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Prof. James Ong
Founder & Managing Director
Artificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII)
Dr. James Ong brings four decades of experience across industry, venture building, and academia. He is the Founder of the Artificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII), co-author of AI for Humanity, and a leading global advocate of “AI for Humanity” as the proposed UN Sustainable Development Goal #18. He actively collaborates with United Nations entities including UNU, UNESCO, UN DESA, and UNIDO, and currently serves as a Founding Member of the UN Singapore Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and a UNESCO G20 2025 Expert Network Member.
Dr. Ong is the CEO of Origami Frontiers, a venture-building platform dedicated to nurturing AI-for-Humanity startups, and a Venture Partner at Delight Capital, where he champions impact investing aligned with long-term societal and environmental value. He is deeply engaged in the AI for Sustainability ecosystem, working with financial regulators and institutions to advance Sustainable AI and AI-enabled sustainability financing for climate-tech and impact-driven startups, including blended-finance models grounded in a Humanity-First impact investing approach.
In academia and policy, he serves as Adjunct Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Chair of the Programme Advisory Committee at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) School of Business, Head of AI and Industry Fellow at the Global Fintech Institute (GFI), Senior Fellow at The Conference Board (TCB), Fellow of the Academy of Engineering and Technology of the Developing World (AETDEW), and a Member of the Strategic Resource Allocation Committee (SRAC) at Singapore’s National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC). He holds a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in AI for Governance.
Internationally, Dr. Ong serves as International Strategic Advisor to the World AI Conference (WAIC), advocating “AI for Good and for All.” He founded the AI for Humanity Forum and co-founded AICON 2025, the world’s leading consumer AI show promoting “AI for Everyone” through AI literacy and fluency for the public good. A sought-after global thought leader, he is a frequent speaker at major international platforms including Davos, SXSW, Economist Impact Summits, Fortune 500 Summits, Singapore FinTech Festival, Black Swan Summit, Dubai Doers Summit, and the Oman AI Summit.
Speaking at
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3:00–4:15pmTue 24 MarPublic-Private RoundtablesUniClub - Roundtable Room 1Open
Roadmap for AI and Quantum
[Roundtable] What Works in AI Delivery? Successes, Failures, & Solutions that Scale
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Brad HillCo-GMPollinators
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Dr. Brindha JeyaramanFounder and Chief Executive OfficerAethryx
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Prof. Damminda AlahakoonProfessor of Business Analytics and Artificial IntelligenceLa Trobe University
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Prof. Fiona WoodDirector of the Burns Service of WAFiona Wood Foundation
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Iqbal JumabhoyChief Executive OfficerEdge Capital Pte Ltd
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Prof. James OngFounder & Managing DirectorArtificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII)
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Jisoo KimCo-Founder and DirectorClearAI
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Schellie-Jayne (SJ) PricePartnerStirling & Rose
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Shane PlantChief Commercial OfficerIMDEX
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Prof. Wei LiuAssociate ProfessorUniversity of Western Australia
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Peter DeansCEO and Co-FounderShelf LabsModerator
About this session
AI is already improving productivity, safety and customer outcomes — but results vary widely. Some deployments deliver measurable gains; others stall because the basics aren’t in place: weak data foundations, no clear owner, gaps in governance, security exposure, missing talent, hidden costs — and a failure to treat AI as operational infrastructure, not a plug-in tool.
This roundtable moves beyond “what is AI?” and focuses on what works—and what doesn’t—when organisations deploy AI responsibly at scale. Leaders from banking, mining, healthcare, government and startups will share real examples: what they shipped, what got stuck, what made it succeed, and the lessons learned the hard way. -
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9:15–9:45amWed 25 MarSummit StageWinthrop HallOpenModerator
Roadmap for AI and Quantum
Agentic AI Is Here: How to Deploy Autonomous Agents Without Losing Control
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Charles StreetExecutive Manager: Everyday Digital ExperiencesBankwest
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Janie PlantChair, Women in Technology WA; Tech Lawyer; WA State Govt AI Advisory Board MemberWomen in Technology WA Inc.
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Natasha BlychaChief Executive OfficerStirling and Rose
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Prof. James OngFounder & Managing DirectorArtificial Intelligence International Institute (AIII)Moderator
About this session
Agentic AI is no longer a lab experiment - it’s becoming a new operational layer in companies. The latest agent platforms are designed to plug into real workflows (risk, fraud, compliance, customer service, operations) & act with increasing autonomy. That’s why executives & markets are paying attention - autonomous agents can reshape productivity, cost structures, revenue models & even the definition of “the workforce.”
But scale without control is a liability. When agents act at machine speed, across interconnected systems, small design choices can create big consequences - from conduct & compliance failures to cyber exposure, customer harm or systemic risks. This session focuses on what it takes to deploy agentic AI responsibly & competitively in practice.
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