The Burden of Proof: AI and Defensible Decisions [VENUE TBC]

​The venue is yet to be confirmed but will be located within Canberra City Centre.

​As organisations explore how AI can support decision-making, they also need to maintain clear accountability, evidence and trust. This is particularly important in government, where decisions in areas such as FOI, records and case management need to be explained and defended well after they were made.

​This workshop will bring together people from different professional and organisational contexts to explore what makes an AI-assisted decision defensible. Participants will work through a scenario of a challenged FOI release and unpack the risks from different perspectives, agree on what would make the decision defensible and use that shared standard to assess a real system. The exercise will prompt participants to consider what this means for the role AI should (and should not) play alongside human judgement.

​The aim is not to give AI the last word, but to make sure the last word can be defended.

​Facilitators

​David Sheard is CTO of Nuvento, a Canberra-based AI and data specialist working across government and the private sector. Nuvento received four ACT AIIA Awards in 2026, holds a National AIIA Trailblazer Award, and represented Australia at the 2025 APICTA Awards in Taiwan. David is a Data Architect and Engineer with more than 25 years’ experience in big data, AI, machine learning and cloud technologies. He has worked across the National Intelligence Community, Defence, the ATO, Services Australia and other government agencies, and is active in AI development in Australia and internationally.

​Philip ‘PJ’ Jones-Hope heads Jones-Hope Legal and Advisory, a Canberra firm founded in 2008. He brings extensive government, corporate and private-sector experience, most recently as Head of Government, Defence and Regulatory Practice at KPMG Law. Philip’s background spans law, engineering, training and assessment, and company administration.

​Sam Maher is an experienced government and private-sector communicator who helps government understand technology and technology companies understand government. She has advised government and industry on AI, Defence and critical infrastructure, and leads GovTech.au, which connects and advocates for Australia’s government technology sector.

​AI CoLab events are intentionally open and collaborative. We capture photos, audio, and AI-generated transcripts so we can remix key insights for the AI CoLab Alliance community. This is always done in line with the Charter’s values; transparent, ethical innovation and knowledge sharing to accelerate collective learning (see join.aicolab.org). By participating in an AI CoLab event, you agree to your contributions being captured and shared in accordance with this policy.