# Australia's new AI safety rules: what they mean for your app

> The new duties fall on the companies that build frontier models. What reaches your app comes through rules that already apply.

- URL: https://envisageapps.com.au/blog/australia-ai-safety-rules-apps/
- Type: post
- Published: 2026-11-12
- Tags: app-development, app-development-australia, mobile-app-development

## Do Australia's new AI safety rules apply to my app?

Australia's new AI safety rules, announced on 10 November 2026, apply to frontier AI companies, the developers of the most advanced models. An app that calls one of those models through an API is their customer, so the new duties are not its duties. What reaches an app today comes through rules already in force. The Privacy Act adds an automated-decision disclosure on 10 December 2026. Apple's guideline 5.1.2(i) requires permission before personal data goes to a third-party AI. The eSafety codes cover AI chatbots, and the TGA covers health apps. Apps sold to banks, insurers and super funds also meet what APRA expects of their AI suppliers.

## Related questions

### Is there an Australian AI Act?

Australia has no AI Act in force as of November 2026. The Government has committed to legislate mandatory Australian Standards for AI, expected in 2027. So far the Government has described rules for frontier AI companies, large AI data centres and the use of creative work to train AI. None of it places new obligations on businesses that build apps on top of AI models. The voluntary Guidance for AI Adoption, published in October 2025, sets out six practices for organisations that use AI.

### Will the new AI regulator look at my app?

On the Government's description, the new regulator enforces the duties on frontier AI companies, working with the Australian AI Safety Institute. An app that uses a frontier model is not one of those companies. However, the Government will consult further before it publishes the legislation, so the coverage could still change. It has not yet set the threshold that makes a company frontier.

### Does APRA's AI letter apply to my startup?

APRA wrote its letter of 30 April 2026 to banks, insurers and superannuation trustees, and the letter creates no new rules. Instead, it reaches a startup through the customer. APRA asks those entities to keep visibility of their whole AI supply chain, get transparency and assurance from AI providers through their contracts, and security-test AI-generated code. If you sell to one of them, expect those questions in the security questionnaire.

### What should I change before 10 December 2026?

The rule starts on 10 December 2026 for organisations the Privacy Act covers. It applies when a computer program uses personal information to make a decision, or to substantially and directly help make one. If that decision could significantly affect someone's rights or interests, your privacy policy must say so. Check whether any AI feature in your app approves, rejects, ranks, prices or screens people, and update the policy if it does.
On 10 November 2026 the Government announced new AI safety rules:
[mandatory safety and security protections](https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/t-ayres/media/new-australian-ai-safety-and-security-protections),
enforced by a new regulator. If your app calls an AI model, the question is
whether any of that is now your problem. Mostly it is not, at least not
directly. The duties fall on the companies that build the most advanced models.
What reaches your app comes through rules that already apply, and several of
them changed this year.

## What the AI safety rules require

The protections apply to frontier AI companies that want to operate in
Australia. The Government describes frontier AI as the most advanced models at
the current cutting edge. Under the proposal, those companies must:

- keep security controls across development and deployment
- identify and manage serious risks from their models
- allow independent evaluation of their models
- notify the Government of incidents promptly
- maintain and publish safety and security frameworks
- adapt as standards and rules are updated.

A new regulator would enforce them alongside the Australian AI Safety
Institute, with what the release calls significant penalties. The Government
is also considering changes to criminal law for serious misconduct. It will
consult further before it publishes the legislation, and it has not yet set
the threshold that makes a company "frontier".

This sits inside the Australian Standards for AI, the mandatory framework the
Prime Minister announced in July 2026, with legislation expected in 2027. Until
now the published detail of that framework covered large AI data centres and
the use of creative work to train models.

## Who it covers, and who it doesn't

If your app sends text to OpenAI, Anthropic or Google through their API, you
are their customer. You are not building a frontier model, and the new duties
are not yours.

The announcement still touches you in two ways.

**Your supplier will have to publish more.** A frontier provider that must
publish a safety and security framework gives you something to cite when a
buyer asks how your AI supplier manages risk. Today most founders answer that
question with a link to a marketing page.

**Your model will keep changing.** Providers already update models without
asking. Under a duty to adapt to new standards, expect more of it. If your app
calls a "latest" model alias, its behaviour can change between one day and the
next with no release on your side. Pinning the model version, and having a test
that would notice a change, is how you decide when that happens.

## The rules that reach your app today

### The Privacy Act

The Act has no rule that data must stay in Australia. Under
[APP 8](https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/australian-privacy-principles-guidelines/chapter-8-app-8-cross-border-disclosure-of-personal-information),
it makes you answerable for personal information you send overseas, and user
text sent to a hosted model usually counts. Our post on
[data residency for AI-built apps](/blog/data-residency-ai-built-apps/) covers
that in detail.

The newer change starts on 10 December 2026. If a computer program uses
personal information to make, or substantially and directly help make, a
decision that could significantly affect someone's rights or interests, your
privacy policy must say so. The OAIC has
[published guidance on the test](https://www.oaic.gov.au/news/media-centre/new-resources-on-transparency-for-use-of-ai-and-automated-decision-making).
An AI feature that screens applicants, sets prices or decides eligibility
should be checked against it.

### Apple's guideline 5.1.2(i)

Since November 2025, Apple's
[App Review Guidelines](https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#data-use-and-sharing)
require apps to "clearly disclose where personal data will be shared with third
parties, including with third-party AI, and obtain explicit permission before
doing so." A line in the privacy policy is not explicit permission. The app has
to ask, before the first request goes to the model.

### The eSafety industry codes

The Phase 2 industry codes under the Online Safety Act have been in force since
9 March 2026, and they reach generative AI services as well as social media.
Services with an AI companion chatbot feature carry their own risk assessment
for harmful content, and protections for children. Whether your assistant
counts as a companion is eSafety's call, and it turns on what the assistant is
designed to do. Read the
[registered codes](https://www.esafety.gov.au/industry/codes) if your app
talks to the general public, teenagers included.

### The TGA, if your app touches health

An AI coach that suggests a treatment change or a dose is far more likely to be
regulated as a medical device than one that records how someone feels.
Classification turns on intended use, and the wording in your store listing is
part of how intended use is read.

## If you sell to banks, insurers or super funds

APRA's
[letter to industry on AI](https://www.apra.gov.au/news-and-publications/apra-letter-industry-artificial-intelligence-ai)
of 30 April 2026 went to the entities it regulates, not to you, and it sets no
new rules. Even so, APRA asks them to "maintain visibility over the full AI
supply chain", to get "transparency, auditability and assurance" from AI
providers through their contracts, and to security-test AI-generated code. The
letter also prefers "enforceable technical restrictions or robust preventative
controls" to policy.

Your product is part of that supply chain, so those expectations arrive in the
security questionnaire. A claim that your assistant "never sends data off the
device" or "can't take actions" will be read as a technical restriction, and
the reviewer will want to know how it is enforced. A rule written into a system
prompt is a policy.

## What to check in your own app

Most of this you can answer yourself:

- List every AI model the app calls, the provider, the region and what user
  data goes in each request.
- Check that the app asks permission before the first request that carries
  personal data.
- Pin the model version, and keep a test that would catch a change in
  behaviour.
- Decide what the app does when the provider is down, and try it.
- If the AI can call tools or act for the user, write down what each tool can
  reach and which actions need a person to approve them.
- Read your privacy policy against the 10 December automated-decision test.

None of this is legal advice. Where a classification or a disclosure matters,
ask a lawyer who works in that area.

If you want to know which gates your app faces, the free
[Launch Gate Check](/launch-gate-check/) names each one with its guideline
number. The Envisage Apps [Launch Gate Audit](/launch-gate-audit/) tests them on your build.
For an app with AI in it, that includes which providers receive your users'
data, Apple's consent rule, what an agent is allowed to do, and the technical
questions a bank's reviewer will ask. A senior engineer validates every
finding.