Every Leader is an AI Leader: Sovereignty, Adoption and Shaping Australia's AI Future with Jon Whittle

On this episode of Technology & Security, Dr Miah Hammond-Errey speaks with Professor Jon Whittle, founding CEO of Goldilocks AI and professor at the University of Melbourne's Institute for Digital Innovation and AI. With nearly 30 years in AI spanning a technical lead role at NASA, founding the National AI Centre, and five years leading CSIRO's Data61, Jon brings a long view and the practical experience of having worked on these questions from inside government, research, and industry. The conversation opens with what AI sovereignty actually means across the full stack, from data centres and foundation models through to inference, applications and responsible AI, and why focusing only on data storage creates a false sense of security.The conversation moves to the economic and geopolitical case for Australia building its own foundation models, why the argument that we are too small and too far behind deserves more scrutiny, and how being cut off from models like Fable has made that conversation more urgent. Jon and Miah discuss the gap between personal productivity gains from AI and the organisational productivity gains that remain elusive, the dimensions that actually determine enterprise AI success (most of which have nothing to do with technology), and the leadership anti-patterns holding Australian companies back. This episode also covers the rise of Chinese models, the risk of ‘Uberization’ of the Australian economy, what meaningful AI oversight requires from directors and boards, and why the conversation Jon hopes we are not still having in five years is the one we are having right now. Professor Jon Whittle is founding CEO of Goldilocks AI, professor at the University of Melbourne, and author of AI for Business. He is a former director of CSIRO's Data61 and founder of the National AI Centre.