Artificial Intelligence - A Starter Guide to the Future of Business

This comprehensive report offers an overview of AI's current state, its implementation by industry leaders, its potential benefits, and how to harness AI's capabilities by aligning it with your existing business models and products.

Leveraging the business potential of AI

Artificial Intelligence will change the world. Once in the realm of science fiction, AI is now a rapidly growing business driver that has seen some of the world's largest tech companies invest heavily in it as a strategic imperative.

AI already plays a part in our lives, from search engines and image recognition to email spam filtering and product recommendations. Its versatility and capability allow it to tackle a vast range of business problems and create entirely new products and services that didn't exist – couldn't have existed – even a few years ago.

It is a game changer that will alter the economic and social landscape now and for the foreseeable future. This guide presents an introduction to the capabilities of AI as they stand today, how it has been implemented, what the big players are up to, and where the benefits lie as a background from which to spur your ideas for your organisation.

The report then delves into leveraging AI for your own business. It provides a guide to understanding the capabilities and potential of AI and applying this against current business models and products to look for key growth opportunities. These can include optimising business processes, improving efficiencies and cost savings, or building entirely new revenue streams and can cross fields such as automation, predictive analytics, business intelligence, preventative maintenance, customer service and even content creation.

Investing in AI for your organisation requires new skill sets and an appetite to explore. We also provide a framework and practical guidance on what will be needed to get a business plan signed off and a project on the road. Ultimately a core component of this is data – the lifeblood of AI – and how your business captures, manages, and stores data to derive value from it. It is data that will enable, train, and refine your AI product or service, so now is an excellent time to become data-focused.

Businesses can employ AI at every level,  from decision-making to physical operations. In turn, this means that increasingly we will see AI have a genuine impact on the well-being of people. This report also walks you through an ethical framework to integrate ethical considerations that are vital in designing, producing, and deploying AI-based products and services. 

ACS 2019 Federal Election Manifesto

In the lead-up to the 2019 federal election, ACS surveyed its members to identify the public policy priorities that would advance the national interest.

17 game changers to ensure higher paying jobs

To formulate its 2019 federal election manifesto, ACS surveyed its members to identify the key factors inhibiting Australia from achieving its potential in the digital economy and the key factors enabling it.

Front of mind included legislative reform of the Assistance And Access Bill 2018; to recognise the potential blockers of the Bill for an Australian cybersecurity export industry, as well as the technical limitations and expectations of the Bill, and protecting the privacy of our citizens.

Having access to critical productivity-enhancing infrastructure and arresting Australia's slide in global broadband speed rankings was also commonly identified. All citizens and businesses seek affordable high-speed internet access.

When analysing responses and synthesising key themes, it is clear that the ACS community believes Australia's transition to a knowledge and digital economy needs to happen with sufficient speed to maintain our historically high standards of living. There are concerns around the digital skills of our workforce, workforce diversity and, more generally, the process for rapid upskilling and reskilling to ensure our industries are placed higher up the value chain, education and training reform, and the inefficiency of our cities.

ACS therefore asked our political parties and leaders to consider the enclosed 17 #gamechangers to ensure Australians attract higher-paying jobs into the future.