Then you've probably seen a boab. Also known as the "tree of life", they can store 100,000 litres of water, which can feed, restore and invigorate nature even in the toughest of conditions. But the tree is not Australia's only boab -- in Melbourne, Boab AI is an investment company supporting a very different kind of ecosystem. "Artificial intelligence investment in Australia is a nascent but relatively new area where Victoria is leading the way," says Boab AI Managing Director Andrew Lai, a technology-focused venture capitalist who has helped hundreds of startups during his 15-year career. "Australia's share of world GDP is 1.8%, but our share of global AI funding is 0.22%, according to Pitchbook. So many people in Silicon Valley have become billionaires by investing in tech, but we just don't have that history and investment risk taking culture here. Most people just want to invest in real estate."

The essence of intelligence is the principle of adapting to the environment while working with insufficient knowledge and resources. Accordingly, an intelligent system should rely on finite processing capacity, work in real time, open to unexpected tasks, and learn from experience. This working definition interprets "intelligence" as a form of "relative rationality". Artificial Intelligence: Any technique which enables computers to mimic human behaviour. Machine Learning: Techniques which use statistical methods to enable machines to improve with experiences.