Deloitte says ‘she’ll be right’ approach to AI risks Australia behind left behind

Deloitte says Australia’s economic future is at risk and the nation could fall further behind its global peers as business and government take a relaxed attitude towards generative AI.

Deloitte found only Japan had a lower use of Gen AI users than Australia in the region.

Professional services firm Deloitte says Australia’s economic future is at risk and the nation could fall further behind its global peers as business and government take a relaxed attitude towards generative AI.

Data from the accounting firm shows that while there has been a 20 per cent increase in the amount of employees in Australia who use generative AI at work to 38 per cent, penetration was the second-lowest in the Asia-Pacific at 54 per cent, compared to 67 per cent across the region.

Only Japan had a lower use of Gen AI users in the region at 39 per cent. India had the highest percentage of users at 87 per cent, and Taiwan 72 per cent, according to Deloitte’s Generative AI in Asia-Pacific report.

Deloitte Access Economics lead technology partner John O’Mahony said although proportionally younger labour forces in developing countries was one factor behind their higher Gen AI adoption rates, there were also signs Australia was taking a “she’ll be right” approach to adoption.

“We can’t afford to sit on our hands,” he said.

“Australia and its institutions are perhaps too comfortable and relaxed about the transformative implications of Gen AI on the global economy.”

Deloitte Access Economics director John O'Mahony.

Mr O’Mahony said businesses in Australia had not got its act together, with only a third having proper use cases and guidelines, while one in six only provided training around AI to employees.

“This is just not good enough. You could make the excuse in 2023 and say, oh, it’s a new thing. It’s just come up, everyone’s using it. But what’s happened in nine months? Nothing,” he said.

“The next step for businesses is the use cases. How can you transform your businesses? The tools are there. It’s about identifying part of your business and saying, this can be done better, this can be done more efficiently. And then obviously, putting together the technology tool so that you can change a business process around that.”

While developing countries had embraced AI and the advantages that it might offer including increased productivity, Mr O’Mahony said Australia and like-minded countries in the region such as Japan and South Korea were more conservative and risk-averse.

He added that the recent budget’s AI measure was called “Safe and responsible use of AI”, and had little mention of increasing use or innovation.

“While it is important to have safe and responsible use of AI guidelines, it is equally important to have complementary measures to make sure that business use is effective, that people are trained, and that take-up growth,” he said.

“Otherwise there is a major risk that Australia may not be a leader in the adoption and use of generative AI, misses out on the benefits, in a time when the government is acutely aware of the benefits of technology leadership.”

Law firms and professional services outfits have been among the biggest adopters of the technology.

The big four accounting firms of Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC have invested billions of dollars, which has resulted in the rollout of custom-built virtual assistants similar to ChatGPT.

Deloitte research showed that 70 per cent of Australian employees who used AI found it had improved their ability to generate new ideas, while 56 per cent said it increased the accuracy of their outputs.

Mr O’Mahony said that while younger generations had embraced technology tools such as AI in the workplace already, most business leaders were in older demographic groups that had less familiarity with those tools.

“Because they themselves are just not as familiar with it, it’s something that’s not always as high on the priority list as what it needs to be,” he said.

“There might also be contemporary economic challenges that are affecting the priority list for businesses given we are in an environment where Australia is facing weaker economic conditions.”

Originally published as Deloitte says ‘she’ll be right’ approach to AI risks Australia behind left behind