THE LAST HUMANS
We built AI to serve us. Now the people building it, funding it and regulating it can’t agree on what it is, what it can do, or what comes next.
Some see AI as a revolutionary technology that will transform work, creativity and knowledge for the better. Others see a speculative bubble built on hype, vast energy consumption and exaggerated promises. Between the evangelists and the sceptics lies a growing struggle over who benefits, who loses, and who gets to decide.
Are these systems genuinely intelligent, or are we mistaking statistical prediction for understanding? Are they creating new opportunities, or simply giving institutions another reason to cut costs, reduce labour and concentrate power? And as governments scramble to regulate, investors pour in billions and companies race to deploy tools they barely understand, the argument is no longer just about technology – it’s about work, trust, expertise and the future of human value.
What happens if AI changes everything? And what happens if it doesn’t?
Cory Doctorow [CAN/UK]
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of dozens of books, most recently Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (nonfiction); and the novel Picks and Shovels. His latest book is The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI, coming in June 2026. Born in Toronto, Canada, he lives in Los Angeles and London.
Eleanor Gammell
Eleanor Gammell is the host of Alive to This, a series of roundtables on what it means to be human in the age of AI. She is also the convenor of Esther Lane, a gathering space in Sydney devoted to inquiry and collective sensemaking. Eleanor curates and facilitates immersive experiences to engage with the pressing ideas and emergent dynamics of this moment in time. Her work spans institutions such as Small Giants Academy, TEDxSydney, MONA and The School of Life, where she has co-created transformative journeys through forests, borderlands, boardrooms, underground museums and public stages.
Toby Walsh
Toby Walsh is Professor of AI at UNSW Sydney and Chief Scientist of UNSW.AI, UNSW’s AI Institute. He is a strong advocate for limits to ensure AI is used to improve our lives, having spoken at the UN, and to heads of state, parliamentary bodies, company boards and many others on this topic. This advocacy has led to him being “banned indefinitely” from Russia. He has written six books on AI for a general audience, the most recent is God AI: what to expect when machines outsmart us.
Aubrey Blanche
Aubrey Blanche is, at heart, a deep thinker who refuses to believe that we cannot choose to build a world better than the one we’ve inherited. Her academic studies have always focused on understanding the causes of harm to the most vulnerable, and have included research on terrorism, defense contracting and military strategy, and the impact of AI applications on queer and disabled users. She spent more than 13 years in multinational technology companies advising on issues of organisational responsibility before joining The Ethics Centre as Director of Ethical Advisory & Strategic Partnerships. She is an advisor to global organisations seeking to scale in an ethical way, with an emphasis on equitable talent practices, justice-aligned ESG approaches, and responsible AI governance. She is a regular writer and speaker on issues of ethics in business, finance, and technology and a masters student in AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge.
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country on which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
The views and opinions expressed by the Festival participants are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.