01CBOK 1–3
Foundation
What must be understood before anything is built.
AI Standards of Practice
Australia Finally Has a Professional Standard for Artificial Intelligence
The AIAA Standards of Practice define what competent, ethical, accountable AI practice looks like for professionals, for organisations, and for the boards that answer for both.
THE CAPABILITY CORE
THIRTEEN DOMAINS IN FOUR PILLARS
4 Tiers
AAIA · MAIA · CAIA · FAIA
The Problem
Every Major Profession Has a Standard. AI Has None.
Accounting has CPA Australia. Law has the Law Society. Medicine has AHPRA. Engineering has Engineers Australia. Every profession that touches consequential decisions, whether money, safety, health or justice, has an independent body that defines competence, enforces ethics, and protects the public.
Artificial intelligence now touches all of those decisions. And it has no standard.
Artificial Intelligence$1.54T economic impact · 14.7M workers affected
All Established Professions Have Standards of Professional Practice and Governing Institutions
Accounting · Law · Medicine · Engineering · Mining
⚠️
AI: No Standards · No Governing Institution · No Credentials · No Accountability
✓
AIAA Closes This Gap
Right Now, Across Australia
01
Boards
Approving AI deployments with no framework to assess whether they're competent to do so.
02
Professionals
Calling themselves “AI experts” with no credential that means anything.
03
Organisations
Building governance policies with no reference standard to build them against.
04
Regulators
Writing AI legislation with no professional body to consult.
This is not a technology gap. It is a professional infrastructure gap. And professional infrastructure gaps left unfilled produce the same outcome every time: harm, liability, loss of public trust, and a regulatory response that's always too blunt and too late.AIAA exists to close this gap permanently.
"The central issue is no longer whether AI will be adopted. The issue is whether it will be adopted well, at scale, and in a way that delivers measurable benefit."
The National Capability Gap
Australia Needs a Professional Adoption Layer
Policy, research and technology supply are essential, but they do not by themselves create workforce capability or transform business operations.
01
Government Policy
Rules, safety institutions and public policy.
02
Research and Education
Universities, institutes and skills providers.
03
Technology Supply
Platforms, vendors, cloud, data centres and consultants.
04
AIAA Adoption Layer
Professional capability, accreditation, standards, guidance and industry coordination.
Global Standards Leadership
AIAA Has the Expertise
Some of the world’s best AI minds are helping us build IP and guidance for our members.
Prof. Dacheng Tao
Governing Council · Research
Internationally recognised AI researcher and Distinguished University Professor, helping shape the knowledge, standards and guidance that underpin responsible AI practice.
Expert SpotlightBuilding the intellectual foundation for AI practice
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An example of the global expertise informing AIAA’s Common Body of Knowledge.
Employment & Affiliations
- Chair Professor of Computer Science
- Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
- Professor of Computer Science
- University of Sydney
- Distinguished Visiting Professor
- Tsinghua University
- Professor
- University of Science and Technology of China
- Professor of Artificial Intelligence
- University of Technology Sydney
- Senior Advisor, AI Research
- JD.com
The capability core · Thirteen domains in four pillars
The AIAA Common Body of Knowledge
From access to AI, to capability, to realised benefit. Scroll over the diagram to zoom, drag to pan, and select any domain to read the question it answers.
Foundation
What must be understood before anything is built.
- 01 · AI Business Literacy and Productive Tool UseWhat can these systems actually do, where do they fail, and how is output verified?
- 02 · Data, Privacy and Information GovernanceIs the data accurate enough, permitted for this purpose, protected and defensible?
- 03 · Use-case Discovery, Business Value and Benefits RealisationWhich use cases are worth doing, and how will the benefit be proven rather than asserted?
Delivery
How adoption is planned, led and delivered.
- 04 · AI Strategic Planning and Business TransformationHow does AI connect to strategy, operating model, investment and transformation?
- 05 · Customer Value, Service Delivery and Stakeholder ImpactWhat changes for the customer, and does the change preserve trust and fairness?
- 06 · Human Resources, Workforce Capability and Organisational ChangeWhat changes for the workforce, and how is that change designed and led?
- 07 · AI Project, Programme and Implementation ManagementHow is an AI initiative actually delivered, controlled and brought into operation?
Assurance
How adoption is kept safe, lawful and ethical.
- 08 · Responsible AI Governance, Risk and Lifecycle ControlsHow is risk classified, and which controls are proportionate to the consequence?
- 09 · Legal, Commercial, Procurement and Professional EthicsWhat is contracted, what is owed to whom, and where must a specialist decide?
- 10 · AI Security, Misuse, Agentic AI, Inclusion and SustainabilityHow is the system attacked, misused or made to exclude, and what limits its agency?
Frontier
The physical, infrastructural and sovereign dimensions most programmes meet late.
- 11 · Physical AI, Robotics and Autonomous SystemsWhat changes when AI acts on the physical world and people share its space?
- 12 · AI Infrastructure, Cloud Computing, Data Centres and ComputeWhere does it run, what does it cost to run, and what happens when that changes?
- 13 · Sovereign AI, Data Sovereignty and National CapabilityWhose law governs it, and what strategic dependency does the choice create?
Reading the model
Select any of the thirteen domains to see the decision question it answers. Each domain is described from the position of the person who decides, approves and is accountable.
How the Standards Work
One Framework. Two Applications.
The AIAA Common Body of Knowledge is the competency map for your entire AI career. Where you sit on the framework today determines which designation you hold. How you progress through it determines where your career goes.
STEP 01
Know Where You Stand
Complete the AIAA Competency Assessment against all domains of the AIAA Common Body of Knowledge. Your result maps directly to your current designation eligibility: AAIA, MAIA, CAIA, or FAIA.
STEP 02
Earn Your Designation
Complete the required programme for your tier. Sit the assessment. Earn the designation. Your credential is publicly verifiable. Any employer, client or board can confirm it at verify.aiaa.io.
STEP 03
Stay Current
AI moves fast. Your designation requires annual CPD, structured learning across the Pillars relevant to your tier. This is what makes the credential mean something over time.
AAIA
Associate
MAIA
Member
CAIA
Certified
FAIA
Fellow
Industry-Specific Standards
Standards Built by the Industries That Live By Them
The AIAA Common Body of Knowledge defines the universal standard. The 18 Industry Councils translate that standard into the language, risk profile, and regulatory reality of each industry. Generic AI guidance isn't good enough for a hospital, a bank, or a mine site. Industry-specific standards are.
Each Industry Council is composed of senior practitioners within that industry, not academics studying it from outside. They set the standards. They enforce the norms. They build the industry-specific CPD that keeps credentials meaningful.
Healthcare & Life Sciences
Financial Services & Banking
Legal & Professional Services
Government & Public Administration
Energy & Resources
Mining & Heavy Industry
Education & Research
Defence & National Security
Agriculture & Food Systems
Infrastructure & Construction
Logistics & Supply Chain
Telecommunications & Media
Retail & Consumer
Manufacturing & Advanced Industry
Environment & Sustainability
Human Resources & Workforce
Science & Technology
Property & Real Estate
Are you an industry leader?
AIAA Industry Councils are seeking founding council members, senior practitioners who will set the standards for their industry. This is a founding appointment. It will not be available again.
Apply for a Council Position →Is your organisation a industry stakeholder?
Corporate members can nominate representatives to their relevant Industry Council. Shape the standards your entire industry will work to.
Explore Corporate Membership →Standards vs Regulation
Regulation Tells You What You Can't Do. Standards Tell You What You Should.
Governments write AI regulation. AIAA writes AI standards. These are not the same thing, and understanding the difference is the first mark of professional competence.
Government Regulation
AIAA Standards of Practice
Set by
Legislators and regulators
Set by
Practitioners and subject-matter experts
Pace
Slow, years behind technology
Pace
Current, updated with the profession
Scope
Minimum acceptable behaviour
Scope
Best practice and professional excellence
Enforcement
Legal penalties for breach
Enforcement
Credential at risk: professional accountability
Specificity
Broad legal obligations
Specificity
Detailed, role-specific, industry-specific
Who it protects
The public from harm
Who it protects
Professionals, organisations, and the public
What it answers
"Is this legal?"
What it answers
"Is this good?"
Compliance is the floor. Standards are the ceiling.
Meeting your regulatory obligations means you have not broken the law. It does not mean you are practising AI well.
The organisations and professionals that will lead in AI are not the ones that asked "what's the minimum we have to do?" They are the ones that asked "what does excellent look like?", and then built the capability to get there.
AIAA Standards are the answer to that second question.
EU AI Act
Now in force. Sets the floor.
AIAA Standards
Set the ceiling. Updated annually.
AIAA Common Body of Knowledge
The competency framework that bridges both.
The four pillars
A framework, not a checklist.
The standards are member-built and member-led. Drafts are released for consultation; final versions carry the authority of the Standards Council and are binding on all members in active practice.
Safety & Assurance
Risk classification, evaluation methodology, deployment review, and post-deployment monitoring obligations.
Ethics & Accountability
Member Code of Ethics, conflict-of-interest disclosure, harm reporting, and the duty of competence.
Documentation & Lineage
Model cards, data lineage, training-data provenance, and audit-ready records for every credentialed deployment.
Human Oversight
Defined roles for human-in-the-loop, escalation pathways, and the boundary between automated and accountable decisions.
The Standard Exists. The Question Is Whether You're Credentialled Against It.
The AIAA Common Body of Knowledge for AI Professionalism is public. The framework is open. Any professional or organisation can read it, use it, and build against it right now.
The designation is what separates those who say they work to the standard from those who can prove it.
AIAA credentials are verifiable, current, and backed by Australia's most respected institutional leaders. They mean something because the framework behind them is rigorous, the assessment is independent, and the CPD requirement ensures they stay current.
The founding cohort shapes the standard itself. That window is open. It will not be open indefinitely.
Your Next Step
For Professionals
Earn Your AIAA Designation. Start with the free Competency Self-Assessment. Eight minutes. Know exactly where you stand against the AIAA Common Body of Knowledge and which designation you're eligible for today.
View Designation Pathways →Your Next Step
For Organisations
Build Against the Standard. Download the AI Governance Adoption Guide or speak with an AIAA adviser about mapping your organisation against the Standards of Practice.
Enquire About Organisational Services →Independent · Not-for-Profit · Member-Driven · Backed by Australia's Most Respected Leaders