A Big Dialogue

The Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership, in collaboration with Australian Dialogues, presents a Big Dialogue between experts with very different perspectives on the implications of AI for Australian sovereignty — in an open discussion in a congenial public setting, accessible to all.

Sovereignty has rested on control of things like territory, currency, information and industrial capacity. AI complicates all of these. The models set to shape health, education, defence and the economy are mostly trained overseas, run on infrastructure Australia doesn't own, under rules Australia didn't write. Incidents like an OpenAI AI agent's breach of Medicare systems in June, on the one hand, and regular data centre investment announcements on the other, compound a simultaneous sense of risk and opportunity.

So: Can Australia build, or afford, its own AI capability — and should it? Can it regulate systems designed and controlled offshore? What would be lost, or gained, by relying on the world's leading AI powers rather than competing to become one? What can a middle power realistically do anyway? What do we just need to accept? How do we make the most of the opportunities for jobs, investment and productivity? And, more generally, how do we turn AI risk and dependency into national advantage?

Not all of this can be covered in one night, but our expert panel will move this vital national discussion forward and all attendees will be better equipped to contribute to it in their own ways afterwards.

We are living in an age where most public discourse is politically charged and media feeds are individually tailored to produce personalised echo chambers free from conflicting viewpoints. Now more than ever, there is a need for constructive, respectful and open public discussions between people of different views. After all, "The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be of victory, but progress." (J Joubert)

Join curious fellow citizens for an enjoyable and enlightening evening.