Is this AI’s Black Mirror Moment? Dr Anna Broinowski, Dr Micah Goldwater, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Dr Jonathan Kummerfeld with host Rae Johnston
28 September 2025
Talks and Ideas
Hallucinating chatbots, conspiracy spirals, deepfake drama. Has AI gone mad? Join experts to unpack the psychological chaos and ask, can we dodge the worst and still enjoy the best?
| Date | Time |
| Sunday 28 September 2025 | 1:30pm - 2:30pm |
| Ticket | Price |
| Standard | $45.00 |
| Buy 2-3 sessions and get 10% off Book here | $40.50 |
| Buy 4 sessions and get 15% off Book here | $38.25 |
$8.95 booking fee applies per transaction
Prices correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection.
The only authorised ticket agency for this event is Sydney Opera House. For more information about Authorised Agencies, see the frequently asked questions below.
Sydney Opera House Insiders pre-sale
9am, Tuesday 15 July 2025
Become a Sydney Opera House Insider to receive exclusive pre-sale access
What’s On e-newsletter pre-sale
9am, Wednesday 16 July 2025
General Public tickets on-sale
9am, Thursday 17 July 2025
Wheelchair accessible:
There are a number of wheelchair and companion seating locations in our theatres. To book accessible seating contact Box Office:
Telephone
+61 2 9250 7777
(Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm AEST)
Email bookings@sydneyoperahouse.com
Find out more about accessibility at Sydney Opera House.
Please note all tickets are Unreserved Seating (General Admission)
Run time
Each event runs for approximately 60 minutes, without interval
Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.
Age
Recommended for ages 15+.
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times.
The Opera House is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children that visit or engage with us. Read our Child Safety Policy.
Elon MuskAI is likely to be either the best or worst thing to happen to humanity.
Useful information:
AI – friend or faux?
Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing, and we’re turning to it not just for information, but for guidance, companionship, even comfort. But could this growing dependence be making us lonelier, more deluded and dangerously misinformed?
Large language models are prone to hallucination, confidently generating fiction disguised as fact. Deepfakes distort visual reality. And AI’s unnervingly fluent speech creates the illusion of connection, while quietly reshaping how we relate to others, and to truth itself. As machines grow more human in tone, the psychological fallout may be deeper than we think.
Join popular science commentator Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, alongside a panel of thinkers and researchers, as they unpack the strange, seductive and unsettling effects of AI.
Co-presented with the University of Sydney
28 September 2025
Curious
Curious is where culture, creativity and ideas collide. It’s for minds that never stop asking questions about the world and ourselves.
Dive into the ideas shaping headlines, sparking debate and changing the way we live.
Anna Broinowski (she/her)
Dr Anna Broinowski is a Walkley Award–winning filmmaker, nonfiction author and Sydney University GenAI screen researcher who specialises in using innovative technologies and narrative modes to interrogate countercultural subjects.
Micah Goldwater (he/him)
Dr Micah B. Goldwater is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Sydney. He completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, and then held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University until joining the University of Sydney in 2013. He takes an interdisciplinary cognitive science approach to researching how to help people think better.
Karl Kruszelnicki AKA Dr Karl (he/him)
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki just loves science to pieces and has been spreading the word in print, on TV and radio, and online for more than thirty years. The author of 48 books (and counting), Dr Karl is a lifelong student with degrees in physics and mathematics, biomedical engineering, and medicine and surgery. Since 1995, he has been the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at the University of Sydney. In 2019, he was awarded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science.
Jonathan Kummerfeld (he/him)
Dr Jonathan K. Kummerfeld is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science at the University of Sydney. He works on making artificial intelligence (AI) systems like ChatGPT more useful by improving their core technology and developing new ways for people to use them, including addressing the problem of ‘hallucinations’ in AI-generated computer code.
Rae Johnston (she/her)
Host
Rae Johnston is a multi-award-winning STEM journalist and broadcaster, and the host of ABC Radio National’s Download This Show, ABC Radio Sydney’s Sunday Mornings (broadcasting state-wide), and iHeartRadio’s Weird Tech podcast. She also travels the country as a TV host on NITV’s Going Places with Ernie Dingo, ABC’s Back Roads and SBS’s The Secret DNA of Us.
Rae currently serves on the boards of both the Telstra Foundation and Swinburne University of Technology.
Plan your visit
Venue information
Our foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres in the Western Foyer.
Getting here
The Sydney Opera House Car Park, operated by Wilson Parking, is open and available to use. Wilson Parking offer discounted parking if you book ahead. Please see the Wilson Parking website for details.
Please check the Transport NSW website for the latest advice and information on travel. You can catch public transport (bus, train, ferry) to Circular Quay and enjoy a six minute walk to the Opera House.
Frequently asked questions
Ticket purchases and collection at our Box Office is discouraged and eTicket or postal delivery methods should be used, wherever possible. However, if you are collecting your tickets from the Box Office, we recommend doing this at least 60 minutes before the event starts. If you have already received your tickets, the venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Please take your seats as soon as you arrive.
If you are late, we will seat you as soon as we can and, where possible, in your allocated seat. However, to reduce movement in the venue as well as minimise disruption to the performance and other patrons, ticketholders may be seated in an allocated latecomer’s seat. Please be aware that some events have lock-out periods. In these cases, latecomers will be admitted at a suitable break in the performance. On occasions, this may not be until the interval, or at all where there is no interval.
Details of our right to refuse admission can be found in our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Events.
In accordance with our venue security procedures, Opera House security will be scanning and checking bags under the Monumental Stairs, prior to entering the building. Bags will be scanned by an x-ray machine, and staff will wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when handling your belongings, such as gloves. Cloaking facilities will be open 60 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 60 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. However it is strongly encouraged that you travel lightly to minimise contact and queuing. Any bags larger than an A4 piece of paper will need to be checked into the Cloak Room.
The authorised agency for this event is the Sydney Opera House.
Only tickets purchased by authorised agencies should be considered reliable. If you purchase tickets from a non-authorised agency such as Ticketmaster Resale, Viagogo, Ticketbis, eBay, Gumtree, Tickets Australia or any other unauthorised seller, you risk that these tickets are fake, void or have previously been cancelled. Resale restriction applies. For more details, please refer to our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events.
Please contact Box Office on +61 2 9250 7777 as soon as possible to advise if you can no longer attend.
Foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
The venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances.
Please bring a credit or debit card for any on site purchases to enable contactless payment. You’re welcome to bring your own water bottle but no other food and drinks are permitted inside our venues.
The health, safety and wellbeing of everyone at the Sydney Opera House is our top priority. In line with this commitment, the Opera House became a smoke-free site in January 2022. Read our Smoke-free Environment Policy.
Gender and Power
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Is it Fascism Yet?
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