National AI Plan introduced by govt, industry supportive of roadmap

The Australian government has received industry support for introducing the National AI Plan, a roadmap to "build an AI-enabled economy".

The National AI Plan has three goals, the first being attracting investment in Australia’s digital and physical infrastructure, supporting local capability, and positioning Australia as a leading destination for future AI investment.

Improving public services, supporting AI adoption and building skills across the economy, including for not-for-profits, universities, schools, TAFEs and community organisations; as well as keeping Australians safe, including through setting up the recently announced AI Safety Institute, are the other two goals

The Future Skills Organisation aims to ensure the skills and training system is responsive to the digital and AI skills needs of the future, developing generalist and specialist digital and AI units of competency across Australian Qualifications Framework levels.

The Minister for Industry and Innovation and the Minister for Science, Tim Ayres, talked up the National AI Plan as providing clear guidance for government, industry, researchers and communities to ensure Australians can benefit from AI.

The Plan also claims to support the growth and commercialisation of AI solutions made in Australia by launching an ‘AI Accelerator’ funding round of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) program, to turn ideas from local businesses and researchers into real-world solutions.

Ayres said the National AI Plan is about making sure technology serves Australians, not the other way around.

“This plan is focused on capturing the economic opportunities of AI, sharing the benefits broadly, and keeping Australians safe as technology evolves," he said.

“Guided by the plan, the government will ensure that AI delivers real and tangible benefits for all Australians. As the technology continues to evolve, we will continue to refine and strengthen this plan to seize new opportunities and act decisively to keep Australians safe.”

Earlier this year, the government introduced an AI Plan for the Australian Public Service, aiming to improve government service delivery, policy outcomes, efficiency, and productivity, through substantially increasing the use of AI in government.

Vendors, industry bodies welcome AI Plan

ARM Hub, an 'innovation centre' for industrial technology, said that the Plan's three goals align directly with ARM Hub's work: capturing AI opportunities through practical deployment, spreading benefits across Australian industry, and keeping businesses safe as they adopt new technologies.

"The plan strengthens how Australia supports industrial AI adoption," said Professor Cori Stewart, ARM Hub CEO and founder. 

"By coordinating the AI Adopt Centre network under NAIC and maintaining the $17 million AI Adopt Program, it ensures SMEs get practical support to deploy AI without the barriers larger companies can overcome.

"ARM Hub delivers that support across sectors including advanced manufacturing, medical technology, defence, clean energy, metal fabrication, and even enabling technologies like robotics and embedded AI."

ARM Hub's own AI Adopt Centre supports industrial businesses nationally through practical guidance, data infrastructure support, and connections to Australia's broader AI ecosystem.

Data storage technology company Pure Storage also released a statement of support, with Mark Jobbins, the company's VP and CTO for APJ, said the government’s plan is a positive and necessary step.

"The next phase must focus on creating national standards that guide a re-engineering of data-centre infrastructure around energy efficiency," he stated.

"Policymakers and regulators will need to balance the right policy direction, supporting data-centre growth, with Australia’s unique energy-grid constraints.

"This will not be simple. The success of the National AI and Data Centre Plan will depend on the detail: how governments ensure operators adhere to consistent, enforceable energy-sustainability requirements; how those standards align across States; and how planning and approvals reward efficiency rather than pure capacity."

Science & Technology Australia (STA), the  peak body representing more than 235,000 scientists and technologists, said the Plan provides a level of certainty for the economy and direction for the research and innovation sector that is critically needed, but Australia must now make substantial investment in infrastructure and the future workforce.

“We welcome the Government’s existing investments in AI outlined in the Plan – but these are a drop in the ocean compared to other countries’ investments in sovereign AI capabilities,” STA CEO Ryan Winn said.

“The Plan provides the direction, now Australia must invest in sovereign AI capability to ensure systems are purpose-built, safe, and secure. This includes investment in the domestic AI workforce, sovereign data centres – powered through renewable energy – strong information security protocols and developing models that account for Australia's unique characteristics and don't introduce bias from offshore contexts.”

"The ‘compute mapping’ outlined in the Plan will be critical to enable Australian research’s high-performance computing (HPC) needs. This is essential for both AI development and adoption.  High performance computing underpins many different aspects of Australia’s world-leading research, from drug discoveries to modelling complex social issues and exploring the cosmos.”

Winn said another significant challenge is to nurture the specialist workforce needed to build and maintain the country's AI capability.

"A key component of a strong future AI workforce is mathematics. Infrastructure investment will be wasted if the future workforce is not available to drive innovation, and this is a major concern for Australia," he said.

"Participation in Year 12 higher mathematics fell to 8.4 per cent in 2023 and remained below 10 per cent for the fourth consecutive year. There is also a teacher shortage, which has clear impacts on student learning. Compounding this shortage, it’s estimated 75 per cent of Year 7-10 students have teachers at some point during their high school years who haven’t been trained in mathematics. 

“The nation’s scientists and technologists support the Government’s desire to seize the economic opportunities available through AI and look forward to working with it to ensure its ambition is matched with strong investment and fit-for-purpose, technology-agnostic regulation."