TechnologyMYOBPrint articleAug 17, 2026 – 9.08amAustralia has emerged as one of the world’s heaviest users of generative AI, with businesses moving quickly from experimentation to using conversational tools for everyday work.MYOB chief executive Paul Robson says Australian small businesses have always been pragmatic adopters of technology, particularly when they can see an immediate practical benefit.Australian businesses are leading the world in AI use as conversational tools move into everyday work. iStock“Australian small businesses don’t adopt technology for the novelty, they adopt it when it saves time and makes work easier,” he says.“When the payoff is clear and immediate, Australian businesses move quickly.”That practical approach is increasingly evident in the way businesses are adopting generative AI. Global AI company Anthropic’s latest Economic Index ranks Australia first worldwide for Claude usage after adjusting for the size of the working population. Usage puts Australian adoption at 6.4 times the expected level, a sharp rise from 14th place in Anthropic’s index from March.Advertisement“Business operations” is now the second most common use case for Claude in Australia, adding to evidence that generative AI is moving beyond coding and technical tasks into management, documentation, correspondence and financial work.That adoption is changing how businesses access information and complete work. Business owners increasingly expect answers and actions to be available in the flow of work through natural language. For technology leaders like MYOB, the opportunity lies in making trusted business intelligence more accessible while retaining the financial integrity of the data underpinning every decision.MYOB is extending the footprint of its business data into large language model environments including those of Anthropic and OpenAI, allowing customers to surface financial information such as customer balances, overdue invoices and profit and loss within Claude and ChatGPT accounts.MYOB chief executive Paul Robson. Other measures point to the appetite for the technology in Australia. MYOB research shows 40 per cent of small and medium businesses are adopting AI, while among SMEs already using it, 54 per cent report saving time and 34 per cent say it is improving productivity.Theo Hourmouzis, general manager, Australia and ASEAN at Anthropic, says the pace of adoption has been striking.“While that’s a huge leap in a very short amount of time, anecdotally, we see a very grounded, pragmatic approach being taken by Australian businesses,” he says.Regardless of whether a customer works in an AI tool or opens their accounting platform, the underlying records drive the quality of the answer.Robson says generative AI can shorten the distance between a question and an action for time-poor business owners.“MYOB is wherever a small business chooses to get work done. Whether they need deep insight or to ask a simple question, they have access to the same trusted business data, helping them get things done faster and with greater confidence,” he says.Making business information easier to access, regardless of where or how a business chooses to work, is at the heart of MYOB’s AI strategy. Across in-platform experiences and third-party integrations, AI removes complexity, helping more people confidently understand and act on their business information.Hourmouzis says conversational AI suits the realities of running a business because owners face a constant stream of questions.“AI chatbots like Claude naturally lend themselves to these scenarios and so they’ve been very quickly adopted for their co-worker type usefulness,” he says.Theo Hourmouzis, general manager, Australia and ASEAN at Anthropic. “It suddenly opens up the ability to interrogate information and think through decisions in natural language, rather than learning a new system or waiting on a static report.”The value of trusted dataThe easier it becomes to ask a question, the more important the quality of the answer becomes.Large language models can generate explanations and answers, but businesses still need reliable financial records, compliance rules, permissions and controls before acting on them.“Models can generate answers, but systems of record give businesses the confidence to act,” Robson says.For MYOB, that means retaining its system of record as the protected core while allowing customers to access its information through other interfaces.Robson says the model itself is only one part of the equation.“OpenAI and Anthropic provide capability. MYOB brings the business context that makes that capability useful.”AI could also expand the kinds of work business software handles. Rather than simply storing records or presenting information, software can take on more of the administrative and operational tasks that consume business owners’ time.Robson points to business activity statements (BAS) as one example. MYOB has already introduced AI BAS, an agentic innovation which applies AI to a recurring compliance task, and sees scope to apply the same principle to other workflows.“From a commercial point of view, AI can lift the value customers get from MYOB’s core platform. It can also open the door to premium capabilities and new services.”“The more admin MYOB can remove, the more value it creates for customers and the business,” Robson says.Security and trust are vital for adoptionMoving financial and operational information into AI environments raises questions around permissions and control.Anthropic research with small business owners in the United States found half nominated data security as their single biggest hesitation about AI.For MYOB, trust is foundational. As a hub for business-critical financial data, the company applies the same rigorous approach to security, privacy, governance and compliance to AI-powered experiences as it does to its core platform.MYOB is focused on responsible development that maintains the integrity of the underlying system of record, with robust governance and safety practices aligned to the National AI Centre’s Guidance for AI adoption.Hourmouzis says businesses need to understand the safeguards and security settings of the models they use, as well as how data protection, permissions, compliance and approval processes are handled.“Not all AI models are purpose built for the enterprise like Claude is, and it’s important for business owners to be aware of cybersecurity risks, use trusted platforms, and take proactive steps to protect their data and systems,” he says.Those considerations become more significant as AI tools move from answering questions to taking actions.Anthropic’s research shows 54.5 per cent of Australian Claude.ai usage is classified as “augmentation”, where people remain involved and use AI as a collaborator rather than delegating an entire task.As adoption and confidence grow, Hourmouzis expects more agentic usage, where AI agents can handle recurring operational tasks with greater autonomy.That could give business leaders more time for customers, employees and strategic decisions by reducing the hours spent on manual and operational work, he says.Beyond the dashboardFor decades, business software has largely required users to enter a particular application, find the relevant module and navigate to the information they need.Generative AI challenges that model.Robson says software is moving from being primarily a place where records are stored towards becoming part of the flow of work itself.“Instead of switching between systems, customers can get the insights they need in the tools they’re already using, make faster decisions and act with more confidence,” he says.“The goal is to make business information easier to use, without compromising trust or control.”Customer behaviour is unlikely to consolidate around a single AI interface, Robson says. That means business software may need to work across several environments while retaining the underlying data.“We want MYOB to be present in the environments customers choose to use,” he says.Australia’s unusually high adoption of Claude suggests many businesses are already comfortable using conversational AI for practical work. The harder test will be turning those tools from useful assistants into dependable parts of day-to-day business operations.Anthropic’s data shows people are still predominantly working alongside AI rather than handing whole tasks over to it.As AI takes on more business tasks, its usefulness will depend not only on the model but on the accuracy of the records, controls and business knowledge behind its answers.To find out more, please visit MYOB.Sponsored by MYOBThis content has been funded by an advertiser and written by the Nine commercial editorial team.SaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy linkCopiedEmailLinkedInTwitterFacebookCopy linkCopiedShare via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? LoginLicense articleRead MoreMYOBFetching latest articles