The Next Decade of Care: Bill Gye OAM on AI, Trust and Human Agency
At Sognos and Microsoft’s breakfast event on 17 September 2026, Designing Services Around Real Lives, Not System Boundaries, Bill Gye OAM invited leaders across health, social and community care to look beyond the immediate pressure of today and consider what may become possible over the next decade.
His message was not about AI hype. It was about trajectory.
Bill framed the current moment as one of both risk and imagination. The pace of AI development is moving quickly, and for care organisations already dealing with workforce pressure, funding constraints, rising demand and service complexity, it can be difficult to know where to focus. But Bill’s view was clear: the question is not only what AI can do today, but where it is heading, how quickly it is improving, and how the sector can prepare in a responsible and human way.
He spoke about several trajectories that matter, not just innovation. These included alignment, governance, safety, control, reliability, usage and adoption. In other words, the future of AI in care will not be shaped by capability alone. It will be shaped by how well organisations design systems that are safe, trusted, useful and aligned with the lives of the people they support.
Trust as the foundation
One of Bill’s strongest messages was that trust will sit at the centre of any future AI-enabled care model.
For health, social and community care providers, trust is not a soft concept. It is operational, clinical, personal and organisational. People need to trust the organisation, the workers, the information being used and the systems supporting their care.
Bill acknowledged the risks of AI early in his presentation. Rather than dismissing those risks, he positioned them as design challenges that need to be addressed through clear guardrails, careful governance, privacy controls and ongoing monitoring. For organisations supporting people with complex needs, this is critical. Trust takes time to build and can be quickly damaged if systems are not designed and managed carefully.
He also raised the importance of giving people control over their own information, including the ability to understand, manage or withdraw how personal data is used. This is especially important in sectors where people may already have good reason to be cautious about systems, institutions or services.
Designing for agency, not dependence
One of the major themes in Bill’s presentation was the idea that future systems should be designed to increase agency.
He connected this to people's practical capacity to live more independently, make informed decisions, build confidence, strengthen relationships, and participate more fully in their communities.
This is an important distinction. The goal is not simply to make services more efficient. The goal is to help people build capability in their own lives.
Bill drew on ideas such as autonomy, competence and relatedness, and argued that these should be designed into the core principles of future care systems. AI should not create greater dependence on systems. Used well, it should help people build confidence, make choices, strengthen connections and move toward greater independence.
That is where the opportunity becomes much bigger than administration or productivity. It becomes a question of how care knowledge, encouragement and personalised support can be made available more consistently, at scale and at the moments people need it most.
Personalised support at the right moment
Bill described a future where AI could help bring together a much richer understanding of an individual’s needs, goals, communication preferences, wellbeing, context and support history.
He spoke about the possibility of AI coaching and support that adapts to the person, rather than expecting the person to fit the system. This could include personalised prompts, guidance, encouragement and support that reflect someone’s long-term goals, current state and changing circumstances.
For care organisations, this points to a more precise and person-centred model of support. Instead of relying on fragmented information, disconnected systems or generic service pathways, future models could help teams understand what is happening for a person in real time and respond with more relevant support.
Bill also spoke about the growing role of wearables, biomarkers, self-reporting, social information and other data sources in understanding wellbeing and risk. The opportunity is not simply to collect more data, but to use the right information to support better decisions, earlier intervention and more personalised care.
Workers as the human trust bridge
Bill was clear that people remain central to this future.
In fact, he positioned workers and carers as the human trust bridge. They are the people who will help individuals understand, engage with and trust new models of support. They also need confidence that the systems around them are safe, useful, and aligned with the work they are trying to do.
This is where AI has a practical role in supporting the workforce. If technology can reduce the administrative load, summarise information, surface risks, support decision-making and make relevant knowledge easier to access, then workers can spend more time on the human parts of care.
Bill referenced the idea that work has moved from muscle, to brains, and may increasingly become about the heart. For health, social and community care, that matters. The human role is not diminished by technology when systems are designed well. It becomes more focused on connection, judgement, trust and support.
From fragmented systems to precision person support
Bill also challenged the sector to think beyond fragmented models of care.
In mental health and psychosocial support, he pointed to the limits of crisis-driven and under-resourced systems. Too often, services are concentrated at the bottom of the cliff, when people are already in crisis, rather than supporting earlier, more consistent and more holistic care.
His proposed direction was toward an integrated, precision person system. This means support that is not generic, but shaped around the person’s needs, goals, risks, relationships and environment.
Bill outlined a broad wellbeing framework across personal wellbeing, purpose, people and place. This matters because people’s lives are not shaped by one domain alone. Health, housing, relationships, learning, work, community, transport, finances, nature and purpose all influence how people live and how support should be designed.
For organisations in health, aged care, disability, mental health and community services, this reinforces the need to design around real lives, not just program structures or system boundaries.
The call now is to move from interest to action
Bill’s presentation was optimistic, but it was also a challenge to the sector.
The next decade of care will not be shaped by AI alone. It will be shaped by the decisions providers make now about trust, data, workforce capability, governance, service design and the role technology should play in people’s lives.
For health, social and community care organisations, this is the moment to start asking practical questions.
Where is administration getting in the way of care?
Where are teams carrying too much cognitive load?
Where is information fragmented across systems?
Where could better data, safer AI and more connected platforms help workers act earlier, support people more personally and make better decisions?
And most importantly, how do we ensure that technology builds agency rather than dependence?
The opportunity is not to wait for the future of care to arrive. It is to start designing for it now, carefully and deliberately, with people at the centre.
Bill’s presentation was a reminder that the future of care is not simply about what systems can do. It is about what becomes possible when organisations use technology to strengthen trust, support workers and help people live with more choice, confidence, connection and control.
That is the work ahead.
About Bill Gye, OAM
Bill is one of the sector’s most respected leaders, bringing significant insight into community-led mental health and the future of human services.
Bill has previously served as CEO of Community Mental Health Australia from 2019 to 2024, and CEO of Ostara Australia, one of Australia’s largest specialist mental health employment service providers.
His earlier roles include General Manager of Recovery Services at OneDoor Mental Health, formerly the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW, and CEO of Options Community Enterprises.
Bill has worked across the care and community sector since 1978.
He also writes on Substack, including the series Surviving and Thriving in the Age of Intelligent Machines, and has co-authored several peer-reviewed papers.
Bill has followed the development and societal impact of artificial intelligence for more than three decades, with a particular interest in how AI is reshaping human services, workforce models and the future of care.