Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has hit out at the Federal Government's "unethical" data retention laws, urging Australia not to go down the same route as the United States.

"Pretty much Australia has gone the same way as the United States, which I kind of disagree with, which is that they can monitor everything you do," the 64-year-old told the World Business Forum in Sydney.

"I'm against that.

"When I was brought up, our constitution gave us a place called a home and your home could not be violated without court orders, warrants. You know, they had to really suspect something to come into your home. It was your private area.

"And to me, I think my communication with my friends should be part of my private area that I own.

"That's been twisted in the United States but Australia's following suit in exactly the same ways."

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In March the Federal Government passed laws requiring telecommunications companies to retain their customers' phone and computer metadata for two years.

The laws also allow security agencies to access the records.

At the time both the Coalition and Labor argued the laws were necessary to help authorities in counter-terrorism and serious crime investigations.

Mr Wozniak said he disapproved of the Federal Government's data retention laws because they were unethical.

"Ethics usually means truth, and it's unethical in the sense that there's secrecy, there's peeping. What if I found out that my neighbour across the street, my best friend, that he'd had a little camera he was watching in my bedroom for eight years? Would he be a friend anymore? Friends don't do that. That's lack of ethics."

Speaking directly to the Australian Government, Mr Wozniak said there were other ways to fight terrorism than snooping into people's private lives.

"No, I don't think you should be snooping into my private life on the threat that 'Oh, just to see if you might be a terrorist or had a communication with a terrorist'. "I think there's other ways to fight that criminal battle."

Artificial Intelligence looms as 'biggest threat to humanity'

Mr Wozniak also warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence, describing it as the most important thing for the future.

However he said he agreed with Professor Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates who said it was also the biggest threat to humanity.

"Once machines have independent thought and can program themselves, that's the turning point, and computers will get to that stage," he said.

"We're getting closer and closer where computers seem to be doing the things that we call thinking.

"Then we have to say if the computers can really think for themselves and program themselves, they can make themselves better, faster than we can.

"They can come up with solutions to the real world faster than we can, maybe."