Systems · August 19, 2026
The money went out. Nobody counted what came back.
Spending on AI is recorded precisely. What it returns, in most organisations, has never been written down. This piece sets out what the published research actually says, including where the widely quoted numbers have been compressed past what the studies support. It covers the Australian position after the mandatory guardrails were shelved, the automated decision-making disclosure obligation that takes effect on 10 December 2026, and the finding that thirty-seven per cent of Australian boards have audited what their organisation is running. It closes on a conflict of interest the category has not addressed and an eighteen-month mistake of the author's own.
