Arabic version: وزارة الخزانة تحذّر أستراليا من محدودية تبنّي الشركات للذكاء الاصطناعي

According to ABC News, Treasury has warned that Australia could miss the economic benefits of artificial intelligence unless businesses move beyond basic use and make larger changes to their operations. New advice to Treasurer Jim Chalmers said AI uptake was widespread but shallow, with fewer than 10 per cent of businesses reporting significant adoption.

Treasury said around two-thirds of Australian businesses reported some AI adoption, but that productivity gains required investment in organisational changes, including processes, business models, management practices and workforce skills. Finance, insurance, information, telecommunications and professional services had the highest adoption rates, while health, education, construction and tourism were considered harder to transform with AI.

The department said feared mass job losses had not materialised in Australia, with most studies finding limited labour-market impacts so far. Officials are watching young and entry-level workers overseas for early signs of displacement. Treasury described AI as the first credible accelerant of global economic growth in almost two decades, while Mr Chalmers called it the biggest economic transformation in a lifetime.

Treasury said AI gave it confidence that its long-run economic growth assumption of 1.2 per cent remained achievable. It considered productivity growth of 1.5 to 2 per cent a plausible upside, while 0.5 to 0.8 per cent was a realistic downside. It also said AI was not a substitute for structural reform.

Data-centre investment is already boosting growth, Treasury said. Global private AI investment totalled almost half a trillion Australian dollars in 2025, up about 128 per cent over the year. Australia’s data-centre construction boom is expected to be worth about $150 billion by 2030, with about 162 operational centres as of March and a further 130 proposed.