Can Australia hit pay-dirt as it mines opportunities that Artificial Intelligence offers?

I applaud the CSIRO’s report Artificial Intelligence, solving problems, growing the economy and improving our quality of life – it is a clear clarion call for all Australians to further consider the possibilities AI and the convergence of other powerful technologies offer. The myriad examples in the report of AI being used for good in Australia are, I suspect, just the first nuggets of a far larger mother-lode Australia can mine. To do this we will need to commit to innovate, develop, educate, build foundations for sustainable AI and support society through the tectonic shift we know is coming.

A balanced perspective of the opportunity AI presents

Key points from CSIRO’s report that resonated strongly included:

1. “The potential of this general technology to multiply our human ability” i.e. think augmentation and improved human effectiveness and not just about efficiency and reduced cost. This shift in perspective and mindset will, I believe, be critical to help accelerate adoption of trusted AI in our society.
2. “AI is a general-purpose technology with the potential to be applied across almost every industry within the Australian and Global economy”.  From years of working across multiple industries - I can’t think of one that couldn’t use AI in some form to improve their planning, core operations, productivity, rostering, customer service or risk management capabilities with the technologies of today, let alone the technologies of tomorrow.  
3. “AI will continue to collide with other technologies and elevate our human knowledge and human capability to new levels” and “The power of AI comes from a convergence of technologies”. Convergence is making it important to apply a real breadth and range of skillsets to solve complex organisational problems utilising AI as part of the solution– not solely relying on teams of data scientists and data analysts.  In a world of convergence one person almost certainly will not have all the answers.

Whilst hyped, it’s hard to dismiss the fact that AI is changing the way we as humans live, work, earn, stay healthy and relax. Estimates vary, but CSIRO’s report highlights that digital technologies including AI are estimated to have a potential positive $315bn impact on the Australian economy by 2028. Every organisation and enterprise should be considering what AI can do for its current, but probably more importantly, its future business model.  

I was privileged to be part of Techtonic: Shaping Australia’s AI future event, hosted by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science last week. As one of 100 or so leaders from across Australia’s government, industry and academic world we debated and discussed several policy concepts that will help Australia move forward at pace. Minister Karen Andrew’s team certainly have lots of ideas and inputs to consider. I was heartened by the discussions for three reasons:

1. The placement and prominence of the headline narrative about the positive impacts that technological progress and AI can have overall on Australian society. This goes some way to balancing the messages of ‘automation anxiety’ and ‘robots taking our jobs’ that have been prevalent over recent years. A lot of time was spent debating how we support citizens, and our workforce and industries through periods of significant transition. EY believes Australia can’t afford to be complacent in this area. See EY’s recent report for more.
2. The need for multi-disciplinary teams to develop solutions for challenging problems. This was evident in the multi-disciplinary working groups at Techtonic on the day with industry representatives, technologists, start-ups, government and academics working together. Maximising the production and impact of Australia’s AI goldmine will require a combination of business domain, functional, technology, data and analytics capabilities, human-centred design, workforce and change management skills applied in equal measure.
3. The recognition of the criticality of appropriate data and standards foundations coupled with ‘just enough’ regulation, to enable the fostering of trusted AI capabilities and a strong focus on education to accelerate and maximise the value Australia can gain through appropriate uses of AI. As an example, the CSIRO report outlines forecasts that suggest we may need over 20,000 more ICT/AI trained personnel in our workforce every year to 2023, when we only produce 5,000 domestic ICT graduates each year currently. The education sector at all levels have a key role to play to help educate the workforce in numerous ways including micro-learning/credentialing and make life-long learning options accessible to all Australians.  

Whilst the opportunity is clear – are we doing enough?

Against a heartening backdrop from the CSIRO’s report and last week’s Techtonic event which will help elevate AI in the consciousness of our nation I also found it sobering that a generous summation of Australia’s investments in AI as outlined in the report appears to be well short of $1bn. Whilst a significant amount, this pales as a proportion of the $86bn that has been committed by 14 of the world’s leading global economies collectively. When coupled with a recent acknowledgement by the OECD that Australia spent only 1.9% of GDP on Research and Development versus 2.4% on average across the OECD the data begs the question: could we do more both as a nation and industry to invest in the capabilities of tomorrow? 

I’m hopeful and excited about the journey ahead but believe we cannot be complacent. We are world leaders at innovation in the mining and natural resources sector. We can choose to target investments to mine the opportunities that AI and ongoing innovation offer across all sectors, innovating and maximising the opportunity for the good of all Australians.

At EY we are committed to investing in AI as part of the solution to solve important challenges. We  will be working with our clients and across society to achieve this as we continue to strive to build a better working world.  

Please let me know if you would like to discuss further.