'We're in a global race': Australian AI's 'Goldilocks' moment
Founders like Canva's Cam Adams, Heidi Health's Thomas Kelly and Sapia's Barb Hyman aren't bloviating about the AI threat — they're too busy building for an AI future.
Concerns about the rise of artificial intelligence and its impact on Australia’s economy seemed to really intensify over the past couple of weeks.
Yet while senior executives, business lobby groups and politicians have all had their say on the technology ‒ with some issuing grim warnings about the threat it poses to jobs and industries ‒ one influential group of people hasn't really been heard from: the Australian founders actually building for an AI future.
These founders, along with the investors backing them, are less focused on the potential for AI to wipe out industries and career paths and more concerned Australia could miss a generational opportunity to play a meaningful role in the technology by harnessing its natural strengths, and exploiting the niches it is uniquely suited to.
"Australia is exceptionally well-positioned to lead the next wave of AI innovation," Canva's chief product officer and co-founder Cameron Adams tells Capital Brief. "We’ve got a tightly connected and rapidly growing tech community, world-class universities producing a high number of PhDs, and a strong tradition of fundamental research."
