Skip to content
Ideas

Building Australia’s AI future means going deep, not broad

Australia’s opportunity lies in targeted, sector-specific innovation — not broad, general-purpose approaches that overlook local strengths.

Clive Mayhew Clive is the CEO of Golf.AI.
Make us a preferred source
Australia should prioritise industry-focused AI solutions to unlock real economic value and global competitiveness, argues Clive Mayhew. Blondet Eliot/ABACA.

This week, OpenAI released its “AI in Australia” report, envisaging a brave new world where artificial intelligence (AI) adds billions to the global economy.

Claims that AI will boost productivity, create new businesses and industries, and completely redefine how we work are obviously exciting.

Yet the report failed to define the targeted steps needed for Australia specifically to access the $115 billion AI opportunity, focusing almost entirely on general-purpose AI for our government and large corporate sector.

In doing so, it paid no attention to building an Australian innovation AI sector that can actually compete globally, based on our own competitive advantages.

Ideas is where we publish opinion and analysis from external contributors on the most important topics in the new economy.