Chris Auld on Smarter AI Agents, Ontologies, and Governance | Adam Cogan | NDC Sydney 2026

📞 Contact us: https://bit.ly/4fAFrVx In this interview from NDC Sydney 2026, Adam Cogan chats with keynote speaker Chris Auld about why AI agents perform better when they have access to structured business data instead of relying purely on unstructured documents. Chris explains how ontologies and semantic models can help organizations improve agent reasoning, reduce ambiguity, and create more reliable AI systems. They discuss practical ways businesses can start small, especially in large enterprises with older systems and messy data, by modeling one part of a business process at a time. Chris also shares why technologies like Microsoft Fabric can help bring structured information together so agents can reason over it more effectively. The conversation finishes with an important reminder about governance, trust, and maintaining a social license as technologists. As AI accelerates software delivery, Chris argues that responsible systems, customer trust, and regulatory awareness are becoming more important than ever. 00:00 | Introduction 00:17 | Chris Auld’s keynote theme 00:31 | What ontologies mean for AI agents 01:07 | Why structured business rules matter 01:31 | The problem with messy enterprise data 02:02 | Stop stuffing docs into prompts 02:28 | Advice for manufacturers with legacy systems 02:57 | Start small and model one process first 03:47 | Why structured data beats unstructured documents 04:44 | Governance, KYC, and maintaining trust in AI 🌐 About SSW: https://linktr.ee/SSWTV 🔗 Links: LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/ssw Twitter: https://twitter.com/ssw_tv Facebook: https://facebook.com/SSW.page Instagram: https://instagram.com/ssw_tv Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ssw_tv 👋 Get in touch: Adam Cogan – SSW Chief Architect + Microsoft Regional Director About: https://www.ssw.com.au/people/adam-cogan/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcogan/ #AI #AIAgents #ArtificialIntelligence #DataModeling #Ontology #SemanticModel #MicrosoftFabric #Governance #NDCSydney #ChrisAuld #AdamCogan #SSWTV V2 - Bahjat