Aussie Businesses Racing Ahead with AI While Governance Lags Behind

Australian businesses are adopting AI faster than they can govern it, according to OneTrust's 2026 AI-Ready Governance Report, based on a survey of 1,200 senior decisionmakers across eight countries including Australia. The report found that 37% of Australian respondents describe their AI governance as defined but slow and manual, while 21% call it reactive and fragmented, the highest rate among all countries surveyed.

This governance gap is placing real strain on businesses. Australian organisations reported spending 25% more time managing AI-related risk than a year ago, and 41% said employees had used unapproved AI tools because sanctioned options weren't available quickly enough. Meanwhile, 44% of organisations are encouraging the use of AI agents even as controls for them are still being developed.

The trend isn't unique to Australia. Globally, 87% of organisations encourage AI agent use but only 47% have clear governance and oversight in place, and 28% experienced multiple incidents where AI systems took unapproved actions. Despite 86% of respondents reporting at least one AI-related incident in the past year, including data exposure or unapproved use, most organisations responded with more employee training rather than slowing down AI deployment.