Australia creates Office of AI to coordinate policy

The Australian government will establish a new Office of Artificial Intelligence to coordinate a national response to the technology, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on July 15, 2026. In a major speech in Sydney, Albanese framed the initiative as a world-first effort to bring the economic, social, national security, and environmental challenges of AI into a single, cohesive framework.

The Office of AI will be created within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, effective immediately. Its mandate is to design national standards and oversee policy, moving away from what Albanese described as a fragmented, sector-by-sector approach. The office will work closely with Industry Minister Tim Ayres and Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy Andrew Charlton to coordinate work across government departments.

Albanese argued that a coordinated strategy is essential, likening it to past government responses to transformative technologies like civil aviation in the 1920s and genetics in the 1990s. He stated that getting the policy right would enhance Australia's appeal to international investors by delivering greater clarity, faster approvals,...