Australia Releases National AI Plan 2025
Australia has released its National AI Plan 2025, outlining a three-part strategy to expand AI infrastructure, drive responsible adoption across the economy, and strengthen regulatory and ethical safeguards. The plan sets nine priority actions, consolidates ongoing initiatives such as the National AI Centre and AI Safety Institute, and highlights future work on skills, consumer protection, and international cooperation through frameworks like the Bletchley, Seoul, and Paris declarations.
Australia has set out a new strategic direction for AI with the release of the National AI Plan 2025 by the Department of Industry and Science. The plan provides a structured framework for how the country intends to develop, deploy, and govern AI systems across its economy and public sector, emphasising both innovation and safeguards.
The strategy is organised around three core goals. The first centres on capturing the economic benefits of AI by strengthening digital and physical infrastructure and investing in capabilities that enable industry-wide innovation. The second seeks to support broad adoption across businesses, workers, and communities by building skills, fostering local capability, and creating pathways for responsible uptake. The third focuses on public safety and trust, outlining a regulatory and ethical architecture that aligns domestic measures with emerging international norms.
To operationalise these goals, the plan introduces nine actions covering infrastructure expansion, investment attraction, workforce development, public-sector modernisation, mitigation of AI-related harms, responsible practice guidelines, and participation in global standards development. It also consolidates a wide range of existing initiatives, including the National Broadband Network expansion, the GovAI program for government use of AI, the National AI Centre, the AI Adopt Program, and the newly established AI Safety Institute.
Looking ahead, the plan identifies further work on data-centre principles, investment in AI-focused Cooperative Research Centres, strengthened consumer-protection and privacy safeguards, and enhanced international cooperation. Australia will continue engaging in bilateral and multilateral processes such as the Bletchley Declaration, the Seoul Declaration, and the Paris Statement to align its governance approach with global developments.
