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To build an AI-ready nation, we need to back the builders

Australia’s AI workforce won’t come from classrooms or policy plans. It will be built by communities learning, experimenting and solving real problems.

Chris Kirk Chris is the CEO of Stone & Chalk, an innovation community with hubs in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
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Australia’s AI capability depends on those learning by doing, argues Chris Kirk. Shutterstock.

Australia’s AI workforce of 2030 won’t be built by a skills accelerator with a glossy website. It will be built by thousands of Australians who spot an opportunity, find a community, start building and learn by doing.

This is how technological skills have always transferred in practice. Unless we recognise this, we risk preparing for an AI economy that is moving faster than we can.

Late last year, Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres announced Australia's National AI Plan, a roadmap intended to position the country as a competitive player in the global AI race. It promised infrastructure investment, incentives for foreign investors and $30 million for an AI Safety Institute.

The plan devotes considerable attention to building what it calls an "inclusive AI-ready workforce”, proposing a Future Skills Organisation Skills Accelerator and a Next Generation Graduates Program.

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