Davina Montgomery

I like crafting with words; telling stories, digging around for what is true, where the real impact lies, probing those truths with curly questions to build a story that connects and resonates.

In the trenches, we call this communication.

Having spent two decades in news magazines here in Geelong and a few years filming on footy fields, I now spend my 9-to-5-ish with a team of brilliant minds using AI and machine learning to tackle some of the big challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The team at Deakin's Applied AI Institute delves into deep questions: What is intelligence? What does it mean to reason? How can we develop safe and reliable technology solutions? What if we could find new ways of solving problems? Faster, cheaper, more targeted, more effective ways of solving problems? Are we asking the right questions?

These wickedly challenging questions lead to a shared aim: to create a positive impact as AI and ML integrate into our lives.

What sort of impact?

Things like:
- Accelerating research and development with minimal data.
- Developing decision support systems for hospital trauma units.
- Using AI and ML to aid the Black Dog Institute in understanding and treating anxiety and depression.
- Speeding up new materials discovery for sustainable manufacturing and large-scale energy solutions.
- Modelling efficient ways to operate complex systems without disrupting existing workflows.
- Teaching computer systems to recognize what experts see, such as early signs of cerebral palsy or dementia.
- Using AI to challenge the confirmation bias experienced by a subject-matter expert, those at the very pointy end of their fields.
- Creating interactive training and education systems that mirror real-world challenges, including work with Dementia Australia.

When my boys ask, somewhat quizzically: "What are you doing there?" I tell them I'm sharing the incredible, mind-bending work happening here.

It should keep me busy for the next 20 years or so.