AI maturity in organizations in Australia

Current AI adoption

The AI maturity journey for surveyed organizations in Australia suggests a level of polarization with slightly more than the average being at the beginning and end of their AI maturity, and fewer in the middle of the AI journey. This indicates that while some are making strides in advanced AI adoption, some are still in the early stages, focusing on foundational use cases and building confidence in AI capabilities (See Figure 1).

The varied approach to AI adoption in Australia is likely influenced by several factors. One primary reason could be stricter compliance and regulatory considerations, with many organizations waiting for proven processes and outcomes to avoid potential fines or consequences. This caution is reflected in how they leverage unstructured within their AI use cases. Australia has the lowest average (56%) of AI use cases that leverage unstructured data out of all surveyed markets.

AI regulations in Australia only began to take shape in 2024, much later than other countries like France who outlined an ethical deployment in 2018 and full deployment frameworks by 2020. Until now, AI in Australia was governed under general data protection and privacy guidelines, meaning organizations lacked specific AI governance. With the introduction of these new regulations, organizations are likely to act with even more caution as many will lack the expertise to navigate the complexities of compliance effectively.

Additionally, the prominence of industries like mining, agriculture or tourism in Australia’s economy may contribute to delayed adoption of advanced AI use cases. These sectors will often focus on automation, process optimization, and operational management due to their reliance on cost-efficiency, and the need to optimize resource-intensive operations in competitive and resource-dependent markets. Reflecting this focus, our research outlines that Australian organizations are more likely than the global average to cite streamlining operations as a primary AI use case (52% in Australia vs. 47% globally), indicating the strong emphasis on operational efficiencies over business insights or strategic guidance.

However, Australia also has a slightly higher proportion of organizations in advanced stages of AI maturity compared to the global average (42% in Australia vs. 40% globally), suggesting that some are making significant strides. This progression is likely bolstered by the influx of government and private investment in 2023 aimed at advancing AI adoption. For instance, the Australian government pledged $41.2 million in its 2023/2024 budget to support the deployment of responsible AI, particularly targeting SMEs.

Australia also saw a partnership with Microsoft to secure an additional $5 million to boost computing capacity by 250% over the next two years. There’s clearly a growing recognition among organizations in Australia for the need to harness AI strategically. These investments and partnerships indicate a strong commitment to advancing AI capabilities and reflect the importance of the Australian market for AI growth. By prioritizing responsible AI deployment and scaling infrastructure, Australia is positioning itself to accelerate its AI maturity, enabling more organizations to transition from exploratory stages to impactful, high-value AI applications.

To help organizations at different stages of AI maturity progress effectively, whether they’re at the beginning, or already more advanced, targeted changes are essential. In Australia, the most commonly cited need is for a clearer vision, strategy, and direction for AI initiatives, with 51% of organizations identifying this as a priority compared to 47% globally. This heightened demand may reflect the relatively recent rollout of AI government frameworks in 2024, which are likely still in the early stages of adoption. As a result, many organizations may be navigating inconsistent guidance and limited best practices, making it harder to establish a unified strategic direction for AI.

Another AI acceleration focus for Australian organizations is being able to allocate more resources for AI expertise and project development (52%). Both of these areas are key to increasing the value for AI initiatives. An improvement for many could be to implement a unified strategy, which would help with operationalizing, optimizing, and activating physical and digital data, a critical step for many in being AI ready (49% strongly agree).

As use cases continue to grow, so does the number of operational areas supported by AI, which will create a greater demand for a unified strategy. In Australia, AI is implemented across an average of five different functional areas where organizations are more likely than the average to use AI for marketing (57% in Australia vs. 53% globally) and human resources (43% % in Australia vs. 37% globally), amongst others (see Figure 2).

Due to the focus on marketing, sales and human resources for Australian organizations, it makes sense that they find generative AI tools (17%) the most important to their organization’s success today. In fact, just under three quarters (73%) say they use generative AI already integrated into existing software to gain insights or automate actions from unstructured data to a great extent across many, or most, operational areas. What’s more, they’re the only country to say generative AI is the top tool contributing to success. By prioritizing generative AI tools, leading Australian organizations are positioning themselves to create tailored experiences, streamline operations, and foster innovation, which can provide a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving global market.