Overview
The 2025 Australian Tech Leaders Survey, conducted by the Tech Council of Australia and Datacom, reveals a significant gap between AI opportunity and execution among Australian businesses. While 67% of technology executives view AI as the defining technological trend for 2025 and one-third identify it as their primary business opportunity, implementation remains a substantial challenge. Economic uncertainty (cited by 39% of respondents) and skills shortages (32%) are creating barriers to adoption, despite AI’s potential to generate £115bn (US$147bn) in economic value for Australia by 2030 and create 200,000 jobs across various sectors.
RAIL Application
The findings highlight the urgent need for accessible AI training solutions like RAIL certification to address the widening skills gap in Australia. With 93% of respondents concerned that Australia is not addressing its declining productivity, and the proportion of executives prioritising skills shortage solutions increasing to 16% (up from 11% in 2024), RAIL offers a timely intervention. By providing foundation-level AI literacy, RAIL can help Australian businesses overcome implementation barriers and capitalise on AI’s productivity potential.
Key quotes
“It is a significant marker of where we are in our AI journey that Australian businesses expect that in 2025 the greatest opportunities will come from using technologies – like AI and automation – to drive operational efficiencies.”
“There is a strong consensus that as a country we are not doing enough to tackle our productivity challenges and that greater tech investment, tech adoption and skills training would help to reverse our falling productivity.”
“The responsible deployment of Gen AI tools and solutions has the ability to enable productivity gains and create space for our teams to focus on the more fulfilling aspects of their work.”