From Experiments to Advantage: Six Predictions for Enterprise AI in Australia in 2026

Here are six predictions for Enterprise AI in the Australian market in 2026.

2025 has been a year of awareness and experimentation. 2026 is when the rubber truly hits the road. After speaking with hundreds of business leaders this year and going deep on multiple AI initiatives, this is how I expect the enterprise AI landscape to play out.

1. AI security becomes impossible to ignore
A major AI-driven breach will force boards, regulators and insurers to treat AI security as its own risk category. AI threat modelling, red-teaming and guardrail testing will move from “nice to have” to required disciplines for any material deployment.

2. AI becomes a structural advantage – and the gap widens
Organisations that have invested in foundations and embedded AI into the core will start to structurally outperform. They will move faster, run leaner and use AI to spot and execute on opportunities others cannot staff. Consolidation will follow as “AI haves” roll up “have-nots”.

3. AI-first companies compete head-on with incumbents
New AI-native firms will design for synthetic workforces and near-zero marginal cost decisioning from day one. In several sectors they will start winning against traditional players not just on price, but on responsiveness, service and economics.

4. Boards lose patience with experiments
Vanity pilots and open-ended “experimentation” will come under scrutiny. Boards will demand a clear line from AI initiatives to strategy, financial outcomes and risk posture. A minority of organisations will close the pilot-to-production gap; the rest will keep recycling proofs of concept. Those that have not invested in foundations and have focused only on PoCs will need to backtrack.

5. Operating models are redesigned for the AI era
The core question will shift from “What tools should we buy?” to “What kind of organisation do we need to be in two years to fully exploit AI?”. That will mean new role mixes, skills, data platforms and governance – and the Chief AI Officer sitting alongside the CIO, CDO and COO.

6. CEOs build personal AI capability to lead synthetic teams
Forward-leaning CEOs will treat AI fluency as part of the role. They will use AI directly for strategy, communication and leverage – and to understand how to design and lead teams made up of humans and agents. Their behaviour will set the tone for how seriously the organisation takes AI.

If you’re planning your 2026 AI roadmap and want an external perspective on foundations, operating model or governance, reach out and we can compare notes.