There was something fitting about Sam Altman’s enormous head towering over Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn at the bank’s inaugural AI summit. CBA wants to lead Australia’s AI race, but the technology giants still ultimately have the power.
The nation’s largest bank hosted a day of sessions inside Sydney’s cavernous ICC for almost 1,000 institutional and business clients, as it sought to plant its flag in a technology race it is eager to win and a national conversation Comyn believes he must lead.
Speakers from Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht, NextDC chief Craig Scroggie, Square Peg’s Paul Bassat as well as Coles boss Leah Weckert all graced the stage.
But the Altman interview, conducted by Comyn himself, was the headline event. It was a meeting between the world’s most famous AI company and one of the most prominent faces of corporate Australia.
