AI:NEXT AUSTRALIA
The first conversation begins in Canberra.
The wider room arrives in 2027.
October 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.
The first room
THE LEADERS' ROUNDTABLE
October 2026 · CANBERRA
Invitation-led · Curated · Cross-sector
A curated room of approximately 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 RoundtableAI is changing
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.
Two official readings of the same country, taken months apart. Neither is a marketing number — both are linked to their source.
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)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)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.
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.
Policy, service delivery, procurement, safety.
The organisations carrying the cost and the risk.
Universities, institutes, independent labs.
The people building before anyone is watching.
Capital deciding what gets built here.
Engineers, designers, data and ops practitioners.
The people AI is applied to, not just for.
Canberra starts it. The Signal records it. Connections extend it. The Summit expands it. Insight makes sense of it. Action proves it mattered.
A deliberately curated group of leaders around one table in Canberra · 27 October 2026.
The ideas, opportunities, barriers and disagreements worth carrying forward — published as the AI:NEXT Canberra Signal.
The work between the rooms — founders, investors, researchers, government and international markets.
The conversation expands to the wider ecosystem · Sydney · coming 2027.
What the journey actually surfaced — not what was hoped for in advance.
What 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.
Not a warm-up and a main event — the first room and the wider ecosystem.
AI:NEXT does not go quiet between rooms. The period between Canberra and the Summit is when connections, signals and opportunities are followed through.
Published write-ups from Canberra and curated conversations.
Smaller rooms on specific themes — only when confirmed.
Introductions between builders, investors and operators.
Delegation conversations where relationships exist.
Intimate tables as part of the wider programme.
Discovery and preparation for emerging companies.
Each world is a separate conversation about where intelligence actually meets Australian work, research, policy and life. Pick one and read it properly.
The people changing the equation.
The people changing the equation.
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.
What changes when more women build the systems?
Formats designed to be watched rather than sat through. Everything below is marked with where it actually stands — nothing here is confirmed programming yet.
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 BrainTwo systems. One challenge.
The same brief handed to two different systems in front of the room, with the failure modes left visible.
Something built in an hour.
One practitioner, one real problem, sixty minutes, no pre-baked demo — narrated as it happens.
No slides. Working systems only.
Short, strictly timed demonstrations of things that already run in production.
Can the room tell the difference?
A blind comparison run live, with the audience voting before the reveal.
The audience takes part.
A problem posed to the whole floor, worked on live and resolved on stage.
An immersive detour.
A quieter, sensory space for exploring where this is heading rather than being sold to.
Hands on the controls.
Guided experiments where visitors run the system themselves and break it on purpose.
Five minutes. One room.
Founders in front of investors, corporates and media, with questions rather than applause.
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
Coffee, first conversations, the floor opens.
Where Australia actually stands, without the spin.
The arguments worth having, argued properly.
Discover, test, build, meet.
Curated conversations, eight to twelve people.
The people shipping, on what actually broke.
Built, tested and challenged in the open.
Ten Australian companies, one stage.
Introductions with a reason to exist.
Signals from the day, and what happens after it.
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.
We're looking for people with something specific to say — practitioners, researchers and operators over keynote regulars.
See the speaker programmeThree parts of the day where AI is in the room rather than on a slide. Everything below is marked with its real status.
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 floorDon'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 floorTen Australian companies worth watching.
A selection of early AI companies given real stage time. Selection criteria published with the application.
Read The Next 10Limited 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.
What can be built here that can't be built elsewhere?
8 seats · 60 min
The intellectual record of what the room actually surfaced — starting with the AI:NEXT Canberra Signal after the Leaders' Roundtable.
Major themes from the room.
Areas of convergence.
Important disagreement, handled with care.
Capability gaps worth naming.
Investment, technology, research and market openings.
Practical actions the room chose to carry forward.
Issues that deserve a larger room in 2027.
Attribution follows Chatham House Rule unless a participant agrees otherwise. Nothing confidential is published without permission.
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 RoundtableThe 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.
