Roundtable on AI Policy for Economic Impact

The Roundtable on AI Policy for Economic Impact convened senior leaders from government, industry, academia, and economics to address a practical question: how does Western Australia translate AI into productivity, better services, stronger capability, and lasting local value?

Co-hosted by AITAI and the WA Data Science Innovation Hub (WADSIH), and opened by AITAI Founder Jeroen van Dalen, the roundtable was MC'd by Hannah Fitzhardinge MAICD and brought together deep insights from Jeroen van Dalen (Founder, AITAI), Hon Dr Parwinder Kaur MLC, Sharath Sriram, Alex Jenkins, Jess Bukowski, Aidan Morgan, Nicole Lockwood, Alan Duncan, and representatives from the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification (DEED) and Treasury.

The conversation was set against a fast-moving global backdrop. AI investment is running at a scale the world hasn't seen before, firm-level productivity gains are beginning to show in the data, and capability continues to advance across reasoning, coding, and increasingly physical work. At the same time, adoption remains uneven and the broader economic picture is still coming into focus.

Western Australia brings genuine structural advantages to this moment - energy, land, and an industry mix where AI and robotics have direct application in mining, METS, agriculture, and logistics. Whether those advantages translate into outcomes depends on the foundations being built now: adoption readiness, institutional capability, talent pipelines, and the bridge between research and industry.

The discussion drew on a briefing note prepared by AITAI, AI Policy for Economic Impact, which sets out the evidence base, a 3×2 scenario framework for plausible AI futures, and the strategic positioning questions facing WA.