Events & Meetups

A double-header session exploring how AI systems think and how they're changing the way humans think. Talk 1: "Nurturing Critical Thinking in the Age of AI" — Benny Pan, an AI researcher and educator, shares findings from a study on cognitive offloading in senior high school settings, testing whether custom AI behaviours can nurture critical thinking and self-reflection. Talk 2: "Anthropic's Persona Selection Model: The 'Cyborgist' Shift" — Hazel Shanks breaks down Anthropic's recently published Persona Selection Model research and the "cyborgist" philosophy behind it, examining how the "malicious actor" persona might be an accidental byproduct of training methods. Each talk runs 10-15 minutes with Q&A, followed by open discussion and drinks at a nearby bar. Free to attend. 7 attendees registered as of early April 2026.

A public screening of "Ghost in the Machine," an investigative documentary directed by Valerie Veatch that premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. The film moves beyond technical hype to explore the philosophical, cultural, and political forces driving the global AI boom, arguing that AI's origins lie not in machines but in power structures and human exploitation. The screening is followed by a critical discussion deconstructing the documentary's core arguments and debating its strengths compared to other AI documentaries like "Coded Bias." Free and open to the public, with food, snacks, and drinks provided by sponsors. 5 attendees registered as of early April 2026.

OpenAI is hosting Australia's first Codex Hackathon in Sydney on 29 April 2026, in partnership with UTS Startups. The event brings together 100 of Sydney's most ambitious developers for a day of building with OpenAI's Codex coding agent. This is not an introductory workshop — participants are expected to be developers who already use AI coding tools daily and are comfortable shipping production-grade code. The hackathon focuses on building things that wouldn't be possible without Codex, spanning agentic coding, AI-native UX, multimodal intelligence, domain-specific agents, and evaluation tooling. Each builder receives API credits and one month of ChatGPT Pro. Prizes total approximately $200K USD in credits and subscriptions. Teams can have up to 4 members (all must register individually). Attendance is capped and registration is subject to approval. The event runs 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM, with the venue shared upon confirmation.

The Australian AI Safety Forum 2026 is a two-day interdisciplinary forum (7-8 July) grounded in the science of AI safety, hosted at the University of Sydney. It brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners across government, industry, and civil society. The forum covers technical AI safety, AI governance, Australia's role in AI safety, risk assessment, evaluations and testing, and cross-sector dialogue. The format includes keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, breakout sessions, lightning talks, and structured networking with 1-on-1 meeting opportunities. Proposals for presentations, workshops, panels, and lightning talks are currently open. Registration is open with tickets ranging from AUD $75 to $595. No technical background is required to attend. The event is organised by Gradient Institute, an Australian registered charity, with committee members from Timaeus, Good Ancestors, the University of Sydney, and CSIRO Data61.