A CSIRO-led national survey probes how frontier AI is adopted, governed, and risk-managed across Australia’s critical infrastructure sectors, including water, health, energy, communications, transport, and banking.

It evaluates how prepared organisations are for risks tied to more advanced AI systems and the governance challenges that come with them.

The study reviews current frontier AI deployments, future plans, and the spread of shadow AI—unapproved or informal use within organisations.

Supported by a grant from the AI Security Institute through its Challenge Fund, the work aims to identify early risks and offer practical recommendations to boost safety, security, and resilience as AI capabilities evolve.

The survey, titled Frontier AI in critical infrastructure – empirical insights for building societal resilience, also provides a link for organisations to participate.

Respondents are senior leaders and decision-makers in critical infrastructure organisations across Australia.