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AISANZ connects people across Australia and New Zealand to careers, community, and knowledge in AI safety.

NZ Conference: apply now→Stay in the loop

Christchurch, New Zealand

AI Safety Conference NZ

Our first conference in Aotearoa — bringing together researchers, policy thinkers, and community builders from across the region.

Head over to the event page on Luma to learn more about 👥 target audience, 🗓️ program structure, and 🎯 conference objectives. Or apply directly below!

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Upcoming Events

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Workshop

Strategy Workshop - AI Safety and The 2026 NZ Election

Monday 13 April 2026 · 17:45-19:15 NZST

EPIC Innovation, 76/106 Manchester Street, Christchurch, NZ

A guided 75-minute workshop designed to stress-test high-impact solutions for AI safety in the context of New Zealand's November 2026 election. The session uses collective intelligence methods to pressure-test real-world pathways and uncover blind spots in AI governance proposals. Participants will be given proposed solutions and tasked with critically evaluating them using "Red Hat" thinking. Suitable for both experienced systems designers and those new to solution scoping. Hosted by the Christchurch AI Risk and Ethics Community at EPIC Innovation, with pub drinks and discussion afterwards. Free to attend. 9 attendees registered as of early April 2026.

Meetup

AI Personalities and the Future of Critical Thinking

Friday 17 April 2026 · 17:45-19:15 NZST

EPIC Innovation, 76/106 Manchester Street, Christchurch, NZ

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.

Social

Ghost in the Machine - Documentary Screening

Wednesday 22 April 2026 · 18:00-20:00 NZST

EPIC Innovation, 76/106 Manchester Street, Christchurch, NZ

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 Codex Hackathon Sydney 2026

Wednesday 29 April 2026 · 09:00-20:00 AEST

Sydney, Australia

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.

Conference

AI Safety New Zealand Conference 2026

4–5 July 2026 · 08:00-16:00 NZST

EPIC Innovation, 76/106 Manchester Street, Christchurch, NZ

Aotearoa's inaugural AI Safety Conference, presented by AI Safety Australia & New Zealand. A two-day event (July 4-5) dedicated to discussing and building the frameworks — technical, ethical, regulatory, and otherwise — needed to ensure transformative AI is beneficial for New Zealand and the wider world. This is a ticketed, paid event. Registration is through the official event link, not via Meetup signups. Held at EPIC Innovation in Christchurch.

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Conference

Australian AI Safety Forum 2026

Tuesday 7 July 2026 · 09:00-17:00 AEST

University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

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.

Where you'll find our members

Our community spans leading organisations across ANZ

What our members say

Hear from people who've grown with AISANZ

Justin Olive - Head of AI Safety, Arcadia Impact

"The [AIS ANZ] online events gave me the opportunity to talk with people who are now working at MIRI and Apollo research, right when I was first beginning to enter the field. Overall I'd say that this sped up my move into AI safety by at least a year, and counterfactually it may not have even happened."

Soroush Pour - Founder & CEO, Harmony Intelligence

"AI Safety Australia & New Zealand provided me with community, knowledge, and feedback at a time in my AI Safety journey when I was seriously lacking it. That support and knowledge was really valuable for motivation, accelerating my learning, and for ensuring I didn't get sucked into some key failure modes."

Greg Sadler - CEO, Good Ancestors Policy

"AIS ANZ has built networks and connected people so they can work better together. Events like the Unconference have increased the quality of thought by having a network of people working on these problems in various ways, putting forward higher quality ideas."

Ethan (EJ) Watkins - Research Assistant, Federation University Australia

"The biggest impact for me was the Fireside Chat that Chris ran with Peter Vamplew. It gave me the opportunity to connect with Peter and since then I have begun working with him as a research assistant."

Peter Slattery - Research Fellow, MIT FutureTech

"AI Safety ANZ helped me make valuable connections as well as helping me reduce some of my uncertainties about whether I could contribute to the field."

Launch your AI safety career

Not sure where to start? We offer free career advising to help you find the right path into AI safety — whether that's research, policy, governance, or field-building.

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Connect with the AI Safety movement in Australia and New Zealand. Join discussions on the latest AI news, technical papers, career strategies, and upcoming events.