David Masters
Independent Director
Teaching runs in David Masters’ family.
His mother was a teacher. All her sisters were teachers too. His father taught animal husbandry at what is now Tocal College at Yanco in New South Wales.
So conversations about learning were never far away.
For David, learning often started with questions. His career did too.
As a young tech journalist he spent his days writing about the technologies beginning to change industries and the way people work.
“You spend a lot of time asking people to explain things,” he says. “How a technology works, why it matters and what it might change.”
Those conversations gradually drew David into the policy debates shaping the digital economy.
A front-row seat
He has worked at the centre of these discussions throughout his career, first in government and then in senior public affairs roles at Atlassian, HP and Microsoft.
His roles have involved constant conversation with governments, regulators and industry about how fast-moving technologies are reshaping economies and work.
It’s a perspective that gives him a front-row seat to some of the biggest shifts reshaping the modern workforce.
Of all the technological changes David is across, one now dominates the conversation: artificial intelligence (AI).
The year AI became real
For several years the debate about AI has largely been speculative. Now, David believes, the impact is starting to come into focus.
“This is probably the first year where you’re really starting to see what it means in the workplace,” he says.
“I’m not one of those people who thinks AI is simply going to replace jobs. What we’re seeing is that it changes jobs.”
In fields like software development, the shift is already visible.
AI tools are helping engineers produce more in the same amount of time while accelerating development and increasing productivity.
When minutes replace hours
But the implications stretch well beyond the technology sector.
In many service industries such as law, accounting and finance, the work itself is driven by questions when a client asks for analysis, a report or advice. AI can now do some of that work in minutes rather than hours.
“And that’s where things start to get really interesting,” he says. “Because it changes the economics of those industries.”
For David, that shift raises a bigger question, one that sits at the heart of national skills reform: How does the skills and training system keep up when work itself is changing so quickly?
Qualifications can take years to develop, approve and deliver. New technologies, by contrast, can reshape workplaces in months.
“We’ve had this challenge for a while,” he says. “The ability of the training system to keep pace with industry.”
AI, he believes, is simply bringing that challenge into sharper focus.
One size no longer fits
Australia’s training system has traditionally been designed for consistency, applying similar structures across very different industries.
But industries don’t all move at the same speed.
“We’ve got a one-size-fits-all training system. We train builders and plumbers in essentially the same system as we train people working in finance or technology,” he says. “Those industries operate at very different rhythms.”
That mismatch, he believes, is becoming increasingly pronounced as technology cycles accelerate.
Which is why David believes organisations like Future Skills Organisation play an important role.
“It gives us the opportunity to push the envelope. To try reforms first and see what works before they scale across the broader system.”
Back to the kitchen table
As technologies like AI reshape industries, one thing becomes increasingly clear.
“The real test ahead is making sure people can keep learning as fast as the world keeps changing,” he says.
And in some ways, this brings him back to those conversations around the kitchen table – about how people learn, how they grow, and how you help someone build the skills they need for whatever comes next.
3 quick-fire questions
What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
When I was at Microsoft, the CEO Satya Nadella said: “The learn-it-all does better than the know-it-all.” This is something I’ve very much taken to heart. I try to listen and learn as much as I can and be humble about the things that I don’t know.
A simple thing that makes you happy?
Cooking and having people enjoy the meal I’ve prepared. I do most of the cooking in our house.
What book are you reading currently?
I read and listen to a lot of material related to technology. I like to step away from that and go back and understand the high drama moments that shaped our world. That’s why I really enjoy ‘The Rest is History’ podcasts.