# Manik Surtani — AI Engineer Sydney 2026

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Canonical page: https://webdirections.org/ai-engineer/speakers/manik-surtani/
Program status: The working timetable is public. Announced speakers and presentations are confirmed; some track assignments, session groupings and times may change as keynote, partner and specialist sessions are finalised. Morning keynote programmes and Industry sessions will be added as they are confirmed.

## Who Keeps It Open?


Every generational shift in computing produces plumbing that everyone depends on. TCP/IP, HTTP, the container runtime. And every time, there is a window where someone can quietly come to own it, and everyone else pays rent. The plumbing for AI agents is in that window right now.

This talk is about why it matters. Why “open” is a present-tense word, decided one release at a time unless neutral governance makes it permanent. Why the agentic layer captures something bigger than social media ever did. Why a protocol owned by one vendor is still just private property.

## Manik Surtani

CTO and co-founder, Agentic AI Foundation

Manik is co-founder and CTO of the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF). He’s working to make sure AI agents are built on open foundations, with developers and organisations able to shape the technology together. He conceived and launched AAIF while at Block, bringing years of experience in open source and infrastructure to a new set of challenges.

Manik joined Square as an early employee and spent more than a decade at the company as it grew and became Block. He worked as a staff engineer and held several senior engineering leadership roles, including VP of Engineering for Platform and Cloud at Cash App. Most recently, he led Open Source at Block, working across its businesses and with the wider developer community.

Before Block, Manik was an engineer and open source leader at Red Hat, where he created Infinispan. At Block, he also played a foundational role in creating gRPC. His work has given him experience of open source from several angles: writing the code, leading the teams, and helping organisations collaborate beyond their own walls.

A published author, angel investor, startup advisor and former Sequoia Capital scout, Manik enjoys working with people building something new. He speaks about agentic AI, open source, developer experience and engineering leadership.

## Conference

- [Conference overview](https://webdirections.org/ai-engineer/index.md)
- [Agent guide](https://webdirections.org/ai-engineer/for-agents/)
- [llms.txt](https://webdirections.org/ai-engineer/llms.txt)