The department uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a responsible and transparent way that upholds citizens’ personal privacy and rights and assesses the value of AI uses in an ethical and transparent manner, while keeping people at the centre of how we work.
We aim to use AI within the department in ways that improve operational efficiency and assist the department in meeting its mission to ensure access to quality education for all Australians.
On this page:
Why and how does the department use Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
Currently, the primary use of AI within the department is through the Microsoft Copilot tool that is available in Microsoft digital products. Key examples of what this means in practice are:
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Governance, management, and transparency
We are focused on establishing an AI governance regime that ensures AI serves our strategic objectives and those of the government. We have appointed accountable officials for AI and we are establishing appropriate review structures for new uses of AI. These will monitor use cases to ensure ethical uses of AI and alignment of AI and data governance to ensure that the way collected data is used by AI tools does not differ from stated collection purposes.
The department also maintains clear communication with its IT partner provider, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) to ensure that AI governance and approaches are aligned.
The use of AI in the department is periodically re-examined and reviewed in the Department’s Audit and Risk committee. In extraordinary circumstances or if there are rapidly emerging risks around AI deployment, committee members can require out-of-session reviews or an extraordinary session of the committee to deal with these risks.
In addition to monitoring developing AI risks, the Audit and Risk committee and the department’s Digital Services team will ensure that the use of AI within the department is effective, measurable and sustained and complies with all relevant government cybersecurity standards.
The department is also developing an AI use case register, as recommended by the Commonwealth Policy for the Responsible use of AI.
The department has appointed two Accountable Officers for the use of AI. They are:
Kerryn Kovacevic, Chief Information Officer
Hamish McDonald, First Assistant Secretary, Strategy, Data and Measurement
The department will periodically review other measures, including these governance arrangements and this transparency statement, to ensure that the department remains compliant with all requirements for the Policy for responsible use of AI in government.
What we won’t use AI for
The department currently does not allow AI for fully automated output processes, interaction with the public or in conjunction with other automated decision making (ADM) programs. This means that AI outputs will be reviewed by a staff member with the experience to know if outputs are appropriate (i.e. human-in-the-loop), the public will not interact with a chatbot or similar agent when contacting us, and automated decision making will not be combined with ADM programs which are already understood as potentially higher risk to the public due to large scale or high volume of output.
Compliance with relevant laws and regulations
While enabling the use of AI as part of a general strategy to promote innovation in ways of working, the department acts in line with all relevant pieces of legislation and regulation that govern the information that it manages and appropriate uses of that information.
This includes:
- the Privacy Act (1988)
- Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act (2013)
- Australian Public Service Code of Conduct
- Policy for responsible use of AI in government
This transparency statement will be annually reviewed and re-released with relevant updates.
Contact Information
For inquiries regarding the department’s use of AI, please contact digitalservices@education.gov.au.
This statement was last updated 30/09/2025.