Opening keynote · AI in Government
Beyond Wisdom
My opening keynote at AI in Government in Canberra, July 2025, on intelligence, judgement, and what we choose to do with technology.
dsq.studio
AI training in your Canberra office.
I’m Aqeel Akber. Scientist, founder, and a very curious person.
I’ve been consulting on AI since 2018, across government, industry, and research. Together, we work out where AI helps and how to use it well, with care for the people involved. The aim is less wasted effort, greater confidence and agency, and more room to think, choose, and flourish.
AI consulting since 2018 The Synthrole Manifesto · 2024 Human/AI Team Building · 2025 Opening keynote, AI in Government 2025
Work together
Bring your curiosity.
I’ll bring mine.
Bring a task, a decision, or a question you have not yet been able to pin down. We’ll make time for the questions underneath it, then test what might help.
Training is one-to-one, in person, in your office in Canberra. We work through your questions and real tasks together, including whether AI is the right tool, where it helps, and how to check its work. Leading a team through change? Bring that too.
I work directly with you, ask questions, and explain my thinking as we try things. We look for ways to reduce wasted effort and improve the work, with reasoning and checks you can use again. A two-hour session can also include time to speak with other staff about their work.
| 1 hour, in your office | AU$495 |
|---|---|
| 2 hours, in your office | AU$990 |
| Clinic day for your team | Let’s talk |
Each session includes a personalised capabilities improvement and outcomes report for the one person in training. You receive it within one week after the session: one page, numbered as a certificate of completion, ready for your L&D record. See an example.
Pay by card when you book. Your tax invoice arrives straight away. No surcharge. Need sign-off first? Forward the one-page approval note.
Clinic days are for teams I already know: I sit in your office for the day, and people drop in with their questions.
Book a sessionInformation for procurementSupplier details, rate card, and a description you can copy into your system.
dsq.studio · Supplier information
Supplier details
- Legal entity
- DSQ STUDIO PTY LTD
- ABN
- 72 674 954 119
- ACN
- 674 954 119
- GST
- Registered from 1 October 2024
- Trainer
- Aqeel Akber
- [email protected]
- Office
- Suite 2.02, Level 2, 131 City Walk, Canberra 2601
- Insurance
- Professional indemnity AU$2 million · Public liability AU$10 million
- Website
- https://dsq.studio
Legal entity, ABN, ACN, and GST registration checked against the Australian Business Register on 22 October 2026.
Rate card
| 1 hour, in your office | AU$495 |
|---|---|
| 2 hours, in your office | AU$990 |
| Clinic day for your team | Let’s talk |
Excluding GST: AU$450 for 1 hour, AU$900 for 2 hours.
One person in training, in person at the buyer’s office in Canberra. Travel within Canberra is included.
Each session includes a personalised capabilities improvement and outcomes report for the one person in training. Delivered within one week after the session as a one-page, numbered certificate of completion (see an example).
Payment by card, with no surcharge.
Service description
One-to-one AI training and capability development, delivered in person at the buyer’s office in Canberra by Aqeel Akber. Sessions last one or two hours. We work through the trainee’s questions and real tasks, using tools and information the organisation permits. A two-hour session can also include time to speak with other staff about their work.
Intended learning objectives, refined during the session:
- Identify where AI may help with a task or process, and where it may not.
- Practise an approach using tools and information your organisation permits.
- Check the result and identify what you can repeat or improve.
How to engage
- Choose 1 or 2 hours at dsq.studio/hi/ and pay by card. A tax invoice is issued on payment.
- I email three times that suit both of us. You pick one, and a calendar invite follows.
- Need approval first? Forward the one-page approval note. Need an invoice instead of card payment? Email me.
Terms. Reschedule free with 72 hours’ notice. With less notice, the session can be moved once at no cost. A no-show is charged. You arrange building access, a visitor pass, and any escort your security rules require. Each session is a one-off purchase, with no indemnities and no auto-renewal. Your organisation’s purchase order terms can apply instead. Certificates of currency on request.
Send purchase order requirements or supplier forms to [email protected].
Approach
I will always be a scientist.
At dsq.studio we bridge the technical, business, and human aspects of digital technology. We are serious about creating the future where the most promising emerging technology is integrated ethically and seamlessly into our daily lives.
Our approach is practical and pragmatic: (1) intelligently apply future technology so that it may be used today, (2) iterate and amplify the value it brings in context.
Curiosity is how I work. I listen, ask questions, and help people uncover what they know — and what they have yet to ask. Then we make something we can try, observe, and learn from.
I’ve been consulting on AI since 2018. As a founder and director of Thaum in Canberra, I worked with people across government, industry, and research to understand their problems and build technology that could help. That work spanned computer vision, machine learning, data science, and commercialisation.
Thaum continues today; I now work independently through dsq.studio. Explore Thaum’s work
Selected organisations, through Thaum
My work at Thaum included projects with the Royal Australian Air Force, Evolution Mining, Coviu, NOPSEMA, the Australian Antarctic Program, ACIAR, CSIRO and Data61, the Australian National University, The Creative Element, and DISR and AusIndustry.
After leaving Thaum, I made space through dsq.studio to study and experiment with generative AI. I wanted to understand what these new systems could actually do, where they failed, and how they could change the way we work.
AI agents are now part of my daily practice: research, software, operations, and building companies. I work with them, build systems around them, and keep testing where human judgement belongs.
Working with agents
That hands-on practice matters when we sit down together. We can inspect a result, work through a failure, and decide what to delegate and what needs a person. We can also decide that an agent adds more complexity than the task warrants.
Working with sensitive data
I’ve worked with sensitive data in government projects and in settings with HIPAA requirements. That experience predates the widespread use of generative AI. I check where data goes, who can access it, and which provider terms apply.
More room to be human
I’m proudly non-binary. Equity matters to me, and AI makes the question of who gets to shape our future more urgent. I want this technology to give more people the freedom to think, create, and act.
That starts with the people in the room. I make space for different experiences and ways of thinking. Together, we use them to question assumptions, notice what an answer misses, and explore possibilities we might not see alone.
WhalePOD
At Thaum, I led WhalePOD through CSIRO’s ON Accelerate 7 in 2023. I was awarded the Stanford Australia Foundation–CSIRO Scholarship, which took me to Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Watch my CSIRO showcase presentationResearch
A studio for ideas
that become real.
Independent research sits alongside the client work. Qualia began here as an exploration of human and artificial intelligence, and grew into Meos Labs.
Explore MeosWriting
Human/AI Team Building
Thinking about people, tools, and the roles they form together.