Building on the success of its first two editions, the NextGen AI Conference returns in 2026, marking a significant evolution from exploring AI's potential to enabling its practical, real-world deployment. Following the introduction of generative AI in 2024 and the expansion into applied AI in 2025, the conference now addresses its next critical challenge: deploying autonomous and collaborative AI systems that organisations and society can trust.
Presented by the AI Development Group in partnership with the Mechanical Engineering Research Students' Association and Ausdroid, the 2026 theme, Beyond Generation: Agentic, Embodied, and Responsible AI, explores how intelligent systems can safely and responsibly operate alongside people and within society.
Discover how AI is evolving beyond generative tools toward agentic and embodied systems designed for reliability, accountability, and real-world impact. Gain actionable insights to help navigate and shape the future of trusted, collaborative AI.
Research Fellow, Human Robotics Lab, the University of Melbourne
Justin Fong is the founder of Senstride, a University of Melbourne spinout that leverages robotics-inspired sensor fusion algorithms and AI to prevent falls in elderly individuals. His research develops robotics that assist people with movement impairment, spanning lower-limb exoskeletons, upper-limb rehabilitation robots, and wearable systems for measuring and supporting movement.
Professor of Law and Co-director, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, the University of Melbourne
Jeannie’s research and teaching focuses on the ethical and regulatory challenges of AI, along with the role of tort, contract and consumer protection law in promoting safe AI systems. Her current projects cover misleading AI (including deep fakes, scams and misinformation), the regulation of AI agents and assistants, and AI in the civil justice system.
CEO and Co-Founder, RedOwl AI
Jitto Arulampalam is the CEO and Co-Founder of Melbourne based award winning fintech RedOwl, an AI platform pioneering Real-time Governance for the office of the CFO. Having started his career at Westpac, Jitto co-founded and exited several startups via trade sales and IPOs on the ASX and NASDAQ.
Senior Consultant, Data Risk & Trustworthy AI, Deloitte
Samuel Marr works at the intersection of AI governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance, helping organisations navigate the complex landscape of responsible AI deployment. Samuel holds a degree from the University of Melbourne and brings a practitioner's perspective to the practical challenges of building trustworthy AI systems in enterprise settings.
Head of Responsible AI, SEEK
With a decade of experience across AI, data science, and recommender systems, Fernando combines deep technical expertise with strategic governance leadership. His academic foundation, a PhD in Computer Science and executive education from MIT Sloan School of Management, informs his pragmatic approach to bridging AI strategy, governance, and operations. Beyond SEEK, Fernando serves on the Governance Institute of Australia's AI Governance Expert Advisory Panel, contributing to industry-wide best practices.
Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO
Dr Muneera Bano is a Principal Research Scientist and Science Team Lead at Australia's national science agency, CSIRO. She leads high impact projects that support the responsible and ethical adoption of artificial intelligence in real world settings. Her work focuses on inclusive AI engineering, ensuring that AI systems are designed, deployed and governed to be fair, trustworthy and beneficial across diverse communities and industries.
Responsible AI Governance Specialist, EY
Dr Thomas Graham's work spans AI governance, emerging technology regulation and assurance, with a particular focus on helping organisations navigate the opportunities and risks of rapidly evolving AI technologies. He is a member of the Space Law Council of Australia and New Zealand and the International Institute of Space Law, and serves as the Australian Chapter Representative of the AI ∞ Space Law Society.
Head of Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Technology, Atlassian
Anna Jaffe is Head of Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Technology at Atlassian. She leads the company's responsible AI program and was the primary architect of its Responsible Technology Principles, translating regulatory and ethical requirements into operational practice. Anna is a University of Melbourne alum, former technology lawyer, and holds an LLM from Stanford University.
Senior Specialist Solution Architect, Databricks
As an AI Architect at Databricks, Brian Law spends his days teaching probabilistic machines to behave inside deterministic organisations. The machines are unpredictable and the organisations refuse to change, so mostly he stands between them, apologising to both. He did the same job when the machines were simpler and it was called machine learning; the apologising has stayed remarkably constant.
Head of Robotics Safety and Policy, Andromeda Robotics
Andromeda Robotics is on a mission to replace 1 billion hours of loneliness through Abi, its humanoid companion robot, and other products in development. Sarah Barker is Head of Robotics Safety and Policy, where she leads safety and compliance. She helps translate regulatory, ethical and technical requirements into practical decisions for safe robot deployment in real-world care settings.
Senior AI Scientist, NVIDIA AI Technology Centre
Dr Johan Barthélemy is a Senior AI Scientist at the NVIDIA AI Technology Center, where he collaborates with developers and researchers in building the next generation of AI-powered solutions. He previously led the Digital Living Lab, at the University of Wollongong, focusing on the research and development of AI and AIoT solutions for smart cities applications and biodiversity monitoring in extreme environments.
Research Director, Robotics, AI and Computer Vision (Physical AI) at CSIRO Technology
Navinda is the Research Director of the 200+ person Cyber-Physical Systems Research Program, conducting R&D in Physical AI at CSIRO. He was the Principal Investigator and Project Leader for the CSIRO Data61 team that competed and won the US$1M second place prize at the DARPA Subterranean Challenge finals in 2021. He has also conducted and published research in legged locomotion with multi-legged robots focusing on navigation in complex unstructured environments.
