The short answer: Australia has a genuinely strong bench of AI speakers in 2026. The right one depends on what you need: Anders Sorman-Nilsson for big-picture futurism, Adam Franklin for professional services firms, Justin Kabbani for polished corporate AI keynotes, and me, Carl Taylor, if you want a practitioner who runs his own company on AI and builds it live on stage. This guide covers each, plus how to choose.
Yes, I'm an AI keynote speaker writing a list of AI keynote speakers. Awkward. Here's how I'll keep it useful: I'll tell you what each person is genuinely good at, who they suit, and where I'd recommend someone else over me. Event organisers talk to each other... a dishonest list would cost me more than it earns.
Who are the best AI keynote speakers in Australia right now?
1. Carl Taylor (that's me)
Best for: business owner audiences, associations, franchise groups, and any event where you want the audience to leave with something they can do, not just something to think about.
My lane is the practitioner talk. I founded Automation Agency in 2014, served 1,340+ businesses, and rebuilt the whole company around AI agents when LLMs arrived. On stage I show the systems running my own business... my AI executive assistant, AI designers, a multi-agent delivery platform... and often build something live in front of the room. Keynotes from $10K + GST. Details here.
2. Adam Franklin
Best for: professional services firms... accountants, lawyers, brokers, property managers.
Adam has carved out a clear niche speaking on AI (Claude and ChatGPT specifically) for professional services. He's a bestselling marketing author with a long speaking track record and hundreds of keynotes behind him, and his content is practical and firm-ready. If your room is full of partners and practice managers, he's an excellent fit.
3. Justin Kabbani
Best for: corporate audiences wanting a polished, high-production AI keynote.
Justin has built a strong profile as an AI keynote speaker for corporate events across Australia, NZ and beyond, with well-reviewed talks and his own frameworks for AI adoption. Slick, credible, and popular with larger organisations.
4. Anders Sorman-Nilsson
Best for: big conferences that want the sweeping, global, where-is-this-all-going keynote.
Anders is one of Australia's best-known futurists, with a global speaking career well beyond AI alone. If your event needs scale, polish and a decade-out lens rather than a how-to, he's the class act in that category. (For the difference between futurist and practitioner talks, I wrote a whole piece on it.)
5. The speaker bureaus' benches
Saxton, ICMI and Ovations all maintain AI speaker rosters, and they're worth a call if you want someone to shortlist for you. The trade-off: bureau fees are built into the price, and bureaus optimise for safe choices. If you know what style you want, going direct usually gets you more customisation for the same money.
How do you choose between them?
- Match the speaker to the Monday after. What do you want attendees doing the week after your event? If the answer is "thinking differently", book a futurist. If it's "actually using AI", book a practitioner.
- Check for a real operating business. Ask what the speaker runs, not just what they present. AI is moving too fast for pure researchers of other people's case studies.
- Ask when the talk was last rebuilt. An AI talk written in 2024 is a history lecture. Ask what's changed in their keynote in the last six months.
- Watch unedited footage. Showreels hide a lot. Ask for a full session recording.
Who should you NOT book?
Anyone whose AI credentials began and ended with "I use ChatGPT a lot", and anyone who can't demonstrate the tools they recommend. Your audience includes people quietly using AI every day now. They can smell a tourist.