I don’t usually fall for AI’s ego-flattery, but I couldn’t resist trying out ChatGPT’s new memory feature by asking it to describe me based on all the chat history. A few gems stood out: Apparently, I resemble a 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑨𝑰, and that’s what makes me great. Since AI clearly sees itself as the peak…
🚀 What’s the hottest trend in AI agents right now?It’s not the traditional workflow-based or API-calling agents. The most interesting agents today are 𝗚𝗨𝗜 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — ones that see what you see on the screen. They don’t just execute calls behind the scenes — they observe, interpret, and interact with visual interfaces just like human…
I had the pleasure of joining the IEEE Early Career Program Summit 2025 panel on “Bridging Academia and Industry in Computing.” It prompted me to reflect on two lessons I wish I’d learned much earlier in my career—because the conventional wisdom I heard early on turned out to be deeply limiting. 🔻 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 #𝟏: “𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭…
Did you know CSIRO’s Data61 open-source data catalog system, Magda https://magda.io/, powers data.gov.au and many other key infrastructure systems like national maps and digital twins across Australia — and we recently launched a new version of it with in-browser LLM integration? But our research and engineering team (Jacky Jiang Chen Wang et al.) has also…
The newly released Auditor-General’s report on AI governance at the ATO is a good read. While I won’t comment on the specific cases, the broader lessons for government entities (pages 13-14) are valuable and ring true. Given CSIRO’s Data61‘s contributions to the National Assurance Framework for Government Use of AI (released by DTA) and Australia’s…
The International Science Council has released a White Paper titled ‘Preparing National Research Ecosystems for AI,’ which examines how different nations are approaching AI opportunities through their research ecosystems. I contributed to the Australian Case Study, including the pivotal role of CSIRO in AI for Science, responsible and safe AI, and general research-driven AI innovation.…
I gave a lecture at an Executive MBA course on the interactions between regulations and standards in AI, data, and digital technologies—both globally and in Australia. Here are the key takeaways. I highlighted potential solutions to these challenges, including ongoing efforts in Australia to develop AI safety standards that are currently being established. Dropbox slides…
When I was writing my last two books, I kept wondering: would this be the last book I ever wrote? Why would people still seek knowledge from books when AI can synthesise information across diverse sources, delivering it in a personalised and conversational manner tailored to individual knowledge levels and interests? And to be honest,…
🔥 Why advance Quantum Machine Learning before we have million-qubit fault-tolerant quantum computers? 🤔 I get asked this a lot. The answer is multi-faceted:1️⃣ 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 – Researching quantum ML now helps pinpoint which problems will benefit the most and steer quantum technology development in the right direction.2️⃣ 𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐬 – Progress in one…
🎉 Kicking off the new year with a big topic – “Europe’s Path in Artificial Intelligence”. I had the privilege of joining a stellar panel organised by Fraunhofer, with an online audience of ~500. I shared Australia’s AI regulation status, including the pivotal role of the Voluntary AI Safety Standards in accelerating AI adoption with…
Research Director, CSIRO’s Data61
Conjoint Professor, CSE UNSW
For other roles, see LinkedIn & Professional activities.
If you’d like to invite me to give a talk, please see here & email liming.zhu@data61.csiro.au