Leaders in artificial intelligence warn Australia is falling behind and national productivity gains rest on embracing the technology.

The sense of urgency for Australia to jump on the global AI bandwagon has not been felt for a “century or so”, with Microsoft’s John Galligan comparing the technology’s spread to electricity and the steam engine.

“This is something that’s going to change everything,” he told a Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry event in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The recent deployment of Microsoft’s Copilot generative AI in Brisbane Catholic schools has saved some teachers up to nine hours of work a week, Mr Galligan said.

Teachers were using the tool for class planning, responding to parents’ questions and general marking.

“It’s a day a week,” the tech giant’s general manager of corporate external and legal affairs told AAP.

Australian lawmakers should take a “high risk tolerance” approach to AI to promote innovation and learn from other technologies such as social media that have “gotten away from us”, Mr Galligan argued.

“Europe has gone more extreme, sort of a comprehensive AI Act,” he said.

“The US, even since the change of administration, has gone more free-for-all.”

Future Skills Organisation chief executive Patrick Kidd said governments couldn’t drive the change if they did not grasp the opportunity of AI.

“That, I think, probably worries me the most,” the former senior British army officer said.

“If I reflect on what’s happening elsewhere in the world, I think we’re behind and I think we’re falling further behind at a reasonably steady pace.

“Unless we start to take some urgent interventions … that trend is going to continue.”

The Albanese government declared plans to make AI a “national priority” following its productivity roundtable in August, after OpenAI announced it would establish an Australian office in 2025.

Unions have been pushing for a dedicated AI act, an idea backed by federal Labor’s former industry minister turned backbencher Ed Husic.

The Productivity Commission conservatively estimates AI could add more than $116 billion to Australia’s economy over the next decade, but warns “poorly designed” regulation could stifle its adoption, development and benefits.

Mr Galligan went as far as to say Australia couldn’t hope to achieve productive gains amid a 60-year growth low without the widespread uptake of AI.

“We have this technology staring us in the face,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t we capitalise on this moment … thoughtfully and with all the conditions we should put in place.”

Callum Godde
(Australian Associated Press)