Building Trust in AI:

Reflections from the AI Governance Summit 2025

CyberUnlocked's Sarah McAvoy chaired the AI Governance Summit 2025 in Sydney, bringing together leaders from government, industry, and critical infrastructure to discuss how Australia can build a safe and trustworthy future with artificial intelligence (AI).

The conversations throughout the day highlighted one clear message: Governance is not about slowing down innovation, it is about making it safer and more sustainable.

Why Governance Matters

Too often, governance is seen as a set of rules that limit progress. At the summit, experts shared a different perspective. Governance acts like a seatbelt. It does not stop us from driving forward, but it protects us along the journey. For organisations, this means being able to adopt AI faster, with greater confidence, and with the trust of customers, partners, and the public.

A Day of Powerful Insight

The summit agenda was full of practical lessons and thought-provoking ideas.

• Setting the foundations: Strategies for building strong AI governance frameworks. Rather than restricting innovation, these structures are designed to enable it, providing the guardrails organisations need to move quickly and safely.
• Ethics and transparency: The importance of ethical and transparent AI, reminding us that reputational risk is AI risk. Accountability must be built in from the start, not bolted on later.
• Preparing for the unexpected: Examined how to map and mitigate risks, prepare for failures, and embed governance before it becomes too late. This proactive approach ensures resilience even when systems do not behave as expected.
• Data governance as a strength: How data governance can move beyond being a compliance burden. With the help of privacy controls, synthetic data (data created artificially for safe testing), and federated learning (training AI without sharing sensitive data), organisations can transform governance into a strategic advantage.

Looking Ahead

The summit showed that good governance is not a barrier. It is the foundation of progress. By setting clear guidelines and shared values, Australia can remain at the forefront of AI innovation while protecting people, businesses, and communities. We’re proud to see Sarah represent CyberUnlocked in such a pivotal discussion. 

At CyberUnlocked, we believe that strong governance empowers organisations to innovate boldly, operate safely, and build long-term trust.

To learn more about how we support organisations in building safe and ethical AI, visit AI  Governance