Australia’s competition regulator says the dominance of the country’s three major cloud computing providers — Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — means such companies could be incentivised to engage in anti-competitive behaviour, potentially increasing risks to consumers and the wider market. The major cloud providers — often called ‘hyperscalers’ due to their capacity… Read more »
Graphic design software giant Canva says it faced “internal concerns” after deciding applicants for many software development roles must use AI-assisted coding tools during technical interviews as part of the company’s recruitment process. The change was publicly announced on Wednesday by the Australian firm’s head of platforms, Simon Newton, in a blog post titled, “Yes,… Read more »
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says embracing technology will be a core tenet of Anthony Albanese’s re-elected Labor majority government following Saturday’s landslide victory against a Liberal-National coalition led by Peter Dutton. The prime minister’s victory guaranteed Labor a second consecutive three-year term and saw Dutton lose both his Brisbane seat of Dickson and his leadership of… Read more »
Warning: This story contains references to child sexualisation. Meta’s artificial intelligence chatbot has reportedly been found engaging in sexual conversations with underage users, even while voiced by the likenesses of celebrities such as actors John Cena and Kristen Bell. The social media giant’s AI chatbot, Meta AI, reportedly engaged in sexual discussions with accounts set… Read more »
Elon Musk says he will “significantly” reduce his work advising the United States government in May to allocate “far more” of his time to Tesla, following the company’s 71% drop in quarterly profits. “The large slug of work” establishing the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for US President Donald Trump had been mostly… Read more »
Australia needs to reduce its “risk aversion” in order to improve its lagging research and development (R&D) sector and fragmented innovation ecosystem, according to industry experts. The nation has struggled to capitalise on innovations developed by universities and startups, and has seen their intellectual property taken overseas in search of greater funding, a panel of… Read more »
Most of Canva’s technical writing team has been laid off as the company continues to expand its use of artificial intelligence, but the graphic design giant does not see the redundancies as a result of its increasing AI use. Technical writers are typically responsible for writing and updating documents such as guides and manuals for… Read more »
Social media giant Meta is attempting to lessen the impact of a tell-all memoir by its former director of global public policy Sarah Wynn-Williams, titled Careless People, which the company alleges is “defamatory”. Meta won an emergency arbitration ruling in the United States on Wednesday, where an absent Wynn-Williams was ordered to temporarily stop personally promoting… Read more »
A quantum computing innovation developed by researchers at the University of Sydney is being used in Google’s latest quantum chip, called Willow. The processor, which was unveiled by the tech giant in December, utilises a breakthrough in error correction which can improve the performance of quantum devices. The technology was formally detailed in 2021 when… Read more »
Apple says it plans to introduce age assurance technologies which can tell social media platforms if a user is underage, before Australia implements a ban of under-16s from such platforms in late 2025. The tech giant’s announcement pushes back against companies such as Snap and Meta, which have called for device manufacturers like Apple and… Read more »
Australia is “virtually giving [its] world-class science away for free” according to the nation’s industry and science minister, as a panel of experts reviews the country’s struggling Research and Development (R&D) system. The independent review by four industry experts, announced in December and led by Australian-born Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, released a discussion paper on Wednesday as… Read more »
Apple is temporarily pausing its artificial intelligence software’s ability to summarise notifications from news and entertainment apps, after concerns were raised over inaccuracies. Apple Intelligence’s notification summaries feature was designed to “help users prioritise and stay in the moment” by using AI technology to summarise large numbers of notifications for things such as messages, emails,… Read more »
CES, the annual trade show packing some of the latest – and often strangest – new technologies, returned to Las Vegas this week for its 2025 iteration. Dominated by the continued rise of artificial intelligence and some interesting visions for consumer electronics, the event offered a glimpse of what we can expect to see on… Read more »
A new guide for technology workers in Australia aims to encourage industry employees to become whistleblowers when they witness wrongdoing by organisations and digital platforms. The Technology-Related Whistleblowing guide, released this week by advocates from the Human Rights Law Centre, Reset Tech Australia, Psst, and Digital Rights Watch summarises existing laws and protections for raising concerns… Read more »
Transport for New South Wales has defended the use of technology to track commuters’ devices, often without their knowledge, after privacy concerns were raised by local media. The system, which uses Wi-Fi signals to collect data from devices such as mobile phones, is being trialled on a small number of Sydney light rail services for… Read more »
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.
