Australia's AI Boom Brings Record Productivity and Real-World Pains

Australia is now the world's heaviest user of generative AI at work, with adoption at 6.4 times the expected level, a dramatic leap from 14th place just months ago. Businesses have moved past experimentation to embedding tools like Claude into daily operations—finance, management, and customer service—not just coding. This pragmatic adoption is driving productivity gains, with 54% of SMEs reporting time savings and a measurable wage premium for digital skills. But the boom...