AI Engineering in Optus: Maybe your chatbot shouldn’t know React
Leonardo Borges | Senior Director of AI Engineering at Optus
9th Aprl 2025
In the rush to implement Large Language Models, many organisations are overlooking the strategic value of traditional machine learning approaches. Through real-world examples and practical frameworks, this talk challenges the “LLM everywhere” mindset and demonstrates how a hybrid approach combining targeted traditional ML with LLMs can create more reliable, cost-effective, and safer AI systems.
Speaker Bio:
Leonardo is a Senior Director of AI Engineering at Optus, where he leads technical strategy for responsible AI systems that balance innovation with safety and cost-effectiveness. Before joining Optus, Leonardo held engineering leadership positions at Canva and
Atlassian, where he built high-performing teams focused on scalable solutions. He shares his insights through “The LeadTech Diet” newsletter and is the author of “Clojure Reactive Programming,” exploring reactive programming approaches for modern systems.
Leonardo combines deep technical expertise with thoughtful leadership principles to help organizations sort through the AI hype with both confidence and responsibility.
