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Government of South Australia - Department of State Development

    News

    13th May 2025
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    Critical Technologies

    Harnessing the power of AI to grow our economy

    The modern history of our state shows that we have successfully responded to the emergence of ‘general purpose’ technologies in the past and prospered as a result.

    From steam power in the early 19th century to electricity in the early 20th century to the emergence of the internet in the 1990s, South Australians continue to embrace change to build sovereign capability and resilience around emerging technology.

    There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is a transformative technology, and it is growing at pace. With this growth comes understandable fears about potential adverse impacts and change.

    While AI is something that we must navigate as individuals and as a society, the Department of State Development was established to focus on the economy, supporting industry and workforce development and fostering innovation.

    My team has been supporting local businesses and industry to build their capability through ongoing investment in the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML) to deliver programs that build on the success of the South Australian Government’s foundational investment to establish AIML in 2017.

    To help bridge the gap between traditional business operations and the cutting-edge capabilities that AI offers, the South Australian Government committed $6 million for Industrial AI programs, with AIML’s machine learning engineers partnering with small and medium-sized businesses as well as government agencies to design and implement AI solutions that deliver services more effectively.

    The government also invested $5 million, matched by the University of Adelaide and CSIRO, to establish the Responsible AI Research (RAIR) Centre. Based at Lot Fourteen, the RAIR Centre conducts research on the ethical implications of AI, creating frameworks to ensure that AI systems are used responsibly, and developing AI technologies that are transparent, accountable and aligned with societal values.

    Part of the University of Adelaide, AIML is recognised as one of the top AI and computer vision research institutions globally, and it is also one of the largest university-based research groups in machine learning in the nation.

    The South Australian Government is building on this strong foundation of AI and machine learning research and commercial activity so we can fully capitalise on the benefits of AI-driven technologies, while safeguarding against its unethical use.

    By integrating AI, organisations can ensure they remain relevant, contribute positively to society, and help sustain the regional and national economy.

    A great example of this is the South Australian Government's $500,000 partnership with the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre to pilot two cutting-edge space data projects that will herald a new era in satellite imagery.

    Utilising data from South Australia's first built satellite, Kanyini, the two projects will make use of AI-based analytics and hyperspectral imagery to enhance environmental monitoring on Earth.

    Where imagery was previously sourced from foreign satellites, Kanyini can now capture images of specific locations and tailored to particular applications, with the potential to help farmers and communities tackle environmental management and sustainability challenges.

    Kanyini’s onboard thermal imagery and AI-based analytics monitor surface temperatures, making it a useful tool in planning and responding to the impacts of climate change, while the hyperspectral imagery monitors changes in native vegetation cover, crop health and land-use.

    This is just one real world example of the potential power of AI in generating fresh insights while unlocking productivity in agriculture and eliminating time-consuming analysis.

    On the other side of the coin, the South Australian Government is serious about protecting citizens from the potential risk of AI, introducing legislation last year banning children under 16 years of age from social media platforms.

    And more recently, the South Australian Parliament debated a Bill to introduce laws to ban the use of AI to generate violent or explicit deepfake images, audio or video.

    The Department of State Development is currently developing a South Australian AI Strategy to grow investment in AI, strengthen AI capabilities, boost AI skills, raise productivity and efficiency, and develop sovereign AI capability and resilience.

    We are also currently developing an AI Capability Directory to showcase the state’s AI capability, to promote it both domestically and internationally, and to encourage collaboration between government, industry and research institutions.

    In an Australian first and an acknowledgement of the importance and the potential of this transformative technology, last year the Premier appointed an Assistant Minister for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy to place a greater focus on growing the industry.

    It is an exciting time to be working in the digital economy, and by embracing AI rather than running from it, we can drive economic growth, create jobs, and improve the quality of life for all South Australians.

    Chris Amor is the Senior Manager, Critical Technologies in the Department of State Development.