State of Enterprise AI
in Australia — Q2 2026
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Executive Summary
National Score
43.4
out of 100
Australia's enterprise AI maturity stands at a national composite score of 43.4/100 in Q2 2026, placing the country in the Developing band. Investment leads at 45.7, while Incidents remains the lowest-scoring dimension at 41.6.
The gap between Investment (45.7) and Governance (42.8) is the most consequential structural risk in the current landscape — organisations are deploying faster than they are governing, a pattern that historically precedes a regulatory inflection point.
National maturity stands at 43.4 — Investment and Adoption lead
Australia's composite AI maturity score is 43.4 in Q2 2026. Investment (45.7) and Adoption (43.4) are the leading dimensions, though the national index remains in the Developing band overall.
Governance remains a structural gap
Governance sits at 42.8, 2.9 points below Investment — a structural gap that creates regulatory risk as deployment accelerates.
Retail governance is a rising risk
Retail's Governance score of 27.1 is the lowest across all six industries and 15.7 points below the national average. As AI deployment in retail accelerates (56.3 Adoption), the governance gap is widening.
National Index
Q2 2026 — Dimension Scores
Highest/lowest scoring industry per dimension, Q2 2026
Industry Rankings
Industry Rankings
LiveLatest · Composite score out of 100
Banking retains its #1 position with a 56.8 composite score, driven by production AI deployments in fraud detection and credit risk. ASIC's AI Governance Review identifies missing human oversight as the sector's #1 regulatory risk.
Insurance ranks #3 at 47.3, with IAG's claims triage deployment the standout signal. APRA's supervisory communication on model risk management is a governance reminder for a sector moving faster on investment than accountability.
Retail's #2 position (43.8) masks a serious governance deficit — at 27.1, the lowest in the index. Governance capacity is not keeping pace as adoption accelerates.
Government ranks #5 at 34.2 — its governance strength (47.9, highest in the index) is held back by the lowest investment score (24.1).
Healthcare at 45.6 (#4) is the most cautiously progressing sector, with system-wide adoption lagging other industries.
Utilities at 32.5 (#6) is the lowest-scoring sector, with adoption still in a nascent stage relative to the rest of the index.
Top AI Investments — Q2 2026
No independently verifiable, sourced AI investment announcements met our publication threshold this quarter. Check back after the next data refresh.
AI Incidents & Governance Watch
Incidents are inverse-scored — transparency in disclosure partially credits the organisation. Only incidents with a verifiable public source are listed here.
No independently verifiable AI incidents or governance actions met our publication threshold this quarter. Check back after the next data refresh.
Outlook — Q3 2026
OAIC is expected to publish updated AI privacy guidance in Q3 2026, which may materially lift Governance scores across Banking and Healthcare.
The federal government's AI in Government Framework review is due by August 2026 — watch for new mandatory disclosure requirements that could restructure how Government sector is scored.
Retail AI investment is accelerating faster than governance capacity — the Governance gap (27.1 vs 56.3 Adoption) is likely to widen further unless sector-level self-regulatory action is taken before Q3 2026.
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