Welcome to the forefront of conversational AI as we explore the fascinating world of AI chatbots in our dedicated blog series. Discover the latest advancements, applications, and strategies that propel the evolution of chatbot technology. From enhancing customer interactions to streamlining business processes, these articles delve into the innovative ways artificial intelligence is shaping the landscape of automated conversational agents. Whether you’re a business owner, developer, or simply intrigued by the future of interactive technology, join us on this journey to unravel the transformative power and endless possibilities of AI chatbots.
Sunday night, and the meal plan for the week has been sorted in about four minutes. The bathroom tiles have been compared, the birthday speech has been tidied up and the dinner party menu is locked in. None of it involved a recipe book or a spreadsheet, just a chatbot and a bit of patience.
This is ordinary, Artificial-Intelligence supported life in Australia now. The federal government’s Jobs and Skills Australia says an estimated 13.6 million Australians use AI tools daily. An OpenAI-commissioned survey of more than 1,000 adults found 62 per cent had asked ChatGPT to help plan a special occasion meal, and almost half had used it for DIY tips.
Then Monday arrives.
A Salesforce survey run by YouGov in May found that two in three Australian workers use at least one AI tool regularly at work. More than half of them, 56 per cent, use tools their employer hasn’t approved. Only 9 per cent of desk workers said AI was built into their day-to-day workflows.
So a lot of us are quietly running our own AI side arrangement, copying text between a chatbot and the company system, while the systems themselves carry on as before.
Business leaders are noticing the gap. Deloitte’s 2026 research found that only 28 per cent of Australian respondents had moved at least 40 per cent of their AI pilots into production. A survey of 465 senior executives in Australia and New Zealand found that just 10 per cent measure AI return on investment comprehensively, with most tracking how much the tools are used instead of whether the work improved.
The reason is partly unglamorous. Dinner planning doesn’t need to connect to anything. A company’s AI does, and the useful jobs involve the HR system, the strategy documents, the product pipeline and the approvals nobody enjoys.
That is the territory Brennan is going after. The Sydney IT services company announced on 27 October that it has been named an OpenAI Select Partner. Select is the first of three tiers in OpenAI’s new partner network. And a growing list of companies around the world has announced the same status, so the badge itself is an entry ticket more than a trophy.
The more telling part is how Brennan says it got there. Since April, the company says its Innovation Foundry has shipped more than 450 improvements for Brennan’s own business. Most are small automations. Six are full business systems, including a platform that tracks company strategy as owned actions, one that governs products from idea to retirement, and a home-built people system that replaces an existing software-as-a-service HR product.
It’s a company-supplied figure and it hasn’t been independently checked. But the approach is a useful contrast with the usual pilot story. Instead of testing AI on the side, Brennan says it rebuilt parts of how it runs.
Brennan says the partnership will help customers use GPT-6 Astra, which OpenAI released on 3 September. The model is designed for long, multi-step jobs and can operate software the way a person would, through the screen. That makes the question of how it connects to a company’s real systems far more important. A clever assistant is one thing. One that can file the expense claim, update the project plan and tell you what it did is another.
If you’re one of the millions already using AI at home, the shift at work is likely to feel familiar. Just slower and more cautious. A few things are worth watching:
Brennan’s own results for other people’s businesses are yet to come. For now, the story is a reminder that the most useful AI in your life is probably the part you don’t have to think about, and most workplaces aren’t there yet.
Marie-Antoinette Issa is the Beauty & Lifestyle Editor for Women Love Tech and The Carousel. She has worked across news and women’s lifestyle magazines and websites including Cosmopolitan, Cleo, Madison, Concrete Playground, The Urban List and Daily Mail, I Quit Sugar and Huffington Post.
© 2026 Women Love Network™ · Foyster Media. All rights reserved.
© 2026 Women Love Network™ · Foyster Media. All rights reserved.