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AI Spotted What Doctors Couldn't: Annette Andersen and Andrew Ballard
Two Australian AI founders. Two very different problems. One conversation about what it actually takes to build AI startups here right now.
Annette Andersen is the founder of Axe AI. She's an autistic founder, and her 21-year-old son Axel has very complex disabilities. When he became severely unwell and nobody could find the cause, Annette uploaded his data into AI. It flagged porphyria. Testing confirmed elevated coproporphirin levels. A phytochemical called sulfurophane resolved his symptoms in 48 hours. That moment pushed her to build a multi-framework reasoning engine for complex care decisions, plus DSX, a cooperative platform for small to medium NDIS providers.
Andrew "AB" Ballard is the founder of Spatiotemporal. He rides a motorbike, and he noticed that humans read motion in other drivers without thinking. AB is turning that into a foundation model for robots and self-driving cars. Small models. Train overnight. Run on a phone.
Hosts Andrew Lai and Amir Nissen take both founders through their tools (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini), their methodology for shipping production code with AI, their take on local models, and what the medical community really thinks when AI flags a diagnosis. Plus AB's robot-with-a-knife thought experiment about what kitchens look like when robots become part of the family.
Both guests are alumni of AI Pathfinder, SMEC AI's free 8-week accelerator for early-stage Australian founders.
ROI from AI is the podcast for Australian SME owners, founders, and anyone curious about practical AI adoption.
Links:
Axe AI: axeai.com.au
SMEC AI: smecai.au
AI Pathfinder: smecai.au
Email: info@smecai.au (mailto:info@smecai.au)
AI Hotline: 1800 517 403
Hosts:
Andrew Lai, Managing Director, Boab AI and SMEC AI
Amir Nissen, Head of Programs, SMEC AI
Chapters:00:00 Intro03:00 The CGT question04:30 From crisis to Axe AI09:00 Motion as a safety signal13:00 The AI coding stack18:00 5 million lines of code23:00 Local models are about to change everything26:00 The medical community's reaction30:00 Talking about AI with stakeholders36:00 What's next41:00 The AI Pathfinder program46:00 Final words
21 Apr 2026
Australia's AI Blind Spot: Why We Need a Sovereign Model Before It's Too Late
When you use a US-based AI tool, who actually has access to your data? It's a question most Australian businesses haven't thought to ask, and the answer might surprise you.
In this episode, Andrew and Amir chat with Simon Kriss, CEO of Sovereign AI Australia, to dig into one of the most important conversations in Australian tech right now: why Australia needs its own foundational AI model, what the US Cloud Act actually means for local businesses, and whether trust in AI can ever be rebuilt without sovereign infrastructure.
Simon brings a rare combination of perspectives, customer experience executive, AI practitioner, and now the person pushing to build Australia's first truly independent large language model. He's not arguing that Australia needs to compete with ChatGPT. He's arguing something more urgent: that there are categories of work — agentic processes, health data, citizen records — where sending information offshore is a risk we can no longer ignore.
In this conversation, you'll hear:
Why Australians trust AI at home but not in business — and what the data says
What the US Cloud Act is and why it matters for any company using AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure
The difference between a "domestic" AI model and a truly "sovereign" one
Why fine-tuning an open-source model like Llama doesn't solve the problem
How agentic AI is creating new cybersecurity risks that most SMEs aren't prepared for
What a $100 million Australian-built model could realistically look like
Simon's personal favourite AI use case (it involves a one-hour drive and a voice conversation)
Whether you're a business owner wondering if your data is safe, or someone genuinely curious about the future of AI in Australia — this one is worth your time.
About Simon KrissSimon Kriss is the CEO of Sovereign AI Australia and author of The AI Empowered Customer Experience. With a background spanning customer experience, call centres, and enterprise AI, Simon has spent years at the intersection of AI and real-world business impact. He is currently working to establish Australia's first independently funded, ethically built foundational AI model.
Find out more: sovereignai.com.au (http://sovereignai.com.au)
About ROI from AIROI from AI is produced by SMEC AI — Australia's free government-funded AI adoption program for small and medium businesses. Each episode, hosts Andrew Lai and Amir Nissen talk to the people driving AI adoption and find out what's really moving the needle.
Find out if your business is eligible at smecai.au (http://smecai.au)
5 Mar 2026
Inside Australia’s AI Strategy: Lee Hickin on Adoption, Confidence and the Future of AI
In this episode of ROI from AI, Andrew Lai and Amir Nissen sit down with Lee Hickin, Director of the National AI Centre, to discuss how Australia is approaching AI adoption across government, industry and society.
Lee shares insights from his 35-year career in technology, including leadership roles at IBM, Microsoft and AWS, before stepping into public service to help shape Australia’s AI future.
The conversation explores:
• Why the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn’t technology — it’s confidence
• How Australia compares to other countries in AI adoption
• Why AI may be even bigger than the industrial revolution
• The role of government in enabling responsible AI use
• How SMEs can safely explore AI opportunities
• Real-world AI use cases in healthcare, agriculture and sport
• Why Lee believes AI is fundamentally a tool for helping people
This episode offers a thoughtful look at the future of AI adoption in Australia and globally, and what it will take to ensure the benefits are widely shared.
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