Australians are navigating AI adoption cautiously, balancing innovation with safety amid facing a deficit in local investment. This is according to the recently minted Ernst & Young (EY) chief technology and innovation officer for Oceania, Katherine Boiciuc. She told ARN at ServiceNow WorldForum 2024 that Australians are navigating AI adoption cautiously, balancing innovation with safety and moving toward wider acceptance as technology progresses. "What's happening now with technology and advisory partners is we're coming together and asking for the best advice on working together to provide solutions and services to clients," Boiciuc said. With the innovation around AI accelerating, decision-makers are often at the edge of their competence zones, she claimed. "Technology like [Chat]GPT reached a million users in hours, even traditional social media like Instagram and TikTok took months to reach those numbers," she said. Although there is an explosion of AI tools, there is also a deficit in local investment, Boiciuc claimed. Multi-faceted approach "First, when new technology emerges, you need a regulatory approach to ensure it's managed properly," she said. "Second, there's the capability aspect. Do we have enough skilled people who know how to use it correctly? Third, none of this comes for free, it requires investment." According to Boiciuc, Australia falls short in terms of investment lag, as the country has voluntary regulatory guidelines and significantly lower investment compared to other countries of similar size. "Singapore has allocated over a billion dollars for AI, while Australia has only set aside $39.9 million," she said. "It's no wonder we have a shortage of AI-skilled workers." As a result, Australia faces a significant skills gap, needing around 200,000 AI-skilled workers in the next few years, according to the Tech Council's assessment, Boiciuc claimed. "The issue is whether Australians see enough value in AI to justify rushing into large-scale regulation, investment, or growth," she said. "Right now, the sentiment seems to be, let's do it softly and safely." She claimed that the nation has historically been slow to adopt new technologies. "It's natural for Australians to have a trust deficit, and we have similar concerns about mobile phones and Wi-Fi," she said.   "The majority of Australians are still cautious or risk-averse when it comes to AI, lagging behind global sentiment." However Boiciuc said both levels of government were implementing proper safeguards, while voluntary at the moment, they will become formal in the future. "The federal government has released voluntary AI standards, which are typical for new tech, and they'll become formal over time," she said. "State governments are also moving in the right direction, focusing on safe and responsible adoption." Like a moth to the EY AI flame In May ARN reported Boiciuc joined EY in May to help strengthen its service offering. In her role as created role as chief technology and innovation officer for Oceania, she helps clients get the most out of technology like AI. Boiciuc has more than two decades of experience and has previously worked in various leadership roles at Telstra, Maximus International, and Viva Energy. She told ARN, "anyone who's worked in tech in Australia has experienced some life-changing innovations." "I've been fortunate to touch many of those," she said. "I was at Telstra for the first iPhone launch. When AI came along, it was like a moth to a flame for me, and EY's strategy was to go all in on AI." Lilia Guan travelled to the partner forum at World Forum 2024 as a guest of ServiceNow.