The Australian Electoral Commission will have a draft strategy and roadmap to accelerate its adoption of generative AI by mid-June.
The commission will outsource the work, including a “business case that sets out the investment required to deliver on the roadmap”, according to tender documents.
It will allow up to 16 weeks for the drafts to be prepared, meaning it should have a documented idea of how it intends to progress with the technology by mid-2026.
It’s not clear if the AEC has done any internal scoping work to inform the strategy and roadmap, which could be used as the basis for the documentation.
An AEC spokesperson declined to comment on any aspect of the project, citing the early stage of the procurement process.
The commission’s AI transparency statement [pdf] indicates it is relatively nascent in terms of its adoption of generative AI to date, with use cases focused around Microsoft ‘copilots’, speech-to-text and AI image generation.
A key challenge appears to be balancing adoption of the technology with its remit of ensuring electoral integrity.
“Public trust in the AEC is crucial for maintaining confidence in electoral processes and results, which is essential for defending Australia’s democracy,” according to the transparency statement.
“In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, meeting community and stakeholder expectations is increasingly complex.”
Whichever consultancy prepares the generative AI strategy, roadmap and costed business case will also have input into the proposed “tech stack, staff training and governance” to support the broader use of generative AI.
It’s unclear whether the draft business case will be a useful input into any request for federal budget funding, given the overlapping timeframes.
Federal budget funding for technology projects last year was slim, although the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) handed down by the government just before Christmas featured increased funding for IT work generally.