Elayne Grace Chief Executive Officer Actuaries Institute of Australia Actuaries Institute of Australia The Actuaries Institute welcomes the opportunity to partner with the Australian Human Rights Commission on the development of this Guidance Resource. Actuaries working in insurance, and particularly those involved with pricing and underwriting, currently face significant uncertainty around how to comply with Australia’s antidiscrimination laws, especially in an increasingly digital economy. This Guidance Resource is designed to assist them in their professional roles. It may also be helpful for many other professionals. The time is right This guidance is much needed. While Australia’s anti-discrimination laws are longstanding, there is limited guidance and case law available to practitioners. The complexity arising from differing antidiscrimination legislation in Australia at the federal, State and Territory levels, compounds the challenges facing Actuaries, and may reflect an opportunity for reform. Emerging megatrends make guidance critical Several intersecting megatrends make this lack of guidance more problematic, and urgent to address. These trends include the explosive growth of ‘big data’, increased use and power of artificial intelligence and algorithmic decision making, and growing and changing consumer awareness and expectations about what is ‘fair’. Actuaries seek to responsibly leverage the potential benefits of these digital megatrends, for the consumer, society and business. To do so with confidence, however, requires authoritative guidance to make the application of AI clearer in order to comply with the law. What this Guidance Resource means for you While this Guidance Resource will answer many questions practitioners have, it cannot address all potential situations. The Institute hopes that this publication encourages further societal and C-suite discussion of algorithmic discrimination, both within and outside of insurance. We hope that further guidance is commissioned in order that the professionals building the algorithms that drive important decisions in our society have clarity around society’s expectations from those decisions. Elayne Grace Chief Executive Officer 6