Industry cautiously supportive of govt's new Office of AI

The announcement by the Prime Minister earlier today about the creation of an office ⁠at ⁠the heart of government to manage the development of AI standards was broadly welcomed from various corners of the technology industry.

That support, however, was accompanied by calls for caution on possible overregulation, alongside an expressed desire for the government to go beyond mere policy and the introduction of guardrails and ensure that the new office drives an acceleration of AI technologies across Australian businesses.

The Office ‌of ‌AI will be established within the Department ‌of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and ensure ⁠a whole-of-government approach across different ministries, aiming to enhance Australia's appeal as a destination for AI investment by providing more clarity for approvals and a more streamlined compliance process.

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) said that it hopes the Office of AI will provide the coordination needed to connect policy, standards, workforce planning, and implementation across government and industry.

“The Office of AI is well placed to help anchor credentialing and skills recognition in trusted, sovereign and portable infrastructure such as the Human Capability Record,” ACS CEO Dr Prins Ralston said. 

“A coordinated approach would support workforce mobility and nationally consistent recognition, while helping government and industry avoid fragmented or vendor-specific systems.”

ACS president Beau Tydd also said the Office of AI needs to be supported by a skilled and professionally recognised workforce.

“Funding and focus need to extend beyond regulation and standards-setting into skills and professional development," he said.

"Without a workforce equipped to implement these frameworks, Australia risks building sophisticated governance architecture without the capability needed to realise its benefits."

Bran Black, chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, said while the announcement was "pleasing", it's only going to be possible for Australia to realise the full benefits of AI if the appropriate balance is struck in terms of the regulatory approach.

"We can't go too far. We can't be too prescriptive, because we are in a race and we are in a competitive contest in that regard," he said.

"Australia already has way too much regulation. We see that regulation accounts for about 6 per cent of GDP in terms of cost on the economy. That's $160 billion each and every year."

Black stated that while other countries are "very actively competing" to try and reduce the burden of regulation on business, Australia is not doing that to the extent the country needs to.

"We know that when large technology companies are looking at places to invest, certainly they do see Australia as having lots of advantages, but if we overregulate, we risk losing the benefit of those advantages, and that's the worst possible outcome for all Australians," he said.

Oversight and central coordination key for productivity gains  

Ian Dempsey, regional director of public sector for business orchestration and automation company UiPath Australia, said a National Office of AI is a good move, but coordination on standards is only half the story.

"The harder question is how you govern AI agents once they're actually embedded in day-to-day workflows, not just how you regulate the technology in the abstract," he said.

"We see this with every enterprise rolling out AI agents: it only scales when there's real oversight built in; clear guardrails, human sign-off on the decisions that matter, and visibility into what agents are doing and why. Governed properly, that oversight is what unlocks the productivity gains everyone's chasing, not what slows them down."

Jane Livesey, president for Microsoft ANZ, struck a more positive tone, however, stating that the announcement from the government sets out a “confident direction” for how the country must calibrate national policy to ensure the benefits of AI are shared widely and equitably – an ambition Microsoft "strongly supports". 

"Australia’s rapid embrace of AI has been felt across every government portfolio, industry and community, and a single national framework is the right way to ensure all Australians benefit from the many opportunities this technology promises," she said.

"Coordinating AI policy centrally will give business leaders greater certainty for faster decisions, give Australians confidence that standards are consistent and considered, and give our country the agility to keep pace as the technology evolves."

Governance needs to move at speed of threats, not policy

Lisa Fortey, GM of Logicalis ANZ agreed that clear policy, governance and standards will be critical in giving organisations the confidence to invest, innovate and protect sensitive data, but noted that "policy alone won't improve Australia's productivity or global competitiveness".

"Success will ultimately be measured by how effectively government, industry and technology partners work together to accelerate AI adoption across the economy," she said.

Ben Mudie, field CTO APJ at exposure management and AI security company Tenable, echoed those sentiments, saying that standards and coordination are welcome, but they only matter if they translate into real visibility and control over how AI is deployed inside businesses today, not just guardrails for tomorrow.

"Government leadership on AI governance is good; now it needs to move at the speed of the threat, not the speed of policy," he said.

Paul Butterworth, MD of software company IFS, went one step further, stating that it’s difficult to see how today’s announcement will meaningfully change the way businesses use AI or how workers feel about it.

"The real verdict will come from the field, where people will judge the technology on whether it makes their jobs safer, smarter and more secure," he said.

“A cloud of big tech scepticism has been slowly creeping over Australia for the past decade, and neither government announcements nor corporate promises will blow it away overnight. The organisations that get this right will treat workforce investment as part of their AI investment, not an optional extra."