AI Australia: Recent Episodes
Eliiza
AI Australia by Eliiza is the definitive AI podcast for Australian businesses and the wider AI community. James Wilson and Nigel Dalton interview industry thought leaders and experts about implementing AI in Australian businesses, the ethical implications of AI, and what’s happening in the Australian AI community.
Highlights from Databricks Data and AI Summit 2025 In this special episode of the AI Australia podcast, Kathryn Collier and Emma Bromet report live from the Databricks Data and AI Summit 2025 in San Francisco. The summit which attracts 22,000 attendees to the city and 65,000 in total making it one of the largest Data and AI conferences globally.
The pervasive theme this year was “Data Intelligence” which can be distilled to the democratisation of data and AI – a clear strategic move to bridge the gap between business needs and the complex reality of end-to-end development of AI solutions.
We cover off highlights and insights from all the key accouncements including Databricks Free Edition, Lake Base, Databricks Apps, and Agent Bricks, all focused on democratizing data and AI. Featuring interviews with Simon Johnson, AI Director for APAC at Databricks, and David Schneeberger, Principal Engineer at Mantel who provide in-depth perspectives on these innovations and their implications for the future of Data and AI.
How AI is Reshaping Customer Expectations & Driving Business Value with Sandy Iyer (General Manager, Data Science at Sportsbet)
Join your hosts Emma Bromet and Kathryn Collier as they chat with Sandy Iyer, a leading data and analytics executive, currently General Manager of Data Science at Sportsbet. With a career spanning energy retail, financial services, and wagering, Sandy brings a wealth of experience to the conversation.
In this insightful episode, Sandy discusses:
- The Evolving Customer Landscape: How AI has profoundly shifted customer expectations, moving beyond just quality to demand instant gratification, personalised experiences, and ethical brand practices.
- Practical AI for Business Value: Discover compelling examples of AI in action, from L'Oréal's virtual makeup try-ons to advanced sports analytics.
- Measuring AI's Impact: Sandy shares a unique five-dimensional framework for evaluating the effectiveness of AI and machine learning models, ensuring they deliver real business value and are trustworthy.
- Cutting Through the Hype: Learn best practices for businesses to maximise AI ROI, including the importance of an "AI-enabled business strategy" over a standalone "AI strategy," and how to move effectively from Proof of Concept (POC) to Proof of Value (POV) and production.
- Building Customer-Facing AI: Sandy offers critical advice for developing successful AI products, emphasising the importance of product-market fit, ROI pragmatism, and continuous experimentation.
Tune in to gain valuable insights from one of Australia's top analytics leaders and understand how to navigate the rapidly evolving AI revolution.
Because we loved talking to Roo and Danielle SO much in our last episode, we are delighted to bring you another installment of that conversation. In this episode of the A.I. Australia podcast, Kobi and Nat host Roo Harris from Scale Investors and Danielle Haj-Moussa from Main Sequence Ventures to continue our discussion on responsible AI investment in startups. We explore critical topics such as the importance of responsible AI practices, the challenges startups face in integrating AI, and the role of VCs in setting ethical standards. The conversation also covers the significance of early-stage AI due diligence, the benefits of explaining AI technologies accurately, and how embracing ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles can add value. Key issues such as AI's environmental impact, transparency, and the role of regulation in AI development are also discussed. Links: Danielle Haj-Moussa (Main Sequence Ventures)
Roo Harris
Scale Investors
In this episode of This Week in AI brought to you by the AI Australia podcast, Kobi and Natalie dive into wide-ranging discussions covering recent political events, traversing:
- The implications of the French and UK election outcomes, and their relation to technology.
- AI's role in the U.S. presidential elections
- Tech sector developments like Meta's Llama models, and the economic and environmental impact of AI advancements
- The intersection of AI with job markets, wealth distribution, and universal basic income studies, while also considering the cultural and ethical impacts of technological integration in corporate settings
- The recent global technology outage caused by CrowdStrike on Microsoft Windows
Links:
The Grimy Residue of the AI Bubble
Toby Murray: What really happened at CrowdStrike...
Business Insider: CrowdStrike CEO Has Twice Been at the Centre of Global Tech Failure
Lawfare: The CrowdStrike Outage and Market-Driven Brittleness
This episode of AI Australia features a discussion with Danielle Haj-Moussa, a deep-tech investor at Main Sequence Ventures, and Roo Harris, a partner at Scale Investors. The conversation spans the different investment types, the importance of inclusive and ethical AI, and the differences between deep tech and general tech.
Danielle shares insights into Main Sequence's focus on decarbonisation, industrial productivity, and the commercialisation of groundbreaking research.
Roo discusses Scale Investors' mission to fund female-led startups across diverse sectors, emphasising the need to support underrepresented voices in innovation.
Both speakers explore the evolving landscape of AI, the impact of democratising AI through open-source models, and the critical role of diverse and ethical investment in shaping the future.
We hope you enjoy this thought-provoking conversation as much as we enjoyed having it - we enjoyed it so much we have decided to make this a two-parter and delve even deeper into this topic in our next episode.
Links:
Danielle Haj-Moussa (Main Sequence Ventures)
Roo Harris
Scale Investors
We're back after a bit of hiatus, and a rebrand - the AI Australia podcast is now brought to you by Mantel Group (formerly a house of brands including eliiza).
This was recorded a couple of weeks ago, which is a lifetime in this age of AI, but hopefully you still enjoy the conversation as much as Nat & Kobi enjoyed having it. In this episode of 'This Week in AI', we discuss the continued rapid developments in AI, such as:
- The lack of transparency and accountability within organisations like OpenAI, which led to significant internal conflicts and questionable practices such as unauthorised voice usage and staff contract clawbacks.
- The broader implications of AI on personal identity, regulation, and the importance of maintaining ethical standards in the industry.
- We address the global impact of political developments and election outcomes influenced by AI, as well as the real-world consequences of algorithmic manipulation in social media.
- We highlight the necessity for greater transparency, robust governance frameworks, and regulatory actions to ensure AI technologies are developed and utilized responsibly.
Look out for our upcoming episode(s?) on how AI is shaping the Venture Capital landscape today.
We have rebranded! The AI Australia is now brought to you by Mantel Group (Eliiza's parent company).
Please join us this week as we discuss AI in education with Professor Andrew Maynard from the Arizona State University.
Andrew's fascinating takes from the front line of educating in the age of AI show a vision of the future and interrogates some of the common misconceptions of AI in education.
Welcome back to the AI Australia podcast for 2024, with your hosts Natalie Rouse and Kobi Leins.
We are joined by two experts in the field of cybersecurity - "The Voice of Cyber" multimedia journalist Karissa Breen and internationally recognised cyber law expert Emma (EJ) Wise.
We start off learning about Aboriginal Birthing Trees, then talk about the ethics of self-driving cars, international regulation & frameworks, education, the use of autonomous technology in the military, cyber law, the use of AI in manipulating upcoming elections, information warfare, the naming of the Russian hacker responsible for the Medibank hack, and the opportunity for AI to drive innovation on both sides of the fence - for organisations protecting themselves and for hackers. We make it clear we do not condone cyber criminality!
Unfortunately we did lose the last half of EJ's audio, which is a technical travesty because she did have many fascinating things to say - we will get her back to share more of her great thoughts and experiences at a later date.
Links:
Karissa Breen
Emma (EJ) Wise
Aboriginal Birthing Tree
Missy Cummings on Tesla Autopilot
Automating the Banality and Radicality of Evil
Moral Machine
In our last episode for 2023, Kobi & Nat discuss the following recent developments around the world and how they relate to Australia:
- The EU AI Act, which has made it another step closer to reality, albeit with some conditions for regulating foundation models that not everyone is happy with.
- Kobi has been reading Nancy Levison's new book, which looks at large historical accidents and unpacks what that looks like from a human perspective.
- We wonder how the Act will plug into the new international standards coming out, and whether that might result in some more granular teeth for the Act.
- Microsoft has been quietly talking to industrial organisations in the US, leading us to wonder how the Hollywood Writer's strike will impact other union negotiations around the world.
- The attribution of job losses to AI or automation is proving difficult, and will make future union negotiations even more interesting.
- Kobi talks about the history and evolution of boards over time, which leads us to circle back to the Open AI board purging and reflect on recent information that has come out about why exactly Sam Altman was fired in the first place.
This week join Kobi and Natalie as they discuss some perhaps seemingly-unrelated global trends, and ponder how AI may or may not impact or amplify them in the future.
We raise questions about:
- There are around 40 upcoming elections happening around the world in 2024; have we already seen advancements in AI play a role in driving a shift to the right, and what might we expect to see in the next year?
- There is a trend where local media is becoming increasingly scarce - what does that mean for our local collective understandings & conversations, and global polarisation?
- The lack of diversity (gender and otherwise) in technology media (and the technology industry in general) presents a major hurdle for language models of the future as it leads to a lack of variety in the type of voices on record today, and hence in training data tomorrow.
Links:
Where are all the godmothers of AI? In the Guardian
A 'Trump moment' in the Netherlands shows that Europe still has a populist problem - CNN
Brace for elections: 40 countries are voting in 2024 - Bloomberg
The Guardian view on local journalism's decline: bad news for democracy
This week in AI has been a week like no other - join Natalie & Kobi to mull over the back and forth at OpenAI over the last week as we delve into what happened and what might it all mean. We are saddened about the departure of all the women on the OpenAI board, but wonder if the previous academic-focussed board had found themselves out of their depth as the value of the company grew. We are more than a little curious about the eventual movie that will no doubt be made about this highly dramatic saga!
We also talk about the importance of governance around not just data but AI, including processes & accountability rather than just technical aspects.
No links this week because there is not enough space on the internet to link to all of the articles covering the happenings of this last week.
Welcome to another episode from the AI Australia podcast, with your hosts Natalie Rouse and Kobi Leins.
Continuing the conversation from our last interview on the importance of Indigenous data rights, this time we cross the ditch to Aotearoa New Zealand, discussing Maori data sovereignty and artificial intelligence with three special guests: Megan Tapsell, Associate Professor Maui Hudson, and Dr Karaitiana Taiuru.
They discuss their roles and responsibilities in advocating for indigenous data rights, the challenges and opportunities they face in this area, and the importance of data sovereignty for Maori communities.
Towards the end, they call upon corporations to involve and fairly pay Indigenous people when working with data that impacts their communities.
Apologies for some audio quality issues at times - we experienced some technical difficulties in recording, but are very pleased to be able to bring you most of what we felt was an important & valuable conversation.
Links:
Megan Tapsell on Linkedin
Maui Hudson on Linkedin
Karaitiana Taiuru on Linkedin
We're back! After a brief hiatus, Natalie and Kobi talk about some of the recent developments around the legal world with union agreements and lawsuits due to set some initial precedents in different areas.
They talk about the Hollywood Writers strike and the agreement that was reached including use of AI, as well as covering some of the legal action in progress at the moment around IP ownership, copyright and the updated Privacy Act recommendations. They also touch on the right to be forgotten, and the difficulty applying that within vast training data sets.
Natalie attended the Aotearoa NZ AI Summit, and covers some of the guardrails & principles that were discussed.
Kobi talked about globally the guardrails and principles that will come out of the UN. She also shared a story about Studio Ghibli's director, Hayao Miyazaki's reaction to unthoughtful use of AI in his company.
Links:
Anna Johnston summarises the Privacy Act proposals on Salinger Privacy
Hayao Miyazaki on the use of AI
It’s no secret that AI is enhancing efficiency across nearly every industry in the world today. Unsurprisingly, that includes dentistry and pathology detection. Khoa Le is the founder and CEO of Eyes of AI, which leverages the power of technology to detect, analyze, and diagnose dental X-Ray images. In this episode, he shares his story, from building his skillset to establishing the idea for Eyes of AI and serving his client base today. We touch on preparation and tracking results, discuss the tumultuous waters of navigating ethics and privacy, and explore the benefits of bringing such a high level of accuracy to differential diagnosis. Khoa gets candid about some of the biggest challenges he has faced while building his company and offers his perspective on the growing influence of AI in Australia and beyond. In closing, he shares his thoughts on the human element of the medical industry and why it will always be necessary. Tune in today to hear all this and more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Khoa Le's career trajectory which led to the founding of Eyes of AI.
- How Eyes of AI leverages the power of technology for detection, analysis, and diagnosis of dental X-Ray images.
- What Eyes of AI client base largely consists of.
- Forming the idea for the product.
- The company flagship: 3D images.
- Preparation and results.
- Navigating ethics and privacy by using de-identified data.
- Benefits of the 95% accuracy.
- What the output provides and why it cannot be considered a final diagnosis.
- The biggest challenges Khoa has faced in getting Eyes of AI off the ground.
- His perspective on how the AI industry is growing in Australia.
- Why a personal connection will always be relevant to the medical field.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Khoa Le on LinkedIn
Eyes of AI on Instagram
Eyes of AI
Eyes of AI Journal
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
This week in AI, Natalie and Kobi talk about the global progress on the regulation conversation, and the potential for a global governing body for AI.
They talk about the EU AI Act which has passed another major milestone, and hypothesise about the impact of commercial interests on the effectiveness of that. There was also a senate hearing in the US that Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Gary Marcus (NYU) attended, where they proposed a collaborative international body bringing together academics and the public rather than just corporate/tech interests.
President Biden has also announced a task force investigating the impact of social media on young people. Kobi wonders if some of these things might be a distraction from some of the most important issues, like climate change and the impact of these models and equipment on the environment.
Meta have declared that generative AI is already dead as they go all in on the next generation of AI that is better able to take logic and reasoning into account; however Meredith Whitaker (Signal) has said that while the "godfathers of AI" talk about x-risk (existential risk), they are not talking about a-harms (actual harms), which conveniently means they don't have to take immediate mitigating actions.
Links:
EU AI Act Explained
Yann LeCun of Meta declares generative AI already obsolete
Meredith Whittaker on AI Panic in Slate
It is long overdue that we, as organisations, and people in organisations, start to question our own thinking. And as a global society need to move toward making a systemic paradigm shift when it comes to indigenous research and all that it encompasses. Today, we are joined by a very special guest, Distinguished Professor Maggie Walter, coming to us today from Nipaluna, Tasmania. Maggie is a Palawa woman who descends from the Pairrebenne people of north-eastern Tasmania and is also a member of the Tasmanian Briggs Family. She is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Tasmania and is still heavily involved in indigenous data sovereignty space and anything indigenous data related. Join our very timely conversation as Maggie takes us on a deep dive into indigenous data sovereignty 101, the two sides of data collection, and the problem with AI and using existing data sets. We talk about different challenges with funding and how there is a massive requirement for a paradigm shift in indigenous research. This is a loaded episode with great points of conversation including a global look at relationships with indigenes, why presuming research equals change is dangerous, and why Maggie is more after ontological disturbance rather than money and time. You don’t want to miss this episode, so start listening, and join the conversation.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Maggie Walter, a Palawa woman and descendent of the Pairrebennes.
- Maggie runs us through indigenous data sovereignty 101.
- The statistical indigene and what colonisation has done to us.
- She explains the two sides of data collection. (7:50)
- The problem with AI and using existing data sets: we always end as the problem.
- Thoughts on levers and tools aimed at shifting and solving the indigenous data problem.
- The starting point, humans, and why AI is scary as it relates to indigenous data (collection).
- She shares the challenges faced with indigenous data collection.
- The challenges with funding and the required paradigm shift for indigenous research.
- Why indigenous research projects can’t be concentrated in health and should diversify.
- Her encouragement to challenge and flip mindsets with relationships to first peoples.
- We take a global look at other countries and their relationships with indigenous peoples.
- The danger of presuming research equals change.
- Maggie divulges why she doesn’t do advisory committees anymore.
- The need for ethics codes.
- Why systemic change can only be done in increments.
- A discussion on who owns indigenous data and the benefits, or lack thereof, of AI.
- Maggie tells us why she’s after ontologic disturbance rather than money and time.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Maggie Walter on LinkedIn
UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Closing the Gap Memorandum
Professor Sally Engle Merry
AIATSIS Code of Ethics 2020
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Dr Ava Bargi, Data Science Tech Lead at the NSW Department of Customer Service.
Bio:
Ava is a Lead Data scientist (PhD) with technical Machine Learning (ML), people and community leadership focus in ML and data science.
She is a seasoned data scientist and product lead, passionate about creative problem solving, impactful stakeholder engagement and social interactions, and focused on building ML solutions either individually or as a technical leader. Ava has pioneered the application of machine learning and data science to enhance NSW Planning processes, tackling challenges of modelling partial and unstructured data, with imbalance and quality issues, using ML techniques.
Ava is an impactful Tech and people leader, spearheading in coaching a team of brilliant analysts to use advanced tools and build powerful NLP solutions. She is contributing to NSW government AI maturity by running "AiCoP", an AI community of practice across gov agencies and industries, successfully expanding and increasingly capturing more members and insightful presentations.
Links:
Dr Ava Bargi on Linkedin
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Dr Muneera Bano, from CSIRO’s Data61 within Diversity and Inclusion in AI.
Bio:
A passionate advocate for women in STEM, Muneera was announced as the ‘Most Influential Asian-Australian Under 40’ in 2019. A ‘Superstar of STEM 2019’ and member of the ‘Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’ committee of Science and Technology Australia, in 2021, Muneera was recognized by the Government of Pakistan Foreign Minister’s Honour List as under-40 Pakistani-Australian leader in ‘Science and Innovation’ for her leadership and advocacy in diversity and inclusion in STEM in Australia.
Muneera graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 2015 with a Ph.D. in Software Engineering. She specializes in socio-technical domains of software engineering focusing on human-centered technologies. She was the recipient of Schlumberger’s ‘Faculty For The Future Award’ for Women in STEM (2014 and 2015). Muneera was named as a finalist for ‘Google Australia’s Anita Borg Award for Women in Computer Science’, Asia-Pacific 2015, and won the ‘Distinguished Research Paper Award’ at International Requirements Engineering Conference 2018. Muneera was offered Fellowship for ‘Cultural Diversity and Leadership’ at Sydney University’s Business School in November 2019. She was selected for ‘Pathways to Politics’ by Melbourne University’s School of Government to complete the leadership program in 2021.
Links:
Dr Muneera Bano on Linkedin
Dr Muneera Bano at CSIRO
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Dr Tabinda Sarwar, Lecturer/ Early Career Development Fellow (ECDF) at RMIT.
Bio:
Tabinda Sarwar completed her PhD in Jan 2020 and currently, she is working as Early Career Development Fellow/Lecture at RMIT University.
Tabinda’s areas of expertise include the application of machine learning and deep learning algorithms for data mining and analytics. She has worked on multiple digital health projects involving heterogeneous data sources (including imaging and free text data) for almost 7 years. This includes creating data-driven solutions for health deterioration detection and prediction for aged care homes in Australia, for which she received RMIT Award for Research Impact. She has worked in computational neuroscience, where she analysed the anatomical and functional behaviour of the human brain. T
abinda is interested in the application of machine and deep learning in biomedicine and digital health for knowledge and information extraction to create high-quality solutions.
Links:
Dr Tabinda Sarwar on Linkedin
Dr Tabinda Sarwar at RMIT
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Amanda Princi, Head of Data Enablement at Transurban.
Bio:
As the Head of Data Enablement, Amanda is responsible for driving data culture at Transurban.
Amanda leads a team that enables people to easily manage data, confidently employ data use and maximise data’s value in a safe, ethical way.
Amanda is passionate about a workplace free from data jargon, where teams have positive data
experiences and can embed data thinking into daily activities at any level of the organisation.
Prior to Transurban, Amanda’s career began as a Banker at National Australia Bank (NAB). Over 10 years, Amanda transformed her banking career into a data career, by leveraging data to help millions of customers and achieve significant impact. Amanda’s determination to learn all things data and evangelise data use, led to Amanda holding multiple senior data leadership positions specialising in data analytics and insight, data management and governance.
Links:
Amanda Princi on LinkedIn
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Kelly Brough, Managing Director, ANZ Applied Intelligence at Accenture ANZ.
Bio:
Kelly leads the Applied Intelligence Network for Accenture ANZ.
Responding to businesses increasingly turning to AI to enable their growth, productivity, and creativity, Kelly leads a talented team of strategists, scientists, and value innovators to support our clients in designing and executing data led transformations. She is passionate about the opportunities for society being unleashed by AI technologies and committed to focussing energy on the responsible application of AI to build trust and protect people and organisations while delivering new value outcomes.
Kelly has over 25 years experience across both industry and consulting building digital and data businesses in the Retail, Media, and Technology sectors. Prior to joining Accenture, Kelly held executive roles including Chief Digital Officer at Sensis (Telstra), Global Digital Director at Lonely Planet, CEO Allegran Online Dating (Daily Mail), and Director at AOL Europe.
Kelly has an MBA from INSEAD, an MS in Environmental Engineering from University of Virginia, and completed her undergraduate degree in Engineering Science at Harvard University.
Links:
Kelly Brough on Linkedin
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Kendall Jenner, Research Assistant at STELaRLab, Lockheed Martin's first research laboratory outside of the US.
Bio:
As a Research Assistant, Kendall performs research into Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, investigating the latest developments in the field and how it can be applied to defence applications.
Before entering the workforce, Kendall studied a Bachelor of Science in Theoretical and Experimental Physics at the University of Adelaide, followed by a Masters of Philosophy in machine learning for gravitational wave astrophysics (which is still currently ongoing) with OzGrav – the Australian Research CoE for Gravitational Wave Discovery. Since starting with STELaRLab and Lockheed Martin Australia in the Graduate Program early last year, Kendall has worked on a variety of projects. She has investigated using machine learning for prognostics and health management of aircraft, link prediction in knowledge graphs, creating simulated data for a variety of other projects in the lab, and processing of overhead imagery. She enjoys the variety of tasks that her and her team partake in, and find that the work she does at STELaRLaB is the perfect balance between interesting and exciting state-of-the-art research, and the applications and practicality of implementing new solutions.
Kendall's first introduction to machine learning was during a research internship with the University of Adelaide High Energy Astrophysics group, where the group was tasked with using a random forest classifier to classify blazars, which are a type of active galaxy. This project piqued her interest in AI, and so she pursued a career in it, leading to some extra-curricular activities with Adept at the University of Adelaide, work experience and internships, choice of topic for her postgraduate research degree, and now to her current role with STELaRLab.
Outside of work and university, Kendall is a professional footballer (soccer) for West Torrens Birkalla SC. She enjoys gardening, playing boardgames with friends, and generally doing outdoor activities.
Links:
Kendall Jenner on LinkedIn
This week in AI, Natalie and Kobi tackle some hefty potential societal impacts.
They talk about the strange proposition of a young woman "cloning" herself via chatGPT to outsource her "girlfriend experience"; to celebrated American science fiction writer Ted Chiang writing about whether AI is set to become something of a consultant or third party for problem solving; to ex-DeepMind co-founder Moustafa Suleyman calling on governments to find solutions for people who lose their jobs to AI, and the links between all of these activities.
Links:
https://fortune.com/2023/05/09/snapchat-influencer-launches-carynai-virtual-girlfriend-bot-openai-gpt4/
https://www.newyorker.com/science/allans-of-artificial-intelligence/will-ai-become-the-new-mckinsey
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-28/stage-three-tax-cuts-to-scale/102268304
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/29/fully-automated-luxury-communism-aaron-bastani-review
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/give-us-fully-automated-luxury-communism/592099/
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Deborah Henderson, Data & Cloud Partner at KPMG Australia.
Bio:
Deborah is a Partner in KPMG Australia’s Data and Cloud practice and has significant experience in technology specialising in data and analytics. She has worked internationally and locally in Australia, helping organisations across multiple industries lift their data and analytics maturity to enhance the value of their data assets. Deborah combines her vast technical background and experience in leading large scale data transformation programs across the public and private sectors and multiple industries to provide a holistic perspective on how organisations can drive value from data. Deborah is KPMG Australia’s Data and Cloud Education sector lead, and also heads up our ESG data offerings whilst continuing to deliver data services for clients in multiple industries.
Deborah is recognised as a leader in delivering successful business outcomes across the entire data value chain from strategy through to implementation and has delivered keynotes at conferences and presented as a guest lecturer at some of the top universities in Australia. Deborah leverages her expertise in using modern cloud technology and human centred design to uplift and transform data and analytics capability for our clients, helping them navigate complexity to extract more organisational value from the investments they make and close the gap from data to impact.
She believes that organisations need to be data fit to be future smart and that those organisations poised to use evidence based practice to make informed decisions and inspire action will have a lasting and positive impact that enables people, organisations, and society to thrive.
Links:
Deborah Henderson on Linkedin
Deborah Henderson at KPMG Australia
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Dr Irini (Rena) Logothetis, Research Fellow at the Applied AI Institute at Deakin University.
Bio:
From software development in Melbourne to managing an island hotel in Greece, showing designs at Fashion Week in Athens, to biomechanical engineering to medical and assistive technology research at an AI institute; Rena Logothetis has had an unconventional career path.
Researcher - Deakin University’s Applied AI Institute (A2I2)
Specialising in system design and analysis, projects including:
- TR&R trauma support system in The Alfred Hospital Melbourne
- Development of a multi-use Smart Lab designed to test assistive technology to allow older people to live better, safer, longer lives at home
- A world-first autonomous wheelchair system
- A world-first falls prevention research project
PhD – Engineering Biomechanics
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Avioti Fashion Ed in Athens, Greece
Co-Founder & Managing Director of a hotel on the island of Lefkas, Greece
Links:
Dr Rena Logothetis on LinkedIn
Dr Rena Logothetis at Deakin University
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Dr Yun Sing Koh, Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland.
Bio:
Dr Yun Sing Koh is an associate professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Currently, she holds the position of Director of the Centre of Machine Learning for Social Good. Her research mainly focuses on three areas: continual learning and adaptation, anomaly detection, and data stream mining. She applies her research to interdisciplinary applications in environment and health domains. Throughout her career, she has published more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in top conference venues such as IJCAI, IEEE ICDE, IEEE ICDM. She has also published in high-quality journals, including Machine Learning Journal and Journal of Artificial Intelligence, and has received numerous awards, such as the best paper award at the Australasian Artificial Intelligence Conference (2022, 2018), best research paper award at IEEE Data Science Advance Analytics (2022), and AUT University Vice-Chancellor Emerging Researcher Award (2009).
Between 2012-2023, she secured various grants and contracts, including being a primary investigator for prestigious grants internationally and nationally, such as the New Zealand Royal Society of Fast-Start Marsden and Office of Naval Research Grant, US. Currently, she holds or is a part of 7 major grants as a principal or associate investigator. Yun Sing is currently a fellow for the 2023 Convergence Research (CORE) Institute funded by United States National Science Foundation. Aside from her research work, she has also been active in contributing to service and leadership roles in various organizations. She held the position of General Chair of the Australasian Data Mining 2022 and General Chair of the IEEE International Conference of Data Mining 2021. She also served as Program Committee Co-Chair for the Australasian Data Mining Conference 2018, Workshop and Tutorial Chair for European Conference of Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery 2021, Publicity Chair at 24th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management 2015, and Workshop Co-Chair, Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Conference 2011. Since 2018, she has been a steering committee member for the Australasian Data Mining Conference and is a senior program committee member for top conferences, including AAAI, IJCAI, PAKDD, and ECML.
Links:
Dr Yun Sing Koh on LinkedIn
Dr Yun Sing Koh at the University of Auckland
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our next guest is Aruna Kolluru, the Chief Technologist, Emerging Technology at Dell Technologies, Asia Pacific & Japan.
Bio:
Aruna Kolluru is the Chief Technologist for Emerging Technologies at Dell Technologies, Asia Pacific and Japan. In this capacity, she collaborates with organizations throughout the Asia-Pacific region to provide them with a comprehensive understanding of the potential of emerging technologies and how to conceptualize, create, and leverage these solutions to achieve tangible business outcomes. She is also a member National AI Centre, Australia, Think Tanks, providing expertise and insights on the topics of Responsible AI, Diversity and Inclusion in AI, and AI at Scale. She is also an Expert Advisor at Responsible AI Institute and a Technical committee member of TinyML Asia Pacific.
Based in Sydney, Aruna is at the forefront of emerging technologies and has helped numerous companies build solutions with Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, Quantum Computing, Federated Learning, Big Data and other innovative technologies. She has 22 years of experience in the industry, covering a broad spectrum of technologies.
Prior to her role at Dell Technologies, Aruna worked in various positions including Cloud Platforms Technologist, Big Data Technologist, Middleware Technologist, Java Architect and Presales specialist at both IBM and Oracle. Having worked across a variety of different technology areas, she appreciates facing new challenges and has enjoyed an ongoing learning process and new challenges.
Her technical expertise coupled with her passion for educating and exciting others about new technology is what sets Aruna apart. She is an accomplished thought leader, passionate about intersection of business and technology opens in bettering business and society at large and is particularly interested in furthering the appetite for adoption of emerging technologies to achieve this. Her work on applying machine learning to optimise operational efficiency in data back-up systems has been patented. In addition, she has received and been shortlisted for several industry awards, recognising the work she had done to support customers across the APJ region. She is a co-author of the book 60 leaders in AI.
Aruna is a speaker at AI conferences, round tables, podcasts, and several other events. Furthermore, she is an active mentor in the IT industry, frequently speaking at a variety of programs, including Dell Technologies' Girls in Engineering and Technology, the Dell and UTS partnership for Women in Action, AI Avengers program, the Dell Technologies Code like a Girl program and guest lectures at universities.
Aruna holds a B.Tech in Computer Science and Systems Engineering from Andhra University in India, a masters degree in Software Systems from BITS, PILANI, India, and a Graduate Diploma in Management from the Australian Graduate School of Management. Aruna is a self-learner has completed extensive training programs and certifications to developed advanced technical skills and stay abreast with the latest.
Links:
Aruna Kolluru on Linkedin
National AI Centre Think Tanks
Responsible AI Institute
TinyML Asia Pacific
Applying machine learning to optimise operational efficiency in data back-up systems
60 Leaders in AI
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our latest guest is Malliga Krishnan from Capgemini.
Bio:
Malliga is the Data, Analytics and AI leader for Capgemini Australia and New Zealand. Her in-depth knowledge and experience from over two decades in Technology Consulting sets the strong foundation for creating meaningful business impact through AI, data engineering and data platforms.
Malliga is a strong advocate of building high-performing teams underpinned by empowerment, collaboration and diversity. Her passion for people and data anchor her unique perspectives on ethical and sustainable AI and its potential to revolutionise the world around us.
There have been several noteworthy developments in the world of AI this week, and in today’s episode, we share our take on the good, the bad, and the WTF. We start off by discussing exciting developments at The Human Technology Institute and how their new project, The Future of AI Regulation in Australia, aims to help laws and regulations catch up with language learning models like ChatGPT. Next, we reflect on the tragic news of the first death directly linked to a chatbot, how little the public truly understands about these technologies, and what can be done to minimize these types of risks in future. Our conversation then delves into the proposed moratorium to halt the development of more sophisticated versions of ChatGPT and key concerns that are being raised around this topic. We also spend some time unpacking the problematic source behind this petition, namely, The Future of Life Institute, before discussing what experts like Emily M. Bender And Gary Marcus have to say about the topic. To learn more about this week in AI, including our top takeaways, be sure to tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- The Human Technology Institute’s new project: The Future of AI Regulation in Australia.
- Reflections on the first tragic death directly linked to a chatbot.
- Our thoughts on the petition for a moratorium to halt the development of more sophisticated versions of ChatGPT.
- The problematic elements of the proposed moratorium, including its lack of boundaries and guardrails.
- A reminder of the controversial origins of the Future of Life Institute and why the fact that they are funding this petition should act as a warning sign.
- An overview of the discourse around this topic and our key takeaways.
- Why laws and regulations have failed to keep pace with the language learning models like ChatGPT.
- How the Human Technology Institute’s new project aims to improve regulation, ensure more equitable distribution of wealth, and minimize the potential harm of these technologies.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
'Man ends his life after an AI chatbot 'encouraged' him to sacrifice himself to stop climate change'
'The first known chatbot associated death'
'Elon Musk Signs Open Letter Urging AI Labs to Pump the Brakes'
'The Future of AI Regulation in Australia'
Ed Santow on LinkedIn
University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Human Technology Institute (HTI)
Emily M. Bender
Emily M. Bender on LinkedIn
Emily M. Bender on Medium
'On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?'
'Policy makers: Please don’t fall for the distractions of #AIhype'
The Future of Life Institute
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.
Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.
Our first guest is Professor Ann Nicholson, the Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University.
Bio:
Professor Nicholson graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a Master of Science (Computer Science) from the University of Melbourne. In 1988, she was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where she completed her doctorate in the Robotics Research Group. She then undertook a postdoc at Brown University before returning to Australia to join Monash.
Professor Nicholson is the first woman appointed into her prestigious role of Dean, Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. She is a champion for greater Indigenous participation in her faculty and supports many initiatives to bring more girls and women into IT careers.
Professor Nicholson is responsible for more than 200 staff, 5,400+ students and leading IT courses taught in Australia, Malaysia, China, Indonesia and South Africa. Joining the University in 1994, her leadership expertise is broad and diverse – garnered through a range of executive roles across education, research and industry, including Associate Dean (Education) and Deputy Dean (Research).
A globally-esteemed specialist in Bayesian Networks, Professor Nicholson’s research focuses on translational impact and social good, with cross-disciplinary collaborations in epidemiology, medicine, education, environmental science and meteorology. She has published more than 120 peer reviewed papers and co- authored the highly regarded ‘Bayesian Artificial Intelligence’ textbook. Her research has attracted over $12M in research funding, and has resulted in two start-up companies for technology transfer of Bayesian AI.
Currently Professor Nicholson is the Honorary Secretary of the Victorian Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee; a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) and of the Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia (CORE) ; and a member of professional societies, ACM, IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. She was a co-founder, inaugural president and long-term board member of ABNMS.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholsonann/
https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/ann-nicholson
On this episode of AI Australia, we are going on the road! Join us as we go inside the National AI Centre (NAIC)’s inaugural AI Leadership Summit, held in Sydney in March. We hear from some of the leaders from NAIC, CSIRO and industry on the progress of NAIC’s three think tanks (Responsible AI, Diversity & Inclusion in AI, and AI at Scale); the purpose of the summit; and how NAIC are aiming to bring together AI leaders across Australia under the banner of Responsible AI. NAIC director Stela Solar talks to us about the Responsible AI Network (RAIN) that was launched by Hon. Ed Husic MP on the day, and her plan for expanding the network across Australia, all while battling the challenges of recording in a bustling conference environment.
Sending a huge thank you to all our wonderful guests who kindly took time out of their day to share their thoughts and experiences with us:
- Min Livanidis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/min-livanidis-a35b58ba/)
- Brendan Dalton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-dalton-560ab376/)
- Aruna Pattam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/arunapattam/)
- Cheng Soon Ong (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheng-soon-ong-38bbb524/)
- Rita Arrigo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rarrigo/)
- Judy Slatyer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/judyslatyer/)
- Aurelie Jacquet (https://www.linkedin.com/in/aurelie-jacquet-94b75638/)
- Stela Solar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stelasolar/)
Key points from this episode:
- An introduction to the NAIC AI Leadership Summit with Natalie and Kobi
- What being part of the think tanks mean to several members
- Why the summit is so important
- How this group will help drive a more inclusive and responsible AI future for Australia
- The purpose of each think tank
- Stela shares the background of NAIC, the inception of the Think Tanks and the purpose of RAIN
- Closing comments from Kobi and Natalie
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
https://www.csiro.au/naic
https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/industries/technology/National-AI-Centre/Responsible-AI-Network
https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/industries/technology/National-AI-Centre/NAIC-Think-Tanks
On this episode of AI Australia, we bring about an exciting topic and project being taken on by those at the children’s charity Variety in collaboration with the data consultancy company Eliiza and not-for-profit service provider Data4Good to analyse data over the past several years to gain insights into where funding and grants are being distributed. We’re joined on the podcast by Mandy Burns from Variety and Mahdi Rasouli from Eliiza. They share with us the story behind how they were connected through Data4Good and what the current decision-making process looks like for allocating grants at Variety. We hear all about the experience of working with Eliiza and the process of collecting, reviewing, and analysing the data. What’s next for Variety and their work with Eliiza? Tune in to find out!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to Mandy Burns and the children’s charity Variety.
- How they, at Variety, currently decide on where to allocate grants/ funds.
- How they were introduced to Eliiza by Data4Good.
- A quick introduction to Mahdi Rasouli; part of the data science team at Eliiza
- Mandy shares the experience of working with Eliiza.
- The process of reviewing the data and what they wanted to do with it/ how to analyse it.
- The significance of Variety collecting, reviewing, and understanding the data.
- Working towards automation of data and decision-making.
- The importance of having the why and understanding the scope of the issue.
- Mandy shares some insights they got out of the exercise working with Eliiza.
- What’s next for Variety and their work with Eliiza.
- How Mandy connected with Data4Good.
- The heart behind Variety.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Mandy Burns on LinkedIn
Mahdi Rasouli on LinkedIn
Variety
Data4Good
'Eliiza and Data4Good team up to decipher grants data for Variety'
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
We begin this week’s discussion on all things AI and its developments over the past few days by talking about love and war. We chat about the Bing chatbot that declared its love for a New York Times reporter as well as concerns over the ease with which these systems can be turned hostile and spread harmful misinformation. This leads to a discussion on liability, governance, and how to hold companies responsible for the harm caused by their AI or algorithms. We also talk about language and how this may impact diversity and inclusion. Our hosts share their thoughts on the importance of being aware of the limitations of AI and keeping in mind that it functions as a mirror without an understanding that not everything online has equal weighting. Tune in to hear all of this as well as the developments we hope to see in AI in the near future.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The changes we’ve seen in AI in the past few days.
- Thoughts on the New York Times article about a chatbot that declared its love for a reporter.
- Concerns over getting these systems to spread misinformation or turning them hostile.
- Questions on liability and holding companies responsible for the harm caused by their AI or algorithms.
- Coming back to the problem statement and questioning why you are using the services of a chatbot in the first place.
- Thoughts on language and how this will impact diversity and inclusion.
- The hype and how it creates market fluctuations.
- The importance of being aware of the limitations of AI.
- Developments our hosts hope to see in AI in the near future.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web
Two frightening things before breakfast
Amazing "Jailbreak" Bypasses ChatGPT's Ethics Safeguards - Futurism.com
AI Search Is a disaster
As AI race heats up, let’s pause and ask: “ChatGPT is the answer to what problem?”
Why the Tesla Recall Matters
Getty Images Sues AI Art Generator Stable Diffusion for Copying Millions of Its Photos
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
As we continue our discussion on everything that has happened in the world of AI in the past week, we begin today’s episode with what the public is currently saying about ChatGPT-3 and Google’s new alternative, Bard. The recent circumvention of ChatGPT’s ethics guardrails has sent shockwaves through the industry, and we talk about why academics are worried about AI chatbots as well as other general concerns about the technology. Then, we dive into the “why” of AI, paying particular attention to who decides what we want from AI and whether the current state of AI is valuable to society. The absence of accountability is a major problem in AI governance and we explore the lack of thought in the long-term implications of AI, as well as how the Australian and New Zealand governments compare in their AI protocols. At the end of the day, countries should be working together to provide a universal framework of ethics in AI, but is this possible with so many different cultures to accommodate? To find out the answer, and to gain insight into Kobi’s exciting, new collaboration, tune in now!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Discussing the current conversations around ChatGPT-3 and Google’s new alternative, Bard.
- Reiterating the fears of being able to circumvent ChatGPT’s ethics guardrails.
- Why academics are worried about AI chatbots and other concerns about the technology.
- Exploring the ‘why’ of AI: Who decides what we want from AI, and is it valuable to us?
- The lack of thought on the long-term and societal impacts of AI, and the absence of accountability.
- Outcomes of the Robodebt trial and the thin lines between fear, ignorance, and negligence.
- How the Australian and New Zealand governments compare in AI law.
- The need for a framework of principles that can be used to critique governmental decisions.
- Why countries should work together in creating a universal framework of ethics in AI.
- The difficulty of creating global systems of compliance within multiple different cultures.
- An exciting collaboration that Kobi is working on, and why “ego” and “power” threaten this work.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
‘An important next step in our AI journey’
‘EU, US step up AI cooperation amid policy crunchtime’
‘Amazing “jailbreak” bypasses ChatGPT’s ethics safeguards’
‘Now is the moment for a systemic reset of AI and technology governance’
‘Who decides what conversations are allowed about artificial intelligence?’
‘What is the law when AI makes the ‘decisions’?’
‘Whose doing was it?: what we’ve learned from the Robodebt Royal Commission’
‘Government algorithm transparency and accountability’
Sociotechnical Imaginaries
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr. Kobi Leins
Dr. Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr. Kobi Leins on Twitter
AI Australia Podcast
Eliiza
The AI space is complicated and there are so many questions that we don’t have the answers to. Although it may seem like ChatGPT-3 does in fact have all the answers, in this week’s episode, Natalie and Kobi explain why this is a potentially dangerous assumption. Although it presents enormous opportunities for societal progress, ChatGPT-3 also has the ability to be used as a form of weaponry, and we need to be careful about using it as a tool for learning. Then there are the issues of exploitation and environmental consequences that don’t make the headlines, and the fact that we could be moving towards a world where humans are made redundant, and none of us want that, do we?
Key Points From This Episode:
- The pros and cons of using ChatGPT in school classrooms.
- Why ChatGPT is viewed as a form of weaponry by some people.
- The opportunity that ChatGPT presents society as a whole.
- Exploitation happening behind the scenes at ChatGPT.
- Why Amazon has asked its staff to stop using ChatGPT.
- The environmental impacts of tools like ChatGPT.
- Information that has recently come to light that is a setback for automated vehicles.
- NIST’s new AI risk management framework.
- Complexities of reviewing a tool like ChatGPT.
- The importance of having set standards in place in the AI space.
- Real world circumstances that are played out in the movie M3GAN.
- Exploring what our purpose as humans is.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
ChatGPT
SlidesGPT
‘The $2 Per Hour Workers Who Made ChatGPT Safer’
‘The Exploited Labor Behind Artificial Intelligence’
‘Tesla Video Promoting Self-Driving was Staged’
‘This Song Sucks’
‘Amazon Warns Employees Not to Share Confidential Information with ChatGPT’
‘RoadMap for the NIST Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework’
M3GAN Official Trailer 2
‘Now Is the Moment for a Systemic Reset of AI and Technology Governance’
Proposal for Regulation
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
Today's panel discussion is an extra special one. We welcome three guests from the Human Technology Institute, or HTI, to talk about how AI can be used and directed for building the kind of future we actually want. Sally Cripps, Edward Santow, and Nicholas Davis offer a host of insightful opinions and reflections from their work in the field, commenting on the most recent developments we are seeing around OpenAI and ChatGPT, prioritising ethics and governance, and how Australia might approach playing an important part in the emerging global landscape. We also spend some time on the responsibilities of third parties and how data science models can most effectively be used for real-world improvements. So if you would like some great perspectives on where innovation is most needed, how the country might proceed in the AI space, and how it all starts with a policy, be sure to listen in!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to our guests, their backgrounds, and current roles in the cohort.
- A few reflections on the recent developments in and statements about the AI field.
- Sally talks about potential solutions and approaches to current objections about AI.
- The role of governance in AI progress and safety in Australia.
- Approaches to making ethics and governance more tangible across the industry.
- Advice for organisations wanting more information about implementing ethics and governance policies.
- AI and regulation; exploring the contrasting opinions on using AI in the actual process.
- Thoughtful AI in Australia; an argument for the rigour that the country should prioritise.
- The kinds of questions we need to be asking in regard to consumer rights and policy.
- Data science models and the profound influence that these can now have on real-life scenarios.
- Big businesses' obligations when it comes to duty of care and negotiating contracts with partners.
- Closing thoughts on the responsibility of third parties.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Sally Cripps on LinkedIn
Ed Santow on LinkedIn
Nick Davis on LinkedIn
Human Technology Institute
UTS
World Economic Forum
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Klaus Schwab
DALL-E
Nick Cave
Gary Marcus
ChatGPT
OpenAI
ISO
Kate Crawford
Carnegie Foundation Legal Education Study
Amsterdam City Contractual Terms for Trustworthy Algorithms
Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
The Emergence of Probability
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
National AI Centre
Everyday AI Podcast
Stela SOLAR
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
Welcome back to the AI Australia Podcast. After an extensive hiatus, we decided to revive the show but felt it was paramount to pivot the overall theme. Incredible advancements are being made in the world of artificial intelligence; however, very little attention is given to the moral and ethical considerations of the technology. Given how fast AI technology is progressing, we feel it is imperative to bring these issues to light. To help unpack these nuanced ideas are hosts Natalie Rouse & Dr. Kobi Leins, experts on AI. On this first episode of the AI Australia Podcast, we discuss AI technology and the governance challenges that AI poses. We start by learning about our hosts' professional backgrounds, the unique viewpoints they can offer on the subject, and the company Eliiza. Then, we get into the nitty gritty of AI and talk about the ethical and moral considerations, the definition of AI, the ecosystem that AI operates in, and the positives and benefits of the technology. We unpack the use of AI language models, the role of Australia in the AI space, how AI may impact broader society, and much more. Tune in and join us as we start another adventure and explore the responsible use of AI with hosts Natalie Rouse & Dr. Kobi Leins!
Key Points From This Episode:
- We start by hearing about Dr. Leins’s and Natalie’s professional backgrounds.
- Find out about Eliiza and the important work that the company does.
- An overview of the show and what kind of guests will be on upcoming episodes.
- Hear what the definition of AI is from an actual AI and what Dr. Leins thinks about it.
- Dr. Leins gives a historical overview of AI.
- Reasons why there is no definitive definition for AI.
- We discuss the positives and negatives of AI language models.
- What other impacts to consider when using AI.
- Learn about some real-world examples of AI language models.
- The role that Australia can play in the AI industry.
- Outline of the topics that will be covered in future episodes.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Mantel Group
King's College London
Atlas of AI
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Gary Marcus on LinkedIn
TWIML podcast
Rebooting AI: What’s Missing, What’s Next with Gary Marcus
Margaret Mitchell
Stack Overflow
The National Artificial Intelligence Centre
Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins
Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn
Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter
Eliiza
Dan Jermyn joins us today to share his experiences as the head of the biggest AI and Data Science practice in Australia. He explores the criticality of thought diversity in AI development, the need to break the status quo regularly, and the importance of regulations to customer safety. He also shares his insights about building effective data science teams as well as navigating politics to create AI that, first and foremost, serves a purpose with defined ethics and explainability even within complex models.
And, of course, Dan will tell us which sci-fi universe he envisions will most closely resemble our own future. Tune in to find out all of this and more about the remarkable projects and progress Dan has contributed to AI and machine learning in Australia.
Bio:
Dan Jermyn is Chief Decision Scientist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, who have reported 7.5 million digitally active customers as of 10/02/2021.
Dan is an experienced leader in both technology and data science, with an established record of building award-winning, global teams in digital, big data and customer decisioning. Dan joined the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in 2017, where he has responsibility for delivering great customer experiences and innovative new solutions through data science.
Dan has also worked as a strategy consultant and then Head of Analytics for an agency in the UK as well as co-founding a successful digital technology startup. Prior to his current role, he held various positions at the Royal Bank of Scotland including Head of Digital Analytics and Head of Big Data & Innovation.
0:30 Has the foundation of banking changed over the last five or so decades? While banks still look out for the financial wellbeing of the communities they serve, the way we interface with our banks has changed—our bankers rarely know our financial dreams and wellbeing—an issue data scientists seek to resolve.
3:00 What will be the value proposition of machine learning to banking in the year 2050? How have futuristic technologies like robotics already changed the banking experience? Dan shares how robotics in banking has allowed frontline staff to derive more meaning from their work as well as how we can expect this trend will grow.
5:40 What is the state of the ecosystem for fintechs? Are small disruptors still able to break into the field alongside big players? Do different banking cultures have a competitive advantage? Does diversity of thought play a role?
7:30 On the topic of banking regulations—is it friend of foe to the Big Four? Dan discusses customer safety and banking’s contributions in supporting the critical infrastructure to make Australia a leading digital economy.
9:15 Dan describes the organization's philosophy of developing machine learning and AI for banking purposes. Is there a roadmap for the best route for using AI and ML for service and customer solutions? Dan discusses with us a moderated approach that keeps purpose at the forefront of AI development—that end products must have a use case.
12:15 What are the most valuable lessons Dan has learned about building and scaling a data science team? He shares with us the criticality of diversity that extends beyond culture and gender into diverse experience, including people who were once first-line banking employees.
15:00 How do you navigate complex environments with deep issues such as data governance if you’re trying to advance your data science career? Is there an imbalance in the market as it pertains to data science talent? Dan discusses the benefit of hiring fresh out of college people who will break the status quo.
23:00 Dan discusses explainable AI in the context of innovative banking and the purpose and benefit of having a global ethical AI toolkit.
27:00 How does Dan see academia and industry working together going forward? Dan explains the importance of independent verification as well as symbiotic education—how members of industry can open conversations about current real-world issues as well as the ability of experts in the field to teach industry leaders in support of new and usable solutions. Dan also fills us in about coming together in groups to see new contexts for technology.
30:00 What is the corporate decision process behind Benefits Finder? Dan explains the program which shows banking customers benefits they may be entitled to from various governmental programs that they may not have been aware of. How did he and his team create a program like this and why?
Jeannie Paterson and Tim Miller join us from CAIDE to discuss AI, ethics, accountability and explainability. What is changing in these spaces, especially in light of Covid-19, and what should researchers and governments turn attention to in order to ensure helpful, beneficial AI that is used ethically?
More About Our Guests:
Jeannie Paterson & Tim Miller are the co-directors of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, a new collaborative, interdisciplinary research, teaching and policy centre at the University of Melbourne involving the faculties of Computing and Information Systems, Law, Arts and Science. Jeannie specialises in the areas of contracts, consumer rights and consumer credit law, as well as the role of new technologies in these fields. Jeannie’s research covers three interrelated themes:
- Support for vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers;
- The ethics and regulation of new technologies in consumer markets;
- Regulatory design for protecting consumer rights and promoting fair, safe and accountable AI.
Jeannie is co-leader of the Digital Ethics research stream at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute focused on social equity and community-led research Tim is associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne, his primary area of expertise is in artificial intelligence, with particular emphasis on:
- Human-AI interaction and collaboration
- Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)
- Decision making in complex, multi-agent environments
- Reasoning about action and knowledge
In this episode we investigate:
- Tim discusses why the center publishes so frequently and the importance of public outreach, especially in times of crisis such as Covid-19.
- How did the center come about? How did Jeannie and Tim become involved with it?
- Is the center independent? Is it a collaborative effort between the several similar centers across Australia such as the 3AI center in Canberra? Tim discusses how the centers work together as well as how to differ in vision and approach. Jeannie expresses the importance of an interdisciplinary approach and their dedication to this.
- Which subjects will they launch in semester two? Jeannie lets us know about subjects such as AI Ethics & Law which discusses how law responds to ethical dilemmas. What expertise does Jeannie have regarding law and the impacts of technology to consumers?
- What are counterfactuals? Jeannie answers, “What would you ask the machine when you’d receive a particular mortgage recommendation?” How do counterfactuals help scrutinize the basis of the decision to see if it is valid? How does this remove systematic bias and prejudice?
- What are the new trends in explainable AI? Tim also delves into counterfactuals as well as cognitive psychology and cognitive science. How do you generate counterfactuals that are realistic? What do those look like? Tim expresses that the human factor in explainability is becoming increasingly important.
- Tim discusses the impacts of Covid-19 on conferences and networking in this space now that everything is virtual. How does it make things less connective and enticing?
- Jeannie answers, “What advice do you offer your family and friends regarding the Covid Safe app?” She delves into privacy and security as compared to the benefits and effectiveness of the app. Has the Covid Safe app set a precedent for privacy in Australia? Tim discusses how a contact tracing app was used by law enforcement to understand who was at a Black Lives Matter event and why this means there should be legislation surrounding apps such as this and how the data can be used.
- What scale of discouragement will it require to make a difference to Australian businesses? Is money the answer? Tim discusses why we must educate consumers about data collection and privacy, in part by exemplifying what information about them can be discerned from the data they share. How can consumers be proactive? Jeannie discusses how sometimes consumers are misled about what data is collected about them.
- Jeannie and Tim share their views about harmful tech and the ability to question automated decisions and the need for accountability to ensure that.
Today on AI Australia, we have the opportunity to talk to Professor Jon Whittle of Monash University about the impacts - both good and bad - data science is having on the world around us. As co-author of a series of published and soon-to-be-published papers in the fields of software development, ethics, and values, Jon is well placed to talk to us today about the heightened risks and opportunities that the development of data-science based systems brings to our world.
About Professor Jon Whittle:
Professor Jon Whittle is the Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University.
Jon is a world-renowned expert in software engineering and human-computer interaction (HCI), with a particular interest in IT for social good. In software engineering, his work has focused around model-driven development (MDD) and, in particular, studies on industrial adoption of MDD.
In HCI, he is interested in ways to develop software systems that embed social values. Jon's work is highly interdisciplinary. As an example, he previously led a large multidisciplinary project with ten academic disciplines looking at how innovative digital technologies can support social change. In 2019 Monash launched the Data Futures Institute, which we will find out more about today.
Before joining Monash, Jon was a Technical Area Lead at NASA Ames Research Center, where he led research on software for space applications. He was also Head of the School of
Computing and Communications at Lancaster University, where he led eight multi-institution,
multi-disciplinary research projects. These projects focused on the role of IT in society and included digital health projects, sustainability projects and projects in digital civics.
- 2:30 How is Monash busting the old model of disciplinary siloed schools and turning toward a passion for multidisciplinary studies? How does the intersection of fields lead to progress, especially in software engineering and AI?
- 5:00 How do you go about raising awareness of these types of social, ethical, and psychological aspects of interdisciplinary work and studies with a deep technical kind of audience who are focused on their tools and being the best they can in their particular arena? What role do universities play in creating engineers who will consider ethics and values in their software products?
- 8:00 What are values? Jon gives us a long and short answer that can include everything from social responsibility to hedonism to inclusion. What role do social scientists play in how we understand values? Jon discusses Schwartz’s Ten Universal Values, corporate values, and the difference between ethics and values—as well as the ability for them to contradict one another. How do values differ by culture, age group, and other demographic factors?
- 14:00 Who gets dominance in a software application—who chooses the values that underpin the software? How do we take the implicit aspect of values in software and turn it into an explicit process? Jon discusses the maturity scale of companies and their corporate values and whether or not this impacts design decisions.
- 19:00 Jon discusses the impact of corporate values on software development and real-world cases of ethical issues that have arisen due to software. This includes everything from parole re-offender predictions, priority one-day shipping, and self-harm on Instagram.
- 23:00 Are values at the root of algorithmic bias? Different groups experience products and services differently, especially if the data and ideas going into it are heavily biased. 80% of AI professors are male—how does this influence the way systems are designed? Are our programs today working to increase diversity in AI and software development and, even when those fields are diverse, what difference will it make? Jon proposes someone on the team to specifically ask questions about values during the design process.
- 29:00 Will we ever get to an empirical state where values are so measurable that we could be alerted, automatically, of a breach? Jon discusses the complexities of this process, but shares progress that is already occurring on this front. Even without perfect accuracy, we can see if things are getting better or worse.
- 32:00 Is there a government role in policing the ethical use of software, data, and AI? Jon shares his thoughts on a multi-faceted approach to regulation.
- 35:00 How is Monash helping students prepare for a values-first data environment? Jon discusses the “Bachelors of Applied Data Science” multidisciplinary degree and the combination of “data plus x” in education and the workforce.
- 38:00 Jon discusses examples where values went right and why we need values built-in to software upfront, the way we do with security. Jon also answers the questions, “Do robots have values?” with a surprising standpoint.
In today’s episode, Lizzie O’Shea discusses the great power of data and AI — and how we can use them to empower people rather than oppress them. She’ll discuss which technologies should be off-limits, compares data policies around the world, and proposes a code of ethics for engineers building these influential technologies. Lizzie probes who holds the power of AI and data and who should be responsible for ethics in this realm — corporations or the government — and who is better equipped to do so. Lizzie raises important questions about privacy concerns in our digital lives and even poses the question — do machines already rule the world?
About Lizzie O’Shea:
Lizzie is a lawyer, writer, and broadcaster. Her commentary is featured regularly on national television programs and radio, where she talks about law, digital technology, corporate responsibility, and human rights. In print, her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Guardian, and Sydney Morning Herald, among others.
Lizzie is a founder and board member of Digital Rights Watch, which advocates for human rights online. She also sits on the board of the National Justice Project, Blueprint for Free Speech and the Alliance for Gambling Reform. At the National Justice Project, Lizzie worked with lawyers, journalists and activists to establish a Copwatch program, for which she was a recipient of the Davis Projects for Peace Prize. In June 2019, she was named a Human Rights Hero by Access Now.
As a lawyer, Lizzie has spent many years working in public interest litigation, on cases brought on behalf of refugees and activists, among others. I was proud to represent the Fertility Control Clinic in their battle to stop harassment of their staff and patients, as well as the Traditional Owners of Muckaty Station, in their successful attempt to stop a nuclear waste dump being built on their land.
Lizzie’s book, Future Histories looks at radical social movements and theories from history and applies them to debates we have about digital technology today. It has been shortlisted for the Premier’s Literary Award.
In this episode we cover the following topics:
- 4:00 How does the modern day compare to times in decades past as it pertains to rights—is technology a force for good? How can we take back the power of technology to benefit humanity?
- 8:00 How can we manage AI and digital technology in a more intentional way? How are automated processes already determining the course of many people’s lives? Lizzie explains how the future when machines takeover is, in many ways, already here. Should technology be regulated in order to help solve problems, and what problems have already occurred?
- 16:00 Lizzie discusses the state of regulation across the world, including GDPR and New York’s data fiduciary law. Should we move beyond contractual ideas of privacy?
- 18:00 Lizzie explains her stance on facial recognition. Should facial recognition be limited in the same way as chemical warfare—a line that is not to be crossed? How can facial recognition technology be oppressive, and what can you do to protect yourself?
- 22:00 Is the social credit system in China far-fetched in the West? Lizzie discusses the modern surveillance state.
- 26:00 How does technology mirror power structures in the analog world? Lizzie discusses predictive policing technology and the biases that exist within it.
- 31:00 Should we create a code of ethics for engineers developing these technologies? What practical things could an engineer do if a project’s implications make them uncomfortable?
- 38:00 Lizzie discusses the influence of large companies, social media, and why some issues they face are better suited to politics than corporations.
- 46:00 We converge to talk about the politics behind data and AI, the need to educate our regulators, and speak with our younger generations who will one day create the rules surrounding the tech that rules the world.
Kriti Sharma, seen in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Technology, is an artificial intelligence technologist, business executive, and humanitarian. She has been a part of Google India’s Women in Engineering, a United Nations Young Leader, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. In 2018, Kriti launched rAInbow for domestic abuse victims in South Africa. She is the founder of AI For Good UK as well as an advisor to the United Nations Technology Innovation Lab. Previously, Kriti was VP of Artificial Intelligence at Sage.
Today, we are lucky to have her with us to discuss the future of AI and to answer an important question—what if disadvantaged groups don’t have a say in the AI tech we create? How can the world’s governments join forces from a regulatory perspective in order to create AI that benefits humanity as a whole? What types of social change and humanitarian impacts intersect with AI—how do we do bigger, better things that incorporate the human element? And how does GDPR play a role?
On this episode we discuss:
- 2:00 Kriti discusses her background, including her introduction to machine learning and robotics with a robot she created when she was 15. She also discusses the purpose of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and the types of problems they focus on within the group. What do these problems mean from a regulatory point of view and in everyday life?
- 6:00 How do we get governments around the world to engage in more collaboration? Rather than become a “leader” in AI, why don’t we use the combined power of joining forces? How does being in London alter her view of AI around the world and why did she choose to work there?
- 9:00 Is employment a driver for concern in the markets that Kriti engages with? Because AI is at the height of its hype cycle, how does that impact AI in business moving forward? Is the alarmist narrative surrounding job automation valid? Kriti discusses that women are expected to lose twice as many jobs to automation as men as well as the dark side of new job creation.
- 14:00 Kriti discusses the importance of diversity in AI and how it can bring focus to actual usefulness as well as potential misuse cases that can arise. How has Kriti encountered challenges and mistakes on this front?
- 17:00 Where is the intersection between AI and climate change and how does this relate to the youth classes Kriti has taught? What social issues do the young people Kriti teaches care about?
- 21:00 Kriti discusses rAInbow for women in South Africa where 1 in 3 women face domestic abuse—a figure that is the same for Australia. Why are women not reporting their abuse? What other women’s issues and diversity issues intersect with AI?
- 28:00 What are Kriti’s thoughts on GDPR? Is it working?
On this episode of AI Australia, we’re changing things up a little. With James overseas, Nigel and his friend Sarah Turner from REA Group hosted multiple panel conversations with some of Australia’s best and brightest in the field of AI, computer science, mathematics, and regulation to discuss the launch of OVIC’s new book: Closer to the Machine.
OVIC is the Office of Victorian Information Commissioner and is the primary regulator and source of independent advice to the community and Victorian government about how the public sector collects, uses and shares information.
In this episode, we’re lucky to be joined by:
- Sarah Turner (co-host) - General Counsel, REA Group
- Adam Spencer - comedian, media personality and former radio presenter
- Rachel Dixon - Privacy and Data Protection Deputy Commissioner, OVIC
- Professor Toby Walsh (University of New South Wales and CSIRO’s Data61)
- Professor Richard Nock (Australian National University and CSIRO’s Data61)
- Associate Professor Ben Rubinstein (University of Melbourne)
- Katie Miller (Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission)
- Professor Margaret Jackson (RMIT)
In this episode we discuss:
- The degree to which we all take for granted how big a part AI plays in our lives
- The rate of improvement in algorithms in their narrow fields of “expertise”. We discuss how quickly a chess-playing AI went from basic to beating the chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov
- OVIC’s motivation for publishing the book on data privacy and protection
- Grappling with the implications of how AI systems can be misused, or easily breached from a security standpoint. Do we continue to push the boundaries in the face of privacy risks and concerns? Do we pull back?
- The challenge of discrimination. Eventually, machines will need to make decisions that “discriminate” against people in one way or another - but there is such a thing as good discrimination and bad discrimination. Who gets to make those definitions?
- What role should government play in the regulation (or non-regulation) of AI?
- Accountability. What happens when AI “goes rogue”? Where does the buck stop?
- How the conversation has evolved over the years, and become more “realistic” in a sense.
Links mentioned:
OVIC: Closer to the Machine book
Dr Karin Verspoor works at the intersection of Science and Technology, applying computation to analysis and interpretation of biological and clinical data, particularly unstructured text data.
Karin is a Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, as well as the Deputy Director of the University's Health and Biomedical Informatics Centre.
She was previously a Principal Researcher at NICTA's Victoria Research Lab and served as the Scientific Director for Health and Life Sciences. Karin headed a research team at NICTA in Biomedical Informatics.
Karin moved to Melbourne in December 2011 from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where she was a Research Assistant Professor in the Center for Computational Pharmacology and Faculty on the Computational Bioscience Program. She also spent five years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, nearly five years in start-ups during the US Tech Bubble, and a year as a Research Fellow at Macquarie University. She received her undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Rice University (Houston, TX) and her MSc and PhD degrees in Cognitive Science and Natural Language from the University of Edinburgh (UK).
Topics covered include:
- Karin’s take on the future of healthcare and the role will AI play, given her unique vantage point on the topic. We also cover the key building blocks that make this future possible
- Whether there are new risks associated with a more technologically advanced healthcare future
- We’ve seen public outcry over the My Health Record program with people opting out and question marks over doctors willingness to upload data to the system. We discuss what this means for the future of healthcare
- Whether tech companies like Apple and Fitbit will become significant players in the health space
- Karin’s take on what AI will do to the job market in healthcare if AI continues to advance at its current rate
- Is more regulation around data - eg GDPR or similar - a must-have for Australia if we want to embrace a more data-driven approach to healthcare?
- Where Australia ranks in terms of governments and companies leading the charge on transforming healthcare
- What Karin’s colleagues in medicine think about the rapid pace of technology innovation
On today’s episode of AI Australia, we have the pleasure of speaking with Suelette Dreyfus renowned researcher and journalist on digital privacy and whistleblowing. She has a personal connection to these topics and even co-authored a book with Julian Assange. Suelette will explore with us the implications of AI on privacy, the complexity of context able to be extracted from collected data thanks to this technology, as well as tech’s impacts on personal security. She will also cover how technology is changing the world of whistleblowers, what protections citizens have against predatory data collection, and much more. Join us on today’s episode!
More about Suelette Dreyfus:
Suelette Dreyfus is a journalist, technology researcher, and writer. Her field of research includes information systems, digital security and privacy, the impact of technology on whistleblowing, health informatics, and e-education.
Her work examines digital whistleblowing as a method of freedom of expression and the right to dissent from corruption.
Suelette is also a researcher and lecturer in the School of Information and Computing Systems at the University of Melbourne. She is also the principal researcher on an international project testing the impacts of digital technologies on whistleblowing
Additionally, Susan is the author of the ‘97 cult classic Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier which covers the exploits of a group of hackers in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s—including Julian Assange who is also the co-author of the book.
- 6:00 Suelette describes the tradition of privacy in various parts of the world.
- 7:00 Suelette discusses the upswing of encryption and whether or not law enforcement has always had access to this information, citing the “right to whisper.”
- 12:00 Can the government read our minds? How much does our Google search history reveal? Can you simply use another search engine? What parts of our privacy and ourselves should we be willing to sell?
- 20:00 Do policies such as GDPR offer protections on things like genetic data? What happens if your data is sold, but it’s wrong? Can you correct it? What legal measures are coming into being surrounding these topics? Are there laws surrounding facial recognition technology?
- 30:00 What sorts of legislation may come about in Australia in regards to data privacy? How can data be used in nefarious ways such as targeting potential gambling customers based on genetic predisposition to addiction?
- 34:00 Where is the line between reasonable persuasion and manipulation? How does this relate to politics? Social media? How do news filter bubbles normalize ideas? Is fact-checking an issue here?
- 39:00 Suelette discusses whistleblowing and relevant cases. What systems and laws are in place to assist whistleblowers in calling attention to wrongdoings? How are those options changing? Is whistleblowing about fame?
- 48:00 Suelette discusses Australian legislation that allows for backdoor access to data. What was wrong with this recent bill?
- 55:00 How are companies choosing to censor people?
- 63:00 When did Suelette decide to pursue privacy in her career? How did Julian Assange impact her path? What type of environment and situation is Assange dealing with? What rights are at stake?
Amazon: Underground: Tales of hacking, madness, and obsession on the electronic frontier
Today we’re talking with Data Scientist Katherine Bailey and Professor of Philosophy Oisin Deery about bias in machine learning systems. Katherine and Oisin share their perspectives on why philosophy and ethics of AI is such a hot topic, the scandals engulfing the tech industry and how philosophy could be applied to chart a new course, and how philosophy can help us frame solutions to bias in machine learning systems.
Katherine Bailey is the Natural Language Processing lead within Accenture Australia’s AI and Automation Engineering group. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, her background is in software engineering and data science, with over a decade in the technology industry, primarily in Canada, the US and Australia. Prior to joining Accenture she was Principal Data Scientist at Acquia, a Boston-based Software-as-a-Service company, where she led the company’s Machine Learning initiatives. Katherine speaks and writes regularly on the topic of A.I. and is committed to dispelling the myths and removing the confusion around it, teasing apart the real from the imaginary implications of these technologies, both practical and ethical.
Oisin is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Monash University, in Melbourne. His research interests lie at the intersection of philosophy of mind and action, metaphysics, and ethics. Oisin also works on ethical issues related to artificial intelligence. Oisin completed his Ph.D. in philosophy in 2013 at the University of British Columbia. Katherine and Oisin have a particular interest in bias in Machine Learning systems and have presented at conferences and meetups around the world on this topic, including a presentation at Google in 2018.
In this episode we discuss:
- STEAM versus STEM, how the Arts complements STEM
- Exploring the feasibility of Artificial General Intelligence
- How philosophy can help us think about AI and ethics
- How we define intelligence
- The limitations of the Turing test
- The long history of machines fooling people
- Consciousness and sentience in relation to AI
- Is AI ushering in a golden age of philosophy?
- The tendency in tech to assume a question is being asked for the first time
- Tim Miller’s work on explainable AI and the importance of drawing on social sciences
- How can tech companies best apply philosophy?
- The recent scandal surrounding Google’s external AI ethics advisory council?
- What is ethics washing?
- How tech is impacting democracy and public debate
- Different types of bias in word embedding how it can be addressed
Resources mentioned:
- Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence https://www.amazon.com/Life-3-0-Being-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/1101946598
- Facebook’s Role in Brexit—and the threat to democracy with Carole Cadwalladr https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_facebook_s_role_in_brexit_and_the_threat_to_democracy?language=en
- https://ai.google/principles
Today we’re talking with Aire co-founder and mum of the Rita AI, Sarah Bell. Sarah discusses with us the evolution of Rita, humanisation of machines, our sci-fi future, and the ethics of big data and bias-free AI.
More about Sarah:
As a co-founder of the PropTech startup Aire, Sarah Bell is a sought after speaker and expert on the strategic application of artificial intelligence and automation in real estate. She helps real estate businesses harness the opportunity within their data and transition to a blended human-digital workforce using Aire's Digital Employee, Rita.
With a professional and academic background in research and analysis, Sarah joined the front lines of real estate as an agency owner and practitioner for a decade giving her tactical insights, subject matter expertise and just enough street cred to create solutions that are intelligent by design and Cx obsessed.
Sarah is an author, analyst, researcher, project designer, speaker and nerdtrepreneur with research interests and some pieces of paper in strategic planning, change management, planning professional development and strategic application of artificial intelligence with London's Middlesex University, Leeds Trinity University (UK) and recently MIT's Sloan Management and CSAIL Executive Schools. Sarah is also Mum to three human children and a clever little robot named Rita. She has a strong preference for dogs over cats if pushed on the subject.
- How does Sarah see her role? Does she see herself as an entrepreneur? How did she end up in real estate?
- How did the AI Rita come about? How did they avoid creating a solution to a problem that didn’t exist? How did their background help with this? What does Rita actually do?
- What does Rita stand for? How has Rita become humanised among the team? Is this humanization deliberate or does it occur naturally?
- Tech jargon isn’t relevant to customers. How does the team help customers understand what Rita does? How does this let customers connect to her?
- Does Sarah have any practical advice for establishing an AI startup? What role does intuition play?
- Three important questions: How can we connect humans to computers in ways that make them more intelligent? How do we connect humans to each other in ways that are more intelligent? How can we connect people to information in ways that are more intelligent?
- Is it straightforward to hook into the right skills to take a concept or idea to an actual product? What challenges has Sarah faced on this front?
- Do some customers see Rita as a potential risk to their jobs? How can humans and machines work collectively with their best skills?
- Why is Rita built the way she is vs. as a chat bot? How does Sarah feel about chatbots as an interface? Will Rita one day talk directly to customers?
- What is Sarah’s vision of the future in relation to sci-fi—Star Wars, Star Trek, Jetsons, Terminator, Altered Carbon, etc.? Which sci-fi future are we most closely going to end up in?
Aire Homepage
Today, we’re chatting with artist and scientist J.J. Hastings. Her research explores self-experimentation, genome editing, machine learning and the future intersections between tech and the human body. She has long-standing roots as a biohacker—having co-founded two community labs, London Biohackspace and Melbourne’s BioQuisitive—and now has the first garage lab start-up in Australia to be approved by the OGTR to work with genetically modified organisms.
Her work has been exhibited at venues across Europe, India, Asia, North America, and Australia. J.J.’s career in scientific research spans over 15 years. She is an alumna of New York University, Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and Central Saint Martins with advanced degrees in Biology, Bioinformatics, and Fine Art. Her research fuses and folds together the fields of machine learning, bioengineering, space exploration, new media art, and ethics.
In our episode, we’ll probe J.J. ’s mind about the ethics of editing the genes of children, using gene drive to eliminate disease, the possible risks of biohackers. She’ll also cover how close she believes we are to artificial general intelligence (AGI), the impact of quantum computing on biotechnology, and the possibilities of our sci-fi-esque future, and her own lab—Bioquisitive.
- 2:00 How did JJ come to be who she is? How did she get involved in so many interesting projects? Is she an expert in all of these topics? And how did she end up in biohacking?
- 5:00 Has JJ chased being a provocateur? Or is it the product of pure curiosity?
- 7:00 JJ discusses the book Dark Emu (is this right?) and seed modification. How might this relate to our future settlement of Mars?
- 11:00 How are machine learning, CRISPR technology, and biohacking all interrelated?
- 14:30 JJ discusses theoretical biology, quantum computing, and whether or not biohackers pose a risk.
- 17:00 Is it out of control to utilize biohacking to cull species or eradicate disease? Will gene drive be widely used? How might this impact human and ecological health?
- 21:00 What is the history behind CRISPR? How is it still unfolding? JJ discusses the act of editing the genome of children and states her position on the scientist who experimented with exactly this. Is genetic engineering justified?
- 25:00 What are the ethics behind genetic modification? How far is the law behind the technology? How should we concern ourselves with our genetic privacy?
- 32:00 How does JJ feel about sci-fi? Which sci-fi movie most likely depicts our future? Gattaca, Altered Carbon, Star Trek, The Island?
- 38:00 How close are we to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)? How does the accessibility to CRISPR and AI tech change our research? How much do we really understand and how much of our thoughts around these processes are hubris?
Dark Emu - Book
JJ Hasting’s Homepage
The Island - Movie
Change Agent by Daniel Suarez - Book
Today we’re speaking with Chris Hausler, Senior Data Science Manager at Zendesk, a global customer support SaaS company.
Chris believes that the future of AI and humanity will be a bright one, but humans must adapt and seek new opportunities as old opportunities evaporate. Hausler is working to help clients resolve customer service issues before they crop up by giving users access to the information they need at their fingertips.
Hausler speaks about artificial intelligence growth, development, and trends over the last few years and how Zendesk has helped set the bar for their development on today’s episode of AI Australia
- 02:00 How did Zendesk integrate AI into their already strong ticketing system? How is it changing customer-facing features?
- 02:40 How are Chris and his teams able to find repetitive trends in support conversations, streamline the information, and add UX elements for self-service.
- 05:40 What was the first machine learning project Chris worked on with Zendesk?
- 09:20 Why does Zendesk keep all data science in Melbourne as opposed to near their home office in San Francisco?
- 14:30 Do you find that talent is more readily available in Melbourne? Is it less competitive than San Francisco? What challenges do you face while recruiting in Melbourne?
- 20:10 What skills and traits do you look for when hiring smart people straight out of university?
- 22:50 When approaching problems, what critical thinking skills come into play? How can these be applied to a machine learning platform?
- 28:00 What technologies have been responsible for machine learning growth over the last four years?
- 33:10 Will humans take action to “hack” self-driving cars? What sorts of action might they take?
- 38:10 Where do you stand on dystopian versus optimistic points of view?
- 40:10 What are some upcoming breakthroughs that are coming up on seriously changing the world?
- 47:00 Can machine learning be used to teach products to change their approach based on the customer experience?
- 48:00 What other outcomes, aside from job loss are possible through machine learning applications in healthcare?
- 49:40 What roles on a team are needed to start hiring for a machine learning business path?
- 50:10 What skills are sought after for early hires in data scientist?
- 50:50 How important is domain knowledge in data science?
- 55:00 Are encrypted backdoors a serious threat to information security? Should legislators be allowed to make these mandatory?
Episode Resources:
https://www.zendesk.com
Today, we’re chatting with Dr Niels Wouters, Head of Research and Emerging Practice for Science Gallery Melbourne and Research Fellow in the Interaction Design Lab at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Wouters’ research focuses on social good and the human element of technology, especially as it pertains to AI and Human-Computer Interaction. A renowned speaker across national and international media, Wouters regularly speaks about the impacts of new technology on urban life. He has been featured on The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, BBC, The Washington Times, World Economic Forum, Dazed Digital and CNN.
Dr Wouters is the creator of Biometric Mirror, Stories of Exile, Encounters, and Street Talk. His work will be featured in a permanent Science Gallery exhibit in Melbourne.
During today’s discussions, Dr Wouters will explain the purpose behind such fascinating projects as Biometric Mirror and the implications of trusting an AI trained on subjective data. He will also lead us through the journey of Street Talk and the very human, life-changing connections made via technology placed on the outside of homes in Belgium. How can technology bring us together as a community? How might unreliable AI be used against us in the future?
Today, we will explore these questions and more with one of society’s most creative researchers on Human-Machine Interaction, Dr Niels Wouters.
- Street Talk - What happens when you equip family homes with technologies that engage the outside world? Explore the results of note printers for passersby, LED ambient noise detectors, and even a headphone that lets others hear the conversations within the home.
- How do we treat data privacy differently when looking at digital data vs. linking people in analogue ways?
- How did Dr Niels Wouters go from computer science to finance to architecture to find a home here linking science, art, ethics, and the human element?
- How is Science Gallery bringing together artists and scientists to stir interest in STEM among young adults? What’s happening with Science Gallery in Melbourne?
- Biometric Mirror - How do people react to an AI that determines their gender, age, ethnicity, weirdness, aggression, and emotional instability? What if that data were used against them for job selection or insurance rates?
- How simple is it to build an AI from an unreliable dataset? And how open are people to believe an assessment is correct due to the simple fact it was made by a machine?
- What is AI’s impact on human rights? What concerns does a university’s ethics review committee have surrounding a project like Biometric Mirror?
- What are the ethics behind showing AI-generated attractiveness assessments to young adults? Are young people more or less likely to accept a machine-generated assessment as fact?
- Which sci-fi future are we in the midst of creating? The Jetsons? Bladerunner? Black Mirror? Or something else entirely?
- Eliza’s “granddaughter” shows up as a special guest.
- What’s coming in the future? Will there be a Biometric Mirror 3.0? Beyond facial recognition, what would happen if Wouters hacked an Alexa to do unexpected things? How will Biometric Mirror be used as an ethics probe? What’s next for Science Gallery?
- What two or three things could listeners and legislators do now to jumpstart AI ethics in Australia?
Joining us today is Zane Lackey, Co-Founder and Chief Security Officer at Signal Sciences based in New York.
Zane serves on multiple public and private advisory boards and is an investor in emerging cybersecurity companies. He is incredibly well versed in the various trends and advancements in cybersecurity and defending against attacks.
He is the author of Building a Modern Security Program, a how-to in building and scaling effective security teams.
Prior to co-founding Signal Sciences, Zane led a security team at the forefront of the DevOps/Cloud shift as Chief Security Officer of Etsy.
We also have a guest co-host today is Craig Templeton. Craig is the Chief of Information Security Officer REA group and has spent 20 years working in cybersecurity. Safe to say, this episode is stacked with insight into the state of the security industry and what it means for both citizens and businesses.
Here’s what’s discussed in today’s episode:
- Why it’s been a rough year in the tech industry
- How the concept of defence and depth has been turned into expense and depth.
- Why security teams are drowning in too much data and need to focus on what is important.
- The threat to cybersecurity as a result of automation
- Privacy risks - how do we eliminate or reduce personal information data?
- The implications of data corruption
- Why people may lose trust in machines and avoid using them
- When the most simple methods in designing defence systems can often be overlooked
- Should citizens be able to opt out of automated decisions and would they even know?
- Why legislation needs to catch up with technology
- How can we better adopt and embrace technology such as DevOps, Cloud, AI, and machine learning?
Today, we’re chatting with AI expert, activist, and author Toby Walsh. Toby is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales and Data61 with an educational background from the University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh in mathematics, theoretical physics, and artificial intelligence. He has also been Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research and has chaired multiple AI conferences.
As an activist, Toby helped in the release of an open letter which gained over 20,000 signatures that called for a ban on offensive autonomous weapons. Toby is also the author of multiple books on artificial intelligence, the most recent of which is “2062: The World That AI Made” which we will discuss today.
Dr Walsh opens his thoughts on the future of AI, when and how it could surpass humans, and how little we know about how it could impact our jobs. Toby also discusses with us other ways AI can impact society for better or for worse. How can our data privacy impact AI and how can microtargeting using this data change the course of history? What ethics should we stand by? Who is responsible for decisions made by autonomous machines? And could government regulation actually help—rather than hinder—innovation?
- Insight into Toby's most recent book, “2062: The World That AI Made”, touted as the book to read, bar none, on AI and society.
- Will AI have consciousness? Is consciousness a biological construct?
- AI's impact on jobs. Will more jobs be displaced than created? Could AI lead to the second Renaissance when people focus on what's truly important?
- Which fictional future will AI lead us most closely to? Blade Runner, A Space Odyssey, Altered Carbon, The Jetsons, etc.?
- How did Toby become involved in AI? How did he become an activist?
- Which legal and ethical issues do we need to look at surrounding AI? AI is being used to target suspicious people for criminal surveillance. Bosses are now sometimes algorithms such as is the case with Uber.
- Should we regulate data monopolies? What is happening to our data privacy and how is it used to manipulate us? Cambridge Analytica and Facebook accused of involvement in manipulating elections through microtargeting using collected personal data.
- What is the regulatory landscape in Australia? How has it been impacted by GDPR? How has data been used illegally to discriminate based on race, gender, and other similar factors?
- What is the potential impact of government regulation on automation in travel? How could the safety of transportation increase through regulated data sharing in automated cars and planes?
- What are the advantages of machines over humans? How will global learning change humanity?
- Do we want humans to be manipulated to such an extreme degree? Can humans be hacked? Should we regulate weapons of mass persuasion?
- How did AlphaGo create a ”Sputnik Moment” for AI? What impacts has it had? Is robotic soccer Australia's “Sputnik Moment” in AI?
For full show notes and resources head to: eliiza.com/podcast/episode-3
On this episode of AI Australia, we’re excited to be speaking with Kendra Vant. Kendra is currently the principal data scientist at SEEK, and has had an extensive and diverse career in AI/ML and data science (among other things) across insurance, banking, telecommunications, government, gaming, the airline industry, and the job board market.
With SEEK being one of the leading Australian companies in the field of AI, Kendra really is someone to pay attention to as the AI landscape unfolds. We’re honoured to have had the opportunity to speak with her about the past, present, and future of AI for the Australian technology community.
We discuss a wide range of topics, including:
- What is involved in Kendra’s role as principal data scientist at SEEK
- Some of the results Kendra and her team have seen by applying AI to their job search functions
- How Kendra got into the world of data science and software engineering
- The role of ethics in AI, and how it plays into the work Kendra is doing with her team at SEEK
- Some of the issues with bias in the hiring process, and where Kendra sees the main opportunities are for removing bias using AI and ML
- The importance of keeping humans in the loop when it comes to AI initiatives. This helps humans keep machine bias at bay, and vice versa
- How SEEK goes about finding tried and true machine learning algorithms, implementing them, and scaling them. Rather than being the research and development ground for new algorithms, they are more focused on making tested algorithms scale better
- Kendra’s rule of thumb for data scientists and engineers working together - how many engineers per data scientist, what kind of engineers, etc.
- How Kendra views the state of data science and machine learning adoption and usage. There’s a lot of hype, and Kendra helps us cut through a lot of that in explaining what’s really going on in the Australian business community
- Kendra’s thoughts and concerns on the National Health Record
- The best communities and conferences to be involved with as a data scientist or AI/ML enthusiast
Today we’re speaking with Tim Miller, associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne. Tim’s primary area of expertise is in artificial intelligence, with a particular emphasis on the concept of explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI).
Tim describes his background as being at the intersection of artificial intelligence, interaction design, and cognitive science/psychology, so we knew this was going to be a fascinating conversation!
Tim does not disappoint, and we cover a wide range of topics including:
- What explainable AI is, and why it is such a hot topic today
- How to define intelligence, and the role philosophy has to play in AI
- What can go wrong with a lack of visibility into AI, and why explainability is so important
- The current issue of trust when it comes to AI, and why the worst-case scenarios tend to get most of the media attention
- The problem of bias in AI and how we can remove it. In particular, we discuss the topic of “predictive policing” and some of the issues it presents
- Tim’s thoughts (as a leading expert on transparency in AI) on the My Health Record program
- GDPR and what it means for explainability and the AI community in general
- The concept of using AI to inspect, detect, and solve problems with other forms of AI
- Where Tim believes we are as a community in terms of AI advancement, and what needs to happen in order to take further leaps in the development of AI
- Tim’s movements and appearances at upcoming AI events
We’re so excited to announce our first guest: Ellen Broad.
Ellen is a renowned expert in the field of data ethics and AI. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience, having worked around the world advising governments and corporates on data sharing, open data, strategy and licensing.
Ellen’s writing has appeared in the New Scientist, the Guardian and a range of civil service and tech publications. She has spoken about AI and data to ABC Radio National's 'Big Ideas' and 'Future Tense' programmes, and at SXSW in the US
Ellen’s recently published first book Made by Humans: The AI Condition, analyses our role and responsibilities in automation and how machine learning is affecting our decisions. Roaming from Australia to the UK and the US, data expert Ellen Broad talks to world leaders in AI about what we need to do next.
During our conversation with Ellen, we explore themes such as why understanding AI is really about understanding human thought and behaviours, how to improve people’s recognition of AI and how it works, how to approach AI ethics as a business leader plus so much more:
- How Ellen’s career journey into AI and data ethics and has unfolded
- Literature that does a good job of examining ethics and has had a profound influence on Ellen
- The purpose behind Ellen’s book Made by Humans: The AI Condition
- How the concept of automation bias and taking for granted the output of a machine affects us and the decisions that we make
- How to improve people’s understanding of how machines work and what the points of failure might be
- Why it’s important to be wary of quality assurance mechanisms in AI right now
- Communicating ethics to a board of directors
- The emerging risks of new job roles in ethics
- The place of and need for external standards and systems of validation in AI and the need for markers of quality/standardised expectations
- Guiding principles for a business leader who is evaluating AI solutions (and what to avoid)
For full show notes and resources head to eliiza.com.au/episode-1.