I'm Lilach Bullock, an AI implementation consultant, and this is my shortlist of top AI experts in Australia: Toby Walsh, Jie Lu and Qinghua Lu are where I'd start. Choose by whether you want research, policy or someone to apply AI to a business. I wrote this list and I'm on it, as the practitioner.
Ask who Australia's AI experts are and nearly every name that comes back is a university researcher. The best-known names sit in universities, their institutes and CSIRO, the national science agency. For a business owner that raises a practical question. Who should you read to understand AI, who should you watch on regulation, and who can help your team use it next week?
I've organised this page by where each person's expertise sits in the Australian system, because that tells you most about what they're for. I've drawn every detail from the person's or organisation's own page, as of Nov 2026. Where a source gives no base, I haven't claimed one. It's a shortlist, not a ranking, and I'm not Australian: I'm a British practitioner who works with clients worldwide. You'll also see Anton van den Hengel, Simon Lucey, Geoff Webb, Catriona Wallace and Bill Simpson-Young named on other lists.
If you want practical names rather than academic ones, my list of AI experts worth following for business is a better fit.
| Where the expertise sits | Who | Read them for |
|---|---|---|
| Universities and their institutes | Toby Walsh, Jie Lu, Michael Milford, Seyedali Mirjalili, Deakin's A2I2 | Where AI research is heading, and applied problems a university can partner on |
| The national science agency | CSIRO, Qinghua Lu | Responsible AI engineering and AI safety from a public-interest source |
| Governance and independent bodies | Edward Santow, Gradient Institute, Kingston AI Group | Regulation, responsible-AI guidance and the national strategy debate |
| Business practice | Lilach Bullock (me) | Getting AI working in your team |
Campuses and their research centres
Toby Walsh is the name you'll hear first. His page says he's Chief Scientist at UNSW.ai, UNSW's AI Institute, a Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science and Engineering at UNSW Sydney, and an adjunct fellow at CSIRO Data61. It lists fellowships of the Australian Academy of Science and the Association for Computing Machinery, plus a Keynotes section. He suits a leader who wants a public-facing academic view of where AI is heading. Read him for perspective, not tooling.
Jie Lu's profile at the University of Technology Sydney says she's a Distinguished Professor, an Australian Laureate Fellow in AI and Director of the Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute (AAII), and that she leads the ARC Industry Transformation Research Hub 'Responsible AI for a Sustainable Grain Industry'. It says she's recognised for work in fuzzy machine learning, transfer learning, concept drift, recommender systems and decision support systems. That grain hub is a good example of research tied to a real industry. The page reads like a CV, so don't expect a how-to.
Michael Milford is Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics at Queensland University of Technology, and his page lists him as Professor and ARC Laureate Fellow, working at the boundary of robotics, neuroscience and computer vision. It says he's passionate about educating all sectors of society on new opportunities and impacts from technology including robotics, autonomous vehicles and AI. If you're in logistics, mining, transport or manufacturing and watching robots and autonomy, he's your read. He's less relevant to office or marketing AI.
Seyedali Mirjalili's site says he founded the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Optimization in 2019 and serves as a Professor of AI at Torrens University Australia, and it lists a TED Talk. It describes his work as developing AI algorithms applied in science and industry. He's one for readers following optimisation and applied algorithms. His own page makes ranking claims; I haven't repeated them.
Deakin's Applied AI Initiative (A2I2) is a lab, not a person. Its site describes translational, human-centred AI delivered with partners across healthcare, defence, manufacturing and social innovation, names strengths in human-machine teaming, probabilistic reasoning and safety assurance, and lists partnerships and internships. That makes it a candidate for an organisation with an applied AI problem that wants a university partner. It isn't a training provider, so don't approach it for staff sessions.
CSIRO, the national science agency
CSIRO's AI page describes how its capabilities are used to amplify and accelerate its science and deliver benefits for Australia, and lists work in partnership with the Australian AI Safety Institute on scalable AI oversight. It also carries a public explainer video made with Google Australia to show what AI is and how it works. That video is a good free starting point for a team that's never had AI explained. It's an agency page, though, not an adviser for a single business.
The fact on this page I'd least expect a business reader to know sits here. Qinghua Lu's CSIRO profile says she's the only member from Australia among the 40 experts appointed to the United Nations' Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, and that she leads its Working Group 4 on Security, Systems and Environmental Implications. Her day role, the profile says, is Group Leader of the Software Systems Research Group and Senior Principal Research Scientist specialising in AI engineering, AI safety and responsible AI. If your team is building or buying AI systems that must be safe and accountable, her work is relevant. Expect a technical tone.
Governance, law and independent bodies
Edward Santow is the one for the regulation question. His UTS profile says he co-founded the Human Technology Institute and is Industry Professor, Responsible Technology, with focus areas including digital government, the future of AI regulation and the application and enforcement of law for AI. It also says he's independent chair of the NSW Government AI Review Committee and serves on the Australian Government Services Independent Advisory Board. Read him if your board is asking what the rules will be. He's policy and law, not tooling.
Gradient Institute calls itself an independent not-for-profit research organisation advancing safe and responsible AI through research, advisory and education, and its site description places it in Sydney. Its news includes an explainer, dated 28 September 2026, on how single AI agents became a swarm. That's useful reading for a team starting with AI agents. It's a research body, so ask whether its advisory work fits an organisation your size.
Kingston AI Group argues that Australia must develop a national vision and strategy for AI that includes a substantial new investment in building core sovereign capability. Its site describes its members as experts from across Australia's AI field and lists a symposium and publications. It's the national-policy conversation in one place. Read it as a position, because advocacy is what it's for.
The business end: me, with caveats
I'm on this list as the practitioner, and I wrote it, so weigh my entry with that in mind. I'm Lilach Bullock, a British AI implementation consultant, AI trainer and speaker and fractional CMO with 23 years in marketing. I went all in on AI in 2024 and rebuilt my own consultancy around it. I work in English with clients worldwide, in person and online, and I won't claim an Australian base I don't have.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
I'm not a research scientist, a professor or a lab. I'm one person, not an academy, and I don't run certificates. I don't do engineering-led AI, such as training your own models or building large data infrastructure; the universities and CSIRO above are better placed for that, and I say so on the first call.
What I do: ask your team for the two or three tasks that eat the most time, build the workflow live on those tasks, give people hands-on time on their own work, write the team's AI-use rules together and finish with a plan for the next week. Live online sessions run on UK hours, which means an evening slot on Australia's east coast, so plan around that; in-person work is possible too.
I run my own business on the same methods. Between January and September 2026 my site went from 1,322 Google clicks a month to 6,412, and visits sent by AI assistants went from 32 a month to 3,599, in my own Search Console and GA4. I've also spoken at more than 100 events, including TEDxBolton and Oxford University.
If you want a firm rather than a person, see my shortlist of AI consultants in Australia, and for training providers, my guide to AI trainers for business teams.
Four steps before you book anyone
- Decide which kind of help you need: understanding (the universities), safety and accountability (CSIRO and Qinghua Lu), rules (Santow and Gradient Institute), or a team that works faster (a practitioner).
- Read one thing from each relevant group, starting with CSIRO's explainer video if your team is new to AI.
- If you're buying or building AI systems, ask any adviser how they handle safety and accountability, and compare the answer with what CSIRO and Gradient Institute publish.
- Choose one weekly task and judge any hire by what changes on that task within a month.
What I'd do with this page
I'd read Toby Walsh for the big picture, Edward Santow for the rules and Qinghua Lu's work if you're building anything that has to be safe and accountable. I'd skip approaching the professors for help with your team's workflows: that isn't what their pages offer. For that, hire a practitioner who'll show you their own results first.
If you want your team using AI on its own work rather than reading about it, that's the work I do. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the top AI experts in Australia?
Toby Walsh at UNSW Sydney, Jie Lu at UTS, Michael Milford at QUT, Qinghua Lu at CSIRO and Edward Santow at UTS are strong places to start. I'm Lilach Bullock, I wrote this list and I'm on it as the business practitioner. It's a shortlist, not a ranking.
Should I hire an AI researcher or a practitioner?
Partner with a researcher or a university lab when you have a hard applied problem that needs new methods. Hire a practitioner when you want your team using AI well on its everyday work. Most small businesses need the second.
Which Australian bodies publish on responsible AI?
CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, works with the Australian AI Safety Institute on AI oversight. Gradient Institute is an independent not-for-profit focused on safe and responsible AI, and the Human Technology Institute at UTS, co-founded by Edward Santow, covers AI regulation and law.
What does CSIRO do in AI?
Its AI page says it uses its capabilities to amplify and accelerate its science and deliver benefits for Australia, lists work with the Australian AI Safety Institute on scalable AI oversight, and carries a public explainer video made with Google Australia.
How do I find an AI expert for a small business?
Start with the task, not the title. Pick one job your team repeats every week, then look for someone who'll build the workflow on that job with your people and can show you results on their own business.
Which Australian expert should I follow first?
Toby Walsh is the easiest start for a business reader, since his page has a Keynotes section alongside his research. If regulation is your worry, follow Edward Santow instead.
