Founder Night Out: Meet Melbourne's AI Founders, Investors and Operators

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Welcome back to Data Science Melbourne! After our last meetup exploring the AI revolution from a range of perspectives, we're continuing the conversation by looking at how AI is changing not just what we build, but how we solve problems, design data systems, and think about the role of data science itself. This evening, we'll hear from three experienced practitioners who will explore the transformation from complementary perspectives: from how AI has changed the day-to-day practice of data science, to what the rise of AI agents means for the data and ML infrastructure underneath our products, to the bigger questions this shift raises about what data science is — and where it's heading. Whether you're interested in becoming more effective with AI, building data and ML systems for an AI-first world, or simply trying to separate genuine transformation from the hype, tonight promises plenty of practical insights and some bigger questions to take away. Talk 1 Kasturi Deshpande is a Data Scientist at Sportsbet, with a background spanning financial services, retail, and analytics consulting. She has worked across pricing, forecasting, and regulatory analytics, with a particular focus on making data science practical and scalable. She also shares her experience through guest lectures at the University of Melbourne and talks at local meetups. Kasturi will take us through a look back at how AI has changed data science problem-solving — from the cautious early days of adoption to a world where AI is increasingly embedded in scalable, team-wide workflows. Drawing on her experience across financial services, retail, and product, she'll reflect on what has genuinely changed, what hasn't, and how data scientists can adapt and stay relevant as the field continues to evolve. Talk 2 Vaishnavi Rajagopal is a data leader based in Melbourne who works at the intersection of data platforms and ML products. She has led the design and implementation of lakehouse and ML pipelines behi

AI is everywhere in the headlines. This session is about what's actually working on the ground in healthcare. MLAI kicks off a new series exploring what AI genuinely makes possible, one industry at a time. First up: healthcare. A panel of practitioners and technologists will unpack real deployments (clinical workflows, admin automation, patient-facing tools) and separate what's delivering value from what's still hype. Whether you work in healthcare, build for it, or just want to see AI applied outside the usual tech-demo context, this session is for you. Expect a moderated panel, live Q&A, and a chance to tell us what use case you'd want AI to solve in your world. Format: 90-minute panel discussion + Q&A + networking