ADMA – Australia’s peak body for data-driven marketing – has rolled out a new AI Governance Toolkit, aiming to give marketers the clarity and safeguards they’ve been demanding as artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everyday workflows.
ADMA says the resource arrives at a critical moment, with capability accelerating far faster than governance across the sector.
The toolkit lands after ADMA’s State of AI in Marketing Survey found 84% of marketers want a best-practice framework for responsible AI use.
ADMA CEO Andrea Martens says that gap has become impossible to ignore.
“Marketers are integrating AI into their workflows at speed, but many are doing so without the standards required to use these tools responsibly. ADMA developed this toolkit because the demand for clear, practical guidance has never been greater,” said Martens.
Martens said the focus isn’t about slowing innovation but ensuring marketers can “navigate this shift with sound judgment,” balancing creativity, compliance and community trust as AI scales.
ADMA CEO Andrea Martens
Designed to close the governance gap
The toolkit was authored by ADMA’s regulatory and policy manager, Dr Sage Kelly, whose academic research explores the social and behavioural dynamics behind AI adoption.
She says the biggest risks now stem from inconsistent understanding rather than malicious use.
“The risk is not the technology itself, it is how it is used. When synthetic content is deployed without transparency, trust erodes quickly,” she said.
Kelly warns many teams are experimenting with powerful new tools “without a shared understanding of how they work or the risks they carry,” and said the toolkit is designed to bridge that gap by making the fundamentals clear and practical.
Dr Sage Kelly
ADMA positions the release as a central plank in its broader push to strengthen capability, support responsible data practices and prepare the industry for ongoing privacy reform and regulatory scrutiny.
With AI adoption surging and guardrails still forming, the organisation says a unified national standard is essential to help brands innovate safely at scale.
The AI Governance Toolkit is available now exclusively to ADMA members.