AI Week industry panel: Real AI use cases for business leaders [VIRTUAL]
In recognition of AI Awareness week, ACS and the National AI Centre is bringing you a session that supports SMEs take the next step in AI.
Contact Event Organiser
About this event
You are invited to join the National AI Centre and ACS to bring you an engaging and informative AI week panel discussion event facilitated by Lee Hickin, Executive Director of the National AI Centre.
The panel will discuss a range of real AI industry use cases, with each panel member bringing a different perspective and highlighting things a business leader should consider with each use case.
This year’s AI week theme is AI: Your Next Step in Business. This theme focuses on supporting SMEs to take practical steps toward starting or progressing their AI adoption journey. The week aims to raise awareness, build confidence and support businesses to identify where AI can add value and be applied responsibly.
Panelists include:
- Lee Hickin, Executive Director, National AI Centre (Host/Facilitator)
- Daniel Popovski, Senior Policy & Advocacy Advisor, Governance Institute Australia
- Sarah Lawrence, Founder and CEO, Hot Toast
- Brent Ferguson, Head of National Workplace Relations Policy at the Australian Industry Group
Why attend?
- Discover how AI is solving real business challenges
- Hear directly from SME leaders and AI experts
- Build confidence to explore AI in your own organisation
*If you are not a current ACS member, you will be asked to 'create an account'. Your details will be used for registration processes only. If you experience technical issues, please contact events@acs.org.au.
Speakers
Lee has worked across the UK, Asia, and Australia, before joining the Federal Government. In addition to his time at Microsoft, Lee led the Internet of Things team for Amazon Web Services in Asia Pacific, he was a CISSP security architect with RSA Security and worked at both Tivoli and IBM as a software engineer.
During his time in industry, Lee has supported Governments around the world as an independent contributor; having been a member of the Singapore AI-Verify Board and a founding member of the NSW AI Assurance Committee.
Today Lee leads the Australian National AI Centre (NAIC), with a mission to enable and support Australian Industry and society in its adoption of and acceleration through AI technology and services. He has a clear focus on the need for consistent and appropriate responsible safety mechanisms to support AI, balanced with the need to empower Australians with the confidence and trust in the positive and transformative potential of AI.
Lee brings the importance of technical understanding combined with the need for clear and unambiguous language as we help shape a future where AI will be a powerful enabler of productivity, growth and society broadly.
Recently crowned 2025 Thought Leader of the Year and winner of the Accounting Excellence Award, Sarah is one of the Top 50 Women in Accounting globally and a fierce advocate for the future of the profession - tech-powered, purpose-driven, and unapologetically bold.
She’s the Founder of Hot Toast, a B Corp-certified accounting and advisory firm built for creatives, innovators, and high-growth businesses. Through its newest arm, HT.AI, Sarah is leading the firm’s evolution into a fully automated, AI-first advisory powerhouse, helping clients scale through insight, automation, and strategic firepower.
An FCPA, active member of CPA Australia, and part of the Xero Partner Advisory Council (XPAC), Sarah is obsessed with the potential of the accounting profession. She’s a relentless advocate for women, sustainability, and redefining what’s possible, unafraid to push boundaries, ask uncomfortable questions, and storm the castle if that’s what it takes to move the industry forward.
Because if we do this right, no one gets left behind.
Less bean counting. More bold moves. Welcome to the new era of accounting.
Daniel is AI, tech and cyber policy and advocacy lead at Governance Institute of Australia where he develops research, policy, and advocacy initiatives to support the ethical and responsible deployment of AI in workplaces. Daniel is member of Standards Australia AI technical standards committee and lead Australian delegate to the UNESCO Global AI SPARK alliance. He has a decade of policy and advocacy experience having held leadership positions across a range of government departments and national industry bodies including the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he held affiliated roles with the OECD Business and Industry Advisory body and International Chamber of Commerce as senior economics advisor.
Daniel holds a Juris Doctor from the University of NSW, Bachelor of Economics with Honours from the University of Technology Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Wollongong. He graduated from the ANU New Technologies Law program and was awarded the Norton Rose Fullbright Prize for first place in cyber law. Daniel has deep knowledge of AI, tech and cyber governance, risk, and compliance management practices. He is an advocate for the ethical and human-centered design, development, and deployment of digital technologies to support healthier more productive workplaces and improved environmental, social, and economic outcomes for all Australians.
Brent leads the Australian Industry Group’s advocacy in the workplace relations sphere, which encompasses representations to governments, participation in inquiries, major cases, and various tripartite processes as well as engagement with the media. With over two decades of experience in advising and representing employers, Brent has been deeply involved in a raft of prominent workplace relations developments and reforms, including various changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 and other workplace relations laws, as well as significant test cases and major proceedings dealing with the setting and varying of modern award terms.
Event Terms & Conditions
Registration
- Payment in full is required the time of booking in order for the registration to be valid.
- To avoid disappointment, ensure you pay for your booking(s) before the registration closing date. Anyone that has not received a confirmation email will not be on the event attendance list and therefore will not be admitted to the event.
- Online registration ends at the time stated on the event details page.
Cancellation and Refund
All cancellations must be processed through the website, a refund will only be considered if it is at least 3 working days prior to the event.
Disclaimer
- ACS reserves the right to change the program at any time. Every effort will be made to ensure a program of equivalent standard and members are updated with changes.
- All dietary requirements are considered, however we cannot guarantee a 100% allergen free environment.
- ACS reserves the right to prohibit entry or eject any person from an ACS event based on behaviour deemed inappropriate by ACS staff, its agents and/or others working under its authority.
- Filming or streaming by attendees is not permitted. If an attendee is found to be doing so they will be asked to leave the event immediately and further action may be taken.
- Photography and/or filming may take place during this event, by accepting these terms you consent to this. Please let a member of ACS know if you do not want your picture taken.
COVID-19 Event Attendance Compliance
By registering to attend an ACS in person event you are agreeing to the below terms and conditions
- If an attendee is displaying flu or cold like symptoms in the days leading up to the event and therefore is not able to attend, ACS will refund the registration fee.
- If an attendee comes to an event and is displaying flu or cold like symptoms they will be asked to leave
- We ask all ACS members to respect the social distancing guidelines, if an attendee repeatedly disregards these guidelines, they may be asked to leave
- ACS reserves the right to cancel the event within 24 hours' notice if either the speaker or the event host has advised us that they are exhibiting flu or cold like symptoms
- All attendees must provide a valid phone number and email address to be contacted on if there is reason to notify about a possible COVID-19 exposure
Personal information collection notice
By registering for this event, you are providing personal information to the Australian Computer Society. In accordance with the ACS Privacy Policy, ACS collects personal information through registrations and attendances at its events for the purposes of:
- organising and providing the various professional development events held by the ACS (including for example, courses, conferences, seminars, workshops, launches);
- processing and managing event registrations (including catering for dietary requirements);
- maintaining event attendance records;
- contacting registered event guests with information in regard to the event and seeking post-event feedback;
- communicating with you to in relation to future events or ACS products, courses, services, promotions or other products or services that ACS reasonably thinks may be of interest to attendees;
- processing and responding to attendee inquiries; and
- conducting research to improve its events and better understanding needs.
If the required information is not provided, we or any involved third parties, may not be able to respond to you, update you, or provide appropriate services or events to you.
We may obtain personal information directly from you or from someone who registers for the event on your behalf. If you provide us with personal information about another person, you must do so only with their consent and agree to make them aware of this privacy notice.
ACS may share your personal information with third parties for the collection purposes noted above or as set out in our Privacy Policy, where it is reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, one or more of our activities, or required by law.
When you register to participate in an overseas event, we may send personal information we collect overseas.
See our Privacy Policy at https://www.acs.org.au/privacy-policy.html for more information about our privacy practices.