The Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 brings together open-source intelligence (OSINT) practitioners, leaders, analysts, and researchers to advance tradecraft, harness AI, and strengthen intelligence capability.
The theme, Building Enduring OSINT Capability, addresses how to sustain OSINT at the individual, team, and organizational levels in an era of rapid technological change and global complexity.
Australian OSINT Symposium 2025
Date: September 18-19, 2025
Day 1 Takeaways
On Information Dumping vs. Responsible Disclosure
One speaker drew a sharp line between two famous leak events: mass data dumping with no filtering was called “not journalism at all,” while a carefully curated leak with editorial oversight was praised as “brilliant journalism.” A bold framing, especially for communities that often valorize total transparency.
On Journalism’s Reputation
There was an unflinching comparison of how far public trust in journalism has fallen—“ranking right up there with used car salesmen and pornographers.” That’s a harsh reminder (and warning) that OSINT could face the same fate if it doesn’t build and defend its standards.
On AI Analysts vs. “ChatGPT-ers”
The role of AI divided the room in another way. Analysts were warned against outsourcing too much judgment, with a provocative “Do you want to be a ChatGPT-er, or do you want to be an OSINT-er?” Others pointed out that digital trust is now the most valuable currency for any AI-enabled workflow, and that choosing the right tool matters more than chasing novelty.
On China’s Espionage Culture
Geopolitical tradecraft was also under the microscope. Chinese espionage was described as a whole-of-society activity where students, professors, companies, and political actors are routinely involved. That framing challenges the Western notion of espionage as something limited to intelligence services.
On Analysts vs. Hobbyists
“Accountability separates professionals from hobbyists.” It implies that much of the OSINT content online may be amateur noise dressed up as intelligence—and challenges the community to self-police standards.
On Client Needs vs. Analyst Ego
In executive protection, the hot take was that glossy PDF reports are useless in the field. Sometimes what matters is just a text message with actionable intelligence. That undermines a lot of the “deliverables” culture in analysis work.
On Deepfakes and “The Liar’s Dividend”
The biggest danger isn’t fake media being admitted in court, but real evidence being dismissed as fake. That flips the deepfake panic narrative on its head and points to an erosion of trust that could gut accountability mechanisms.
On Passion vs. Professionalism
A tough observation was that survivor testimony and activist passion, while invaluable, “can upset the balance when it’s portrayed as fact.” That’s a controversial but important tension between lived experience and objective analysis in high-stakes decision-making.
Across the day, speakers kept circling back to the same anchors: tradecraft, timing, and trust. Without them, OSINT risks the same collapse in legitimacy that has already reshaped journalism.
