The Policy for the responsible use of AI in government requires all non-corporate Commonwealth entities to make a publicly available statement outlining their approach to AI adoption and use as directed by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA). The ARC is a non-corporate Commonwealth entity, as defined by the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act), and therefore must comply with all requirements outlined in the Policy for the responsible use of AI in government. Transparency Statement The ARC is committed to capturing the opportunity of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the organisation, while ensuring that the use of AI is appropriate, responsible and ethical. The ARC complies with the Policy for the responsible use of AI in government, and other relevant guidance regarding government standards of AI use. The ARC has a separate policy to outline its expectations for the use of AI by grant applicants and ARC assessors. To ensure the appropriate, responsible and ethical application of AI use within the agency, the ARC’s approach is to: Implement an internal AI acceptable use policy for all personnel to follow. This policy will be reviewed annually (at minimum) to ensure the ARC continues to align with best practices and government standards and keep pace with developments in AI technology. Release a strategic position on AI adoption within the organisation to guide and empower ARC personnel to engage with AI through an aligned vision. Continue to provide mandatory and develop further training on AI to all personnel. Introduce an internal prioritisation process to consider new AI projects to ensure they align with the appropriate, responsible and ethical use of AI. Maintain a register of AI use cases within the ARC and assign accountable use case owners to monitor and record the internal use of AI within the agency. Manage any potential and realised risks appropriately through the ARC’s Risk Management Framework, including reporting to the ARC Audit and Risk Committee and Digital Transformation Agency. The ARC’s current use of AI within the agency is in its early stages, with a few applications of AI currently being piloted within some business areas. Table 1 outlines the current and potential internal applications of AI, as per the DTA’s Classification system for AI use. Table 1: Current and potential applications of AI used internally within the ARC (as of 26 March 2026). Usage Domain ARC current or potential use Analytics for insights Identifies, produces or understands insights within structured or unstructured materials via comprehensive data analysis, predictive modelling and/or reporting tools. Corporate and Enabling The use of advanced AI techniques is planned for development to inform policy settings and where required, provide insights to the ARC’s stakeholders. Any internally developed models or the use of external models will be considered through the internal prioritisation process, have appropriate evaluation methods applied, and the results will be verified by domain experts. This rigour will ensure that the results are fit for purpose and responsibly used. Workplace productivity Automate routine tasks, manage workflows and facilitate communication. Corporate and Enabling The ARC utilises Microsoft CoPilot 365 Enterprise to provide real-time transcription in meetings, summarise key discussion points and assist in administrative tasks. For example, composing an initial draft of minutes and action items in advance of human review. The ARC will consider how AI may be used to improve grant administration and assist with coding for internal systems. Any implementation will be consistent with the principles of being appropriate, responsible and ethical, have appropriate risk management practices in place, and ensure there is human oversight. Decision making and administrative action Support decision making or the taking of administrative action by guiding, assessing or making a recommendation to a human decision maker and/or make decisions or take administrative action without human intervention. Policy and Legal The ARC may consider how AI can support administrative decision-making processes in grants administration. Any implementation will be consistent with the principles of being appropriate, responsible and ethical, have appropriate risk management practices in place, and ensure there is human oversight. Image processing Processes images to automatically identify patterns and objects, such as faces, for official purposes. Nil The usage of image processing is not applied within the ARC, nor are there any appropriate applications currently identified for potential use of this technology within the ARC. Chief AI Officer Anthony Murfett, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Australian Research Council Accountable Official Bobby Almasi, Chief Information Officer Australian Research Council Phone: 02 6206 7226 cio@arc.gov.au ARC Communications Phone: 02 6287 6600 communications@arc.gov.au Level 4 West, 47 Bowes Street Phillip ACT 2606 GPO Box 2702, Canberra ACT 2601 This AI transparency statement was first published in April 2025 and updated in March 2026. This statement will be reviewed annually, or when significant change is made to the ARC’s approach to AI.