The National AI Capability Plan will harness artificial intelligence to grow our economy, support local industry and create a more prosperous future for all Australians.
Globally the AI industry is growing rapidly. AI and automation are expected to generate up to $600 billion a year towards Australia’s GDP by 2030.
There are already around 650 AI companies headquartered in Australia. In the 5 years to 2023 foreign investors contributed $7 billion to Australian AI technologies. In 2023 alone, $2 billion in venture capital was invested in Australian AI applications.
Capitalising on opportunities
The plan has 4 objectives.
Grow investment:
- Review how existing state and federal government support mechanisms work together to hinder or enable, Australia’s AI ecosystem.
- Look for ways to boost private sector innovation and investment in AI capability.
Strengthen AI capabilities:
- Identify strengths and emerging areas of opportunity for Australian businesses.
- Explore new areas of comparative advantage.
Boost AI skills:
- Work to accelerate AI literacy, identifying new skills, training and re-training.
- Ensure workers can reskill throughout their career to take advantage of new employment opportunities.
Secure economic resilience:
- Identify areas where we need sovereign capability or infrastructure to get the most out of AI technologies.
- Learn from the experiences and rights of communities and workers – making AI work for us and not the other way around.
Building on existing initiatives
The plan is part of our commitment to build AI capability and embed safe and responsible AI practices. For example:
- The Australian Government has committed $1 billion for critical technologies under the National Reconstruction Fund. This includes artificial intelligence.
- The Research and Development Tax Incentive supported nearly $500 million worth of AI, computer vision and machine learning projects in 2022-23.
- The National AI Centre is supporting and accelerating Australia's AI industry through initiatives like the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence micro skill course.
- A network of government-supported AI Adopt Centres are upskilling small to medium enterprises around Australia.
We expect to deliver the plan at the end of 2025, following targeted and public consultation.