01Proposed
The Second Brain
Intelligence meets the arena.
A live demonstration of how AI reads movement, tactics and decision-making — proposed for World 09, run in the open with failures visible.
Explore The Second Brain
AI:NEXT AUSTRALIA
BUILDING WHAT COMES NEXT.
The first conversation begins in Canberra.
The wider room arrives in 2027.
October 2026CanberraAI:NEXT AUSTRALIA 2027
The first room
AI:NEXT CANBERRA
THE LEADERS' ROUNDTABLE
October 2026 · CANBERRA
Invitation-led · Curated · Cross-sector
A curated room for up to 50 leaders. One room. One conversation about what Australia builds next.
The first major convening of the AI:NEXT journey. Not a pre-summit side event — the first major convening where Australia's AI future is explored in depth.
Enter the RoundtableOctober 2026 · Canberra · then 2027 Summit
AI is already changing how Australia works, builds, learns and decides.
What should Australia build next?
AI:NEXT is a platform for the conversation — beginning with the Leaders' Roundtable in Canberra, continuing through Signals and connections, reaching the wider ecosystem at the Summit in 2027.
Find your AI:NEXT
Where do you belong in the conversation?
Three short steps. No account. Nothing you enter here is sent to analytics.
Step 1 · What brings you here?
The manifesto
The future is intelligent.
AI is changing
- How we work.
- How we build.
- How we learn.
- How we create.
- How we care.
- How we compete.
- How we govern.
Technology is moving faster than the conversation.
AI:NEXT brings Australia's builders, leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, creators and communities together to explore what comes next.
Let's build it together.
01Worlds · one day
Not tracks. Destinations.
Each world is a separate conversation about where intelligence actually meets Australian work, research, policy and life. Pick one and read it properly.
- World 01
Women in AI
The people changing the equation.
- On the table
- Founders
- Researchers
- Executives
- Emerging leaders
Explore Women in AISessions and speakers revealed soon.
World 01
Women in AI
The people changing the equation.
- On the table
- Founders
- Researchers
- Executives
- Emerging leaders
Explore Women in AISessions and speakers revealed soon.
02A signature AI:NEXT experience
AI Tea. Small tables. Big conversations.
Forget the giant panel for an hour. One host, one question, one table of people you would not normally meet. Tables are limited and allocated closer to the summit.
10 seats
What changes when more women build the systems?
- Table
- Women in AI
- Host
- Host revealed soon
- Length
- 60 min
- Around the table
- Founders · Researchers · Leaders
09AI:NEXT Live
Not just presentations. Things happening.
Formats designed to be watched rather than sat through. Everything below is marked with where it actually stands — nothing here is confirmed programming yet.
Signature
- 02Proposed
AI Battle
Two systems. One challenge.
The same brief handed to two different systems in front of the room, with the failure modes left visible.
- 03In development
Build in 60
Something built in an hour.
One practitioner, one real problem, sixty minutes, no pre-baked demo — narrated as it happens.
- 04In development
Demo Arena
No slides. Working systems only.
Short, strictly timed demonstrations of things that already run in production.
Supporting
- 01Proposed
Human vs AI
Can the room tell the difference?
A blind comparison run live, with the audience voting before the reveal.
- 02Proposed
AI Challenge
The audience takes part.
A problem posed to the whole floor, worked on live and resolved on stage.
- 03Proposed
Future Room
An immersive detour.
A quieter, sensory space for exploring where this is heading rather than being sold to.
- 04In development
AI Lab
Hands on the controls.
Guided experiments where visitors run the system themselves and break it on purpose.
Startup
- 01Planned
Founder Pitch
Five minutes. One room.
Founders in front of investors, corporates and media, with questions rather than applause.
05The experience
Don't just hear about AI. See it.
Three parts of the day where AI is in the room rather than on a slide. Everything below is marked with its real status.
- 01Applications opening
The AI:NEXT Floor
Discover. Test. Build. Meet.
An expo floor organised by what you want to do, not by booth number. Exhibitor applications open closer to the summit.
Explore the floor - 02Planned experience
AI Live
Don't just hear about AI. See it.
Live builds, working demonstrations and human × AI challenges staged in the open, in front of the room.
Explore the floor - 03Applications opening
The Next 10
Ten Australian companies worth watching.
A selection of early AI companies given real stage time. Selection criteria published with the application.
Read The Next 10
04People
The people shaping what comes next.
Speakers are confirmed one at a time and announced only when they are. No placeholder faces, no borrowed logos.
When a speaker is confirmed, a new node activates in the network. New signal — then the card emerges.
- 01FoundersRevealed soon
- 02BuildersRevealed soon
- 03ResearchersRevealed soon
- 04CIO / CTORevealed soon
- 05GovernmentRevealed soon
- 06InvestorsRevealed soon
- 07Women in AIRevealed soon
- 08CreatorsRevealed soon
- 09Global voicesRevealed soon
Speaking at AI:NEXT
We're looking for people with something specific to say — practitioners, researchers and operators over keynote regulars.
See the speaker programme07The Signal
AI:NEXT Signal
The intellectual record of what the room actually surfaced — starting with the AI:NEXT Canberra Signal after the Leaders' Roundtable.
THE AI:NEXT CANBERRA SIGNAL
- 01
What we heard
Major themes from the room.
- 02
Where there was agreement
Areas of convergence.
- 03
Where there was tension
Important disagreement, handled with care.
- 04
What is missing
Capability gaps worth naming.
- 05
Where the opportunity is
Investment, technology, research and market openings.
- 06
What should happen next
Practical actions the room chose to carry forward.
- 07
Questions for the Summit
Issues that deserve a larger room in 2027.
Attribution follows Chatham House Rule unless a participant agrees otherwise. Nothing confidential is published without permission.
Coming after Canberra
The first Signal will emerge from the room.
AI:NEXT Signals document ideas, tensions and opportunities that deserve to travel beyond Canberra — published when the room meets, not before.
Express interest in the Roundtable- 01
What Australian leaders are really worried about
In progress - 02
Where AI could create the biggest Australian opportunities
In progress - 03
What responsible AI should look like
Coming soon - 04
Why women matter to Australia's AI future
Coming soon
06Two rooms
Canberra starts it. 2027 expands it.
Not a warm-up and a main event — the first room and the wider ecosystem.
Canberra
The Room
- Curated
- Invitation-led
- Leadership conversation
- Up to 50 leaders
- High-trust
- Signal generation
2027
The Summit
- Open ecosystem
- Broader participation
- Builders · Researchers · Investors
- Government · Founders · Creators
- Live experiences
- The Next 10 · AI Live · AI Tea
- The wider conversation
07The working period
The conversation doesn't pause.
AI:NEXT does not go quiet between rooms. The period between Canberra and the Summit is when connections, signals and opportunities are followed through.
AI:NEXT Signals
PlannedPublished write-ups from Canberra and curated conversations.
Focused roundtables
ProposedSmaller rooms on specific themes — only when confirmed.
Founder conversations
ProposedIntroductions between builders, investors and operators.
International pathways
In developmentDelegation conversations where relationships exist.
AI Tea
PlannedIntimate tables as part of the wider programme.
The Next 10
In developmentDiscovery and preparation for emerging companies.
02The evidence
AI is moving fast. Is Australia ready?
Two official readings of the same country, taken months apart. Neither is a marketing number — both are linked to their source.
12% of Australian businesses reported using AI
Around 35% of large businesses reported using AI, against roughly 11% of small and micro businesses — the gap is the story.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Characteristics of Australian Business
2024–25 financial year, released June 2026
View the source(opens in a new tab)43% of Australian SMEs reported some level of AI adoption
Measured across the December 2025 to February 2026 quarter, down from 45% the quarter before. Trust remains the dominant barrier for the rest.
National AI Centre, AI adoption insights
December 2025 – February 2026
View the source(opens in a new tab)24× growth in AI adoption in financial and insurance services
Up from 1% in 2021–22 — the fastest-moving industry in the survey. Adoption is not spreading evenly across the economy.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Characteristics of Australian Business
2021–22 to 2024–25
View the source(opens in a new tab)
The question isn't whether AI is coming. It's what Australia does next — and who is in the room when that gets decided.
05Public value
Shaping what comes next.
AI is changing how we work, build, learn, create, care, compete and govern. The technology is moving faster than the conversation.
AI:NEXT exists to bring the people shaping Australia's AI future into the same room — and to turn that conversation into something usable afterwards.
AI:NEXT is an independent summit. Participation by public sector speakers or attendees does not imply government endorsement, sponsorship or partnership, and none is claimed. Any official involvement will be named explicitly once agreed.
- 01
Public sector
Policy, service delivery, procurement, safety.
- 02
Industry
The organisations carrying the cost and the risk.
- 03
Research
Universities, institutes, independent labs.
- 04
Startups
The people building before anyone is watching.
- 05
Investors
Capital deciding what gets built here.
- 06
Builders
Engineers, designers, data and ops practitioners.
- 07
Communities
The people AI is applied to, not just for.
05The AI:NEXT journey
A conversation with a memory. Six stages.
Canberra starts it. The Signal records it. Connections extend it. The Summit expands it. Insight makes sense of it. Action proves it mattered.
- 01
The Room
AI:NEXT Canberra Leaders' RoundtableA deliberately curated group of leaders around one table in Canberra · 27 October 2026.
- 02
The Signal
What we heardThe ideas, opportunities, barriers and disagreements worth carrying forward — published as the AI:NEXT Canberra Signal.
- 03
The Connections
People + capital + research + industryThe work between the rooms — founders, investors, researchers, government and international markets.
- 04
The Summit
AI:NEXT Australia 2027The conversation expands to the wider ecosystem · Sydney · coming 2027.
- 05
The Insight
What emergedWhat the journey actually surfaced — not what was hoped for in advance.
- 06
The Action
What happens nextWhat gets built, funded, governed or changed — tracked, not announced.
The conversation begins around the table in Canberra. In 2027, it reaches the wider AI:NEXT stage. Enter the Roundtable · Explore AI:NEXT 2027.
10The day
One day, shaped deliberately.
An indicative shape rather than a published agenda. Times and sessions will change as the programme is confirmed.
Indicative — the agenda is published closer to the summit
- 07:30
Arrive
Coffee, first conversations, the floor opens.
- 08:30
The opening
Where Australia actually stands, without the spin.
- 09:30
The big ideas
The arguments worth having, argued properly.
- 10:30
The floor
Discover, test, build, meet.
- 11:30
AI:NEXT Table
Curated conversations, eight to twelve people.
- 13:00
The builders
The people shipping, on what actually broke.
- 14:30
AI:NEXT Live
Built, tested and challenged in the open.
- 16:00
The Next 10
Ten Australian companies, one stage.
- 17:30
The connections
Introductions with a reason to exist.
- 19:00
What comes next
Signals from the day, and what happens after it.
06Plan your day
Tell us what you do. We'll point you at it.
Limited tables across the worlds. This is the shortest route to the parts of the programme built for you.
Engineering, product and applied research sessions, plus the AI Live floor.
Start with these worlds
- 07AI StartupsThe builders before they are famous.
- 03Make in AustraliaMade here. Built for the world.
- 04AI for BusinessFrom experimentation to execution.
And this AI Tea table
AI & StartupsWhat can be built here that can't be built elsewhere?
8 seats · 60 min
October 2026 · CanberraAI:NEXT AUSTRALIA 2027 · Date to be announced
Join AI:NEXT
The Leaders' Roundtable in Canberra is the first room. The Summit in 2027 is the wider ecosystem. Choose the pathway that fits — roundtable, summit, startup, partner, international or speaker.
- First convening
- AI:NEXT Canberra Leaders' Roundtable · 27 October 2026 · Australian Parliament House, Canberra
- The Summit
- AI:NEXT AUSTRALIA SUMMIT · Sydney · Coming 2027
- Who it's for
- Builders, leaders, researchers, investors, government, international partners
- Organiser
- AI:NEXT — an independent initiative, not a government programme
- Partners
- Coming soon — none announced yet
- Participation
- AI:CANBERRA seats are invitation-led; Summit registration opens once dated