Mark Pesce

The briefing

Opening framing: why AI², and how to read the stack

With John Allsopp

John Allsopp and Mark Pesce set out the morning's map. AI is not one market but a stack, from atoms to applications: materials, energy, semiconductors and data centres at the bottom, then models, harnesses and the applications built on them. Each layer moves at a different speed, carries different risks, and captures value in different ways. This short opening gives you the frame to read every briefing that follows, and the questions to keep asking all morning.

The briefing

Matter: who controls the inputs sets the pace

Every AI system starts as a few dozen elements, and the refining of many of them sits in one or two countries: helium in Qatar, bromine in Israel and Jordan, yttrium and erbium in China. Refining capacity takes years to expand, so whoever controls these inputs sets the pace for every layer above. Mark Pesce maps the choke points, and what they mean for investors and for Australia.

The briefing

Closing synthesis: what it means for your decisions

With John Allsopp

John Allsopp and Mark Pesce pull the morning together: what the briefings told us about each layer of the stack, where the layers depend on each other, and where risk and opportunity concentrate. You leave with a clear view of the questions to ask of any AI investment or strategy, before continuing the conversation with speakers over lunch.