The report describes Australian businesses’ optimism about growth in 2023, with technology at the heart of their growth strategies. The report points to areas for development in the AI industry and highlights ethical concerns, while overall painting a positive outlook for businesses and AI in the immediate future.

The report found that:

• businesses that better understand AI are moving away from only using it for cost-saving purposes to an organisation-wide, cross-function use for business growth
• organisations often require the support of multiple AI service providers to draw on a wide range of expertise ranging from AI software development, AI specialists, data privacy, and data science resources
• despite AI technologies yielding valuable results organisation-wide, AI projects are often drawing from existing R&D or already-constrained innovation budgets.

The report also found that Australian businesses have the foundations to start taking advantage of AI, but AI support and partnering ecosystems need time to mature. Australian businesses struggle to find AI providers that offer end-to-end product support, but 60% of respondents providing third-party AI services are nonetheless accelerating and expanding their AI-related solution offerings to meet market demand.

While AI is one of the most powerful tools companies can leverage to drive business value, the report urges organisations to adopt AI ‘with utmost care’ because of the far-reaching ethical implications for customers, society, and the world at large.

Read the full report on the CSIRO website.