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Good practice Imported

Australia's NDIS Framework for AI-Enabled Assistive Technology

Australia · Geelong · See the Australia profile · See the Geelong profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 68% 56/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Australia's NDIA and CSIRO co-developed a six-principle framework — user experience, value, quality, safety, privacy/security and human rights — from interviews with NDIS participants, families and carers plus industry focus groups, to guide safe AI-enabled assistive technology.

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) & CSIRO's Australian e-Health Research Centre
Period
2026
Keywords
disability services, assistive technology, AI governance, public policy

Context

In February 2026 Australia's National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) published a Framework for Artificial Intelligence-enabled Assistive Technology, developed for it by CSIRO's Australian e-Health Research Centre, to guide how AI-enabled assistive devices and software are designed, assessed and funded as supports under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Objectives

The framework aims to help NDIS participants, providers and technology developers judge whether an AI-enabled assistive technology is safe and effective before it reaches the market, built around six principles: user experience, value, quality, safety, privacy and security, and human rights.

Activities

CSIRO built the framework from interviews with NDIS participants, their families, carers and other supporters about their needs and experiences with AI, combined with focus groups with industry and service providers, and grounded it in existing international assistive-technology and AI-assessment guidelines; a peer-reviewed account of its principles-based approach was published in Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology in 2025, and CSIRO is now developing a national plan to roll the framework out across the AI-enabled assistive-technology market.

Results

As a governance framework rather than a deployed product, it has no participant outcome data yet.

Conclusions

Its real-world value will depend on how the NDIA operationalises it into approval, funding and provider-conduct rules, which had not been finalised at the time of writing.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Cost centres on research and consultation (participant interviews, provider focus groups, CSIRO development work) rather than infrastructure deployment; a national rollout plan is still being developed.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Development spanned participant/provider consultation, a 2025 peer-reviewed methodology publication, and a February 2026 public release, with operational rules still pending.
Staffing & skills
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), CSIRO's Australian e-Health Research Centre

Conditions for success

  • Direct input from NDIS participants, families, carers and supporters via interviews
  • Industry and provider focus groups incorporated into the design
  • Grounding in existing international assistive-technology and AI-assessment guidelines
  • Peer-reviewed publication of the methodology

Common failure modes

  • Framework not yet operationalised into binding approval, funding or provider-conduct rules
  • No participant outcome, adoption or market-impact data available at time of writing

Where it fits

Governance type
national government scheme authority with public research partner
Scale
national
Income level
high-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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