Australia can import AI models, but they may bring their baggage

Australia's AI capability and strategic independence depend on layered foreign inputs (chips, cloud, data, talent, models) that cannot be fully indigenised without prohibitive cost. Political assumptions embedded in foreign open-source models—tested by the article to show pro-Beijing bias in Southeast Asian localisations—create subtle vulnerabilities in Australian decision-support systems, intelligence analysis, and defence applications that Australian operators may not detect.