South Australian Premier Urges Schools to Teach AI, Defends $3 Million Inquiry

Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas at press conference during day one of LIV Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia on Feb. 12, 2026. Sarah Reed/Getty Images

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas wants to ensure all students learn artificial intelligence (AI) before finishing school, warning that the next generation would be left behind without it.

“I don’t want kids graduating from school in South Australia not knowing how to use AI, because that would render them arguably redundant 10 years from now,” Malinauskas said on ABC Radio National.

He also warned against the opposite extreme: letting AI do the work for students.

“What we don’t want either is kids to finish their education having had AI do their schooling for them,” he said.

“So knowing how to get the balance right just in the education sector is an important question in its own right.”

Malinauskas emphasised that a state government cannot put AI technology back in the bottle, describing it as arguably the “greatest technological advancement in human history.”

The $3 Million Inquiry

To tackle these challenges, South Australia launched a royal commission into AI, which officially began its work on Oct. 1, 2026, and must report its findings by July 1, 2027. The inquiry is chaired by economist and former Federal Court judge Iain Ross.

The commission’s terms of reference include examining AI’s effect on productivity, jobs, and public services including health. They also ask how schools, universities, and vocational education should adapt. Data centres are excluded from its scope.

Malinauskas first announced the inquiry in August and estimated it would cost upwards of $3 million. He argued that was small next to the cost of failing to prepare.

Political Opposition

However, Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn has questioned the need for the royal commission and the cost to taxpayers.

Speaking on Oct. 1, 2026, Hurn argued that an earlier parliamentary inquiry had already made 15 recommendations to the government on AI, including a call for a more national approach.

“That’s $3 million that the taxpayers are stumping up,” Hurn said. “And I just think that this lends itself more to something that the federal government should be focusing on,” she told reporters.