The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2025 has sparked a crucial conversation about its impact on consumers and businesses in Australia. With AI-powered products and services growing in importance, we must address the potential risks and benefits they bring.
AI's Double-Edged Sword: Transforming Lives, Raising Concerns
AI has the power to revolutionize how we work, communicate, and interact with digital services. However, this rapid development also introduces potential harms and challenges for consumers and competition.
The ACCC's industry snapshot on AI highlights the need for constant vigilance. As AI technologies mature, they become increasingly interconnected with existing digital platforms, often controlled by tech giants. While this integration can enhance user experiences, it may also create barriers to entry and limit consumer choice.
But here's where it gets controversial: the use of agentic AI, including AI agents, could change the way users interact with businesses and digital services. This raises new risks, such as the possibility of AI agents colluding, even without explicit human programming.
The ACCC's snapshot also reveals significant global and Australian investments, acquisitions, and partnerships in the AI sector. Major digital platforms and AI firms are investing heavily in AI infrastructure and technical expertise, aiming to develop more advanced models and meet future demand.
The Growing Risks of AI Integration
As AI becomes more prevalent, the risks to consumers increase. The widespread collection and use of consumer data to train AI models, often without consent, is a major concern. Research shows that 83% of Australian consumers believe companies should seek consent before using their personal data for AI training.
AI is being used to create false representations, generate fake reviews, and enhance online scams. Generative AI images are used to build credibility for ghost websites, misrepresenting local businesses. Online product listings may use AI to make products appear more sophisticated or of higher quality than they are.
And this is the part most people miss: AI-generated reviews can be more persuasive and harder to detect, potentially misleading consumers. Scammers are also leveraging AI to make online scams more credible and harder to identify.
The Need for Continued Scrutiny
The ACCC emphasizes the importance of regulators and governments monitoring the rapidly changing digital landscape. The pace of change since the Digital Platform Services Inquiry underscores the need for a new digital competition regime.
The ACCC strongly supports the Government's commitment to implement this regime, which aims to bolster competition, level the playing field, and reduce prices for consumers. The ACCC's Digital Markets Branch conducted a five-year inquiry into digital platform services, leading to recommendations for mandatory codes of conduct for designated digital platforms.
The Government has begun consulting on the implementation of this new regime, recognizing that existing competition provisions are insufficient to address current and future harms. The ACCC's final report in March 2025 reiterated its support for a monitoring function for emerging digital technologies and a whole-of-government approach to digital platform regulation.
