Country tracker · Asia-Pacific · 40 countries, one method
AI in Australia
How far Australia has come on AI, and how complete its AI rulebook is: two scores, six lenses, every law linked to its official text.
40.7% of people aged 15–64 used a generative AI product in Q2 2026, up from 34.5% in H1 2025; #11 of the 147 economies Microsoft tracks. Its strongest lens is Investment (#11 of 40) and its weakest Infrastructure (#20). On AI law, there is no AI law or bill; existing regulators apply privacy, consumer and sector rules to ai.
#13 of 40 on Progress44/100 Rulebook7 verified laws and rulesChecked 21 Oct 2026
In the Record’s memory17 dated events since January 2023, by month and kind. Darker means busier; choose a square to see those events.
See all 17 in the ledger →Australia through six lenses
How the scores work →The same six lenses, in the same order, on every country page. Each shows its lead number, the rank among the countries the source covers, and every indicator behind the lens score. 14 of 17 indicators measure Australia.
01Adoption#20 of 40
How widely are people and firms using AI?
40.7%
share of people aged 15–64 who used generative AI, Q2 2026
H1 2025Q2 2026Lens score45
- AI user shareQ2 2026 · Microsoft AI Diffusion40.7%#11 of 147
- Use AI at work2025 · University of Melbourne and KPMG International49%#28 of 47
- AI job postings2025 · Lightcast1.8%#12 of 22
- AI literacy index2025 · LinkedIn70#11 of 46
02Talent#19 of 39
Does it have, and keep, the people?
14,535
top AI authors and inventors, 2025
Lens score31
- AI talent share2025 · LinkedIn—below the top 15
- AI skill penetration2015–2025 · LinkedIn—below the top 15
- Top AI authors2025 · Zeki Data14,535#7 of 21
- AI authors per 100k2025 · Zeki Data53#10 of 15
- AI talent net flow2025 · LinkedIn+1.77#7 of 50
03Research#12 of 40
Does it build AI and its science?
6
notable AI models, 2003–2025
Lens score32
- Notable models2003–2025 · Epoch AI6#12 of 33
- AI patents per 100k2024 · AI Index0.45#12 of 15
04Investment#11 of 40
Is private money flowing in?
$2.5B
private AI investment, 2025
Lens score49
- Private AI investment2025 · Quid$2.5B#9 of 15
- Investment since 20132013–2025 · Quid$6.5B#13 of 15
- New AI companies2025 · Quid216#12 of 15
05Infrastructure#20 of 40
Does it have the machines?
637
H100-equivalents of known AI supercomputer capacity in operation, Oct 2026
Lens score30
- AI computeOct 2026 · Epoch AI GPU Clusters637#28 of 33
- Data centres2025 · Cloudscene314#7 of 97
- Robots installed2024 · International Federation of Robotics (IFR)—below the top 10
06Laws#19 of 40 verified
How complete and binding is its AI rulebook?
44/100
Rulebook score · Existing regulators, no AI statute
Rulebook44
- Binding laws and rules in forceverified3
- Items in the law registerverified7
- AI laws passed, 2016–2025G20 only · AI Index2
- Governance initiatives endorsed2019–2025 · AI Index7of 8
AI law in Australia
How to check a law →Australia dropped mandatory AI guardrails in its December 2025 National AI Plan, relying on existing laws, voluntary guidance and an AI Safety Institute operating since 2026.
Existing regulators, no AI statuteNo AI law or bill; existing regulators apply privacy, consumer and sector rules to AI.
- Partly in forceLaw · bindingAdopted 10 Dec 2024 · Takes effect 10 Dec 2026
Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (automated decision-making transparency, APPs 1.7-1.9)
From 10 December 2026, privacy policies must disclose the personal information used and kinds of decisions made by programs that make or substantially contribute to decisions significantly affecting individuals; OAIC guidance issued 30 September 2026.
- In forceLaw · bindingAdopted 10 Dec 2024 · In force from 10 Dec 2025
Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (No. 127, 2024)
Age-restricted social media platforms must take reasonable steps to stop under-16s holding accounts; age-assurance data cannot be reused without consent; enforced by eSafety.
Penalty up to A$49.5m (government announced in June 2026 a plan to double to A$99m) - In forceStrategy · not bindingAdopted 2 Dec 2025
National AI Plan
Three priorities (capture opportunity, spread benefits, keep Australians safe); no standalone AI Act; regulation through existing laws; A$29.9m AI Safety Institute.
- VoluntaryGuidance · not bindingAdopted 21 Oct 2025
Guidance for AI Adoption (National AI Centre)
Six governance practices for AI developers and deployers in Foundations and Implementation Practices versions, aligned with ISO/IEC 42001 and NIST AI RMF.
- Revoked or lapsedRegulation · not bindingAdopted 5 Sep 2024
Introducing mandatory guardrails for AI in high-risk settings: proposals paper
Proposed 10 mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI and three legislative options including an AI Act; government said in December 2025 it will not proceed at this time.
- Revoked or lapsedStandard · not bindingAdopted 5 Sep 2024
Voluntary AI Safety Standard
Ten voluntary guardrails for AI deployers; superseded on 21 October 2025 by the Guidance for AI Adoption.
- In forceLaw · bindingAdopted 2 Sep 2024 · In force from 3 Sep 2024
Criminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 (No. 78, 2024)
Offence of transmitting sexual material depicting a real adult without consent, whether real or created/altered with technology; aggravated offences for creators.
Penalty up to 6 years' imprisonment (7 years aggravated)
The Rulebook score, line by line
What each line means →44 of 100. Each line names the law or body that earns its points.
- Binding AI rulesNo AI-specific law, bill or official draft0/35
- A national AI strategy, adopted or updated since 2022National AI Plan8/8
- A body named to oversee or enforce AI rulesNone found0/6
- An AI safety or evaluation instituteSee Institutions6/6
- A right to challenge automated decisions, in forcePrivacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (automated decision-making…6/12
- Rules on AI-generated content: labels or deepfake offences, in forceCriminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 (No. 78, 2024)13/13
- International AI governance initiatives endorsed (of 8)7 of 8. Source: AI governance initiatives by country10.5/12
- Council of Europe AI Convention: signed 5, ratified 8Not signed0/8
The record
What gets an entry →Every dated step: laws adopted and coming into force, and each reading of AI use. Newest first; future dates are marked.
- 10 Dec 2026Coming upPrivacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (automated decision-making… takes effect
- 30 Jun 2026AdoptionAI user share reached 40.7%, from 39.5% in Q1 2026Share of people aged 15–64 who used a generative AI product, Q2 2026.
- 31 Mar 2026AdoptionAI user share reached 39.5%, from 36.9% in H2 2025Share of people aged 15–64 who used a generative AI product, Q1 2026.
- 31 Dec 2025AdoptionAI user share reached 36.9%, from 34.5% in H1 2025Share of people aged 15–64 who used a generative AI product, H2 2025.
- 10 Dec 2025LawsOnline Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (No. 127, 2024) came into force
- 2 Dec 2025LawsNational AI Plan adoptedThree priorities (capture opportunity, spread benefits, keep Australians safe); no standalone AI Act; regulation through existing laws; A$29.9m AI Safety Institute.
- 21 Oct 2025LawsGuidance for AI Adoption (National AI Centre) adoptedSix governance practices for AI developers and deployers in Foundations and Implementation Practices versions, aligned with ISO/IEC 42001 and NIST AI RMF.
- 10 Dec 2024LawsPrivacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (automated decision-making… adoptedFrom 10 December 2026, privacy policies must disclose the personal information used and kinds of decisions made by programs that make or substantially contribute to decisions significantly affecting individuals; OAIC gui…
- 10 Dec 2024LawsOnline Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 (No. 127, 2024) adoptedAge-restricted social media platforms must take reasonable steps to stop under-16s holding accounts; age-assurance data cannot be reused without consent; enforced by eSafety.
- 5 Sep 2024LawsIntroducing mandatory guardrails for AI in high-risk settings: proposals paper: revoked or lapsedProposed 10 mandatory guardrails for high-risk AI and three legislative options including an AI Act; government said in December 2025 it will not proceed at this time.
- 5 Sep 2024LawsVoluntary AI Safety Standard: revoked or lapsedTen voluntary guardrails for AI deployers; superseded on 21 October 2025 by the Guidance for AI Adoption.
- 3 Sep 2024LawsCriminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 (No. 78, 2024) came into force
- 2 Sep 2024LawsCriminal Code Amendment (Deepfake Sexual Material) Act 2024 (No. 78, 2024) adoptedOffence of transmitting sexual material depicting a real adult without consent, whether real or created/altered with technology; aggravated offences for creators.
How people in Australia see AI
Public opinion on AI →Survey results, not scored. They show the mood that new AI rules land in.
Australia beside its peers
All 40 countries →The two Progress leaders and the countries nearest to Australia in its region. A dash means no source measures that lens for the country.
Progressfive lenses, 0–10037#1377#174#241#1149#851#6
Adoptionlens score455656233972
Talentlens score3152—183161
Researchlens score328983537517
Investmentlens score4910074495158
Infrastructurelens score308883625047
Rulebook0–100447484578934
AI user shareQ2 2026 · Microsoft40.7%33.0%17.5%24.7%40.6%18.5%
Approach to AI lawExisting regulators, no AI statuteState laws, no federal AI statuteBinding rules by use casePromotion law, no penaltiesComprehensive AI lawExisting regulators, no AI statute
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Free, one email a week. Choose what you follow →More of Asia-Pacific
Every country →India51Progress34RulebookExisting regulators, no AI statuteOpen tracker →China74Progress84RulebookBinding rules by use caseOpen tracker →South Korea49Progress89RulebookComprehensive AI lawOpen tracker →Japan41Progress57RulebookPromotion law, no penaltiesOpen tracker →Taiwan18Progress53RulebookPromotion law, no penaltiesOpen tracker →Vietnam10Progress43RulebookComprehensive AI lawOpen tracker →
Malaysia10Progress11RulebookStrategy and guidance
Singapore53Progress40RulebookExisting regulators, no AI statuteOpen tracker →Indonesia13Progress36RulebookStrategy and guidanceOpen tracker →New Zealand11Progress14RulebookStrategy and guidanceOpen tracker →Check AI-law news yourself
All our data sources →Every law on these pages links to its official text and to an independent check. These are the registers and trackers we use, with what each is good for. A headline about a new AI law is real when the official register shows it.
Official registers8
- EUR-LexOfficial EU law: the AI Act and its amendments
- Council of Europe Treaty OfficeSignatures and ratifications of the AI Convention (CETS 225)
- Federal RegisterUS executive orders and agency rules
- Congress.govUS federal bills and their status
- legislation.gov.ukUK Acts and statutory instruments
- Cyberspace Administration of ChinaChina's AI rules and the generative AI filing register
- e-Gov JapanJapanese statutes, including the AI Promotion Act
- Korea Law Information CenterKorean statutes, including the AI Basic Act
Law and policy trackers4
- OECD.AI Policy Navigator (formerly National AI Policies & Strategies database; GAIIN)OECDNational AI policy initiatives (strategies, governance bodies, funding, regulation) by jurisdictionUse it for Use as primary verification source for 'national AI strategy exists / date' and governance bodies; link each country page to its OECD.AI country profile
- IAPP Global AI Law and Policy TrackerIAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals)AI laws, policies, national strategies and responsible authorities per jurisdictionUse it for Cite as a secondary legal cross-check; link out; do not reproduce
- Council of Europe Framework Convention (CETS 225) treaty chartCouncil of Europe Treaty Office · Live chart (see coe_convention block)Signature and ratification status of the first binding international AI treatyUse it for Primary source for a 'CoE AI Convention: signed / ratified' field per country
- Digital Policy AlertDigital Policy Alert (St.Gallen Endowment for Prosperity through Trade) · ContinuousEvent-level tracker of digital policy changes incl. AI rules, by jurisdictionUse it for Use as verification source for law-stage changes; model aiadoption.org's country timeline on its event structure
Country indices11
- Stanford HAI AI Index Report + Global AI Vibrancy ToolStanford Institute for Human-Centered AIAnnual state-of-AI report; Vibrancy Tool ranks national AI ecosystems (R&D, economy, policy, talent, infrastructure, public opinion, etc.)Use it for Reuse individual underlying indicators (with attribution) rather than the composite; link to Vibrancy Tool for each covered country
- Tortoise Global AI IndexTortoise MediaNational AI capacity: investment, innovation, implementationUse it for Link out and quote rank with attribution only; do not reuse scores
- Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index 2025Oxford InsightsWhether governments can harness AI for the public goodUse it for Cite as a verification source for governance/policy-capacity; reuse rank with attribution for countries lacking other data
- Microsoft Global AI Diffusion Report (AI user share)Microsoft (AI Economy Institute / On the Issues)AI user share: % of working-age population (15-64) using generative AI products in the periodUse it for Reuse the per-country AI user share as the core 'adoption' metric with attribution and vintage label; flag method breaks
- IMF AI Preparedness Index (AIPI)International Monetary Fund · June 2024 (released 25 June 2024); no later update foundMacro-structural readiness to adopt AIUse it for Use as background 'structural readiness' component only; label vintage 2024
- Global Index on Responsible AI (GIRAI)Global Center on AI GovernanceGovernment commitments and implementation evidence for responsible AIUse it for Cite as verification source for responsible-AI governance; adopt its framework-vs-implementation distinction in aiadoption.org's law status pills
- AI Safety / Security Institutes network (NAAIMES)Member governments; UK AI Security Institute as coordinatorMembership of the international network of AI safety/evaluation institutesUse it for Field 'has national AI evaluation institute (year)' per country; see safety_institutes block
- Carnegie Endowment (AI governance research, e.g. China AI safety institute work)Carnegie Endowment for International Peace · Ongoing researchQualitative country analysis of AI governanceUse it for Cite for country narrative paragraphs
- Brookings: How are countries evaluating AI models?Brookings Institution · Article (date not confirmed)Comparative analysis of national AI evaluation institutesUse it for Cite in safety-institute methodology notes
- Anthropic Economic Index - geographic report (Anthropic AI Usage Index)AnthropicClaude usage per capita relative to working-age population by country (AUI), plus task mixUse it for Use as secondary adoption metric beside Microsoft; triangulate, never sole sourceLink not yet opened by us
- Epoch AI dataEpoch AI · ContinuousNotable models, training compute, GPU clusters/data centres by countryUse it for Reuse 'notable models by country' and 'AI supercomputers by country' with attributionLink not yet opened by us
Research and safety4
- CSET (Center for Security and Emerging Technology)Georgetown University · OngoingData-driven research on AI talent, investment, compute, policy (incl. ETO tools such as AGORA AI governance document set)Use it for Cite AGORA for law-text links; reuse open datasets with attributionLink not yet opened by us
- International AI Safety ReportExpert panel chaired by Yoshua Bengio, UK-backed secretariat · 2026 edition expected/early 2026 (not verified)Scientific synthesis of general-purpose AI capabilities and risksUse it for Cite in methodology for why safety institutes/evaluation capacity are scored; list which countries sit on the panelLink not yet opened by us
- Our World in Data - Artificial IntelligenceOur World in Data (Global Change Data Lab) · ContinuousCharts republishing AI data (investment, models, patents, public opinion) by countryUse it for Model chart UX on OWID; reuse CC BY datasets with attributionLink not yet opened by us
- Artificial AnalysisArtificial Analysis · ContinuousModel benchmarks, price and speed; includes model origin by countryUse it for Use for 'frontier models produced by country' cross-check; citeLink not yet opened by us
How the scores work
Two scores, never added together. Download every score and indicator (CSV).
Progress, 0–100
- Five lenses, same for everyone. Adoption, Talent, Research, Investment and Infrastructure. Each lens is the average of its indicators; Progress is the average of the lenses.
- Only published numbers. Each indicator is a chart on AI Adoption with its source and CSV, or a public dataset linked on the page (Microsoft AI Diffusion, Epoch AI GPU Clusters).
- Scaled so outliers do not swamp the rest. Money, models and compute use a log scale on which the leader scores 100; shares and rates use the range of countries the source covers.
- Gaps stay gaps. A source that does not cover a country leaves a dash, never a guess. A country below a source's top-15 list scores 0 on that indicator, and the page says so. The coverage flag shows how many of the 17 indicators measure the country.
Rulebook, 0–100
How complete and binding a country's AI rules are. It does not grade whether the rules are good, strict or lenient. Points come only from laws we have verified against an official source.
Binding AI rulesup to 35
- An AI law with enforceable duties on companies applies now35
- Enforceable rules on AI systems apply, but only in part of the country26
- An AI law with enforceable duties is enacted; its duties start later26
- A national AI law is in force, but it sets no penalties for companies20
- An AI bill or official draft is before the legislature or out for consultation10
- No AI-specific law, bill or official draft0
Institutions, safeguards, international65
- A national AI strategy, adopted or updated since 20228
- A body named to oversee or enforce AI rules6
- An AI safety or evaluation institute6
- A right to challenge automated decisions, in force12
- Rules on AI-generated content: labels or deepfake offences, in force13
- International AI governance initiatives endorsed (of 8)12
- Council of Europe AI Convention: signed 5, ratified 88
Disclosure: AI Adoption uses AI tools in its research and editorial work. No government, company or lobby group has any say in a country's scores or its law register, and the same rules apply to every country. Editorial standards · Data sources · Corrections