Dr Tim Renick of Georgia State and George Williams VC at Western Sydney are two pioneering leaders and champions of student success on the global stage. They share thoughts and perspectives from the stage at HEDx in Melbourne in a fireside chat with Veronica Pritchard of the Queensland Commitment at UQ. It argues for us getting out of our comfort zones and using AI to overcome process barriers, letting staff do human work to help students in distress. It is followed by an update from the AI in HE project where Michael Henderson of Monash and Margaret Bearman share updates of what students think of it being AI or teachers giving feedback on their learning.