AI hits critical mass with the Australian population
New research from Telsyte, a technology analyst firm, has found that 17.4 million Australians aged 16 or over (77 per cent) now use AI in their everyday lives.
With more than 6 million users joining in the last 12 months, it is clear that AI adoption is intensifying. ChatGPT still holds the dominant market position with 13.8 million users and is closely followed by Google Gemini with 9.1 million.
Despite the uptake, consumers are still anxious about AI. Most Australians interact with platforms by typing, with only 20 per cent using voice-to-text features to get their prompts across.
Currently, 12 per cent of Australians use AI tools as their primary means of finding information online, which is up from 5 per cent a year ago.
If tech companies wish to further increase the pace of adoption, they must address the major issues surrounding trust.
AI “Girl Bossification”?
The public was none too pleased to hear about the “girl bossification” of AI.
In April, Reese Witherspoon took to Instagram to tell her audience that women were 25 per cent less likely to use AI than men.
The esteemed actress urged women to stand up, get involved, and make their mark on AI. This led much of her audience to band against her, stating that their resistance to AI was not an ignorance of it.
From their perspective, if they don’t want to use it, they shouldn’t have to, and no one should tell them otherwise.
While it’s been two months since the initial story broke, Witherspoon’s push to rebrand artificial intelligence for women still has legs.
In fact, in the weeks since, the conversation has only intensified. Evolving beyond initial outrage to explore whether refusing to engage with AI is a valid choice in an already biased system.
The Cut, which first coined the term ‘girlbossification of AI’, focused on how influential women are framing AI as an essential career tool.
On the other hand, CBC News positioned the moment as a broader celebrity-led trend, aiming to normalise the rapid adoption of AI.
Playing out on Instagram and other social platforms, the conversation became less about capability and more about choice.
What’s emerged is a divide between those who see AI as a critical tool to stay relevant and others who view it as pressure to conform.
The inside scoop on pitch personalisation
PR intelligence and media monitoring organisation, Cision, shares its dos and don’ts for interacting with Australian media.
Having just released its State of Media Report for 2026, surveying over 1,800 journalists, the report finds an overwhelming sentiment of a sector under pressure and increasingly selective about what cuts through.
The key findings, unsurprisingly, showed that 50 per cent of journalists feel their biggest challenge is combating misinformation when being pitched to. This statistic made it the top-facing issue throughout the profession.
Journalists are under a lot of pressure to maintain public trust and integrity, meaning it is of the utmost importance that when pitching a story, to triple-check facts.
Another key finding stated that modern journalists are multi-platform content creators. According to the data, 47 per cent of journalists are required to contribute to digital sites alongside their primary job functions. This means that PR professionals need to get creative and think beyond traditional coverage.
Exploring formats such as SubStack, Reddit, and Beehiiv will help keep brands and organisations in the spotlight amongst new and emerging media platforms.
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