AI Down Under

Avsnitt

• 
  CTO (Ex-Google) Helps $10B Companies Use AI | Akhilesh Singh (CTO, Aviato Consulting) 26.08.2026 51min

  80% of the engineering on an AI project is not AI. It is cloud, data, networking, and security. Until that part is right the model has nothing to stand on. That is the view of a man who spent 9 years at Google as Head of APAC in their Customer Data Platform, and who now builds those foundations for companies turning over more than $10 billion.Akhilesh Singh is Chief Technology Officer at Aviato Consulting, the Sydney firm Google named its 2026 Cloud Partner of the Year for Australia and New Zealand. Founded in 2023 by former Googlers, Aviato builds the cloud, data and AI foundations underneath some of Australia's biggest companies, including Chemist Warehouse, Officeworks, Endeavour Group and Lendlease.Before Aviato, Akhilesh spent 9 years at Google as a cloud engineer and then Head of Customer Data Platform for APAC, leading the professional services team across Australia and New Zealand. Across a career of more than 20 years he has built petabyte scale data and machine learning systems at Walmart, Flipkart, Google and YouTube. If you have shopped on Walmart's website, something he built was working behind the scenes.CHAPTERS0:00 The systems behind everything you buy online1:20 Why he left nine years at Google3:39 What Australia's biggest companies are asking for now5:50 Why he says Google Cloud wins on AI7:13 Open source models are still a factor of 10 out9:00 The screening spot no human analyst would have picked10:35 A genomics run that fell from thousands to tens of dollars11:58 Why 80 percent of an AI project isn't AI13:41 Winging a talk for thousands at Google Cloud Next16:22 The conversation has moved from demos to production17:06 What the companies actually getting a return do first21:08 The companies quietly winning with AI since 201526:00 His 2030 bet on how many engineers there will be28:31 Stop pointing AI at your cost base31:01 Will coding still matter33:55 "Go read C" and why he still means it36:55 Specialise, or become replaceable38:59 The apps he can break in ten minutes39:45 The katana you cannot hand to a monkey43:00 Where the LLM architecture actually stops45:39 Why agents beat a smarter model48:12 Robotics is next, and he is calling itCONTACT AKHILESHAkhilesh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhilesh-singh-ml/Aviato Consulting: https://www.aviato.consulting/Aviato is hiring: https://careers.aviato.consultingvivaLAB, the genomics work he mentions: https://www.vivalab.healthCONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST)My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network. I build with AI daily!If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompsonSubscribe for more conversations with the people actually building AI in Australia!
• 
  3x exit Aussie founder (ex-AWS, ex-Microsoft) | Nick Holmes à Court 20.08.2026 50min

  Nick Holmes à Court founded 3x VC backed startups (with exits). One of his companies, a sales marketplace with Stanford Endowment on the register, generated customers $100M in revenue. Now, he is Founder and CEO of Altitude Group, an agentic studio in Sydney that builds and operates agentic software factories. Before that he spent 4 years at AWS in venture capital business development, connecting founders to capital across Blackbird, Square Peg, AirTree, Peak XV, OneVentures and Startmate. He is also ex-Microsoft and ex-Betfair, he has been angel investing for 10+ years across 100+ companies that raised capital in North America, and he chairs Post Exit Founders in Australia.CHAPTERS0:00 3 exits, and the agent studio he runs now0:41 "How do I automate myself"2:53 The brain he built so his agents decide the way he does5:50 He asked it his hopes, fears and desires7:07 How to build one, starting with your own data sources9:00 The agent that builds his agents9:40 The $5,000 bill that arrived in a day10:50 The security hole most people miss12:50 8 agents running, and none of them knew about each other15:03 A tinny with a 400 horsepower engine16:37 The AI events agent he built, then gave away18:00 He hired an agentic CEO19:07 The daily standup that made his agents start shipping19:50 Every agent gets an adversary, and only 3 rounds20:57 $2k in recurring revenue, then 45 competitors in 3 weeks24:45 The wall between every founder and what they want26:54 The barrier was $1M for a server. Now it's distribution28:20 His brother in law's trading app, built in a hard hat29:28 The one advantage nobody can vibe code32:25 Inside Altitude Group, and the work he turns down35:27 Why he thinks it's the worst time ever to be an entrepreneur37:00 The vibe coded wave heading for production38:10 Offensive cyber is booming, and the next Optus moment39:47 The silly sounding business of 203141:30 "The best boss I've ever had", said about an agent43:12 Sabots, printing presses and 60 year old truckers44:50 Agents won't take your job. Humans running agents will47:39 Clean fuel and dirty fuel49:40 Build the thing you'd be delighted to use yourselfCONTACT NICKNick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nholmesacourtAltitude Group: https://altitudegroup.orgCONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST)My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in total revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian companies hire AI, data and software engineers, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network.If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompson Subscribe for more convos with the people building AI in Australia!
• 
  The CEO Who Built Voice AI for Domino's | Kath Blackham (CEO, VERSA Agency) 15.08.2026 1h 2min

  Kath Blackham built voice ordering for Domino's back when every single word a bot said had to be scripted. Then Amazon switched off the platform her entire business stood on.Kath is the Founder and CEO of VERSA, the Melbourne agency she started in 2010 that grew into one of Australia's first conversational AI agencies. Before that she was head of product at Seek and realestate.com.au, and helped float a business on the ASX that raised about $42 million. By 2017 she was selling voice AI to some of the biggest brands in the world, building on Amazon Alexa for Domino's, Netflix, Village Cinemas, Huggies, Pfizer and the American Red Cross, with 70 staff and offices around the world at the peak. VERSA has also run a four day work week for eight years. And at 19, before any of it, she opened one of the first foreign supermarkets in the Russian Far East.In this conversation she tells the story she says she's never told before. Amazon killed smart speaker skills in 2020, COVID landed the same year, she looked over the abyss financially, pivoted three times, raised money in the US and won Mint Mobile. Plus how the four day week really works (100 percent of the pay for 80 percent of the time at 100 percent productivity), why she calls it the antidote to AI, and her prediction that we will spend the next five years catching up to the technology we already have.CHAPTERS0:00 The woman who goes in headfirst1:16 Her first sale, a heavy metal festival4:28 The trend she missed, and the one she caught7:05 Hey Alexa, order my usual8:18 Scripting all 27 ways to say hello10:46 Netflix, Huggies and the Alexa skills era12:19 Late 2022, when everything changed14:03 Amazon switches off her platform20:27 The story she's never told before23:16 Three pivots, one lane, one mission27:33 Gut over data31:34 Eight years of the four day week33:26 Measuring a four day week, and the antidote to AI39:06 Her prediction, five years to catch up46:37 Autonomous cars and what keeps her up at night48:48 A business idea born live on air54:56 Why do we still work five days?56:57 Feel the fear, and your business is not your family1:01:43 Wrapping upCONTACT KATHKath's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathblackham/VERSA: https://versa.agencyCONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST)My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network. I build with AI daily!If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompson/ Subscribe for more conversations with the people actually building AI in Australia!
• 
  Her Team Built an AI Brain ($2.1M Per Week) | Anneliese Urquhart (CPO & AI Lead, Think & Grow) 12.08.2026 1h 3min

  Anneliese says many businesses that use AI to change how they operate are outpacing their peers on revenue growth by more than 2x, and the difference has almost nothing to do with the technology underneath. Her team just finished a live segmentation model for a med tech business that generates $2.1 million a week, new revenue and revenue saved combined.Anneliese is Chief Product Officer and AI Practice Lead at Think and Grow, a growth advisory business of more than 100 people based in Melbourne. She has spent more than 20 years building software platforms, including work with companies like Xero and Deloitte, and she has been running machine learning at commercial scale for more than a decade, well before Gen AI. She was CEO of the AI platform Amplified Intelligence, and she has been named one of the top women in media and adtech.In this interview, we get into the elephant problem, why she reaches for automation over AI more often than you would expect, the marketing team that shipped its own API keys inside a vibe coded app, and the build her team just delivered for a med tech business.CHAPTERS0:00 The gap that widens every quarter2:24 The businesses outpacing their peers by 2x3:49 Why AI is not the change, data is6:14 Every business has an elephant problem10:00 Synthetic panels, richer personas, and your ideal salesperson14:04 When automation is the better answer than AI16:25 Where she would start with AI for an ordinary business 19:56 Data, tools, training or people - what goes in the roadmap22:28 Centralise or decentralise?25:37 The marketing team that shipped its API keys30:34 The harness, the horse, and why model choice is a commercial lever33:52 The build it or buy it test38:04 The build that proved their ideal customer was not who they thought44:07 Why an LLM is the most influential media ever made48:08 The live segmentation model for a medtech52:47 $2.1 million a week54:19 The agent watching what competitors do59:34 They are not resistant, they are overwhelmedCONTACT ANNELIESEAnneliese's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annelieseurquhartThink and Grow: https://www.thinkandgrowinc.comCONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST)My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network. I build with AI daily!If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompsonSubscribe for more conversations with the people actually building AI in Australia!
• 
  He Builds AI Agents For $15B Revenue Companies | JC Gosselin (Enterprise AI & Tech @ Terem) 07.08.2026 51min

  Most companies buy a pile of AI licences, watch usage peak in week 3, and by month 6 nothing has actually changed.Jean-Christophe (JC) Gosselin is Principal of Enterprise AI and Technology at Terem, an Australian tech consultancy. He has spent his career shipping data and machine learning inside large organisations, including loyalty and freight analytics in aviation, and these days running agentic engineering uplifts inside some of Australia's largest enterprises and government agencies. He is also French, an aviation geek, and the funniest man on Australian enterprise AI LinkedIn.In this conversation he walks through the 6 levels of agentic engineering in plain English, where Australian companies honestly sit on that ladder, what a 4 week uplift actually looks like inside a client, and why making your engineers 3 times faster can leave you no better off.CHAPTERS0:00 The funniest man in Australian enterprise AI1:21 Battle scars from real clients2:47 The 6 levels of agentic engineering, in plain English9:34 How companies actually move up the levels13:42 Find the bottleneck before you automate anything14:44 Restructuring a team without cutting it16:49 What to measure, and the 3 hours per person per task19:54 Pick one thing, get it right, measure it properly20:54 The 2 roles a project team turns into23:28 Inside a 4 week uplift, week by week25:40 The stack, and picking the right model for the job28:58 What those 4 weeks actually look like for the client32:49 The engineer a vendor sends to lock you in34:52 How his own day changed, and AI brain fry39:44 Automate the 80% they hate, protect the 20% they love41:35 Where the jobs go next, and why he expects rehiring44:15 Building an iOS app at night knowing nothing about iOS46:08 Start small, take one thing all the way to production47:30 Who else is doing good work in Australia49:30 How to reach himCONTACT JCJC's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-christophe-gosselinTerem: https://terem.techCONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST)My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network. I build with AI daily!If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompsonSubscribe for more conversations with the people actually building AI in Australia!
• 
  The AI CEO Who Backed Startups Worth $3.5B+ | Michael Batko (CEO, Hourglass AI Consulting Services) 05.08.2026 47min

  Most companies build AI backwards. They start with agents, the agents break, and they think AI "doesn't work". Michael Batko is the co-founder and CEO of Hourglass AI consulting services, a Sydney and Melbourne AI implementation firm that makes Australian companies AI native. Before this he ran Startmate, Australia's most active startup accelerator, for 8 years. He raised $50M and backed 230 startups worth $3.5B, including Heaps Normal, Lyrebird Health and Amber Electric. He is a 2x founder with two exits, one of them his Saturday morning run club, which he sold with a single LinkedIn post.In this conversation he lays out the order it all has to happen in, foundation then infrastructure then agents, what every piece actually costs in dollars, why 95% of his clients arrive by referral, and the build he tells clients to stop paying him for.CHAPTERS0:00 The best connected man in Australian startups1:24 Why he went all in on Hourglass AI3:06 How Hourglass AI was born, and how fast5:25 The values card exercise that made them co-founders6:45 The moment he knew Finlay was the one8:24 What makes Hourglass AI different10:28 The one number they run the company on11:13 The enquiry form he replaced with an AI roadmap15:08 Where their clients come from17:02 The 3 layers for implementing AI agents22:33 Why build a thin AI layer instead of a year long data cleanup25:03 The tech stack, and why it is boringly simple27:26 Your data, your servers, and who gets to see what29:21 Inside the company brain they built for themselves31:16 Why the foundation is the hard part33:13 The build he tells clients to stop paying him for33:48 Nobody wants half price heart surgery36:27 What it costs, priced line by line40:09 The service he has never sold, but might43:58 The businesses this works best in, and the size sweet spot45:32 The operators he watches, and the PE roll up trendCONTACT MICHAELMichael's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/batkomichaelHourglass AI: https://thehourglass.aiCONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST)My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network. I build with AI daily!If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompsonSubscribe for more conversations with the people actually building AI in Australia!
• 
  Evgueni Iakhontov - Partner, Revity (AI Consultancy) 04.08.2026 55min

  Australia is 2 to 3 years behind other countries when it comes to adopting AI at scale.That assessment comes from Evgueni Iakhontov, a Partner at Revity, a Melbourne-based technology consultancy helping organisations turn AI from experimentation into practical business value.Evgueni has more than 20 years of experience leading technology teams and delivering large-scale transformation programs across Australia. Today, he works with organisations ranging from small businesses to major enterprises, helping them identify where AI can make a real difference, implement it safely and ensure the investment delivers a measurable return.CHAPTERS0:00 3 decades in Australian tech, Sausage Software to Revity1:42 Who Australia is behind and what the gap looks like5:00 Why the big end of town can't test and learn6:29 The business functions AI still hasn't touched8:12 Voice bots at scale, what's already normal overseas10:29 Why the big pilots fail, every scenario instead of one13:45 7 months iterating a beauty salon voice bot14:44 The API advantage enterprises don't realise they have19:11 Why generative AI should never calculate payroll22:16 The 4 layers a company must change to catch up25:33 Your next job, managing and quality checking AI agents28:03 Necessity, scale and the real cost of frontier models30:35 Inside the salon voice bot experiment33:56 Admit it's AI and more callers ask for a human36:19 How to launch a voice agent without losing customers40:49 The fastest ROI is inside the business41:51 Recruitment rebuilt end to end with AI45:42 Don't automate the workflow, redesign it48:03 Agentic product development, not just coding53:04 AI is an ongoing program, not a projectCONTACT EVGUENIEvgueni's LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/evgueni-iakhontovCONTACT MACKENZIE (YOUR HOST)My name's Mackenzie. Ex-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in revenue, now all in on (and obsessed with) AI. I help Australian CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO, backed by a 40k+ LinkedIn network. I build with AI daily.If you're hiring, or working out where AI fits in your business, message me on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompsonSubscribe for more conversations with the people actually building AI in Australia!
• 
  Joff Outlaw - Managing Director (Australia), MakerTech 25.07.2026 47min

  His team's tool for New Zealand's Department of Conservation turned 1,000s of hours of paperwork into minutes. The uncomfortable part is what he sees everywhere else. Clients keep bringing him AI ideas, and often when you pull back the process underneath is completely broken. AI is a logic beast, and it chokes on messy human workflows.Joff Outlaw is Managing Director for Australia at MakerTech, a design and engineering consultancy of just under 30 people building custom AI, digital products and composable platforms across ANZ. Everything is designed, built and supported onshore. Before this he spent a decade inside the big firms. Most recently he ran Designit, Wipro's global design firm with 100s of designers worldwide, as Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, while a Partner in Wipro's consulting business. Earlier he worked at Accenture and PwC. He also wrote Busy Idiots with psychologist Brad Marshall, a Wiley published book about how modern work keeps us busy with things that don't matter.IN THIS EPISODEThe government paperwork that took 1,000s of hours, and the custom build that now does it in minutesWhy Copilot got lost in the complexity, and the paralegal with unlimited focus they built insteadThe bank that cut 45 contact centre roles for an AI voice bot, then wound it back a month laterWhy an AI tool saving someone 15 minutes often means nothing for the businessThe dangerous, dear or dull test for deciding what to automateThe rebuild behind 10,000 conservation plans, plus approval onto the Australian government's AI panelComposable technology explained with Lego blocksHow a team of just under 30 keeps beating Deloitte Digital in pitchesThe RFP typo his business partner wanted to keep to prove a human wrote itThe $2B cow collar company Peter Thiel just backed, and the radiology AI he rates most in Australia and New ZealandCHAPTERS0:00 The man telling us to slow down sells speed1:49 A third of New Zealand runs through one agency3:04 Copilot got lost, so they built custom4:33 A paralegal with unlimited focus4:56 Ten years in corporate, then the jump7:43 What MakerTech does differently11:39 What Busy Idiots teaches about AI13:26 "The process is just completely broken"14:46 The bank that cut 45 jobs, then wound it back16:04 AI saved you 15 minutes. So what?18:36 Dangerous, dear or dull20:30 Humans know more than they can tell22:07 Approved to build AI for the Aussie government23:17 The tool behind 10,000 conservation plans29:34 What composable actually means34:05 The Lego blocks explanation35:35 The most valuable lesson of his career36:47 "Transparency is kindness"39:42 Beating Deloitte Digital with a team of three40:32 "Leave the typos in"41:56 The AI companies nobody's talking about45:28 His offer to every graduate listeningCONTACT JOFFJoff's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joff-outlaw-970a3b11His book Busy Idiots: https://a.co/d/0fuuyDV0CONTACT MACKENZIEEx-KPMG consultant, built coaching and recruitment businesses to just under $2m in total revenue, now all in on AI. I help CEOs and founders hire AI, ML, data and software engineers, from first hire through to CTO. 40k+ LinkedIn network.DM me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/macthompson
• 
  Simon Kriss - CEO, Sovereign Australia AI 23.07.2026 55min

  Simon Kriss is building Australia's own AI. His argument is simple. Every model Australian businesses and governments use today is rented from overseas, and somebody else holds the off switch.Simon spent more than 35 years in the corporate world, held the chief AI officer role, and has keynoted at the UN in Geneva. He mentors boards and executives on AI adoption, and he is now CEO of Sovereign Australia AI, raising the backing to build a large language model from the ground up right here.He explains why fine tuning an open weight model doesn't get Australia there. You still don't know what data went in, what biases came with it, or whether it starts spewing hate speech in six months. He calls that "domestic, not sovereign". A true foundation model means knowing every data source, paying Australian copyright holders (a public minimum commitment of 10 million dollars, and he thinks the honest number is closer to 30), and around 256 of NVIDIA's latest Blackwell chips, which he says would make it bigger than any supercomputer in Australia today.Then he gets into the part most people have never heard of. The US Cloud Act. He says the American government can compel any American company to hand over the contents of any server it owns or leases, anywhere in the world, and the provider is not allowed to tell the client anyone is looking. On his telling, Australian data sitting in an Australian data centre doesn't help if the server is American owned. His words, it might as well be sitting in Texas.He also walks through what building it here would involve. Copyright holders get paid properly, every data source gets meta tagged so anyone can ask for their content to be pulled out at the next retrain, and there is the question of how to include the indigenous voice without appropriating a storytelling culture.ALSO IN HERE- The six layers of sovereignty (most people stop at data centres)- The accidental Bogan AI they built from Reddit data- December's privacy law change that turns black box AI into a legal problem- Why his auntie saying "not too bad" confuses an American model- The war scenario where America turns Australia offCHAPTERS0:00 One of Australia's leading voices on AI0:52 What Sovereign Australia AI is building1:22 Somebody else holds the off switch2:51 Talk fests, and why the money hasn't come5:40 China builds practical AI. America builds God in a box.7:47 The six layers of sovereignty10:01 Why "not too bad" confuses an American model12:54 Anti woke orders and Australian values16:18 Why fine tuning is only "domestic, not sovereign"23:51 Five years out, and the trust problem30:26 The US Cloud Act, explained33:09 "It might as well be sitting in Texas"35:31 Staying at the model layer, and "we built Wi-Fi"38:39 The talent case, and the DeepSeek connection42:17 The Friday evening a model got switched off43:21 Investors can't see the burning bridge44:21 How to spot fake "Australian owned"47:52 The UK playbook he wants to copy51:15 Fencing wire, snow skiing, and having a go53:17 Digital colonisation and the war scenarioABOUT SIMONSimon Kriss is the CEO of Sovereign Australia AI, which is making the case for Australia to build and own its own AI models rather than rent them from overseas. He is a keynote speaker who has taken the stage at the UN in Geneva, an author, a former chief AI officer, and a mentor to boards and executives on AI adoption, after more than 35 years in the corporate world.Simon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonkriss
• 
  Dr Brian Lowe - Chief AI Officer in Australia 22.07.2026 1h 19min

  Brian Lowe has held the title of Chief AI Officer—one of the few in Australia to do so—and brings a clear message for business leaders concerned they are falling behind on AI: you are not missing out. In fact, up to 95% of AI initiatives never reach production, and much of what is presented as progress is often little more than hype.Brian began his career with a PhD in Information Systems and has since built deep experience across enterprise AI and data. His roles have included Assistant Director at the Bureau of Meteorology, CTO of an AI startup, Head of Data Architecture at one of Australia’s big four banks, and Director at a major university, where he helped the institution navigate the early emergence of AI. Most recently, as a Chief AI Officer, he advised organisations across government, utilities, and global retail. He is now focused on building a sovereign Australian AI model—trained on Australian data, hosted domestically, and governed by Australian law.Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansloweIn this episode, Brian explains what a Chief AI Officer actually does day to day, and much of it involves cutting through noise and challenging misplaced optimism. He has seen conferences showcase questionable case studies, consultancies promote solutions that fail to deliver, and executive sponsors persist with struggling initiatives to avoid admitting failure. His approach to navigating this landscape draws on an unexpected source: a lesson from a Simpsons episode about a monorail.Then he takes apart agentic AI. Much of what is sold as agentic is just automation, a technology that has been around for 20 years, rebadged with a bit of AI sugar on top. The properly agentic systems are useful but they misfire, and his test for where you can trust them is simple. Would you hand your online banking to an assistant who gets it wrong 3% of the time?He also explains why the US government accidentally handed Australia the business case for its own AI model, why students who learn with AI do worse, why everyone running a team of AI agents has become a manager whether they like it or not, and why AI has made hiring good people harder than it has ever been.ALSO IN HERE- Why beer ended up in the nappy aisle, and what it says about your data- The "bad debtors" his team discovered that you actually want to keep- The AI he instructed to abuse him, and why it improves his thinking- Why the best AI implementation he has ever seen won a Nobel Prize- Why a $70k graduate might beat your AI subscriptionCHAPTERS0:00 Who is Brian Lowe1:15 He is building an Australian AI model2:00 The two events that made the case for it5:33 "95% of an AI project is data"7:36 Start from scratch, or fork and fine tune10:15 Most business problems do not need model training11:27 The Industrial Revolution question14:57 A four day week, if we get this right16:45 What a Chief AI Officer actually does18:50 "There's a lot of bullshit out there"23:10 How to spot snake oil before you pay for it25:22 The monorail episode28:01 95% of AI projects never make it30:18 "You are not missing out"33:52 Rebadged RPA with AI sugar on top35:03 Beer in the nappy aisle40:09 What agentic AI really is43:31 The online banking test45:00 The best AI implementation he has ever seen49:18 The infinitely patient tutor53:06 Students who learn with AI do worse55:46 The AI he built to abuse him56:52 Everyone is becoming a manager1:02:08 Why teams cap out at seven1:04:54 Why AI made hiring harder1:09:44 The $70k graduate vs the API bill1:15:08 How AI hacked your brain1:17:44 "You cannot substitute people for AIs"
• 
  AI Engineer @ $3B Software Firm 20.07.2026 35min

  He builds AI for a living, and he says most businesses asking for AI don't need it. They need automation.Edward Budiman is an AI engineer at NiCE, where he does client facing AI implementation. Before that he was an AI and automation engineer, and before that he studied data science.0:00 Who he is and how he got into AI0:44 The build that saved a hundred people hundreds of hours2:15 He custom built it, before n8n existed3:21 Why one big prompt loses to lots of small ones6:16 People ask for AI. They mean automation.9:06 How he picks an orchestration platform13:35 Everyone moved to Claude14:00 The biggest mistake businesses are making16:24 Most people are asking the wrong question18:12 The projects that keep coming back21:17 "80% is just automation"22:44 The surprise waiting for new AI engineers23:23 Stuck inside the Microsoft ecosystem26:51 He shipped a worse system to stay Microsoft native28:13 Is SaaS dead33:04 Why FDEs are the future
• 
  Head of AI @ $2B Finance Firm 20.07.2026 37min

  His AI agents do the analyst's work at a $2B finance firm. Deal research that took analysts three weeks now takes a coffee break.Ivan Wong has a PhD in microbiology. He now runs data and AI at LVP, a $2B Sydney private equity firm, where he built the entire AI capability himself as one of their first tech hires.0:00 A PhD in microbiology, then NASA, then AI1:03 How good is the thing he built, really1:47 Three weeks of deal research, now a coffee break4:11 Why he built instead of buying7:15 He rebuilt Salesforce in under 12 hours10:15 The "AI brain" explained11:54 What the microbiome taught him about finding alpha14:42 The career path that looks random and isn't17:34 The hard part isn't building18:43 Building the agent that does the analyst's work19:22 The problem with freeing up your juniors21:01 Benchmarking the models, and why Claude won22:19 The four things he actually evaluates25:44 Why cheap models are a false economy27:26 The local model on his desk