Protecting the infrastructure behind Australia's AI ambitions

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way governments and industries operate, promising efficiency, insight and innovation at unprecedented speed. Across Australia, AI is already supporting smarter energy grids, predictive health care, and faster, more secure public services. But behind this acceleration lies a growing and under-recognised risk: the strain on the infrastructure that enables AI to function.

As Australia develops its National AI Strategy and works to build a trusted AI ecosystem, it faces a crucial question. How do we ensure that the systems powering AI remain resilient in the face of rapid scaling, climate pressure and an increasingly complex threat environment?

The infrastructure strain of AI growth

AI does not run on ideas alone. It runs on power, data and cooling, all of which are under growing pressure. Every large-scale AI model requires extraordinary computational power, consuming far more electricity than traditional workloads. The data centres that host these models rely on stable energy, water and network infrastructure.

In Australia, the number of hyperscale data centres has surged, particularly around Sydney and Melbourne, where connectivity and cloud access are strongest. Yet this concentration brings challenges. The Australian Energy Market Operator has already warned that growing data demand and electrification are increasing grid stress. Meanwhile, cooling requirements often rely on local water systems, a growing concern in regions already facing drought risk.

The result is a convergence of physical and digital risk. A single failure in power or cooling can bring an entire AI system offline, while a cyber attack on any one component could ripple across multiple sectors. As AI becomes more embedded in transport networks, health systems and critical infrastructure, the consequences of such disruptions increase sharply.

The expanding attack surface

The same technologies that make AI powerful also expand the attack surface for adversaries. Large language models and machine learning workloads process massive datasets, often across hybrid environments that mix public cloud, private infrastructure and edge computing.

This distributed model is highly dynamic. Systems can change thousands of times per day as workloads scale up or down, applications are updated, and new connections are made. Yet visibility into these environments often remains static, leaving organisations with blind spots that attackers can exploit.

We have seen this pattern before. As with past digital transformations, rapid adoption tends to outpace security planning. In the rush to innovate, resilience is too often treated as an afterthought. But without resilience, even the most advanced AI systems can become a liability.

Mapping and isolation: seeing to survive

To build resilience, operators first need visibility, not only of their networks but of how digital systems depend on physical infrastructure. Mapping these dependencies reveals how a disruption in one area could cascade through others.

For example, a fault in a water-cooled system might degrade server performance, while a cyber attack on an energy management network could trigger a blackout affecting multiple data centres. Without this visibility, such links remain hidden until failure occurs.

Continuous assessment is equally important. Proactive scanning and monitoring can detect unpatched devices, misconfigured systems or signs of overload before they escalate into incidents. However, knowing where vulnerabilities exist is only part of the answer. True resilience comes from isolation, ensuring that a single compromise cannot take down an entire operation.

Zero Trust security provides this foundation. It rejects the assumption that anything inside a network is inherently safe. Instead, it continuously verifies users, devices and connections, enforcing strict access controls. Micro-segmentation then takes the principle further, dividing systems into secure zones so that any breach or malfunction is contained.

No system is completely invulnerable, but with the right segmentation and visibility, attacks can be confined, downtime minimised and essential services maintained.

Resilience as a national priority

Building operational resilience must go beyond compliance. The Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act and its associated reforms have established a strong foundation for protecting essential services. But minimum standards alone cannot keep pace with the speed and complexity of today’s risks.

In reality, resilience is both a technical and strategic challenge. It requires investment in redundancy, segmentation and training. It also demands collaboration between government, utilities and private operators to share threat intelligence and address talent shortages that leave critical gaps in defence.

Downtime remains one of the most expensive outcomes of any cyber or operational incident. In Australia, research shows that 42% of organisations hit by ransomware end up paying the ransom simply to restore operations. Preventive investments in resilience are far less costly than recovery after a major outage, especially one that affects national services.

Australian policymakers have already acknowledged the growing intersection between digital capability and national security. As AI continues to expand, resilience must be treated as a strategic pillar of national infrastructure planning, not an afterthought.

Securing Australia’s AI future

The promise of AI is immense. It can help government agencies allocate resources more efficiently, improve public service delivery and strengthen national competitiveness. But this promise can only be realised if the systems that underpin AI are secure and resilient.

That means designing for failure, not just success. It means understanding that the real test of resilience is not whether a breach can be prevented, but whether operations can continue when one occurs. AI will shape Australia’s future economy and its public institutions. But the strength of that future depends on our ability to protect the infrastructure that makes it possible. By embedding visibility, isolation and Zero Trust into every layer of our systems, we can ensure that innovation continues safely, sustainably and securely. The question is no longer how quickly Australia can adopt AI, but how confidently it can be sustained.

Image credit: iStock.com/Just_Super