Professor Mary-Anne Williams
Professor
Stanford Executive Program (SEP), Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2016
Master of Laws (LL.M.), Innovation, Law and Technology, University of Edinburgh, 2008
PhD, Artificial Intelligence, University of Sydney, 1994
Master of Science, Computer Science, 1991
Business School
School of Management and Governance
I am the Michael J Crouch Chair for Innovation at UNSW, where I collaborate to help to grow entrepreneurship and accelerate innovative thinking in Australia.
I am Founder and Lead for the UNSW Business AI Lab and Deputy Director of the UNSW AI Institute. My research area is decision making, and I focus on Human-Centred AI, Human-Aligned AI, Strategic Management of Human-AI Agent Collaboration, multiple AI agent orchestration, dynamic capabilities, AI innovation, design, knowledge representation and reasoning, innovation management, innovation strategy, business model innovation and venture.
I design courses and teach corporate innovation at the AGSM (Australian Graduate School of Management), and I give MasterClasses on innovation and AI specialised and broad audiences.
I am a Fellow at AAAI (the international peak body for AI), the Australian Computer Society, and the Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering (ATSE), I chair the Digital Futures Forum at ATSE alongside incredibly inspiring leaders like David Thodey, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Shazia Sadiq and others.
Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to receive several awards, including the Australasian AI Distinguished Research Contribution Award (2022), and prestigious Faculty Awards from industry leaders like IBM and Google (2019 and 2021). I have also had the opportunity to lead my research teams to success in international competitions, including winning scientific challenges and the Social Robotics World Championship. I have led 12 research teams to international competitions, world championships and numerous innovation projects using human-AI interaction and human-centred AI agents. Our industry and government partners included Roche, EY, IBM, Google, Disrupt, Linkedin, Relay Robotics (previously Willow Garage), Amazon, Visual Risk, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Denmark's National Bank, Samsung, Sony, and Softbank.
Beyond academia, I guide and invest in startups globally and currently serve on advisory boards for Kit (a Commbank company) through 15x Ventures and Cipherstash, an extraordinary Australian startup pioneering encryption in use. I am a Board Member of the Australian SKA Regional Centre, on the Advisory Board for the Defence Trailblazer, and on the Innovation Reference Group for South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD).
Micheal Crouch was an inspiring Australian entrepreneur and business leader. He was a visionary and extraordinarily generous benefactor. In 2017, Michael Crouch was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for eminent service to the community through philanthropic contributions to youth, cultural, medical research and healthcare organisations, to businesses in the areas of manufacturing and international trade, and as a supporter of innovation and higher education.
Invited and Keynote Speaker opportunities since joining UNSW
2024
- Women in Tech Fest, Melbourne Keynote Address
- Federal Data and AI Showcase 2024, Canberra
- APS200 AI and Effectiveness - DTA executive series The APS200 group is the most senior leadership group in the APS. APS200 events are organised in partnership between the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Australian Public Service Commission. Participation is by invitation only to members of the APS200.
- SXSW Sydney Festival 2024 - Tackling the Employee AI Trust Gap
- Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific Hotels, The Impact of AI on the Future of Hotel Industry Keynote Address
- The Times Higher Education Campus Live ANZ
- InsureTechLIVE 2024, Sydney
- Impact of AI on the Energy Industry, Melbourne
- Generative Artificial Intelligence – Future or Fad, Thales
- Thrive: Accenture & Women Leaders by the Circle Series Launch, Sydney
- UNSW Strategy Expo
- AI and Innovation, Global Network for Advanced Management
- The Innovation Ecosystem in Australia, New York University (NYU) AGSM Study Tour
2023
- Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Doctoral Consortium, Rhodes, Greece, Ketnote Adress
- SXSW Panel on the Future of Journalism, Publishing and the Truth in the Age of AI
- Shaping the Future with LegalTech, LegalTech Venture Day Australia Keynote Address
- Generative AI for Mining, Keynote address at an ING event
- Business Innovation in Australia, New York University (NYU) Study Tour
- UNSW Learn to Lead - Innovation Module
- UNSW iStep - The Art and Science of Innovation
2022
- International RoboCup Symposium
- Open Data Data Science APAC Conference
- TEQSA (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) Conference, Australian Government
- Melbourne Victorian Parliament Science and Tech Talk, Melbourne
- NSW Bar Association, Sydney
- World Expo Dubai
- International Women's Day, Brighte, Sydney
- Shape your Future, Australian Academy of Technological Science and Engineering
2021
- ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), Keynote Address
- Stanford Future Law, Machine Learning and Law Panel
- Australian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA), Keynote Address
- Australasian Research Management Society (ARMS), Keynote Address
2020
- Strategic Management Society, Special Conference UC Berkeley
- Designing the Future: Strategy, Technology, and Society in the 4th Industrial Revolution. Rapidly evolving technologies such as AI, 5G, IOT, Fog, CV, AR/VR, and Cloud are redefining how people live, learn, heal, play, work, share, March 2020.
- Women in Engineering, Engineers Australia.
- AI and Human Decision Making, Thoughtworks. Keynote Address
- UNSW AI Day
-
Could AI win a Nobel Prize, ThoughtWorks
MEDIA ACTIVITY
- Australia’s Unfair Advantage in the New Global Wave of AI Innovation, 2023
- Three Steps for Leaders to Harness AI-powered Decision-making, 2023
- ChatGPT: Amazing AI Engineering can be Beneficial, 2023.
- Protecting your privacy - should AI write hospital discharge papers? With the next big shift in AI advancements just around the corner, businesses must ensure these new tools are ethical – before it’s too late. Mary-Anne Williams with Peter Leonard and Lamont Tang, 2023.
- Business AI- the game-changer in predicting and enhancing employee retention. AI can help organisations anticipate employee turnover and significantly improve retention rates, Mary-Anne Williams with Andrew Dhaenens and Karin Sanders, 2023.
- AGSM Podcast: Privacy and responsible AI. The Business of AI Episode 3: How can consumers and citizens safeguard their right to privacy when using AI, and how can businesses stay ahead of the AI privacy compliance curve? Mary-Anne Williams with Peter Leonard and Lamont Tang, 2023.
- Interview with Xero Chair David Thodey with Mary-Anne Williams. Three tips to become an innovation leader. Skill development, risk-taking and passion combined with purpose are three key ingredients in the recipe for successful innovation, 2023.
- Steer it – don’t fear it: navigating AI with confidence - When it comes to designing and implementing AI, business leaders have to navigate an incredibly complex landscape – but there are steps they can take to make the journey less risky, 2022
- SheRobot Exhibition - Robot Empathy & Deception Nursery - Anthea Sims and Mary-Anne Williams. page 96-97.
- Interview with Faethm's Mike Priddis: how COVID changed the future of work - there have been significant changes in the world of work with a dramatic acceleration in automation and related technologies, 2022
- How leaders should weigh up the risks and rewards of AI, Sam Kirshner and Mary-Anne Williams, 2022
- How machine learning is improving job transitions through skills matchmaking - Researchers have developed a machine learning-based system that acts as a skills matchmaker to assist with the process of effective job transitions, 2021
- Four ways managers can support women in leadership - Women in business still face social and cultural barriers when it comes to leadership, but managers can create an environment that supports women and provides them with leadership opportunities - Panel with Nick Wailes, 2021
E-mail
Location
School of Management and Governance
UNSW Business School
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL GRANTS
- Australia Research Council Discovery Project 2016 - 2018 $380,000; Project Title: Robust Intelligence: Rational Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty; Chief Investigator: Mary-Anne Williams; Partners: Peter Gärdenfors (Lund University, Sweden), Henri Prade (CNRS); Summary: Intelligent agents exercise profound and growing impact in business and society. However, significant problems arise in intelligent agent deployment as their theoretical underpinnings do not ensure rational decision making in complex real-world settings. This project will bridge the gap between theory and practice with an innovative framework for rational decision making under risk and uncertainty. It will open the door to transformational technologies that will drive new entrepreneurial opportunities in agent-based global services.
- Australia Research Council Linkage Project 2012 - 2014 $335,000 + significant in-kind support; Project Title: A Framework for Physical and Social Collaboration: Towards the Smarter Planet Vision; Chief Investigators: Mary-Anne Williams, and Benjamin Johnston; Partner: IBM Australia; Summary: This project developed a new approach to intelligent collaborative technologies by advancing the theory of collaborative action and developing an innovative framework and practical methods which will allow intelligent systems to undertake the collaborative actions required for applications in transport, energy management, sustainability, and healthcare.
- Australia Research Council Discovery Project 2012 - 2014 $320,000; Project Title: Adaptive Cyber-Physical Technologies with Attention Driven Common-sense Behaviours; Chief Investigator: Mary-Anne Williams; Partner Investigator: Peter Gärdenfors (Lund University, Sweden); Summary: This project focused on intelligent cyber-physical systems for open, complex and changing environments presents enormous scientific challenges. It developed an innovative framework, methods and tools that provide cyber-physical technologies with attention based common-sense capabilities for adapting to new, unexpected and unforeseen situations.
- Australia Research Council Linkage Project 2011 - 2014 $280,000 + significant in kind support; Project Title: Establishing a Next Generation Framework to Determine the Influence of Intelligent Water Metering on Householder Attitudes and Behaviours; Chief Investigators: Stuart B White, Rodney A Stewart, Mary-Anne Williams, Damien P Giurco, Kelvin R O'Hallora; Partners: Mid Coast Water and the Institute of Sustainable Futures; Summary: This project tested competing theories on how householders respond to interactive water consumption data from smart meters. The outcome is a novel framework for intelligent water management; underpinned by innovative research into causal mechanisms linking data communication to knowledge, and the impact of knowledge on attitudes and behaviours.
- Australia Research Council Discovery Project 2008 - 2011 $270,000; Project Title: Developing and Managing Sustainable Technology-enabled Innovation Capabilities; Chief Investigators: Steve Elliot (University of Sydney) and Mary-Anne Williams; Summary: This project helped organisations develop sustainable innovation capabilities using disruptive technologies.
- Australia Research Council Discovery Project 2007 - 2011 $340,000; Project Title: Planning, Communication, and Collaboration in Cognitive Systems; Chief Investigator: Mary-Anne Williams; Partner: Peter Gärdenfors (Lund University, Sweden); Summary: This project developed a better understanding of collaboration in complex environments.
- Australia Research Council Discovery Project 2004 – 2007 $150,000; Project Title: Intelligent Agent and Semantic Web empowered eFinance: A Knowledge Management Approach to enable and sustain Innovation; Chief Investigators: Mary-Anne Williams and Steve Elliot (University of Sydney) Partner: Dieter Fensel (University of Innsbruck, Austria); Summary: This research project made strong theoretical advances by developing an integrated and scalable knowledge engineering approach to the problems confronting Australian Industry.
- Australia Research Council Discovery Project 2002 – 2006 $200,000; Project Title: Agent-Oriented Concept Management; Chief Investigator: Mary-Anne Williams; Partner: Peter Gärdenfors (Lund University, Sweden); Summary: In order for agents to communicate effectively they must share concepts, and attribute the same meaning to shared concepts. We developed a innovative approach to concept management a new area of research with important application to intelligent systems.
- Australia Research Council Project 2000 - 2003 $200,000; Project Title: Information and Knowledge Integration; Chief Investigator: Mary-Anne Williams; Partner: Grigoris Antoniou (University of Crete, Greece); Summary: One of the key issues in global information infrastructures like the World Wide Web and enterprise networks is the ability to combine information from different sources in meaningful ways.
- Australia Research Council Project 1998 - 2001 $180,000; Project Title: Exception-Tolerant Information Systems for Managing Uncertain Information; Chief Investigators: Mary-Anne Williams; Partners: Didier Dubois and Henri Prade (CNRS, France); Summary: This project designed and developed exception-tolerant techniques to allow business systems to perform effectively when using qualitatively uncertain information.
- Australia Research Council Project 1997 - 2000 $200,000; Project Title: Reasoning with Changing and Incomplete Information Project; Chief Investigators: Mary-Anne Williams and Grigoris Antoniou; Summary: Developed a decision making framework for handling decisions based on changing and incomplete information using techniques from Knowledge Representation and Reasoning.
- Australia Research Council Project 1996 - 1999 $170,000; Project Title: Entrenchment Based Reasoning about Action; Chief Investigators: Norman Foo UNSW, Pavlos Peppas and Mary-Anne Williams; Summary: This project developed innovative algorithms for challenging planning problems that allowed for changing requirements.
Fellow, AAAI 2022 - AAAI is the international peak body for AI.
Most Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award, Enactus Australia 2022
Google International Faculty Award Machine Learning 2021-2022
Google International Faculty Award Machine Learning 2019 - 2020
Australasian Artificial Intelligence Distinguished Research Contribution Award 2019
Fellow, Australia Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), 2015
Fellow, Australian Computer Society (ACS), 2014
Pauli Fellowship, Austrian Ministry of Science and Research, 2008
IBM Faculty Award, 2007
University of Edinburgh Law School Fellowship Award 2006 - 2008
Commonwealth Fellowship Award, Australian Academy of Science 1996
British Council Fellowship Award 1996
Australasian Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award 1995 Comp Sc Association (CORE)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can enhance, improve and scale human expertise is dramatically changing and impacting our social and working lives, influencing how we perceive and interact with the physical and digital world.
Society is rapidly moving into the AI-Age where individuals, citizens, societal groups, businesses, governments and the global economy increasingly rely on the perceptions, decisions and actions of AI.
Human-Centred AI is the study of how we might put humans at the centre of AI
My Human-Centred AI focuses on aligning Artificial Intelligence (AI) with human preferences and expectations. The profound and rapid scientific advances in generative AI have led to a new generation of AI Agents that fundamentally change how humans can make discoveries, solve problems, complete tasks and innovate at scale. However, to deliver robust and dependable performance in real-world mission-critical innovation, trust is essential, and to realise the transformative benefits of AI, users want guarantees that AI outcomes align with their preferences and expectations.
AI agents can automate routine tasks and transform complex workflows, significantly improving productivity and innovation. However, AI agents, particularly generative AI agents, use unknown data, large complex statistical models and highly advanced software algorithms that are difficult for people to understand, even for their creators, who cannot fully explain decisions and actions. This lack of transparency and accountability creates significant risks with severe consequences for individuals, organisations, and society.
Human-AI collaboration is the study of how humans and AI work together to accomplish tasks and shared goals.
My research focuses on addressing the significant barriers and risks that prevent AI from delivering the extraordinary benefits it has the potential to generate. Today, AI can outperform humans in making predictions, but it cannot explain its predictions to humans. People are often unable to find the insights from black box AI technologies to fully realise the benefit of AI. Without insights and understanding, humans cannot demonstrate the extent to which AI algorithms are safe, fair and responsible. This is an urgent problem that needs to be solve. We need robust AI solutions to unlock the benefits for business, society and humanity.
A related research focus is explainable AI. Today, however, AI is not transparent or accountable, unable to explain perceptions, decisions and actions. AI that cannot explain its behaviour and decisions is a significant problem for business, government and society.
People need explanations to develop trust and confidence in AI, execute AI recommendations, and accept AI actions and outcomes. Furthermore, regulators insist that business, industry and government demonstrate that their AI algorithms comply with the law. How will AI systems avoid discrimination against specific groups, and comply with anti-discrimination law?
My current focus is on developing new approaches to eXplainable AI (XAI) as a means of making AI more transparent, accountable, and trustworthy. Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to have a profound impact on all aspects of business, government and civil society. To help bring more clarity and to explore potential solutions to the rapidly growing urgent issues, we launched the AI Policy Hub in 2018.
You can find one of my papers at the Royal Society that outlines how Australia can lead in the new AI-driven world. It is provides a summary of a presentation to the four esteemed national academies at NSW Government House in Australia in November 2018.
Human
Independent Board Member, The Australian SKA Regional Centre (AusSRC) from 2023
Advisory Board, Defence Trailblazer from 2023
Advisory Board, CipherStash from 2022
Advisory Board, Kit - a Commonwealth Bank Company from 2022
Deputy Director, UNSW AI Institute from 2022
Chair, Digital Futures, Australian Technological Science and Engineering (ATSE) from 2021
My Research Supervision
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Alick Lui in the UNSW Business School on the topic of the impact of risk-averse decision-makers on innovation outcomes in organisations.
GRADUATED PhD Students
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My Teaching
2024
AGSM9132 Corporate Innovation (New Course Designer and Facilitator)
2023
AGSM9132 Corporate Innovation (Course Facilitator)
MGMT5803 Business Innovation (New Course Designer) - launched in 2023
LEARN TO LEAD Leading Innovation Module (designed and delivered) - available to alumni, staff and students online.
2022
MGMTJ2 Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship (Major Champion)
COMMKS Strategy and Innovation Major (Management and Governance Lead) - new Master of Commerce major designed and launched in 2022.
2021
MGMTJ2 Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship (Major Champion) - new Bachelor of Commerce major designed and launched in 2021.