By Clementine Fox, General Manager – Australia

Last week marked AI Week here in Australia, and the theme couldn’t be timelier: “AI: Your Next Step in Business.” The national narrative says Australia is falling behind. But having been here on the ground for the past six months, I’ve seen that it’s not all doom and gloom – there’s a clear fix. We simply need to move from talk to targeted adoption, and that’s exactly what we’re driving from our new Sydney office, opened earlier this year to accelerate AI uptake across the region.

The Productivity Gap is Solvable

Commentary has framed Australia’s productivity slowdown as structural, with endless debate about whether AI can deliver a genuine “time dividend” without asking people to work longer or harder. The figures tell a clear story: According to a recent New Dialogue report, only 27% of ASX 200 firms disclosed AI adoption in 2025 vs 95% of the Fortune 500 in the U.S. But this doesn’t justify paralysis, it should fuel action. As Industry Minister Tim Ayres put it: “Other countries are moving fast – and so must we.” The good news: we don’t need to reinvent the economy. We need to deploy proven AI where it lifts productivity now.

The Obvious Fix: Put AI to Work on Work

The fastest time dividend doesn’t come from extending working hours or compressing them into four-day weeks. It comes from changing how work gets done. At Luminance, our Legal-Grade™ AI understands, reasons and acts on contracts autonomously, turning an administrative burden into a strategic intelligence layer. Rather than just speeding up routine tasks, we connect every clause, term and obligation across the enterprise so teams can:

  • Review, negotiate and approve faster, with consistency and auditability.
  • Surface obligations and risks in real time before they become problems.
  • Reuse knowledge from past deals to inform the next one without manual hunting.

This is real evidence over theory. Our 1,000+ customers are already measuring time saved, cycle times reduced and compliance strengthened. The time dividend is real and bankable.

Why This Matters Nationally

Productivity growth is a central task for Australia and AI is the most practical lever available now. Embedding AI-enabled time gains into everyday operations across complex, document-heavy sectors is the quickest path to lift output without asking people to work longer or harder.

Australia’s challenge isn’t a lack of ideas; it’s commercializing them at scale. That’s why we set up on the ground in Sydney this year – to help organizations translate AI talk into operational results. Having spent several years leading our U.S. office, I’ve seen firsthand how attitudes toward AI adoption can vary dramatically between markets. But all that means is a different approach is required. There are plenty of forward-thinking organizations across Australia eager to embrace transformative technology – they just need the know-how. And that’s where we come in.

From Narrative to Action: A Simple Playbook

If you’re a leader wondering where to start, here’s the obvious, low-regret path:

  • Pick a high-friction workflow (contract review, NDAs, vendor terms, procurement).
  • Automate with clear desired outcomes (e.g., “reduce review time by 40%,” “halve approval cycle”).
  • Scale what works across business units; retire what doesn’t quickly.
  • Govern responsibly (clear policies, human-in-the-loop checkpoints, audit trails).

Our mission at Luminance is simple: turn contracts into intelligence and time into value. We’re partnering with Australian organizations to prove that the “AI productivity dividend” is not a slogan – it’s a metric. And as we’ve seen globally, once teams experience the new baseline, they don’t go back.

AI Week reminded us how much potential remains untapped. The narrative that “Australia is falling behind” should be a spur, not a verdict. The opportunity is in plain sight. The technology is ready. What’s needed now is intent and action.

Smiling woman with long hair in a professional setting.

By: Clementine Fox, Australia General Manager

Clementine is the Australia General Manager for Luminance, where she is responsible for securing new business opportunities and leading the company’s continued expansion across Australia and APAC. Clementine has a wealth of experience in the AI sector, having previously worked as the Partnership Development Lead at the Alan Turing Institute and as Head of Account Management at Luminance for over two years, where she oversaw the implementation of technology for Luminance’s global customer base. Clementine has received numerous industry accolades, including winning a prestigious Women World Award and being shortlisted for ‘Rising Star of the Year’ at the UK IT Industry Awards. Clementine qualified as a Solicitor in Queensland, Australia.