Responsible Leadership & AI Roundtables 2027 - Sydney

Why?

AI agents are approving, routing and drafting work across the business. Most organisations measure what AI saves. Few measure what it is quietly replacing: the judgement, know-how and capability that make the business theirs. This roundtable builds on the idea of "competitive capability sovereignty" from Fernando Mourão, Head of Responsible AI at SEEK: an organisation's ongoing capacity to direct, evolve and reinvent its capabilities, even while deeply dependent on external AI systems.

Format:

Three sessions. Each opens with a 20-minute case conversation with a leader who has faced the issue, followed by 50 minutes of table discussion, ending with two or three tables reporting back and a live poll.

Chatham House rules apply.

Agenda

9:00 Welcome

Muneesh, Founder, Humanity in Business 

9:05 Panel: Keeping Human Judgement at the Centre of AI Decisions

• AI recommends, people sign off. Over time, sign-off can become a formality.

• 57% of Australian workers who use AI have relied on its output without checking it (KPMG and University of Melbourne, 2025).

• From 10 December 2026, the Privacy Act requires disclosure of AI in significant decisions, even with human sign-off.

9:25 Table Discussion

First, where is this happening or could happen in your organisation? Name one decision that AI now recommends and a person approves. Then, what will you do? Agree how you would find out whether that approval has become a formality.

Each table produces: one decision members will keep genuinely human-owned, and a simple test to check that people can still make it without the AI. Tables share their decision and test.

10:15 Panel: Holding On to Know-How as AI Takes On More Work

• As work is automated, know-how moves from people into systems.

• Contracts protect your content, but say little about how you use AI.

• APRA expects regulated entities to have tested exit plans for critical AI providers (April 2026).

10:35 Table Discussion

First, where is this happening or could happen, in your organisation? If your main AI provider changed its model, raised its price sharply or switched off tomorrow, which process would you struggle to run within 48 hours? Then, what will you do? Agree who needs to keep the know-how, and what you would ask the vendor.

Each table produces: three questions every member will take to their next AI vendor renewal. In the final 10 minutes, two or three tables share their vendor questions, followed by a live poll: could you run your most AI-dependent process for a week without your main AI vendor? (Yes, partly, no)

11:25 Morning Tea

11:40 Panel: Measuring What Capability AI is Truly Replacing 

• Most enterprise AI dashboards track hours saved, adoption velocity, and unit cost. Almost none track what the organisation is quietly losing the capability to do.

• “Capability atrophy" compounds invisibly outside standard reporting cycles, leaving enterprises incapable of course-correcting or reinventing their core business.

• Only 9% of global executives report a comprehensive understanding of their operational AI dependencies (IBM Institute for Business Value, 2026).

• Under ASX Corporate Governance Principle 7, boards must oversee material business risks—yet capability loss rarely appears on an enterprise risk register until an operational failure occurs. 

12:00pm Table discussion 

First, where could or is capability, atrophying in your business? 

Identify one core operational capability that is degrading because systems now perform it automatically, and where junior or mid-level staff no longer understand the underlying mechanics. 

Then, what will you do? Agree on one concrete, auditable indicator of capability loss that your Executive Committee (ExCo) or Board Audit & Risk Committee (ARC) should review every quarter (e.g., Mean Time to Manual Recovery (MTMR), periodic "unplugged" operational drills, or independent verification ratios). 

Each table produces: One leading indicator of capability erosion to add to the enterprise risk register or executive dashboard.  

12:50 · Self-check and Commitments

Could we run and reinvent this business without the systems we rely on?

Each attendee completes a one-page self-check built from the three table outputs (the decision to keep human, the vendor renewal questions and the capability measure) and writes one commitment to take back to their executive team. 

1:00 · Close

Thought Leaders

Kranthi Nekkalapu Paul Ormonde James Craig Price

Director, Safety & Observability Global Head of Data & AI Enablement Head of AI

Colonial First State (TBC) Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Suncorp

Investment

Early bird:

$350 inc GST

From January 1

$500 inc GST

Branded Table of 8

Early Bird:

$2000 inc GST

From January 1

$3000 inc GST

If budget is an issue, you can pay by donation and sharing the event and tagging us on LinkedIn!