Funding

1. Federal Government boosts AI capabilities: The federal government of Australia has allocated $29.9 million over four years to improve Australia’s efforts in AI and machine learning in the country’s 2018-19 budget. The government will utilize the fund for the development of a national AI ethics framework, technology roadmap, and set of standards.

2. Australia's National Science Agency - CSIRO invests $35M in future of space and AI: CSIRO, is investing $35M in frontier research in Space Technology and AI. The investment includes the development of advanced imaging of earth from satellites, in addition to cutting-edge data science to support the growth of AI technology. AI and machine learning will receive $19M to target AI-driven solutions for areas including food security and quality, health and wellbeing, sustainable energy and resources, resilient and valuable environments, and Australian and regional security. The primary research areas include programs and policies to improve prediction and understanding of complex data, platforms to enable reliable inferences and risk-based decisions, data systems to enable ethical, robust and scalable AI.

3. In April 2019, Microsoft announced to offer a grant to the Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Institute for Future Environments and the Australian Institute for Marine Science, to design an AI system that can quickly process data from the nation's iconic Great Barrier Reef using cloud computing services. Known as the Microsoft AI for Earth program, the project uses specialized hyperspectral cameras that correlate information with underwater data to identify the presence of threats like algae and coral bleaching. Processing Gigabytes of hyperspectral imagery is time-consuming, and a regular desktop PC processing can take months. This processing time can be reduced with the help of AI based system being developed by the university.