Australia’s cross‑agency Digital Platform Regulators Forum has released a working paper examining the promise and pitfalls of immersive, or extended reality (XR), technologies as they move from niche to mainstream use.
Titled Examination of technology – Immersive technologies, the paper looks at how systems that enable users to experience and interact in three dimensions with digital content could reshape sectors from gaming and entertainment to retail. It also points to potential public benefits, including enhanced educational resources, improved digital literacy and better accessibility.
The Forum — which brings together the Australian competition and consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian Communications and media Authority (ACMA), the eSafety Commissioner and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) — says the technology also raises pressing regulatory questions. The paper canvasses risks such as extensive data collection, including personal and sensitive information, and the potential for harms to occur in immersive environments that cut across members’ respective remits.
Each regulator contributed analysis reflecting its responsibilities, with the work intended to support DP‑REG’s 2024–26 strategic priorities to understand, assess and respond to the benefits, risks and harms of technology, and to complement broader policy discussions.
The immersive technologies paper is the fourth in DP‑REG’s series on emerging digital platform technologies. Earlier papers include:
– “Examination of technology – Multimodal Foundation Models”
– “Examination of technology – Large Language Models”
– “Literature summary – Harms and risks of algorithms”
The new paper is available on the DP‑REG website.
