Robodebt Has Made Aussies Slower To Adopt AI

Aussies are usually early adopters of all tech—but when it comes to AI, the Robodebt automation failure has left many feeling reticent. We now want to move slower, more thoughtfully, and with far more transparency around how these big AI rollouts will actually impact us.

Check out this ABC “The Business” interview, Professor Edward Santow, Co-Director of the Human Technology Institute, shares some sharp insights into what went wrong with Robodebt, the true social cost of automation, and what ethical AI implementation can look like.

His take is a timely reminder for organisations of all sizes planning AI-centred change projects, this is not like rolling out a new App – there can be ethical and financial costs when we fail to properly manage the human impact.

At the same time, there is a global enterprise push, like OpenAI’s chief economist urging Australian government and business to speed things up—pointing to potential productivity gains of $115 billion by 2030. With that kind of ROI we will have to do it but it is the how we are now questioning more deeply.

As Professor Santow puts it: “Productivity is a great measure, but we need to aim for the sort of good productivity where we take workers on the journey, and we make sure that people aren’t harmed along the way.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Trust, transparency, and thoughtful leadership must underpin our Aussie AI future—if we want Australian workers and communities to embrace AI transformation it needs to consider the human and be implemented in a considered way.

My own recent recovery time (silver linings etc. etc.) gave me space to dive deep into the leadership, mindset, and cultural shifts AI is driving us to navigate. I’ll be sharing more on what my reflections has delivered in the coming weeks—including a paper exploring the Leadership themes in this new era.  Editing is underway.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, has it become a topic in your workplace? How is your team responding to the AI conversation? Is it just all newspaper hype and AI is being welcomed and not really resisted at all… or is it being simply ignored (for now)?