Australia’s National AI Plan: What it means for marketers

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a future capability for Australian businesses. Itis fast becoming a core driver of productivity, competitiveness and customer experience. With the release of the National AI Plan,¹ the Australian Government has set a clear direction for how AI will be developed, adopted and governed across the economy.

For marketers, this plan signals both opportunity and responsibility. It shapes how AI tools will be built, how data can be used, and how trust, transparency and safety will be enforced.

What is the National AI Plan?

The National AI Plan outlines how Australia will build an AI-enabled economy that is more competitive, productive and resilient. It focuses on accelerating adoption, strengthening local capability, attracting global investment and ensuring Australians are protected as AI use scales.

Aligned with the OECD definition of AI systems, the plan defines AI broadly as machine-based systems that generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that influence digital or physical environments. This includes the tools many marketers already use, from generative content platforms and personalisation engines to predictive analytics and recommendation systems.

The strategy is anchored around three overarching goals:

• Capturing the opportunity by making Australia a destination for AI investment
• Spreading the benefits through skills, adoption and improved public services
• Keeping Australians safe through the new AI Safety Institute

A key commitment is a $30 million investment in the AI Safety Institute, which will become operational in early 2026.²

Why marketers should pay attention

AI is already reshaping marketing workflows, customer insights, creative production, and media optimisation. The National AI Plan makes it clear that government expectations around transparency, data quality, safety, and governance will increase, not decrease.

At the same time, the plan actively supports adoption, especially for small and medium businesses, creating new opportunities for marketers to experiment, scale, and compete globally.

Key actions and their impact on marketing

Building smarter digital infrastructure

As AI adoption grows, so does demand for data centres and computing power. The government is developing national data centre principles focused on sustainability, renewable energy, and efficient cooling.

For marketers, this matters because it underpins the performance, cost and reliability of AI-powered platforms, particularly those handling large datasets, real-time personalisation and generative workloads. It also reinforces growing expectations that digital growth aligns with environmental responsibility.

Backing Australian AI capability

The government is investing heavily in sovereign AI, including the Gov AI platform, a secure, Australian-hosted environment for building AI solutions.

Alongside this, the government is helping Australian AI companies expand internationally and exploring ways to unlock high-value public and private datasets for AI use.

For marketers, this opens the door to more locally relevant AI tools, models trained on Australian data, and partnerships with domestic AI providers that understand local audiences, regulations and market dynamics.

Attracting global investment

Australia is positioning itself as a serious AI investment destination. In 2024 alone, more than $700 million in private investment flowed into AI firms, alongside major commitments from Microsoft, Amazon, and other global players.

This influx of capital will accelerate innovation across marketing tech, AdTech, and customer experience platforms, increasing competition and capability. Marketers should expect faster product evolution and more advanced AI features to become mainstream.

Scaling AI adoption across businesses

Over one third of Australian SMEs already use AI, and Australia ranks among the top global users of leading AI tools. However, adoption is uneven, particularly in regionalareas.

The National AI Centre is addressing this through the $17 million AI Adopt Program, which provides tailored support, consultations, training and tools for SMEs.

For marketing teams, especially in small and mid-sized organisations, this lowers barriers to entry. It makes it easier to adopt AI responsibly across content creation, analytics, customer segmentation, and campaign optimisation.

Supporting skills and workforce readiness

The plan places strong emphasis on digital literacy and lifelong learning. Industry, employers and unions are expected to play a role in preparing workers for AI-driven change.

For marketers, this reinforces the need to invest in upskilling teams. AI fluency will increasingly be a core marketing capability, not a specialist skill.

Improving public services and data access

AI is being embedded across government services, education and environmental data programs. Significant investment is going into trusted datasets, including satellite and earth observation data.

While not directly marketing-focused, this signals a broader shift toward data-driven decision-making and trusted AI use across society, shaping consumer expectations around accuracy, reliability and transparency.

Mitigating harms and promoting responsible AI

Rather than introducing sweeping new AI laws immediately, the government is strengthening guidance and governance within existing legal frameworks.

The Guidance for AI Adoption outlines six essential practices for safe, transparent and ethical AI use. These principles will increasingly shape expectations for businesses using AI in customer-facing contexts.

For marketers, this means greater scrutiny of how AI generates content, targets audiences, uses data and makes decisions. Transparency, documentation and quality data stewardship will become critical brand trust factors. Marketers should ensure they are abiding by existing legislation that applies to use of AI.

The role of the AI Safety Institute

The Australian AI Safety Institute will play a central role in monitoring, testing and sharing insights on emerging AI risks and harms. It will work closely with regulators, the National AI Centre and international partners.

Its role includes:

• Providing guidance on AI opportunity, risk and safety for businesses and government
• Monitoring rapid advances in AI and identifying emerging risks
• Supporting coordinated government action and international AI safety commitments

For marketers, the institute’s work will influence future standards around responsible AI use in advertising, content generation, customer data and automated decision-making.

What marketers should do now

The National AI Plan makes one thing clear; AI adoption will continue to accelerate, and expectations around responsible use will rise alongside it.

Marketing leaders should:

• Audit current and planned AI use across content, media, data and customer experience
• Align AI practices with transparency, accountability and data quality principles
• Invest in team capability and AI literacy
• Monitor guidance from the National AI Centre and AI Safety Institute

Those who act early will be better positioned to innovate with confidence, build trust with audiences, and compete in an increasingly AI-driven market.

Australia’s AI future is being shaped now. For marketers, the opportunity is significant, but so is the responsibility to use AI in ways that are ethical, transparent, and genuinely valuable for customers.

Exclusively available to ADMA Members, the ADMA AI Toolkit is a marketer-ready guide on how to use AI effectively and responsibly – developed by industry for industry