On Wednesday, the monthly Women Who Code meetup merged for the night with the launch of the Women in AI’s WaiTALK series. It was also at the Brisbane office of WeWork, which I wanted to check out for quite some time. WeWork is in the old Mincom building, and it’s where I used to work when I worked for Mincom way back when! I have to say, and it was a pretty nifty setup.

Given that this was the launch of Women in AI, there was a bit of a lead into the talk. Max Kelsen, Queensland AI, Young Women Leaders in AI and WeWork It was great to learn a bit about all the organisations, especially since I didn’t know anything about Young Women Leaders and my knowledge of Queensland AI was limited. But then it was on to the main event!

Becks Simpson talked about her sabbatical year working in Canada and China. She compared the AI and innovation scene in those two countries against each other and to Australia. She emphasised the need for diversity, for governmental support and also of dreaming big. I loved how she didn’t shy away from the AI and ethics discussion either.

So I am going to do my best to attend more WaiTALK. I will also make more of an effort to attend more Women Who Code meetups. It should be fun!