Sydney AI security startup Dam Secure has raised $6.1 million (US$4m) in a Seed round led by Washington, DC-based cybersecurity and AI investor, Paladin Capital Group. Dam Secure, founded by Patrick Collins and Simon Harloff, is developing an AI-native platform for organisations to manage the security risks created by the rapid adoption of AI coding… Read more »
The National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) has invested $20 million in neuroscience startup Omniscient Neurotechnology as part of an ongoing $36 million Series D. NRF is co-leading the round with OIF Ventures, taking a preferred equity stake. Omniscient, founded in 2019, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to decode the complexity of the human brain by mapping an… Read more »
Woolworths has announced a partnership with Google to incorporate agentic artificial intelligence into its “Olive” chatbot, starting in Australia later this year. Until now, Olive has largely answered questions, resolved problems and directed shoppers to information. Soon, Olive will be able to do more: planning meals, interpreting handwritten recipes, applying loyalty discounts and placing suggested… Read more »
Australia’s eSafety commission has issued a please explain to Elon Musk’s social media site, X, and his generative AI chatbot Grok following complaints about it making sexual images of women and children. The federal government body said there had been a small number of complaints about Grok being used to generate sexualised or exploitative imagery.… Read more »
A developer on my team came to me recently with an unusual request: “Will, can you please give me more work? I’ve finished everything.” That moment captured the promise – and the peril – of the AI revolution. Productivity gains are real. Finance professionals are drafting reports in half the time. Developers are coding faster.… Read more »
When Jake Shelley and Joseph Pons, former senior leaders at Deputy, launched their Sydney startup Jiffi in 2023, they started with a simple thesis: the tech industry is broken. Software oversaturation has left companies burdened with fragmented systems and inefficient processes that technology alone cannot repair. So as tech set out to build yet another… Read more »
As Payday Super comes into force, along with growing focus on artificial intelligence, Employment Hero founder Ben Thompson identifies 5 key trends he believes will play a role in the world of work in the year ahead. 1. Compliance and cash flow will be the dominant pressure point for employers Australia is already one of… Read more »
Over the Summer break, Startup Daily is republishing key stories from 2025. This opinion piece from editor Simon Thomsen first appeared in March as news emerged of Meta’s use of Library Genesis, an online warehouse of stolen intellectual property, to train its AI, emerged. This year marks 20 years since Mark Zuckberg launched Facebook, having… Read more »
Getting the most out of AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity requires the right know-how and prompting skills. These founder tips are an excellent starting point. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and DeepSeek are only becoming more prevalent in the workplace. But getting the most out of those artificial intelligence tools requires the right know-how and prompting… Read more »
Over the Summer break, Startup Daily is republishing key stories from 2025. This analysis by QUT’s Cameron Shackell, compares the introduction and hype around electricity in the 1920s – and those who profiting from it with AI today, and the lessons to learn, and was popular with readers when it came out in October. The… Read more »
Winston Churchill has just arrived in New York City. It is October 6 1929. Travelling with several members of his family, the British statesman checks into the Plaza Hotel, synonymous with wealth and celebrity – and certainly not cheap. But that’s no concern for Churchill: the cost of his stay – along with his cigars… Read more »
Build Club, the US-based, Australian-born AI learning community, has launched Solaris AI, an AI accelerator for companies to reduce the time taken for organisational AI transformation from a year to a month. Founder Annie Liao said Solaris AI delivers fundamentally different approach to enterprise AI adoption, eschewing training programs that rely on generic use cases requiring… Read more »
Australia will not proceed with a permanent AI advisory board, after the federal government confirmed it has abandoned the plan despite growing pressure for stronger oversight of the technology. As reported by InnovationAus, recent answers to Senate estimates questions on notice show the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) will not establish the AI advisory… Read more »
Imagine this: a band removes its entire music catalogue off Spotify in protest, only to discover an AI-generated impersonator has replaced it. The impersonator offers songs that sound much like the band’s originals. The imposter tops Spotify search results for the band’s music – attracting significant streams – and goes undetected for months. As incredible… Read more »
Ahead of the TechStars Sydney ‘Demo the Future’ evening, tonight, December 8, Startup Daily is profiling the 12 startups and their founders in the 2025 cohort. Our next profile is MuseAI – empowering music creators and harnessing human artistry. MuseAI Founder: Jad Al Masri One-liner: MuseAI is the AI-musepowered workspace empowering music creators to capture, organise,… Read more »
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