It's been a big couple of weeks in AI, and most of us are watching from the sidelines while the biggest decisions get made somewhere else. Agents that find their way around the rules, governments racing each other, and data centres heading for regional Australia.
In this episode, Kim Fernandez is joined by Tiffany Leahy, founder of Regional AI Co and winner of Outstanding New Business at the 2026 Carillon Business Awards, and her AI Collab co-founder and CTO Rod Fernandez. They weigh in on what's happening, where they agree, where they don't, and what it means for Australian businesses. And because it isn't all bad news, Tiffany shares what she saw at the Henty Machinery Field Days, and Rod and Kim share the dashboards and automations they're building right now.
In This Episode We Cover:
- What happens when an AI agent is given a task and finds a way around the protections in its path - and why a good starting point is bringing in a cyber security expert who understands agents
- Why nobody can promise you 100% protection, and what governance and transparency look like with the privacy law changes arriving in December
- "Artificial intelligence" versus "superintelligence": a rebrand, a marketing exercise, or something else?
- Why AI is an amplifier of humans - and who should have access to the most powerful models
- Why you don't need the newest model for everyday business use, and how a model router picks the right (and cheaper) model for the job
- The positive uses of AI:
- What Tiffany saw in Ag Tech Alley at Henty: drones, virtual fencing, autonomous machinery and more
- How a farm turned seven years of soil test data into better questions for their agronomist
- How showing clients what's possible shapes new ideas
- Data centres in Australia: water, energy, liquid cooling and why doing it properly matters
- What's coming next: agentic features moving into everyday chat apps, open source models, and what the next 12 months will decide
About the Podcast:
The AI Your Business Podcast, hosted by Kim Fernandez, helps established business owners, founders, and service providers understand how to adopt AI in a practical, human-centred way - and be inspired by how AI is being used to solve real-world problems through real-world case studies, stories, and strategies.
Links
Tiffany Leahy - Founder, Regional AI Co
Regional AI Co website: https://regionalaico.com.au
Regional AI Co on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/regional-ai-co/
Regional AI Co on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/regionalaico/
AI Collab
AI for Teams Toolkit: https://ai-collab.com.au/toolkit
AI Collab website: https://ai-collab.com.au
Episode 18: New Level, New Devil - AI in Professional Services Firms (Part 1): https://podcast.kimfernandez.co/e/ep18-new-level-new-devil-ai-in-professional-services-firms-part-1/
Rod Fernandez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rod-fernandez-377086117
Kim Fernandez on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-fernandezz
Kim Fernandez on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekimfernandez
AI Collab Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aicollab.official
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