The Business Council of Australia sees AI as the solution to productivity growth

The Business Council of Australia doesn’t see artificial intelligence (AI) as a chance to improve CEO bonuses by firing a company’s workers, but rather a chance to finally lift national productivity after decades of stagnation.

The industry lobby group has released a report, Accelerating Australia’s AI Agenda, arguing AI has the potential to reverse Australia’s national productivity decline by helping people work smarter, tackling issues such as intelligent logistics and streamlined services to freeing up healthcare workers from repetitive tasks.

“AI is our next big lever for economic growth and a significant opportunity to boost Australian living standards,” said BCA CEO Bran Black.

“If we get this right, AI can deliver a significant productivity boost and that means higher real wages and more opportunities for more Australians.”

The BCA report warns that without immediate action, Australia risks falling behind competitor nations that are racing ahead in AI capability and adoption. The cost of inaction is high: it means reduced economic dynamism and slower service delivery for consumers.

“The choices we make now will determine whether we gain a competitive edge or fall behind,” Black said.

“We need to be training more AI specialists, data scientists and engineers, while also educating the entire workforce on how we can improve the day-to-day work experience.

“Even if we apply AI to just the ‘boring but essential’ parts of our economy—like payroll processing or document analysis—the dividends to consumers and businesses could be significant.”

It focuses on recommendations spanning regulation, infrastructure, research and education, expanding the National AI Centre for business and data sharing in a collaboration between government, industry and education to put Australia at the forefront of AI by the time the Albanese government heads to the polls once more in 2028.

The three-year roadmap’s recommendations are:

• Implement clear, practical and risk-based AI regulations that encourage innovation.
• Simplify data centre approvals to speed up infrastructure build.
• Establish a national AI Research Consortium where businesses and universities co-operate to pursue foundational, pre-competitive AI research.
• Include standardised AI courses in every level of education from primary, to secondary and tertiary.
• Expand support for the National AI Centre to assist small and medium businesses identify and deploy AI tools that improve operational efficiency.
• Establish the Australian AI Safety Institute to focus on technical AI safety, international cooperation and standardised best practice.
• Invest in AI research and development to position Australia as a trusted hub for AI, while also improving Australia’s research data and computing resources so AI can speed up scientific discovery in all fields.
• Create better and more secure data sharing frameworks to allow more AI innovation across the private and public sectors.

The BCA boss said AI-enabled productivity means freeing people to do more of the high-value work machines can’t, like creativity, collaboration and care, rather than just replacing workers.

“At the same time, we must acknowledge that change is disruptive and can often be challenging for many people, and that’s why recommendations such as an Australian AI Safety Institute are so important,” Black said.

“This is Australia’s moment to embrace the opportunity for growth, and that’s how we’ll build a future where AI strengthens our economy, empowers our people, and improves lives.”

The report is available here.