Why it matters
The Guidance for AI Adoption streamlines the earlier Voluntary AI Safety Standard and Australia's AI Ethics Principles into a shorter set of practices. It is voluntary, but it is the clearest statement of what "responsible AI" means to Australian government and industry, and it is a sensible baseline for any organisation using AI.
The six practices
1. Decide who is accountable
Name an owner for every AI system, with authority to stop it. Set out who approves new uses of AI and who answers when something goes wrong.
2. Understand impacts and plan accordingly
Before deploying, consider who the system affects and how: customers, staff and the community. Plan for errors and unintended consequences.
3. Measure and manage risks
Keep a risk register for AI systems, covering accuracy, bias, privacy, security and supplier risk, with controls and owners.
4. Share essential information
Tell people when AI is used in ways that affect them, document how systems work, and be ready to explain decisions. In Australia this connects to the automated decision-making disclosures that apply from 10 December 2026.
5. Test and monitor
Test before release against agreed criteria, then monitor performance, drift and misuse in production.
6. Maintain human control
Keep meaningful human oversight, especially for high-impact decisions, with clear ways to override or switch systems off.
Getting started in a month
- Week one: list your AI systems and name owners.
- Week two: assess impact and risk for the highest-stakes systems.
- Week three: adopt an AI policy and approval process.
- Week four: set up testing, monitoring and disclosure for priority systems.