Making the most of the AI opportunity: productivity, regulation and data access

Commission research

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be vital to Australia’s productivity policy agenda. At this stage of development, AI technologies have shown significant potential to automate complex tasks and improve the efficiency of knowledge-based work across a range of occupations and sectors.

At the same time, AI-led disruption will entail costs, benefits, and trade-offs, and carries broader risks of harm if not developed and implemented as intended. By changing the role of technology in the economy and society, AI is already challenging existing norms and posing deeper questions in a range of areas of policy and regulation.

Building on the Commission’s recent 5-year Productivity Inquiry report Advancing Prosperity and 2016 report Digital Disruption: What do governments need to do?, the Commission is exploring the diffusion of AI and its implications for productivity and policy.

This research paper will consider how the spread of AI could have transformative potential for productivity, potential harms, and creative disruption, posing challenges for policy and regulation.