Humans at the Heart
SlashNew Conf 2026 · Talk by @Codess-Aus
Welcome to SlashNew
Why we're here, who this talk is for, and the one question we keep coming back to: can we trust the systems we build?
The Agenda
A roadmap through trust, oversight, governance and the three waves of AI that brought us here.
Rule Zero
Before you ship anything else, ship trust. The non-negotiable rule that frames every decision after it.
The Right Way
Microsoft's Responsible AI Standard, in plain English. What it actually asks of you on a Tuesday.
Earning Trust
Trust isn't a feature you toggle on. It's a UX, a process and a contract, built one decision at a time.
The Moment
We're inside the inflection. Why "general-purpose reasoning in the IDE" changes the shape of every team.
It's a Feature, Not a Bug
Hallucinations, uncertainty, refusal, they're not always failure modes. Sometimes they're the product working.
Human in the Loop
HITL done well is empowering, not theatre. A practical pattern catalogue for keeping people in charge.
Amplify, Don't Replace
The teams winning with Copilot aren't replacing engineers. They're amplifying judgment, taste and craft.
Meaningful Oversight
Approval buttons aren't oversight. What real, decision-grade human review looks like in an agentic pipeline.
Decision Making with AI
How to use models for decisions that matter, without outsourcing accountability with them.
Principles That Hold
The six Microsoft Responsible AI principles, and how they translate into testable engineering behaviour.
Explainability
"Because the model said so" is not an answer. Designing systems that can tell you why.
Reliability & Safety
Evals, red teaming, regression budgets, treating reliability as a first-class engineering metric.
Inclusivity by Design
If it doesn't work for everyone, it doesn't work. Practical inclusivity for agentic products.
Real-World Stories
Patterns and anti-patterns from shipping AI into real systems.
The Three Waves
From autocomplete, to chat, to agents. Where you sit on the wave changes what "good" looks like.
Governance
How to do AI governance without becoming the team everyone routes around. Light-touch, high-trust.
Leading with Empathy
Your team is anxious about AI. That's data. How leaders turn fear into capability.
Take Action
Five concrete things to do on Monday. No theory. Just the next move.
Resources
Microsoft Learn paths, GitHub docs, books and tools, the curated reading list behind the talk.
Closing, Trust, Again
We end where we started. Trust isn't a slide at the end of the deck. It's the whole product.