A new survey of Australian and APAC organisations, conducted by the Diligent Institute, in partnership with the Governance Institute of Australia (GIA) and the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID), has revealed Australian boards are rapidly prioritising AI and digital transformation. However, they often lack governance or oversight to manage the risks associated with technologies outpacing human capabilities in the workplace.
43% of surveyed governance leaders in Australia have placed AI adoption on top of their strategic agendas, while 61% of organisations have already restricted or defined AI use by employees. However, only 13% of Australian boards have recruited AI-savvy directors which indicates a critical skills gap in the market, and just 21% mandate director training on AI, highlighting a growing governance gap as adoption outpaces oversight.
“Australian boards are moving quickly to integrate AI into their businesses but are slower to build the governance frameworks needed to keep pace,” says Dottie Schindlinger, Executive Director of the Diligent Institute. “With too few organizations auditing AI usage, recruiting directors with AI expertise, or mandating training, they risk a significant mismatch between AI adoption and AI oversight.”
Just over a third (37%) of boards have conducted an audit of existing AI usage to understand how employees are using and adopting it, highlighting the limited visibility boards may have into current practices. The findings also suggest Australian organisations are more risk-conscious than their counterparts in Asia, with Australian boards being more than twice as likely to restrict employee use of AI (61% versus 30% in Asia). Asian boards, by contrast, are more than twice as likely to recruit directors with AI expertise (28% versus 13% in Australia), suggesting a greater focus on high-level AI governance compared to Australia where there is a shortage of skilled AI workers and AI governance. In Australia, the gap is driven by a shortage of skilled AI professionals and limited AI literacy among board directors.
Other key findings from the report show:
- Cybersecurity risks continue to dominate the Australian boardroom agenda. More than half (53%) of Australian boards cite cybersecurity as their top strategic priority, significantly higher than the APAC regional average of 39%.
- Managing cybersecurity risks placed ahead of pursuing growth and new business opportunities or new markets, with 47% of Australian respondents naming this an urgent issue for discussion in the next board meeting.
- When asked what topic they would most want on the board agenda if given complete freedom, Australian respondents placed digital transformation (including AI) at the top (63%), followed by growth strategies (57%).
Australian boards were also more likely than their Asian peers to prioritise financial conditions and economic uncertainty for upcoming meetings (48% versus 38%), while Asian respondents placed greater emphasis on business continuity and crisis management (45% versus 34%).
“The survey results reveal that Australian organisations are putting cybersecurity and AI adoption ahead of growth as their top strategic priorities, reflecting recent high-profile cyber security failures and the fear of missing out on the potential opportunities that AI technologies may deliver in the workplace,” said Daniel Popovski, AI and Tech Policy and Advocacy Lead at the Governance Institute of Australia. “They recognise that if they don’t get the balance of technology and risk right, the foundations for growth simply won’t hold.”
To download the full Diligent Institute report examining governance outlook trends in Asia and Australia, click here.
About the Report
The Diligent Institute, in collaboration with the Singapore Institute of Directors (SID) and the Governance Institute of Australia (GIA), surveyed 187 governance leaders across Asia-Pacific from late July to early September 2025, including board directors, company secretaries, chief legal officers, chief risk officers, and other governance professionals from public, private, and not-for-profit organisations spanning multiple sectors.
About Diligent Institute
Diligent Institute informs, educates, and connects leaders to champion governance excellence. We meet this mission through original, cutting-edge research on critical corporate governance issues, certificate programs for corporate leaders, peer networks that convene directors and executives to share best practices, and recognition programs that celebrate governance excellence. Diligent Institute was founded in 2018 as Diligent’s global corporate governance research arm and think tank. Learn more at diligentinstitute.com.
About Diligent
Diligent is the AI leader in governance, risk and compliance (GRC) SaaS solutions, helping more than 1 million users and 700,000 board members to clarify risk and elevate governance. The Diligent One Platform gives practitioners, the C-Suite and the board a consolidated view of their entire GRC practice so they can more effectively manage risk, build greater resilience and make better decisions, faster. Learn more at diligent.com.
