Tracey Spicer AM is one of Australia’s most respected journalists, authors and broadcasters – a multiple Walkley Award winner, Order of Australia recipient and Sydney Peace Prize laureate (shared with Tarana Burke for her work on the Me Too movement in Australia). Today she is also one of the country’s clearest voices on AI ethics. In this interview on The Wisdom Of… Show, Tracey explains how the bias of the past is being built into the technology of the future – and what responsible leaders can do about it.
From AI bias to “AI integrity”
In conversation with host Simon Bowen, Tracey Spicer AM reframes the usual debate about artificial intelligence. Instead of only asking whether AI is biased, she argues that leaders should be building integrity into AI from the ground up. Bias, she explains, is not a glitch that slips in by accident – it is hardwired in. It enters through the data we train systems on, through the algorithms we write, and through the way machines keep learning once they are released into the world.
Her sharpest framing is that an algorithm is not merely a mathematical equation. It is, as she puts it, “an opinion written in code” about how the world should work. When that code is written by a small, homogenous group, their unconscious assumptions are baked in – and then deepened by machine learning at scale.
The consequences are not theoretical. Tracey points to hiring tools that quietly sideline women and applicants over fifty, self-driving sensor technology that has struggled to recognise people with darker skin as pedestrians, and triage algorithms that would allocate a scarce ventilator to a younger patient by default. There is a human cost – a widening gap between rich and poor, and traumatic data-labelling work outsourced to the global south for a couple of dollars an hour – and a hard business cost too: biased systems quietly remove the best brains from the table, and the diversity of thought that drives better products with them.
The AI Integrity Model: data, algorithms and machine learning
The centrepiece of the episode is a model that Tracey and Simon build live on screen: the AI Integrity Model. It is a triangle with three sides – data sets, algorithms and machine learning – and the principle is simple: lose one side and the whole structure collapses. The work of responsible AI is to move each side from bias towards equity.
Data sets – moving to data equity:
- Clean the data. Garbage in, garbage out: most historical data carries the bias of its era and needs cleaning before it is ever used.
- Apply “intentional bias”. Deliberately identify the demographic gaps in a data set and fill them – more people over fifty, more people with disability, more voices that history left out.
- Curate the size. Smaller, curated data sets are easier to control and audit than vast, unwieldy ones. The broader shift is towards synthetic data that can be built equitable from the start.
Algorithms – moving to algorithmic equity:
- Designer diversity. Get more women and people from marginalised communities into programming, so a wider range of perspectives shapes the code.
- Bias consciousness. Go beyond one-off bias training to a genuine, ongoing awareness that people value rather than defend.
- Continuous testing. Test algorithms repeatedly – as New York law now requires for hiring software – because bias removed one year can re-emerge the next.
Machine learning – moving to equity:
- Humans in (and on) the loop. Keep human oversight on autonomous systems, so a “smart” model can’t quietly re-introduce the very bias you removed.
- Quality control. Borrow decades of manufacturing wisdom: control quality through the process, not just at the end.
- Regulation and legislation. Voluntary guidelines alone rarely hold; real boundaries are what make integrity stick.
When data sets and algorithms both reach equity, Tracey argues, you get system fairness. Add equitable machine learning and you build towards genuine inclusion and belonging, and what she calls future fairness – the equitable data sets of today becoming the bedrock of tomorrow’s innovation. Her name for that optimistic destination is protopia: not utopia or dystopia, but the incremental, deliberate use of technology for the benefit of everyone.
Beyond AI: leadership, movements and sustainable advocacy
The conversation widens from technology to leadership. Tracey draws a clear line between AI ethics that is effective and AI ethics that is merely performative: the organisations doing it well treat AI strategically, start from ethical governance, and bring their whole workforce along through inclusive design rather than bolting a tool on top.
On building movements – something she knows first-hand from convening Women in Media and from the Me Too movement in Australia – she points to the power of collective action, a sharp sense of timing, and the idea that courage is a muscle that strengthens with practice. She is also candid about the cost. After more than two thousand people came forward with stories of workplace sexual harassment, the vicarious trauma was so severe she stepped back for two years. Her lesson is one every high-performing leader needs to hear: you can only be strong for others if you are first strong for yourself.
And her personal philosophy, hard-won over three decades, is disarmingly simple: take a breath. In a world that technology has stripped of natural pauses, taking a beat before you speak, decide or react may be the most human advantage we have left.
What Tracey Spicer AM speaks about
Tracey Spicer AM is an in-demand keynote speaker, MC and panel facilitator for conferences, leadership summits and International Women’s Day events across Australia and internationally. Her keynote topics include:
- Man-Made: How to Beat AI Bias – the ideas behind her award-winning book on how historical bias is being engineered into the systems shaping our future.
- Responsible AI & AI ethics – the AI Integrity Model, and how leaders move their organisations from bias to equity across data, algorithms and machine learning.
- Diversity, inclusion and belonging – practical, evidence-based steps that are effective rather than performative.
- Gender equity and the future of work – what genuine equity looks like in an automated workplace.
- Leadership, courage and building movements – lessons from convening Women in Media and Me Too in Australia.
- Media, misinformation and trust – an insider’s view of bias in mainstream and social media.
- Sustainable high performance – advocacy, burnout and why recovery is part of the work.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Tracey Spicer AM?
Tracey Spicer AM is an Australian journalist, author, broadcaster and keynote speaker with three decades in public life across the ABC, Network Ten and Sky News. She is a multiple Walkley Award winner, an Order of Australia recipient, a Sydney Peace Prize laureate, and the author of Man-Made, which won the Social Responsibility category at the Australian Business Book Awards.
What does Tracey Spicer speak about?
Tracey speaks on responsible AI and AI ethics, diversity, inclusion and belonging, gender equity and the future of work, leadership and building movements, media and misinformation, and sustainable high performance. Her signature keynote, “Man-Made: How to Beat AI Bias,” introduces her AI Integrity Model for moving organisations from bias to equity.
What is Tracey Spicer’s book Man-Made about?
Man-Made investigates how the biases of the past are being built into the artificial intelligence of the future – in everything from voice assistants and hiring tools to medical and transport systems – and what individuals, businesses and regulators can do to build fairer technology.
How do you book Tracey Spicer AM as a keynote speaker?
Tracey Spicer AM is represented by ODE Management. To check her availability and fees, enquire with our team.
Book Tracey Spicer AM for your next event
Looking for a keynote speaker who can make AI ethics, equity and responsible leadership land with any audience? Tracey Spicer AM turns complex ideas into clear, actionable models that audiences remember. Enquire about booking Tracey Spicer AM for your next conference, leadership summit or International Women’s Day event.
