South Australia appoints three commissioners to lead AI Royal Commission

South Australia has appointed three commissioners to lead its Royal Commission into Artificial Intelligence, naming economist and former Federal Court judge Dr Iain Ross AO as chair alongside two commissioners with deep expertise in technology policy and machine learning.

Dr Ross was officially appointed on 1 October, alongside Commissioner Kate Pounder, former inaugural chief executive of the Tech Council of Australia, and Commissioner Professor Christopher Manning, lead AI researcher at Stanford University.

The state government simultaneously released the commission's Terms of Reference.

The commission is billed as a nation-leading initiative, established to ensure South Australians maximise benefits from AI while minimising unwanted impacts. It will conduct a broad, evidence-based inquiry into the economic and societal opportunities and implications of artificial intelligence for the state.

Its scope covers AI's implications across education, employment, economic opportunity, regulation, community life and the delivery of public services, drawing on evidence from South Australia, nationally and internationally.

Dr Ross brings experience in workplace relations and labour markets, having served as president of the Australian Fair Work Commission, a Federal Court judge and a Victorian Supreme Court judge. He is currently chair of the Federal Net Zero Economy Authority and a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board.

Pounder, who was raised in South Australia and graduated from the University of Adelaide, co-founded economics advisory firm AlphaBeta and has worked with OpenAI. She currently sits on the boards of RNA Australia, Essential Energy, the Tech Policy Design Institute and Sydney's Powerhouse Museum.

Manning, originally from Queensland, has worked between Australia and the United States for more than 30 years. He holds the Thomas M. Siebel Professor in Machine Learning chair at Stanford and co-founded Stanford's Institute for Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence. He is among the world's most cited researchers in natural language processing.

The commission will hear evidence through public submissions, community forums, surveys, industry roundtables and targeted stakeholder consultations, engaging businesses, industry bodies, unions, technology developers, academics and community members.

Its final report is expected to be handed to the South Australian government in mid-2027.