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  "id": "government-business-support-funding/australian-ai-policy-grants-business-programs/the-national-artificial-intelligence-centre-naic-what-it-does-and-how-to-use-it",
  "title": "The National Artificial Intelligence Centre (NAIC): What It Does and How to Use It",
  "slug": "government-business-support-funding/australian-ai-policy-grants-business-programs/the-national-artificial-intelligence-centre-naic-what-it-does-and-how-to-use-it",
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  "content": "Now I have comprehensive, verified data from authoritative sources. Let me compose the final article.\n\n---\n\n## What Is the NAIC and Why Does It Matter for Your Business?\n\nIf you are an Australian business trying to navigate the government's expanding AI support ecosystem, the National Artificial Intelligence Centre (NAIC) is the most important single organisation to understand. \nThe NAIC is the Australian Government's lead body supporting industry to unlock the economic benefits of AI.\n Established in 2021 as a unit within the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, \nthe NAIC was established to support and accelerate AI industry in Australia and is a part of the Australian Government's Department of Industry, Science and Resources.\n\n\nIts significance has grown substantially since the release of Australia's National AI Plan in December 2025. \nKey initiatives like the AI Adopt Program and the National AI Centre (NAIC) provide tailored guidance and resources to help businesses and not-for-profits adopt AI responsibly.\n In practice, the NAIC functions as the primary \"front door\" into the government's entire AI support ecosystem — the coordinating body that connects businesses to free tools, frameworks, data, training, and the broader network of AI Adopt Centres operating across Australia.\n\nUnderstanding what the NAIC does, and how to use it, is not optional background knowledge. It is the prerequisite for accessing most of the practical support the Australian Government offers to businesses on AI.\n\n---\n\n## Who the NAIC Serves\n\nOne of the NAIC's most important features is the breadth of its intended audience. Unlike many government programs that are narrowly scoped to specific industries or revenue thresholds, the NAIC is explicitly designed to serve a wide range of organisations. \nThe NAIC provides tailored guidance and direct engagement to help SMEs, not-for-profits, social enterprises and First Nations businesses adopt AI responsibly.\n\n\n\nThe NAIC isn't just for businesses — the guidance applies to any organisation adopting AI. The National AI Plan explicitly states that the NAIC will support \"SMEs, not-for-profits, social enterprises and First Nations businesses adopt AI responsibly.\"\n\n\nThis broad mandate is deliberate. \nEvery Australian should be able to benefit from AI, regardless of age, location or gender. Achieving this outcome requires a broad approach to building capability across all workplaces, including in not-for-profits, universities, schools, TAFEs and community organisations.\n The NAIC operationalises this ambition by making its core resources free and accessible at the point of use.\n\n---\n\n## The NAIC's Core Functions: A Structured Overview\n\nThe NAIC performs four interconnected functions that together constitute Australia's primary government-backed AI adoption support infrastructure.\n\n| Function | What It Does | Key Output |\n|---|---|---|\n| **Guidance & Standards** | Sets the national framework for responsible AI adoption | Guidance for AI Adoption (AI6), October 2025 |\n| **Intelligence & Data** | Tracks and publishes AI adoption trends across Australian SMEs | AI Adoption Tracker (monthly, via Fifth Quadrant) |\n| **Tools & Templates** | Provides free, editable resources for implementing AI governance | AI screening tool, AI policy template, AI register template |\n| **Ecosystem Coordination** | Connects businesses to AI Adopt Centres, RAIN, and the ai.gov.au platform | AI Directory, event calendar, Responsible AI Network |\n\n---\n\n## The Guidance for AI Adoption (AI6): Australia's National AI Governance Framework\n\nThe most significant output the NAIC has produced to date is the Guidance for AI Adoption, released in October 2025. \nOn 17 October 2025, the National AI Centre (NAIC) unveiled the Guidance for AI Adoption, a new national framework designed to guide the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence.\n\n\n\nThe NAIC released updated Guidance for AI Adoption, which effectively replaces the earlier Voluntary AI Safety Standard (VAISS). The new guidance articulates the \"AI6\" — six essential governance practices for AI developers and deployers.\n\n\n### The Six Essential Practices (AI6)\n\n\nThe AI6 framework consists of six essential practices for responsible AI: decide who is accountable, understand impacts and plan accordingly, measure and manage risks, share information, test and monitor, and maintain human control.\n\n\nCritically, the AI6 framework is not a binary compliance checklist. \nThe practices are designed so that you don't need to implement everything all at once. Once you've established baseline AI good governance ('Getting Started'), you can add more actions ('Next steps') as your organisation's AI use grows or your governance capabilities mature.\n\n\nThe guidance is published in two versions to accommodate different levels of organisational maturity: \nFoundations (10 pages) for organisations getting started, and Implementation Practices (53 pages) offering detailed guidance broadly aligned with international AI management standards (ISO/IEC 42001:2023). This tiered approach recognises that organisations are at different stages of AI maturity.\n\n\n### Why the AI6 Replaced the Voluntary AI Safety Standard\n\nThe AI6 framework was not developed in isolation. \nCSIRO's Data61 Privacy Technology Group worked closely with DISR NAIC on the first update to VAISS: the Guidance for AI Adoption, released in October 2025. This Guidance builds on VAISS by condensing 10 guardrails into 6 essential practices and expanding the audience to developers as well as deployers.\n\n\nThe update was also driven by documented evidence of a persistent gap between intention and practice. \nThe 2025 Responsible AI Index found that responsible AI practice adoption is progressing, with 12% of organisations now in the Leading category, up 4% from 2024. However, a 'saying-doing' gap remains: while 78% of respondents agreed with ethical AI performance statements, only 29% had implemented relevant responsible AI practices. Smaller organisations face challenges implementing more resource-intensive governance practices.\n\n\n\nMost industry stakeholders were seeking more accessible, actionable and streamlined guidance which could be tailored to both technical and non-technical audiences, in particular SMEs.\n The AI6 framework is the direct response to that feedback.\n\n### Alignment with Existing Law — Not a Replacement for It\n\nA common misconception is that the AI6 creates new legal obligations. It does not. \nThe release of the Guidance affirms Australia's inclination toward a principles-led, advisory model for AI oversight, favouring practical guidance over immediate legislative intervention. Rather than introducing new laws, the framework complements existing regulatory instruments such as the Privacy Act 1988, Australian Consumer Law, and sector-specific regimes including those governing medical devices, critical infrastructure, financial services, and APRA prudential standards.\n\n\n(For a full analysis of how existing law already creates compliance obligations for AI deployers, see our guide on *Australia's AI Regulatory Framework: Voluntary Standards, Mandatory Guardrails and What Businesses Must Do Now*.)\n\n---\n\n## Free Tools and Templates: What the NAIC Provides at No Cost\n\nOne of the NAIC's most practically valuable contributions is its suite of free, editable resources. \nTo support adoption, the NAIC has released a suite of practical tools, including: an AI screening tool; a policy guide and template; an AI register template; and a glossary of terms and definitions. These resources aim to lower the barrier to responsible AI use, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.\n\n\nHere is how each tool functions in practice:\n\n- **AI Screening Tool**: \nThe Guidance for AI Adoption recommends the use of certain documentation and tools to assist in the management of AI risk. The NAIC has prepared templates for some of that documentation, including an AI Screening Tool to identify and flag AI use cases that are higher risk.\n\n\n- **AI Policy Template**: An editable document that provides a starting structure for an organisation's internal AI use policy. \nThe NAIC released the Guidance for AI Adoption on 21 October 2025 to support effective adoption practices by business. The guidance includes a suite of practical resources to make AI adoption widely accessible, including editable AI policy templates. NAIC resources have been simplified in partnership with business.gov.au, ensuring even the smallest organisations can benefit.\n\n\n- **AI Register Template**: A structured document for logging and managing AI systems in use across an organisation — a key requirement under the AI6 framework's accountability practice.\n\n- **Being Clear About AI-Generated Content Guide**: \nThe Being Clear About AI-Generated Content guide, released in December 2025, guides businesses on how they can improve trust by alerting users to AI-generated or modified content.\n\n\nAll of these resources are available without charge through industry.gov.au. For a step-by-step walkthrough of how to use these tools to build a governance framework inside your business, see our guide on *How to Build a Responsible AI Policy for Your Australian Business*.\n\n---\n\n## The AI Adoption Tracker: Australia's Real-Time SME Intelligence Platform\n\nThe NAIC's AI Adoption Tracker is the most granular, regularly updated source of data on how Australian SMEs are actually using AI. \nThis data publication tracks how small and medium businesses (SMEs) in Australia perceive and adopt artificial intelligence. Updated monthly.\n\n\n\nThe National AI Centre's Adoption Tracker, run through Fifth Quadrant with 400 different SMEs responding each month, provides the most granular SME-specific data.\n The tracker allows businesses, policymakers, and researchers to explore:\n\n- \nHow many SMEs are using AI across industries, business size and location; which types of AI applications SMEs are using, including generative AI assistants and fraud detection; SMEs' confidence in using AI to support their business needs; the benefits and challenges SMEs face in their AI adoption journey; and how businesses are using or planning to use responsible AI practices.\n\n\nThe tracker's most recent data points are significant for any business benchmarking its own adoption. \nThe latest AI Adoption Tracker shows that 41% of small and medium enterprises are currently adopting AI — an increase of 5% on the previous quarter.\n\n\nHowever, adoption remains uneven. \nThe uptake of AI remains uneven sector-wise. Retail trade, along with health and education services, maintains its lead as the most AI-active industries. These sectors are followed closely by services and hospitality. Meanwhile, adoption in the primary industries — such as construction, manufacturing, and agriculture — remains sluggish. Many businesses in these areas report being unaware of the potential value that AI solutions could bring, pointing to a knowledge gap that needs addressing through targeted awareness and capability-building initiatives.\n\n\nThe tracker also includes a dedicated responsible AI dashboard. \nThe new dashboard data reveals a clear gap between the responsible AI practices that SMEs intend to implement and those they have actually deployed. The gap suggests that while SMEs are committed to responsible AI in principle, many face practical barriers in translating intentions into operational practices — for example, because of limited capacity and competing priorities.\n\n\n(For a full analysis of what the tracker data reveals about adoption barriers and opportunities by sector, see our companion article on *Australian AI Adoption Statistics: What the Data Says About Business Uptake, Barriers and Opportunities*.)\n\n---\n\n## The ai.gov.au Platform: The NAIC's Consolidated Digital Front Door\n\nA significant development announced in the Australian Government's response to the Senate Select Committee on AI is the launch of a dedicated platform at ai.gov.au. \nThe NAIC is launching a dedicated platform (ai.gov.au) to consolidate guidance, training and use-case examples to support SMEs and end users to keep pace with industry change and complement existing cybersecurity resources.\n\n\nThis platform is designed to serve as the single access point for the NAIC's growing suite of resources — bringing together the AI6 guidance, adoption tools, training pathways, the AI Directory, and links to the AI Adopt Centres under one digital roof. For businesses that find navigating multiple government websites cumbersome, ai.gov.au represents a material improvement in accessibility.\n\n---\n\n## The NAIC's Coordinating Role: AI Adopt Centres and the Responsible AI Network\n\nThe NAIC does not operate in isolation. It sits at the centre of a broader ecosystem of government-funded support infrastructure.\n\n### The AI Adopt Centres\n\nThe NAIC coordinates with the AI Adopt Centres — four regionally distributed, government-funded centres established under the $17 million AI Adopt Program. \nThe National AI Plan will build on existing support for Australian businesses, including the creation of a network of AI Adopt Centres to upskill SMEs and initiatives by the National AI Centre.\n While the AI Adopt Centres provide hands-on, one-on-one advisory services to eligible businesses, the NAIC sets the governance framework and guidance standards within which those services are delivered. (For a full breakdown of each AI Adopt Centre and how to access them, see our guide on *The AI Adopt Program and AI Adopt Centres: How Australian SMEs Can Access Free AI Support*.)\n\n### The Responsible AI Network (RAIN)\n\n\nThe Responsible AI Network (RAIN) brings together industry, government and research practitioners to foster safe, inclusive and trustworthy artificial intelligence adoption in Australia.\n RAIN operates as a knowledge-sharing community convened by the NAIC, with regular webinars, resources from knowledge partners, and the annual Responsible AI Index. \nDeveloped by Fifth Quadrant and sponsored by the National AI Centre, the Responsible AI Index is now in its fourth year. It reveals how organisations are progressing across maturity levels and highlights the business benefits of responsible AI, including improved customer experience, productivity and risk management.\n\n\n### The AI Directory\n\n\nThe NAIC's new and improved AI Directory helps more businesses find and engage with Australian AI service providers. The re-launched platform replaces the former AI Ecosystem Discoverability Portal.\n For businesses seeking to identify Australian-based AI vendors, integrators, or specialists, the directory is a useful starting point that avoids the need to rely on international platforms that may not surface local providers.\n\n### Microcredential Training\n\nThe NAIC's coordination role extends to skills development. \nThrough the NAIC, and in partnership with TAFE NSW's Institute of Applied Technology – Digital, the government is offering one million fully subsidised scholarships for an online microskill course based on the government's Guidance for AI Adoption, launched in October 2025.\n This represents one of the most accessible free AI training pathways currently available to Australian workers and business owners.\n\n---\n\n## How to Access NAIC Resources: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide\n\nThe following steps outline how a business — regardless of size or sector — can begin using NAIC resources immediately.\n\n1. **Visit industry.gov.au/national-artificial-intelligence-centre** — this is the primary NAIC hub, housing the AI6 guidance, adoption tools, AI Adoption Tracker, and links to the AI Directory and RAIN.\n\n2. **Download the Guidance for AI Adoption (Foundations version)** — the 10-page Foundations document is the right starting point for most SMEs and not-for-profits. It is free, editable, and designed to be accessible to non-technical readers.\n\n3. **Use the AI Screening Tool** to assess which of your current or planned AI use cases carry higher risk and therefore require more governance attention.\n\n4. **Adapt the AI Policy Template** to your organisation's context. The template provides a baseline structure; you will need to insert your own use cases, accountability owners, and review mechanisms.\n\n5. **Set up an AI Register** using the NAIC's template to log AI systems in use, their purpose, the data they access, and who is accountable for them.\n\n6. **Benchmark your responsible AI maturity** using the Fifth Quadrant Responsible AI Self-Assessment Tool, sponsored by the NAIC, to understand where your organisation sits relative to peers.\n\n7. **Access the AI Adoption Tracker** for sector-specific data that can support internal business cases for AI investment.\n\n8. **Connect with an AI Adopt Centre** if your business is in a National Reconstruction Fund priority sector and needs hands-on advisory support beyond what the NAIC's self-service resources provide.\n\n9. **Register for NAIC events and webinars** via the AI event calendar at industry.gov.au — these are free and regularly feature knowledge partners from RAIN.\n\n10. **Monitor ai.gov.au** as it launches and expands as the government's consolidated AI guidance platform.\n\n---\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- \nThe NAIC is the Australian Government's lead body supporting industry to unlock the economic benefits of AI\n — it is the primary \"front door\" into the government's AI support ecosystem for businesses of all sizes.\n\n- \nIn October 2025, the NAIC released the Guidance for AI Adoption, setting out six essential practices (\"AI6\") for responsible AI governance and adoption by organisations operating in Australia. This guidance updates and replaces the Voluntary AI Safety Standard as the main reference for business.\n\n\n- \nThe NAIC has released a suite of free practical tools — including an AI screening tool, a policy guide and template, an AI register template, and a glossary — aimed at lowering the barrier to responsible AI use, particularly for SMEs.\n\n\n- \nThe NAIC's AI Adoption Tracker shows that 41% of Australian SMEs are currently adopting AI\n, but \na clear gap exists between the responsible AI practices that SMEs intend to implement and those they have actually deployed.\n\n\n- \nThe NAIC is launching a dedicated platform (ai.gov.au) to consolidate guidance, training and use-case examples to support SMEs and end users.\n\n\n- The NAIC's resources are free, available immediately without application, and explicitly designed for SMEs, not-for-profits, social enterprises and First Nations businesses — making them the logical first step before engaging any paid advisory service.\n\n---\n\n## Conclusion\n\nThe NAIC occupies a unique and strategically important position in Australia's AI policy landscape. It is simultaneously a standard-setter (through AI6), an intelligence function (through the AI Adoption Tracker), a resource provider (through free tools and templates), a training enabler (through subsidised microcredentials), and an ecosystem coordinator (through RAIN and the AI Adopt Centres). No other single government body performs all of these functions together.\n\nFor Australian businesses — particularly SMEs, not-for-profits and First Nations organisations — the NAIC's free resources represent the most immediate and lowest-barrier entry point into responsible AI adoption. Starting with the AI6 Foundations document, the AI policy template, and the AI screening tool requires no budget, no application, and no eligibility assessment. It requires only a willingness to engage.\n\nThe NAIC's resources also serve a second, strategic function: they establish the governance baseline that makes a business eligible and credible when applying for more substantive government support through the AI Adopt Program, CRC grants, or other funded mechanisms. Businesses that have already implemented AI6 practices and maintain an AI register are demonstrably better positioned in any competitive grant process.\n\nFor businesses ready to go beyond the NAIC's self-service resources, the next steps are covered in our related guides: *The AI Adopt Program and AI Adopt Centres: How Australian SMEs Can Access Free AI Support*, *How to Build a Responsible AI Policy for Your Australian Business*, and *Every Australian Government AI Grant and Funding Program: A Complete Directory*.\n\n---\n\n## References\n\n- Australian Government, Department of Industry, Science and Resources. \"National Artificial Intelligence Centre.\" *industry.gov.au*, 2025. https://www.industry.gov.au/national-artificial-intelligence-centre\n\n- Australian Government, Department of Industry, Science and Resources. \"AI Adoption Tracker.\" *industry.gov.au*, updated monthly from May 2024. https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/ai-adoption-tracker\n\n- Australian Government, Department of Industry, Science and Resources. \"Guidance for AI Adoption.\" *industry.gov.au*, October 2025. https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/guidance-for-ai-adoption\n\n- Australian Government, Department of Industry, Science and Resources. \"Australia Launches National AI Plan to Capture Opportunities, Share Benefits and Keep Australians Safe.\" *industry.gov.au*, December 2025. https://www.industry.gov.au/news/australia-launches-national-ai-plan-capture-opportunities-share-benefits-and-keep-australians-safe\n\n- Australian Government, Department of Industry, Science and Resources. \"Supporting Safer AI Adoption: Updated Guidance for Australian Business.\" *industry.gov.au*, October 2025. https://www.industry.gov.au/news/supporting-safer-ai-adoption-updated-guidance-australian-business\n\n- Australian Government, Department of Industry, Science and Resources. \"Australian Government Response: Senate Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) Report.\" *industry.gov.au*, 2025–2026. https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/australian-government-response-senate-select-committee-adopting-artificial-intelligence-ai-report\n\n- Fifth Quadrant (sponsored by NAIC). \"Responsible AI Index 2025.\" *industry.gov.au*, August 2025. https://www.industry.gov.au/news/australias-national-benchmark-responsible-ai-adoption-now-available\n\n- CSIRO Data61 Privacy Technology Group. \"Collaboration with the National AI Centre (NAIC) on the Development of the Guidance for AI Adoption.\" *research.csiro.au*, October 2025. https://research.csiro.au/isp/research/privacy_mlai/collaboration-with-the-national-ai-centre-naic-on-the-development-of-the-guidance-for-ai-adoption/\n\n- Hogan Lovells. \"Australia's New Guidance for AI Adoption: A Strategic Step Toward Responsible Innovation.\" *hoganlovells.com*, October 2025. https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/publications/australias-new-guidance-for-ai-adoption-a-strategic-step-toward-responsible-innovation\n\n- MinterEllison. \"Australia Introduces a National AI Plan: Four Things Leaders Need to Know.\" *minterellison.com*, December 2025. https://www.minterellison.com/articles/australia-introduces-a-national-ai-plan-four-things-leaders-need-to-know\n\n- Allens. \"Governance Doesn't Stand Still: 9 FAQs to Help Understand the Government's New Guidance for AI Adoption.\" *allens.com.au*, November 2025. https://www.allens.com.au/insights-news/insights/2025/11/governance-doesnt-stand-still-9-faqs-to-help-understand-the-governments-new-guidance-for-ai-adoption/\n\n- Actuaries Institute. \"Understanding Australia's AI6: A Framework for AI Governance.\" *actuaries.asn.au*, February 2026. https://www.actuaries.asn.au/research-analysis/understanding-australia-s-ai6-a-framework-for-ai-governance",
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