How we intend to use AI

The AER has an expanding role to play in the national energy market and believe artificial intelligence (AI) will contribute to the effective and efficient delivery of our objectives to benefit the Australian community. The AER is committed to using AI in a safe and responsible way. In particular, responsible use of AI can add significant value to our work by:

  • enabling new ways of working (such as more robust quality assurance processes)

  • reducing time spent on simple tasks to allow more time on high-value tasks.

In considering AI, we have adopted the definition of AI used in the Policy for the responsible use of AI in government:

  • An AI system is a machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers, from the input it receives, how to generate outputs such as predictions, content, recommendations, or decisions that can influence physical or virtual environments. Different AI systems vary in their levels of autonomy and adaptiveness after deployment.

Our people will remain responsible for all oversight of tasks and decision making. When engaging with or using AI, we will meet our commitments to the public, businesses, government and the courts, including with respect to security, privacy, confidentiality, ethics and other legal obligations. We make risk-based decisions on its use.

How we are using AI

We're considering AI in line with common Australian Government AI usage patterns and domains. See the classification system for AI use for more information.

The AER usage patterns are:

Analytics for insights

The AER uses AI to produce insights from materials in the following ways:

  • assisting with reviewing and interrogating large and complex sets of documents or datasets
  • enhancing pattern detection by predicting and identifying potentially concerning behaviour.

Workplace productivity

The AER’s use of AI is aimed at improving workplace productivity for staff. This includes:

  • summarising documents, emails, and other content
  • recording and transcribing meetings
  • creating training material for staff
  • proactively seeking and retrieving information for analysis
  • automating routine tasks
  • editing or refining drafts of documents
  • generating drafts of documents, except those subject to administrative review.

We are exploring a range of AI driven innovations and tools, to make sure we continuously improve our efficiency and effectiveness. 

Areas of AI application

The domains used for AI applications focuses on the following areas:

  • corporate and enabling - to support functions by automating processes, optimising resource allocation and improving operational efficiency.
  • scientific - to enhance the processing of complex datasets, to predict outcomes and to enhance monitoring functions.

Public interaction and impact

We do not currently deploy AI as part of the AER’s direct interaction with the public, through the Contact Centre or Energy Made Easy.

The AER will update this transparency statement if AI is used for any public interactions, including through other communication channels.

For all internal uses of AI, our processes must consider any potential impacts on the community. While AI may be used to help in various tasks, our people will continue to be responsible for oversight and decision making.

Complying with legislation and regulation

While we use AI in limited ways to help our staff, our AI systems do not make decisions or take actions on their own.

Our AI use complies with all relevant legislation and regulations, and we apply strong safeguards to protect personal information.

Monitoring AI systems

We have taken the following steps to monitor the effectiveness of deployed AI systems, and to meet all mandatory requirements of the Policy for responsible use of AI in government (the policy) by:

  • designating accountability for implementing the policy to the AI accountable official, the AER’s Executive General Manager of Legal, Corporate and Information Services 
  • publishing an AI policy that aligns with this policy and includes an established AI review and approval pathway for internal AI use. This includes supporting infrastructure such as an AI register
  • establishing an internal working group for using AI to support the Corporate Governance Board
  • considering the potential risks of AI as part of our internal risk management processes
  • mandating training, supported by internally developed resources, for all AER staff regarding the use of AI in our work
  • the publication of this transparency statement.

The AER Corporate Governance Board is our primary corporate governance body and has ultimate oversight for AI adoption across the agency.

Review of this statement

This statement was published in July 2026. It will be reviewed and updated:

  • at least once a year,
  • when a significant change is made to the agency’s approach to AI, or 
  • becomes aware of any new factor that materially impacts the statement’s accuracy.

Contact

For questions about this statement or for further information on our use of AI, please contact us.