Australia — AI Gap Index

29%

8/28

AI Gap Index

5/10

Schools

0/8

Workforce

2/6

Governance

1/4

Access

Schools 5/10

D1 AI literacy curriculum exists in schools 2 National AI Literacy Program targets one million students; government-funded rollout from Term 1 2026 ^{[1], [2], [3]}

D2 Curriculum is binding law or mandate 1 Government-funded and active but no binding enforcement mandate; schools can opt out ^{[1], [2], [3]}

D3 Ethics component included in curriculum 1 Ethics and critical thinking explicitly included in age-appropriate modules ^{[1], [2], [3]}

D4 Teacher training mandated and funded before rollout 0 No mandatory teacher training requirement before rollout; noted as a gap ^{[1], [2], [3]}

D5 Dedicated funding attached to the requirement 1 Government-funded programme; no dedicated infrastructure funding for schools lacking technology ^{[1], [2], [3]}

Workforce 0/8

D6 Employers legally required to train all employees 0

D7 Training must cover ethics and critical evaluation 0

D8 Pre-redundancy training obligation exists 0

D9 Workers have rights when AI used in employment decisions 0

Civil Service & Governance 2/6

D10 Civil servants working with AI must receive training 1 AI Safety Institute (AISI) operational from early 2026 with $29.9M funding; advisory/monitoring body within DISR — no direct enforcement powers, those remain with sector regulators ^[4]

D11 Minimum training standard is defined 1 APS AI Plan mandates foundational AI training for all federal public servants; first mandatory requirement active 15 June 2026 via DTA AI Fundamentals module; no defined external standard or verification mechanism ^[5]

D12 Enforcement mechanism exists with named authority 0

Public Access 1/4

D13 Free or publicly funded AI literacy resources available 1 Modules publicly available; industry insights component included ^[1]

D14 Digital infrastructure support for schools and institutions 0 Digital infrastructure gaps noted in rural and remote schools; not addressed in this programme ^[1]

Sources

Index history

May 25, 2026 8/28 Dim 10 raised to 1 (AISI operational with $29.9M, advisory/monitoring mandate); Dim 11 raised to 1 (mandatory APS AI training from 15 June 2026 via DTA module, no external standard).

March 27, 2026 6/28 Research refresh: new files document AWS/Code for Schools programme (Term 1 2026) and National AI Plan education/workforce components. No score changes; new files expand evidence for dims 1, 2, 3 and introduce evidence for dim 4 (teacher training) and dim 10 (governance coordination) but existing notes already reflect these gaps/commitments.

March 17, 2026 6/28 Initial scoring from research archive