Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1

What does Southern Sky AI do?

Accepted Answer

Southern Sky AI is a maritime AI practice built around governance. Three pillars: AI Governance is the spine, AI Deployment puts capable tools in the hands of the people doing the work, and AI Training builds the judgment to use them well. One question at the door: do it yourself, or have it done with you.

Question 2

What does governance-led adoption mean in practice?

Accepted Answer

It means making conscious decisions about AI before, during, and after implementation. Which tools are appropriate. What data they can touch. Who is accountable for outputs. What the organisation sanctions and what falls outside scope. Governance-led adoption produces documented direction that leadership can refer to, defend, and build on.

Question 3

Who is this designed for?

Accepted Answer

Maritime organisations of every shape: yacht management companies, marina operators, commercial passenger operators, yacht programs, refit facilities, and professional services firms. Senior maritime professionals who want a personal AI working environment built around their role. And anyone in the industry who wants to understand where they stand before committing to anything more structured.

Question 4

How is this different from a typical AI consultancy?

Accepted Answer

Governance sits at the front of the work, not the end. Every engagement begins with documented direction, verifiable against primary-source obligations, and every deployment carries an Implementation Plan before anything is switched on. The practice is legally trained, maritime-native, and works to a public record of what has been built and what it produced.

Question 5

Who founded Southern Sky AI?

Accepted Answer

Kristina Agustin, Founder and Principal. Twenty-plus years in international superyacht and maritime operations. Legally trained (LLB, Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice). AI educator and consultant. 2026 Australian Technology and Science Elevate (ATSE) Scholar. AWS Certified AI Practitioner, CPD Certified AI Trainer, IWAI Certified AI Practitioner, completing a Master of Artificial Intelligence. ISM and ISPS Internal Auditor with Designated Person Ashore experience.

Question 6

What industries do you work with?

Accepted Answer

Superyacht shoreside operations, yacht management companies, yacht programs, marina operators, commercial passenger and ferry operations, refit and shipyard facilities, and maritime professional services including surveyors, brokers, agents, and maritime legal practices. The practice operates across Australia and the United States.

Question 7

What is the AI Baseline Report?

Accepted Answer

The front door to the practice. About five minutes of questions, and you receive a full position report on screen and a PDF by email. It reads your whole position across the five kinds of risk (four risks plus opportunity cost) and checks it against 27 maritime and cross-sector regimes verified against primary sources. Indicative only, never legal advice. Generated automatically without human review.

Question 8

How is my data handled?

Accepted Answer

Answers are stored anonymously while you work through the interview. Your email address is attached only at the point you ask for the report to be sent. The report itself is generated automatically without a person reading your answers. Data is never sold.

Question 9

How accurate is the Baseline report?

Accepted Answer

The 27 regimes it reads against are verified against primary sources and refreshed regularly. The report is indicative and clear about what it does and does not know. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a documented review.

Question 10

Can I see an example of the Baseline before I start?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A full sample report is available at /baseline?sample=1, generated from a sample answer set so you can see the shape, the language, and the level of detail before you commit five minutes to your own.

Question 11

What is Governance Essentials?

Accepted Answer

A do-it-yourself governance pack for organisations that want documented AI direction without a full engagement. You complete an adaptive guided interview, shorter if you have already done the Baseline, and receive a draft AI Use Policy and AI Position Statement written for your business, with clause-level traceability across 222 verified obligations in 25 jurisdictions.

Question 12

What does Governance Essentials cost?

Accepted Answer

USD $690 for the founding cohort of twenty. USD $990 after. Australian businesses are charged in Australian dollars plus GST at checkout, with a tax invoice. The fee credits toward later reviewed work with the practice.

Question 13

Do Australian businesses pay GST?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The practice is GST-registered in Australia. At checkout there is a single self-declared checkbox for Australian businesses. Ticking it swaps the displayed price to Australian dollars plus 10 percent GST, and Stripe issues a tax invoice showing the GST line and the ABN. Purchasers outside Australia are unaffected.

Question 14

What is included beyond the Governance Essentials documents?

Accepted Answer

Three bounded human touchpoints. Kristina personally reviews every founding-cohort document. A 30-minute documents walkthrough call is scheduled within 30 days of delivery. And you have 30 days of direct email support with one-business-day replies from delivery.

Question 15

How long does Governance Essentials delivery take?

Accepted Answer

Usually within two business days of finishing the interview. Three to five business days when a jurisdiction needs to be researched on demand. You are told either way at the point the interview completes.

Question 16

Are the Governance Essentials documents legal advice?

Accepted Answer

No. They are drafts written for your business to review and adopt, with the underlying obligations traceable at clause level so your advisors can see exactly what each clause is responding to. They are not legal advice and do not replace your own counsel.

Question 17

What is the Blueprint?

Accepted Answer

The done-with-you governance engagement. A structured programme, six to ten weeks, from USD $9,500. It maps your digital landscape, classifies risk and governance exposure, and produces a decision-ready plan. Every Blueprint carries an Implementation Plan so the direction is executable, not just described.

Question 18

What does Deploy involve?

Accepted Answer

Putting capable tools in the hands of the people doing the work, under governance. The Console, a personal AI working environment configured around a senior role, is from USD $5,900 per person. Configured tool builds are scoped to the workflow. Enterprise deployments are by agreement.

Question 19

What training does the practice offer?

Accepted Answer

Live team training, in person or in real time online. A Training day is USD $1,700 and builds shared, governed competence across your team. A Capability day is USD $2,500 and goes further into working with the tools on your own material. The AI Champions Programme develops the people who will carry AI forward inside the organisation and is scoped by agreement.

Question 20

What is Navigator?

Accepted Answer

The ongoing relationship and client portal that carries the work forward after an engagement completes. It is in development and pricing sits with the engagement it belongs to.

Question 21

How does the Academy fit in?

Accepted Answer

Academy is where team training and AI champions training live. Live sessions, in person or in real time online, tailored to your team's tools and operating context. Individuals building AI literacy independently are pointed to the Baseline first, because it shows where their attention is best spent.

Question 22

How do you approach data sensitivity and confidentiality?

Accepted Answer

Every engagement begins with an AI Use Policy that classifies what data is appropriate to load into a working environment and what is not. Crew personal data, client financial data, medically sensitive information, and flag state confidential correspondence are examples of categories that require specific handling. Clause-level traceability shows exactly which obligation each rule is responding to.

Question 23

Does AI replace people in this model?

Accepted Answer

No. AI augments judgment. The team remains in control of decisions. AI handles the execution of well-defined tasks within documented boundaries. The AI Use Policy makes this explicit for every engagement, and the Implementation Plan says who is accountable for each output.

Question 24

How do you handle GDPR and Australian Privacy Act obligations?

Accepted Answer

These obligations sit inside the 222 verified obligations across 25 jurisdictions that the practice tracks. They are mapped during Blueprint and reflected in the AI Use Policy for every deployment. Southern Sky AI does not provide legal advice, and works alongside your legal advisors so the governance layer reflects your specific regulatory position.

Question 25

What about cybersecurity?

Accepted Answer

AI governance and cybersecurity are related but distinct disciplines. Southern Sky AI focuses on AI governance: appropriate use, data boundaries, accountability, and documented direction. Cybersecurity infrastructure is a separate engagement that the practice can map during Blueprint and refer to appropriate specialists.

Question 26

We already have AI tools in use. Can you still help?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Most organisations come to the practice with AI already present in management software, communication platforms, and scheduling tools. The Baseline reads what is already there. Blueprint classifies the exposure and sequences what to address first.

Question 27

Does this work across vessels and shore offices?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The practice is designed to work across distributed operations, including vessels and shore offices, multiple locations, and international teams. Governance documentation and client materials are accessible from anywhere.

Question 28

Is this only for large organisations?

Accepted Answer

No. The practice works with organisations of every size. Pricing and scope are determined by complexity and governance weight, not headcount. Governance Essentials exists for the smaller end that needs documented direction without a full engagement.

Question 29

How does this align with maritime regulations?

Accepted Answer

ISM, ISPS, MLC, GDPR, the Australian Privacy Act, flag state requirements, and port state control obligations all sit inside the 27 regimes read by the Baseline and the 222 verified obligations tracked across engagements.

Question 30

What if our leadership team is not aligned on AI?

Accepted Answer

Reading the position against 27 regimes gives leadership a shared, evidence-based starting point that informal conversation cannot. The Blueprint interview process surfaces different perspectives across the leadership group and produces a position the organisation owns collectively.

Question 31

How do I begin?

Accepted Answer

Get your baseline at /baseline. About five minutes, no charge, a full position report on screen and by email. It shows you where you stand and what to do first, and it makes any conversation that follows a serious one rather than a scoping call.

Question 32

What if I would rather talk it through first?

Accepted Answer

Request the Engagement Guide. It is the talk-it-through path: an overview of how the practice works, what each track produces, and what to expect. A brief scoping conversation follows when you are ready.

Question 33

What comes after the Baseline?

Accepted Answer

Depends what the Baseline shows. Many readers move to Governance Essentials for documented direction they can adopt. Others move to a Blueprint, or straight into Deploy or Train when the position is already clear. The report itself tells you which door to open next.

Question 34

What does this cost?

Accepted Answer

The Baseline is at no charge. Governance Essentials is USD $690 founding cohort of twenty, USD $990 after. Blueprint is from USD $9,500. The Console is from USD $5,900 per person. Training day USD $1,700, Capability day USD $2,500. Australian purchasers of Essentials are billed in Australian dollars plus GST at checkout.

Question 35

How do I know if this approach is right for us?

Accepted Answer

If AI tools are in use without documented direction, if leadership is uncertain about what is appropriate for the operation, or if you want a working AI environment governed from the start, this is the practice for you. The Baseline gives you enough evidence to make that call independently before any conversation takes place.

Our Approach

The AI Baseline Report

Governance Essentials

Blueprint, Deploy, Train

Governance and Data

Maritime-Specific Questions

Getting Started

Still Have Questions?

The Chart Room Dispatch