When data from every aspect of our lives is gathered, aggregated, and cross-matched, a revealing picture of us as individuals emerges — one that can be used against us by governments and private entities alike.

Companies like Palantir Technologies — often called the AI arms dealer of the 21st century — are building networks within Australia, including a contract with Coles Supermarkets. Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others are doing the same.

What happens to national sovereignty, democratic oversight, and personal privacy when the power to collect and analyse intelligence no longer belongs solely to the state?

Dr Dennis Desmond is the CTO for RAVINN, Pty Ltd and Senior Industry Fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast, lecturing in Cyber Threat Intelligence and Cybercrime Investigations. He holds a PhD in human factors and sociotechnical systems focused on cyber and financial technologies to disrupt cryptolaundering activities, a masters in political science in Soviet Political Systems. Dr. Desmond served as a counterintelligence Special Agent for the United States Army and Federal Bureau of Investigation and as a Senior Intelligence Officer with the Defence Intelligence Agency, specialising in identity operations.

Dr Bianca Baggiarini is a Lecturer in international relations at Deakin University.  Her interdisciplinary research examines the social, political, and ethical justifications for (and effects of) militarized remote and autonomous systems (RAS).  After completing a PhD at York University, Bianca undertook post-doc studies at UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy with a focus on military AI ethics, and taught war studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU

With special Guest Moderator:

Niusha Shafiabady is Professor, Computational Intelligence and Head of Discipline for IT at Australian Catholic University.  She is an internationally recognised expert in computational intelligence, artificial intelligence, and optimisation, with more than two decades of experience bridging academia and industry.  She is also Director- Women in AI for Social Good lab (www.WomenIn-AI.com)