Deloitte's 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise report has released Australian-specific data, and it paints a clear picture of where local businesses stand relative to the rest of the world.
Only 12% of Australian organisations say generative AI is genuinely transforming their business or industry. The global average is 25%. That is not a small gap. And the investment data adds context. Just 65% of Australian respondents plan to increase AI spending next year, compared to 84% globally. The intent is lower, and so are the results.
The execution problem is consistent with what the numbers show on the ground. Just 28% of Australian businesses have moved 40% or more of their AI pilots into full production. Most organisations are running AI experiments, seeing some efficiency gains, and then stopping short of the structural change that creates a real competitive advantage.
There is a difference between using AI and being transformed by it. Deloitte's research puts a number on that difference. Using AI to automate an existing process is useful. Reimagining how your business operates because of AI is something else entirely. Right now, 70% of Australian businesses are doing the first and only 30% are getting to the second.
The data is not discouraging. Fifty-seven percent of Australian organisations expect to have 40% or more of their pilots in production within the next six months. That is a significant acceleration if it happens. But it requires making decisions now about which pilots are worth scaling, where the governance sits, and how the people affected are being brought along.
The window for moving from experimentation to real competitive advantage is still open. But the gap between Australian businesses and global peers is measurable, and it is growing.
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