Australia anticipates AI-driven transformation in 2025
As Australia braces for a pivotal year, 2025 promises transformative changes across various sectors, driven by the integration of technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Two distinct areas are seeing a surge in anticipation and preparation: industrial relations and healthcare, with the focus being on compliance and productivity challenges, alongside capacity and skills shortages.
In the industrial relations sphere, the onset of 2025 will introduce stringent new regulations targeting wage theft and underpayment. Australian HR tech consultancy Smart WFM's CEO, Jarrod McGrath, highlights that employers found guilty of intentional underpayments will face severe penalties, including fines up to three times the value of the discrepancies and the possibility of imprisonment. McGrath underscores the complexity of these issues, which span multiple organisational departments such as human resources, accounting, and IT, pointing to a historical lack of coordinated leadership as a barrier to resolving these challenges effectively.
AI technology emerges as a potential game-changer in addressing these multifaceted issues. McGrath notes the widespread interest in leveraging AI to boost productivity, although he cautions that effective results hinge on proper system integrations and stakeholder trust. New market entrants are already capitalising on AI's capabilities in compliance and productivity enhancement. However, McGrath warns that without the right infrastructure, including data and training, AI risks becoming another underutilised asset.
Looking towards the workplace of the future, McGrath anticipates a significant shift with the potential deployment of 'digital workers'—AI systems functioning alongside human employees. These digital entities might handle tasks ranging from compliance inquiries to skill development. The introduction of digital workers raises new questions for human resources and workforce management sectors regarding performance evaluations and goal-setting for AI, a challenge that a few companies have already begun to address.
Meanwhile, the Australian healthcare system stands poised at the precipice of similar transformative change through AI integration. Mark Philips, Chief Clinical Officer at Annalise.ai, shares insights into how AI might relieve the pressing capacity issues within diagnostic medicine, particularly in fields like medical imaging. Philips suggests that AI allows healthcare professionals to shift their focus towards patient-centric care, leveraging AI's "scaling factor" to enhance both the quality and efficiency of medical services.
The adoption of AI in healthcare promises to mitigate the burden on practitioners by alleviating workload strains, thereby improving patient outcomes and expanding access to medical care. However, Philips identifies existing barriers, notably in the slow adoption of AI within the public healthcare system, which are compounded by the lack of supportive reimbursement policies and funding mechanisms at both State and National levels. The goal, he posits, is to establish value-based funding for AI-assisted diagnostics, encouraging widespread integration into daily healthcare practices.
In the coming years, healthcare infrastructure updates will be instrumental in enabling AI's full potential, ensuring that technology-driven solutions can yield the desired improvements in patient care and service delivery. This dual narrative across sectors—industrial relations and healthcare—illustrates a broader trend where technological advances are set to redefine traditional practices while presenting new challenges and opportunities alike for Australian industries in 2025.
