About the AI Jobs Index
An independent research project tracking AI's visible footprint on Australian work. Published by Building Tech Teams, supported by NTP Talent.
What it is
AI Jobs Index Australia publishes three separate monthly indicators of AI in Australian hiring. ADI tracks AI language diffusion across the Australian technology job ads in our sample (denominator in revision). ASDI counts AI-specialist roles under a published taxonomy. ALWR tracks publicly cited AI-linked workforce reductions with named attribution classes (EXPLICIT, MIXED, BLAMED). The three series are never summed and never subtracted from one another.
The index is a real-time overlay on official Australian labour statistics, not a replacement. It sits alongside the ABS Labour Force Survey, ABS Job Vacancies, and the JSA Internet Vacancy Index, and cites them explicitly in monthly editorial.
The methodology is published in full, with version history at /changelog and known limitations disclosed inline. The classifier source, the regex patterns, the skills taxonomy, and the source tier hierarchy are all published so the index can be independently audited.
Why it exists
Australia needs a rigorous monthly source of truth for how AI is reshaping work. Adoption coverage relies on global vendor statements; layoff coverage relies on incident-driven media. Neither answers the underlying question: where in the Australian labour market is AI creating roles, where is it being absorbed into existing roles, and where is it being named as a driver of workforce reduction.
The three-series model answers each of those three questions with a separate, defensible figure against published rules. No single composite is published; each series stands on its own evidence chain.
Editorial standards
- Weekly refresh for live figures. Published monthly, the day after the ABS Labour Force release.
- Every displacement event has a public tier-A or tier-B source link and a human review before publication. Tier-D outlets are rejected at ingestion.
- ADI and ASDI classifiers are deterministic regular expressions published on /methodology so the methodology is independently replicable.
- ALWR headlines lead with the EXPLICIT-only figure. EXPLICIT + MIXED and BLAMED are reported separately, never summed.
- Counts are floors, not ceilings. Companies that quietly reduce headcount without public attribution to AI do not appear in ALWR. Disclosed inline.
- Methodology changes are version-controlled and logged at /changelog. The classifier and taxonomy are reviewed quarterly.
Who builds it
James MacDonald is the founder and managing director of NTP Talent, an Australian executive search firm specialising in engineering leadership. Host of the Building Tech Teams podcast and newsletter, read by CTOs, founders, and engineering leaders across Australia.
The AI Jobs Index is the data layer beneath that work. It records the observable signals of where Australian engineering hiring is going and which functions are shrinking.
James is available for on-the-record comment on Australian AI employment trends, engineering hiring markets, and the practical reality of AI adoption inside Australian organisations.
Disclosure
AI Jobs Index Australia is published by Building Tech Teams and supported by NTP Talent. NTP Talent has commercial interests in the Australian technology hiring market. The classifier source code, regex patterns, skills taxonomy, source tier hierarchy, and aggregate data are published so the index can be audited independently of the supporting organisation. The methodology changelog records every change that affects published figures.
Advisory board
Announced with a future edition of the monthly report.
For journalists and researchers
Index data is free to cite. Published monthly, the day after the ABS Labour Force release. Quarterly benchmark notes compare the index against ABS and JSA series.
Preferred citation. AI Jobs Index Australia, [month] [year]. Include a link to /methodology so readers can see how the figures are produced.
For comment, custom cuts of the data, or speaking requests, contact James directly.
Contact
Media enquiries, data questions, partnerships: contact@aijobsindex.com.au
Tip-line for AI-linked workforce events: /submit
Recruitment: james@ntptalent.com.au
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jamesmacdonaldau
Podcast and newsletter: Building Tech Teams
This project is editorially independent. It is supported by NTP Talent, as disclosed above, and takes no funding from job boards, government agencies, or AI vendors.