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AI in Australian education

Australian education has no single AI law. Schools work under a national framework endorsed by education ministers, universities answer to TEQSA for assessment integrity, and state education departments set binding rules for their own schools. Privacy law and the eSafety Commissioner apply on top. Here is what applies, what changed recently and what a provider should do about it.

Dept of EducationTEQSAOAICeSafety CommissionerState education departments

Last reviewed October 2026. Every entry links to its official source.

The rules

What applies today

The national policy framework for generative AI in all Australian schools, built on six principles: teaching and learning, human and social wellbeing, transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy, security and safety. Education ministers endorsed a review of the framework in June 2025 which found it fit for purpose, and taskforce working groups are developing national product expectations for edtech AI tools.

Who this affects: All school sectors (government, Catholic and independent). It is national policy rather than legislation; states and systems implement it through their own binding policies.

Latest updates

What changed recently

  1. South Australia's Royal Commission into Artificial Intelligence commenced, with Dr Iain Ross AO as chair alongside Kate Pounder and Professor Christopher Manning. It reports by 1 July 2027.

    ABC News: three experts appointed to lead SA's Royal Commission into AI

  2. The OAIC published its final guidance on the automated decision-making transparency obligation: a fact sheet on APP 1.7 to 1.9, a supplementary sheet for agencies, a flowchart and an updated Chapter 1 of the APP Guidelines. Computer program is read broadly, human review does not remove the duty where the program's output is a material input, and there is no grace period after 10 December 2026.

    OAIC: new resources on transparency for AI and automated decision-making

  3. The Prime Minister disclosed that an OpenAI agent had bypassed access controls on a Services Australia Medicare statistics portal on 18 June 2026, with notification reaching the Government 84 days later. An Office of AI taskforce with ASD and the AI Safety Institute is reviewing the incident, and the Government said mandatory, timely AI incident reporting will be part of the Australian Standards for AI, to be introduced by the end of 2026.

    ABC News: AI agent accessed Australian government site, PM says

  4. The Office of AI in PM&C opened consultation on the Australian Standards for AI, proposing mandatory standards for large data centres and conditions for AI training rather than obligations on organisations deploying AI; submissions close 9 October 2026.

    PM&C: have your say on AI training and infrastructure

  5. The Government released the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 exposure draft, which names services that let users generate and share AI material as covered services; feedback closes 22 September 2026.

    Department of Infrastructure: exposure draft

  6. National Cabinet agreed the Commonwealth will legislate nationally consistent AI laws and mandatory standards for large data centres in early 2027, complementing state and territory planning processes.

    National Cabinet communique

  7. Parliament appointed a Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence whose terms of reference include the adequacy of Australia's education system and existing AI laws, reporting by 30 November 2026.

    Parliament of Australia: Joint Select Committee on AI

  8. South Australia announced Australia's first Royal Commission into Artificial Intelligence, commencing 1 October 2026 and reporting by 1 July 2027.

    SA DPC announcement

  9. eSafety published Talking to machines, research finding 78 per cent of children aged 10 to 17 have used an AI assistant, one in five users reported a harmful interaction and about a third had shared personal information.

    eSafety media release

  10. eSafety published a new advisory on sharing school imagery in the age of AI, after more than 100 reports in early 2026 of anonymous accounts targeting schools and staff with AI-manipulated content harvested from school social media.

    eSafety media release

  11. The Prime Minister announced the Australian Standards for AI and a new Office of AI within PM&C, followed days later by whole-of-government AI consumer safety priorities including a legislated Digital Duty of Care and a second tranche of privacy reform.

    PM media release: AI in Australia's interests

  12. TEQSA published Assuring quality learning in a gen AI-integrated future, the third instalment of its assessment reform series for higher education providers.

    TEQSA gen-AI resources

  13. TEQSA released its revised Academic Integrity Toolkit with new sections on assessment design and security and on risks to academic integrity from generative AI.

    TEQSA: revised Academic Integrity Toolkit

Getting ready

Compliance checklist

  • Map every AI tool you use against the national framework's six principles and document how each one addresses teaching and learning, wellbeing, transparency, fairness, accountability and privacy. See the rule

  • Universities: keep a governed gen-AI action plan addressing award integrity current, and align assessment redesign with TEQSA's assessment reform series. See the rule

  • Run privacy due diligence before procuring any AI tool: where data is stored, whether inputs train the model, and which third parties receive it. See the rule

  • Prohibit entering student or staff personal information into public gen-AI tools, and prohibit uploading or generating media depicting students, staff or parents. See the rule

  • Get informed opt-in consent from parents and carers where a tool collects personal information beyond a school email and password. See the rule

  • Keep humans in the loop on judgements: no gen-AI marking decisions about student achievement, writing student reports or replacing teacher communication with families. See the rule

  • Have a deepfake and image-misuse incident response plan, and take a risk-based approach to posting student and staff imagery publicly. See the rule

Straight answers

Questions people ask

What is the Australian Framework for Generative AI in Schools?

The national policy framework for generative AI in all Australian schools, built on six principles: teaching and learning, human and social wellbeing, transparency, fairness, accountability, and privacy, security and safety. Education ministers endorsed a review in June 2025 that found it fit for purpose, and taskforce working groups are developing national product expectations for edtech AI tools. It is policy rather than legislation; states and systems implement it through binding rules of their own.

Can teachers use ChatGPT in Australian schools?

It depends on the system. NSW public schools run NSWEduChat, hosted in the department's own Sydney cloud; other free gen-AI tools are not endorsed and student use of external AI stays restricted unless a tool passes the Safe AI Ethics Assessment. Queensland state schools use Corella inside the department's environment. Victorian government schools must obtain opt-in parent consent before using any gen-AI tool that collects personal information beyond a school email and password, and staff must not use gen-AI to judge student achievement or write reports.

What does TEQSA require universities to do about generative AI?

TEQSA required every registered higher education provider to submit a credible institutional action plan, overseen by appropriate governance, addressing the risk generative AI poses to award integrity. Its assessment reform series, most recently Assuring quality learning in a gen AI-integrated future (June 2026), sets expectations for redesigning assessment. The enforceable layer remains the Threshold Standards.

Does the Privacy Act apply to AI tools used with student data?

Yes. The Australian Privacy Principles apply in full. Entering personal information into an AI tool engages the purpose-limitation rules, and AI-generated or inferred information about a person counts as a collection. The OAIC's best practice is not to enter personal or sensitive information into publicly available chatbots and to clearly identify public-facing AI tools as AI. Private providers with turnover above $3 million and all APP entities handling student data are covered.

What should a school do about deepfakes and nudify apps?

Follow eSafety's advisories and its Toolkit for Schools deepfake guide, have an incident response plan, and take a risk-based approach to posting student and staff imagery, which eSafety warned in July 2026 is being harvested for AI misuse. Sharing non-consensual explicit deepfakes is a criminal offence, and the Government released an exposure draft of the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026 on 8 September 2026.

Will the Australian Standards for AI apply to schools and universities?

Not as currently framed. National Cabinet agreed on 26 August 2026 that the Commonwealth will legislate mandatory standards for large data centres and conditions on AI training in early 2027. The Office of AI's consultation paper of 18 September 2026 (submissions closing 9 October 2026) is infrastructure-focused and does not impose obligations on organisations that deploy AI. Education's rules remain the national framework, TEQSA and state policies.

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