More firms identified as 'pioneers of responsible AI'
A new national report card on Australian companies adoption of AI found an increase in companies rated as "leading" in Responsible AI (RAI) practices.
The new Responsible AI Index 2025, sponsored by the Australian Government's National Artificial Intelligence Centre, measured maturity levels of organisations adopting AI by looking at their implementation of 45 identified Responsible AI practices across five dimensions.
They include:
- Accountability and Oversight
- Safety and Reliability
- Fairness
- Transparency
- Explainability and Contestability
'Leading' firms in AI adoption
The index measures the score of AI-adopting firms against these RAI practices, revealing a mean score of 43, a point lower than last year.
Despite this, the report found that 12% of organisations are "leading" in responsible AI, a significant increase from the four per cent in 2024.
Leading firms are "pioneers of responsible AI" and scaling the technology at pace with "best-in-class practices."
Nearly half of leading firms are large organisations with more than a thousand employees, according to the report. They are implementing 32 to 33 RAI practices on average.
"Most experienced segment with 42% using AI for 4+ years, [utilising] six AI technologies across research, development, and customer experience," the report read.
Among the benefits reported by "leading" firms are:
- Improved customer experience (60%)
- Better employee engagement (56%)
- Productivity gains (47%)
AI adoption maturity
Meanwhile, the report found that 23% of firms are in the "implementing" stage of AI adoption, where they are actively implementing RAI practices with solid frameworks.
Nearly half of firms (48%) in the report are currently in the "developing" stage, where they are making headway with responsible AI and developing some practices related to it.
On the other hand, there are 17% of firms in the "emerging" stage of AI adoption. These are firms that are "early in the journey with limited responsible AI practices and minimal oversight," the report said.
AI tools are seen as one of the potential solutions to Australia's productivity problem, with a recent government report noting that gains from AI will be above 2.3% in the next decade.
Labour productivity growth is also estimated at 4.3%, according to the report, which estimated that GDP gains will be $116 million over the next decade.
"AI will likely raise productivity, but there is ongoing debate about the magnitude of this effect," the report from the Productivity Commission read.
