Australia’s latest defence supercomputer will use artificial intelligence to “support complex decision-making at scale”, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) says, after the high-performance machine was declared fully operational.

The computing infrastructure known as Taingiwilta — which means “powerful” in the language of the Indigenous Kaurna people — first came online at the Defence Science and Technology Group site in the northern Adelaide suburb of Edinburgh in 2022.

The project was the first of its kind in Australia, and replaced older systems which were reaching capacity.

The new system achieved what is known as Final Operational Capability in December 2024 “after intensive research and project development”, the ADF announced on Friday.

Taingiwilta was “working orders of magnitude faster than a standard computer” and would "leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence” technologies, it added.

Governing AI systems in defence

AI technologies have become increasingly prevalent in national security and defence infrastructure in recent decades, but the rise of generative AI (genAI) technologies in recent years has significantly improved capabilities in tasks such as identifying potential threats and making decisions.

The expanding use of genAI — which also powers Large Language Models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT — has drawn some criticism, including concern over governance of AI systems in defence and the possibility of errors in AI decision-making.

Asked to comment on which guardrails or procedural guidelines would be followed when AI technologies were used in its decision-making processes, a Defence spokesperson told Information Age, "All technologies, including AI, are used by Defence in accordance with Australia’s domestic and international legal obligations, including International Humanitarian Law."

The Australian government has previously proposed mandatory guardrails for high-risk uses of AI, in order to allow for “human control or intervention in an AI system to achieve meaningful human oversight”.

However, AI use in defence is likely to be treated separately, according to a September proposal paper by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

“Australia proposes to align with other jurisdictions, which have treated national security and defence applications separately from civilian applications, including in the US and in the EU,” the department wrote.

Defence Minister Richard Marles and Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro at the Defence High Performance Computing capability launch in South Australia in 2022. Photo: Tristan Kennedy / ADF

Defence has pursued the development of “advanced capabilities” with its AUKUS security partners the United Kingdom and the United States, including in AI and autonomy, electronic warfare, and quantum technologies.

According to the ADF’s 2024 Integrated Investment Program, Defence has seen “the ability to acquire, move and use data” as “foundational” to its warfighting capabilities.

“The integration of automated processes, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, will enable a greater volume of data to be processed, exploited and disseminated faster,” the program stated.

In the US, OpenAI has itself partnered with the US military to use its AI tech to improve drones’ “ability to detect, assess and respond to potentially lethal aerial threats in real-time".

Social media giant Meta has also allowed US government agencies — including those in defence and national security — to use its genAI models, while Microsoft and Google have both faced protests for selling AI platforms to the Israeli military.

Supercomputer to accelerate ‘cutting-edge’ tools

Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro said the ADF’s Taingiwilta system would support multiple Australian defence platforms.

“This critical, secure, and sovereign capability enables Australia’s best minds to tackle some of Defence’s most challenging problems at pace,” she said in a statement.

“The vital work undertaken across the Defence ecosystem will accelerate the delivery of cutting-edge capabilities for Defence.”

The supercomputer would also be used to “bolster secure collaboration opportunities and support world-class research across Australian industry, academic, and national security agencies”, Defence said.

While the ADF has not shared any specifications confirming Taingiwilta’s computing power, it is understood to be one of the most powerful computers in the world.

Australia’s other most powerful supercomputers are the Setonix supercomputer at Perth’s Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre — ranked 45 in the Top 500 ranking of supercomputers — and CSIRO’s Virga, which is ranked 88.