need for allies, Mr Kirby added, lauding the mix of ethnicities present at the event and the crucial role allies played in creating change.
“People whose profession is law should have a sense of justice and fairness, and that can be conveyed, and that is why AALA and their allies have to go out and ever-so-gently bring that message to our profession,” Mr Kirby said.
...
The AALA unveiled its committee for the Queensland branch: Nicholas Ng (president), Catherine Chiang (secretary), Brydon Timothy Wang (national executive committee member)...
The Trustworthy signal of Integrity in Law:
Asian Australian Lawyers Association. AALA Queensland Official Launch. 15 June 2018.
I had the privilege of helping to launch the Queensland chapter of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association (having helped with the launch in both Victoria and New South Wales). For this occasion, I organised for our patron Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG to deliver the keynote and participate in a panel alongside my former colleagues Prof Ann Black, Allens partner Nick Ng, and my mentor Laina Chan.
The Trustworthy signal of Benevolence in Law:
Lawyers Weekly. Righting the wrongs of the past. 31 May 2018.
One of the highlights of my time at the incredible law firm Allens was bearing witness to this historic moment where Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stood before parliament on 11 May 2017 to offer a long-awaited apology to the LGBT community. I deeply enjoyed my time supporting the various pro bono efforts of the firm and this was the culmination of three years of hard work that saw: first, a discussion paper in 2015, then a Queensland Law Reform Commission report in 2016, before the Bill to expunge these unfair convictions was introduced in May 2017.
Trustworthiness and Infrastructure Delivery (Energy):
Allens Linklaters. Allens advises Powerchina Resources Ltd on Cattle Hill Wind Farm investment. 13 April 2018
Trustworthiness and Infrastructure Delivery (Transport, Rail):
Allens Linklaters. Allens assists Gold Coast Light Rail achieve completion. 18 December 2017
Trustworthiness and Infrastructure Delivery (Energy):
Allens Linklaters. Allens advises Acciona Energy on the development of Mt Gellibrand Wind Farm. 27 June 2017
Automating Trustworthiness in Construction Contracts (addressing financial fragility):
Allens Linklaters. Queensland security of payment regime: more change on the horizon. 16 January 2017
The Queensland Government recently released a Queensland Building Plan discussion paper for public consideration that coincided with the enactment of the Federal Government's Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013. Both developments have the potential to affect the existing security of payment regime in Queensland. Co-authored with Nick Ng, Nikki O'Leary and Matt Thomas.
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Construction projects in Queensland over $1 million will require project bank accounts (PBAs) to quarantine progress payments and retentions, aiming to protect subcontractors from delayed or lost payments and aligning with similar schemes in New South Wales and Western Australia.
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Key proposed reforms include consolidating security of payment laws into one Act, removing the need to state that claims are made under the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act (BCIPA), and extending the time for lodging adjudication applications by 20 business days.
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The removal of the requirement to state that a claim is made under BCIPA will eliminate an early warning sign for principals and head contractors, meaning they must now treat all payment claims as potentially proceeding to adjudication and prepare payment schedules with greater care and resourcing from the outset.
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Additional reforms would allow claims to be made after contracts are terminated for convenience, enhance adjudication governance, impose fee caps, and enable reimbursement of application costs and interest payments to successful claimants.
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These changes are expected to make it easier and more cost-effective for subcontractors to pursue claims, likely increasing the volume of adjudication applications, while PBAs may introduce new financing and administrative burdens for contractors and principals.
Trustworthiness and Infrastructure Delivery (Transport, Rail):
Allens Linklaters. Bill to establish Cross River Rail Delivery Authority. 24 October 2016
The Queensland Government has introduced legislation to establish the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, an independent statutory body charged with delivering the Cross River Rail project and the wider economic developments along the project's corridor. Co-authored with Nick Ng and Matt Thomas.
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The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority has been established as a statutory body with broad powers to deliver both below-ground rail infrastructure and above-ground transit-oriented developments, supported by its own funding mechanism through the Cross River Rail Delivery Fund.
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The Authority consolidates powers from various agencies, enabling it to act commercially, deal in land (including compulsory acquisition), enter contracts, and manage construction, while remaining subject to certain community service obligations and financial reporting requirements.
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Its governance model is designed to ensure operational independence from government cycles, enhance commercial flexibility, and enable partnerships with federal, state and local entities, differing from traditional public sector project offices.
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Funding models for the $5.4 billion project are yet to be finalised, with value-capture and value-sharing options—such as land tax surcharges and increased property rates—proposed for community consultation.
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The Authority’s expansive mandate and funding flexibility position it to play a central role in financing, procurement, delivery, and economic development associated with Cross River Rail, marking a departure from conventional Public Private Partnership approaches by retaining public sector control over delivery, funding, and value capture rather than outsourcing these functions to a private consortium.
Trustworthy data governance and the city:
Allens Linklaters. Federal Government passes wide-ranging data retention laws. 8 April 2015
Telecommunications and internet service providers will incur significant new compliance costs under the Federal Government's controversial new data retention laws. Following a wave of criticism of the Government's original proposals, a number of important changes were made to the original Bill during its passage through Parliament, including the introduction of safeguards on access to the retained data by government agencies and concessions made to protect journalists' confidential sources. Co-authored with Gavin Smith and Leah Wickman.
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The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015 (Cth) requires telecommunications and internet service providers to retain a standardised set of metadata (but not content) for at least two years, resulting in significant compliance costs likely to be passed on to consumers.
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The Act limits access to retained data to authorised criminal law enforcement agencies, enhances privacy safeguards by requiring proportionality assessments before access is granted, and prohibits use of retained data in civil litigation (but there is always risk of human error and other inappropriate access).
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Service providers must retain detailed metadata such as the type, date, time, duration, and location of communications, but are not required to store web browsing histories, passwords, or content.
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Oversight mechanisms include regular inspections and public reporting by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, with the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) mandated to review the scheme within two years of implementation.
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Although there is no obligation to store retained data within Australia, major providers like Telstra have announced they will store the data domestically; APP 11.2 under the Privacy Act will require destruction or de-identification of data after the two-year retention period.
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The Federal Government has committed to contributing to the upfront compliance costs through grants to service providers, but the full cost burden—estimated between $188.1 million and $319.1 million—is expected to be disclosed in the federal budget and will largely fall on consumers.
Trustworthy signal of Benevolence in Law:
Allens Linklaters. Section 54 of the Insurance Contracts Act: Putting insureds in the driver's seat. 16 September 2014
A recent High Court decision highlights the substantial scope of s54(1) of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) to prevent an insurer from denying cover following an insured's non-compliance with certain terms of an insurance policy. The court confirmed that, in certain circumstances, the section can relieve an insured from the consequences of an act or omission which triggers coverage exclusions and limitations. Co-authored with Andrew Maher and Jono Light.
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The High Court confirmed that under section 54(1) of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth), insurers cannot deny cover based solely on an act or omission occurring during the policy period unless it caused or contributed to the loss, or prejudiced the insurer’s interests.
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Policy terms that seek to exclude or limit liability based on acts or omissions after inception are ineffective if the act or omission did not cause the loss or prejudice the insurer, reinforcing a broad application of section 54(1).
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The High Court distinguished between inherent limitations on the scope of cover (such as claims-made or occurrence-based periods) and post-contractual conditions affecting entitlement to claim, clarifying that section 54(1) applies to the latter.
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Insurers face significant risk of having to pay consequential losses if indemnity is wrongfully denied; in this case, the Insurers were ordered to pay $145,000 more than the initial claim due to lost profits.
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The decision resolves conflicting appellate authority, favouring insureds by highlighting that insurers cannot rely on technical breaches that do not materially affect the risk to escape liability under policies.
Trustworthiness and Data Privacy:
Allens Linklaters. ALRC Final Report: 'Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era'. 10 September 2014. [Note that Brydon taught the unit LLB250 Law, Privacy and Data Ethics at the Queensland University of Technology in 2021 and 2023]
The Australian Law Reform Commission has released its long-anticipated final report on serious invasions of privacy. The report proposes that a new statutory cause of action be implemented in a new stand-alone Commonwealth Act. If adopted, the proposal would have far reaching ramifications for investigative journalism in Australia and could also raise the spectre of class actions being brought against companies that have deliberately or recklessly mishandled their customers' personal information. Co-authored with Gavin Smith and Will Coote.
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The ALRC proposed a new statutory tort enabling individuals to sue for intentional or reckless serious invasions of privacy, with remedies including damages for emotional distress, injunctions, and public apologies, even without proof of financial loss.
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The tort requires proof of a serious intrusion or misuse of private information, judged by a reasonable expectation of privacy, seriousness of harm, and balancing privacy rights against public interests like freedom of expression.
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The proposal would expand privacy protections beyond the current Privacy Act framework, allowing individuals to bring direct court actions rather than relying solely on complaints to the OAIC.
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Risks include potential misuse of the tort to suppress legitimate journalism through interlocutory injunctions, and the likelihood of class actions for widespread breaches, increasing exposure for organisations.
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Key changes from earlier drafts include rejecting a 'safe harbour' for intermediaries and deciding against introducing a 'right to be forgotten' provision within the Privacy Act (contrasting with Europe, where the GDPR enshrines a right to erasure, and global trends increasingly recognise stronger individual rights over personal data).
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Despite the significance of the proposals, the current Coalition Government is unlikely to implement the ALRC’s recommendations, meaning no immediate change is expected.
Top law students come from all over Oz:
Lawyers Weekly. Top law students come from all over Oz.
29 July 2014.
(excerpt below)
Brydon Wang recently graduated from Monash University and now works with the litigation and dispute resolution practice group at Allens Linklaters. He was on the editorial committee of the Monash Law Journal and worked as a seasonal clerk at Ashurst, Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Herbert Smith Freehills.