Shawn (Swyx) Wang at the top of a ski lift with A snow-coloured volcano in the background.

I've looked up to Web Directions for a long time as one of the highest quality technical conference organizers in the world. As we grow AI Engineer as the premier technical event for AI practitioners, we're beyond excited to work with John and Web Directions to bring AI Engineering to ANZ!

Shawn (Swyx) Wang, Founder AI Engineer

Our 2026 Tracks

AI Engineer Sydney features three tracks, AI Engineering, SWE and agentic coding, and a specialised AI leadership track. There will also be the return of our popular hallway track, featuring invited speakers and partner presentations.

AI Engineering

Designed for practitioners building AI systems and applications in production this track explores novel architectures and system designs, from innovative approaches to RAG and agent pipelines to real-world case studies backed by production metrics.

Sessions will cover open source launches, major tool releases, and the hard technical problems teams are solving in the field—including integration patterns, infrastructure challenges, and lessons learned at scale.

SWE and agentic coding

For software engineers evolving their practice using AI coding tools. We'll cover how AI is transforming the entire software development lifecycle—from productivity hacks that save hours daily to real examples of AI-assisted development in action.

Sessions will explore when AI tools work brilliantly, when they fall short, and how to integrate them effectively into your process, whether you're working solo or on a team.

AI Leadership

Exclusively for senior technical leaders defining AI strategy at scale—CTOs, VPs of AI, AI Architects at large organizations, and the most senior AI decision-makers at their companies.

Sessions will tackle the strategic challenges of building and scaling AI engineering organizations: defining and executing AI strategy, build vs. buy decisions for AI infrastructure, organizational transformations, compensation structures and career ladders for AI roles, and navigating compliance and legal considerations.

Workshops

December 9th 2026

AI Engineer Sydney will feature a dedicated day of hands-on workshops — the day after the conference, on December 9th. Put into practice what you've learnt over the two days of the conference, led by experts to broaden your knowledge and get you up to speed with the latest technologies and techniques.

Learn more

Hack Day

December 12th 2026

The AI Engineer Sydney Hack Day is a free, hands-on day for engineers to build, experiment, and ship with the latest AI tools alongside the community.

Learn more & RSVP

AI Week logo

December 6–13 2026

AI Week brings together the people building with AI—engineers training models, software developers and AI engineers, researchers pushing boundaries, designers creating AI-native experiences, and product leaders shipping AI-powered products. Come to Sydney to connect with your peers, explore what's working (and what's not), and discover where this technology is actually heading. If AI is central to your work, this is where you need to be.

learn more

Our 2026 Events

In 2026 we have a huge lineup of events for you. AI Week Sydney brings the Australian edition of the renowned AI Engineer Conference. UX Week Australia features UX Australia and Design Research. And we cap it all off with the 20th anniversary edition of Web Directions.

ux week logo design research logo ux australia logo web directions logo ai week sydney logo ai engineer sydney logo

Past events

AI Engineer is the Australian edition of the renowned AI Engineer conference series. Our first edition was in Melbourne in June 2026.

Speak at AI Engineer Sydney

We are building the AI Engineer Sydney program now. If you are working with AI in production and have something worth sharing, we would love to hear from you.

Submissions close midnight, 4 September 2026.

Propose a talk

Find your AI Engineer Sydney pass

Registration is open — secure your seat for December 7th & 8th at the Hilton, Sydney. AI Engineer Melbourne sold out weeks in advance, with hundreds missing out — don't let that be you.

Conference

$995ends 28 Aug

  • Keynotes
  • Two dedicated tracks
  • Networking Reception
  • Videos post-conference, on-demand
  • Fully catered

$995 before 28 Aug, $1,195 before 2 Oct, $1,395 before 20 Nov, $1,595 before 7 Dec

Register

Conference + Workshop Day

$1,495ends 28 Aug

  • Keynotes
  • Two dedicated tracks
  • Networking Reception
  • Videos post-conference, on-demand
  • Fully catered
  • Plus the Workshop Day — 9 December

$1,495 before 28 Aug, $1,695 before 2 Oct, $1,895 before 20 Nov, $2,095 before 7 Dec

Register

Leadership

$1,595ends 28 Aug

  • Exclusive Leadership track
  • VIP Keynote seating
  • Access to all other tracks
  • Speaker Dinner
  • Networking Reception
  • Videos post-conference, on-demand
  • Fully catered

$1,595 before 28 Aug, $1,795 before 2 Oct, $1,995 before 20 Nov, $2,195 before 7 Dec

Register

Leadership + Workshop Day

$1,995ends 28 Aug

  • Exclusive Leadership track
  • VIP Keynote seating
  • Access to all other tracks
  • Speaker Dinner
  • Networking Reception
  • Videos post-conference, on-demand
  • Fully catered
  • Plus the Workshop Day — 9 December

$1,995 before 28 Aug, $2,195 before 2 Oct, $2,395 before 20 Nov, $2,595 before 7 Dec

Register

Workshop Day only

$695ends 28 Aug

  • Workshop Day — 9 December
  • A full day of hands-on, practical workshops
  • Fully catered

$695 before 28 Aug, $795 before 2 Oct, $895 before 20 Nov, $995 before 7 Dec

Register

Streaming

$395ends 28 Aug

  • Live stream — all sessions
  • Live chat and Q&A
  • Videos post-conference, on-demand

$395 before 28 Aug, $495 before 2 Oct, $595 before 20 Nov, $695 before 7 Dec

Register

Keynote seating*

If keynote attendance exceeds our main auditorium's capacity, an overflow theatre with a large high-resolution screen will be available.

Leadership passes and early registration will guarantee in-room seating for keynote sessions.

Want the latest updates?

Get news on speakers, schedule and program updates as they land.

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Live Streaming

If you prefer your conferences live streamed, then watch everything live and then on demand with a Conffab Premium membership . You'll get 12 months of live-streamed conferences and over a thousand on-demand presentations.

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Our venue

AI Engineer Sydney 2026 will take place December 7th & 8th at the Hilton Hotel, Sydney.

Getting there:

In the heart of the Sydney CBD, with numerous public transport options and parking nearby.

Accommodation:

The Hilton is a hotel in the centre of the city, with many more hotel and serviced apartment options in and around the CBD.

The Hilton Sydney

Partners

Want to connect with over 800 of the industry's leading engineers and decision-makers? Partner with us.

Partners at AI Engineer Melbourne 2026 included

Google Cloud and Google DeepMind Optiver ClickHouse Notion Cognition

Jobs

Roles from our partners who are hiring AI engineers, ML specialists, and the people who build the platforms behind them. Find a role that fits and apply directly.

Job listings coming soon.

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About Us

Web Directions has for 2 decades years brought together leading developers, engineers, visual, IxD, UX and product designers, Art and Creative Directors, product managers indeed everyone involved in producing web and digital products to learn from one another, and the World's leading experts across this vast field.

We promise attending one of our events will leave you significantly better versed in the challenges you face day to day, and in solutions for addressing them.

Crowd at a conference.
Portait of John Allsopp.

John Allsopp

John Allsopp has worked on the web for nearly 30 years, creating innovative tools like Style Master and X-Ray. His ideas laid the groundwork for Typekit (now Adobe Fonts) and Responsive Web Design itself.

His seminal 2000 essay "A Dao of Web Design" was cited by Ethan Marcotte as a key inspiration for Responsive Web Design and by Jeremy Keith as "a manifesto for anyone working on the Web." He's authored books including Developing With Web Standards, spoken at conferences worldwide, and brings deep expertise and passion to Web Directions

Code of Conduct

For over a decade, we've worked hard to create inclusive, fun, inspring and safe events for the Web Industry.

As part of our commitment to these values, we've adopted a code of conduct for all involved: ourselves, our speakers, our partners and our audience.

If you have any concern or feedback, please don't hesitate to contact us.