The government is wary of over-regulating new technologies such as artificial intelligence and will resist making ethics standards and codes mandatory for Australian businesses, Digital Economy minister Jane Hume says. In an address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), Senator Hume said the federal government would play an enabling role in accelerating the growth of artificial intelligence, along with setting standards in terms of ethics. "AI, along with other digital technologies, will play an increasingly important role in our economy and society over the next decade and beyond," Senator Hume said. "As we continue to vault forward in this space, government has a pivotal role to play as an enabler, and as a standard setter – particularly in regards to ethics. "The government has a significant responsibility … to ensure that AI, as an industry as well as a technology, has every chance to flourish, making sure we have the right settings, skills and expertise in place to ensure Australia is a global forerunner." The May budget allocated $124 million to artificial intelligence initiatives, including $50 million for a National AI Intelligence Centre within CSIRO and $34 million in grants for AI projects addressing national challenges. The Coalition has also unveiled AI ethics principles, with eight guiding principles "designed to help achieve safer and more reliable outcomes for all Australians". These principles and other standards around AI are currently entirely voluntary for Australian businesses, and Senator Hume said the government will avoid making them mandatory. "I obviously would rather have a voluntary code where industry has the input to what's in the code.

The Australian Government has released the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan in a bid to accelerate the development and adoption of AI technologies. "AI could contribute more than $20 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and the AI Action Plan will help us leverage opportunities for AI to further strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life of all Australians, while ensuring that the development and adoption of AI is guided by appropriate safeguards, privacy and ethical considerations," said Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Christian Porter. The Action Plan is backed by $124.1 million in funding announced in the May Budget and sets out four key focus areas for government that will help to position Australia as a global leader in AI. Focus one: Developing and adopting AI to transform Australian businesses -- support to help businesses develop and adopt AI technologies to create jobs and increase their productivity and competitiveness. Focus two: Creating an environment to grow and attract the world's best AI talent -- support to ensure our businesses have access to talent and expertise.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is steadily becoming a familiar tool for many Australians. We have come to know it through our pocket voice assistants, like Siri and Alexa, and as the brains behind Google's predictive searches. Australian businesses, particularly in the mining sector, view it as a means to gain a competitive advantage, and we have even seen its potential to fight COVID-19. As AI begins to permeate every aspect of our lives, the Australian government has recognised the economic and social opportunities it affords us in its newly proposed AI Action Plan. The discussion paper, released on 29 October 2020, is the latest in a suite of Australian initiatives targeting AI regulation and development, following on from the AI Ethics Framework.

With both government and companies eagerly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) strategies, we explore how AI could also streamline and scale your business. We examine the potential opportunities and risks that come with using AI, and what the future of AI and business looks like. The CSIRO defines AI as "a collection of interrelated technologies used to solve problems autonomously and perform tasks to achieve defined objectives, in some cases without explicit guidance from a human being." Subfields of AI include machine learning, computer vision, human language technologies, robotics, knowledge representation and other scientific fields. For instance, AI is already being used in autonomous emergency breaking (helping reduce 1,137 vehicle-related deaths per year) and in maintaining Sydney Harbour Bridge (using machine-learning and predictive analytics to identify priority locations for maintenance).

Understanding the powerful Chinese government should be the top priority for Australian brands looking to move into the lucrative Chinese market, according to Blackmores executive director, Marcus Blackmore. The vitamin king told Which-50 prospective brands could "do well to copy some of the things we've done".

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a popular topic of debate across industries worldwide. For many, the possibility of leveraging AI is a positive way to make businesses more productive and efficient, while offering more sophisticated customer offerings. However, others view the rise of AI and automation with more caution, particularly in regards to jobs losses. The fact is that AI will fundamentally shift the way organisations operate, from top to bottom, as well as alter the very definition of both jobs and tasks -- for the better. Australian industries are entering an era where those who do not embrace automation will be left behind.

The numerous reports on the growth, potential and effects of artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, and machine learning have caused many businesses to question what it will all mean for them. Automation, in one form or another, is already a part of our daily lives. A recent ADP report said Asia Pacific business leaders are increasingly recognising how AI technology can translate into higher productivity for organisations. While there has been a lot of discussions and analysis into how AI will disrupt and transform Australian business, cognitive computing, which is the hidden backbone of AI, hardly gets a mention. Cognitive computing is essentially the simulation of human thoughts through processes in a computerised model.

A survey of business leaders has found Australian companies are the worst prepared for the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies among selected major economies, despite spending the second-largest amount of money on automation. Independent research agency Vanson Bourne was commissioned by IT company Infosys (which as a seller of an AI platform has a vested interest in promoting such technology) to poll 1,600 business leaders of companies with more than 1,000 staff and at least US$500m in annual revenue across Australia, China, the United States, Germany, France, India and the UK. According to the survey, released at the World Economic Forum last week, major Australian businesses invested an average of $7.9m last year in AI, behind only the US, but placed last in both the skills required for AI takeup and in plans to integrate AI. The Infosys Australia regional head, Andrew Groth, told the Guardian the survey demonstrates that Australia risks becoming uncompetitive. "The challenge is the skills situation," he said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has burst onto the business scene, lauded as a technology advancement that will enable greater efficiencies, personalisation, accuracy and precision. AI has and continues to change the way consumers interact with online services. Numerous Australian companies have responded to this by integrating AI technologies such as chatbots into their business offerings to better service customers online. Voice recognition technology has also taken off, now offered in most smartphone devices. This technology is changing the way consumers browse, search and navigate the web.

The next industrial revolution Australian businesses will face won't be based on mechanisation, engineering or globalisation. Instead, it will be the rise of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) systems that will power the next great business push. AI is fast becoming a necessity in the business world and organisations are increasingly adopting AI to solve long-standing issues within their industry. Just last month, KPMG revealed they would be using AI to complete audits in Australia, which they anticipate will enable them to analyse bigger batches of data rather than relying on traditional sampling techniques. Taking tasks which usually require human intelligence and delegating them to machines has significant impact on business activities, including productivity, efficiency and even the way job roles are defined. But what really is AI?