Helen Zhang
Helen is the cofounder of Intrigue Media, a new-media company focused on geopolitics, based in Washington DC. She's previously worked in venture, philanthropy, diplomacy, tech policy, and law. Helen was also once a B-grade dog influencer.
Sunrise Sessions
As independent journalism crumbles and AI-generated content floods the internet, who’s left to hold power to account? Tech platforms now control distribution, algorithms decide what’s newsworthy, and audiences are drowning in noise. If legacy media is dying, what replaces it - a decentralised, crowd-sourced truth? A world where narratives are dictated by those who shout the loudest? Or can journalism evolve and fight back? This high-stakes debate unpacks the friction between media and technology, exploring whether startups should care about the collapse of traditional journalism - or if they should seize the moment to control their own narratives. Who wins, who loses, and what happens when the watchdogs need watching?
Australia has a choice: do we let innovators run wild and correct mistakes later, or do we apply the brakes before things get out of hand? Some argue that permissionless innovation fuels progress—WiFi, Atlassian, and Canva wouldn’t exist if we’d slowed things down. Others warn that unchecked tech leads to disaster, from AI chaos to biotech risks. Should Australia be the Wild West of innovation or a carefully curated garden? Join Jeremy Dicker, Helen Zhang, and a panel of sharp minds as we wrestle with who should decide what’s too risky and whether regulation is a necessary seatbelt or a roadblock to the future.
The world is feeling chaotic, but amidst the chaos, there is opportunity. With democracies scrambling for energy security, defence industries booming, and trust in information crumbling, Australia has some serious decisions to make. Will we step up as a global player, or sit on the sidelines and hope for the best? Helen Zhang and Jeremy Dicker from International Intrigue take us on a fast-paced, no-nonsense tour of the shifting global landscape, breaking down what it all means for Australian startups. If you've ever wanted a crash course in geopolitics minus the jargon and doomscrolling, this is it.