Rudi's View | Jun 11 2025
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor
The race to become the world's largest company by market capitalisation is now decided by day-to-day share price fluctuations between Microsoft and Nvidia, two of the leading global beneficiaries of our modern day revolution that is AI.
In Australia, companies with direct exposure to the global infrastructure built to support AI and its further development have equally enjoyed plenty of investor interest. Think Goodman Group ((GMG)), but also NextDC ((NXT)), Infratil ((IFT)), Macquarie Technology ((MAQ)) and DigiCo Infrastructure REIT ((DGT)).
Equally noteworthy: judging from recent company announcements, AI is getting ready to step outside of the realm of infrastructure and machine learning development and into the wider corporate world where operational inefficiencies are waiting to be identified and addressed through new tech tools and applications.
Increasingly, Australian companies are becoming active participators with the term AI starting to appear regularly in corporate briefings with financial analysts and in press releases.
AI Announcements Are Multiplying
CommBank ((CBA)), the world's largest bank and number one index constituent locally, has employed over 2000 AI models processing 157 billion data points daily to make circa 55 million decisions; all aimed to enhance the customer experience through personalised and responsive banking services.
Financial services provider Insignia Financial ((IFL)) is hoping implementing generative AI in its call centres and elsewhere through its network can assist with the relaunch of the MLC brand as well as reduce costs by 2030.
Australia's largest telecommunications services provider, Telstra ((TLS)), is equally counting on an improved customer experience and lower costs. Telstra is planning to reduce its workforce by 2030 with AI expected to feature prominently in customer engagement, billing and IT in the broadest sense possible.
Reborn retailer Myer too is expecting to achieve an improved online shopping experience for customers, while the integration of AI should also provide Myer's teams with better insights into customer behaviour, thus assisting with strategic decision-making.
AI For Miners
The promise of more operational efficiency and improved customer servicing doesn't stop with service providers and manufacturers; mining and energy companies want their slice of the action too.
Barrick Gold has deployed an AI-powered exploration system at the Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan in partnership with Fleet Space Technologies. The same Fleet Space is also assisting Rio Tinto ((RIO)) with 3-D mapping of the Rincon lithium project in Argentina.
Mid-tier iron ore producer Champion Iron ((CIA)) has teamed up with Caterpillar for the deployment of an AI-based automated drilling system at its Canadian Bloom Lake mine, with electric drills either remotely controlled or fully autonomous, handling the entire process from drilling through to ore hauling and milling.
Closer to home, Fortescue ((FMG)) has taken on the goal of developing the world's first fully integrated autonomous haulage system for zero-emissions trucks.
The BHP Experience
To get a better feel and deeper insights into the importance for and deployment of AI inside the mining industry, FNArena spoke with BHP ((BHP)) Chief Technical Officer, Johan van Jaarsveld who was quick to explain the Big Australian has been applying AI for a number of years already.
It wasn't even called AI at that time and mostly referred to as machine learning. Hence, the technology itself is not genuinely new to BHP. What is new is the high performance compute that has now been added, making problem solving a lot quicker.
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