In Dr Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick imagined a future where our own intelligence outpaced our wisdom. Military commanders, politicians, and machines locked into a logic of deterrence so perfect it could only end in catastrophe. It was satire, but it never felt entirely like fiction. With news that Russia is considering military expansion in our region,… Read more »
Antler has unveiled its latest investments from the 12th Australian residency: eight new startups selected from thousands of applicants, spanning robotics, cybersecurity, and health – all with a strong emphasis on AI. The cohort reflects a growing trend for Antler: more founders building at the intersection of AI and deep industry expertise, moving faster than… Read more »
Have you ever used ChatGPT to draft a work email? Perhaps to summarise a report, research a topic or analyse data in a spreadsheet? If so, you certainly aren’t alone. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are rapidly transforming the world of work. Released today, our global study of more than 32,000 workers from 47 countries shows… Read more »
A Melbourne startup cofounded by two 24-year-old former university students has banked $1.5 million in pre-Seed funding. The raise for Fluency was backed by HammerTech cofounder Bradley Tabone, Archangel Ventures, and Singaporean VCs 1MX.ai and Orvel Ventures. Best mates and self-taught developers Finnlay Morcombe and Oliver Farnill, a former Swinburne engineering student, launched Fluency in 2023,… Read more »
Australian Radio Network (ARN), the media company behind KIIS, as well as Gold and iHeart, used an AI-generated female Asian host to broadcast 4 hours of midweek radio, without disclosing it. The fake presenter, “Thy”, has been generated reportedly using someone in the finance department at ARN. The show broadcasts on CADA – “Australia’s home… Read more »
The global trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump earlier this month shows no signs of ending anytime soon. In recent days, China suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals that are vital ingredients in everything from electric cars and drones to the semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Around… Read more »
You may have seen ads by Apple promoting its new Clean Up feature that can be used to remove elements in a photo. When one of these ads caught my eye last weekend, I was intrigued and updated my software to try it out. The feature has been available in Australia since December for Apple… Read more »
Canva is getting into the spreadsheet business as the software giant looks to move beyond pretty graphics to workplace productivity tools and take on enterprise software giants like Google. The 13-year-old design platform’s annual product song and dance show, the fourth Canva Create – this year themed as “Uncharted” – also revealed that annual revenue… Read more »
An AI startup that takes corporate consultancy into the digital age has raised $1 million in pre-Seed funding. The round for NSW startup InsightWise was led by California VC Aliavia Ventures and Ari Klinger’s Sydney family office, No Brand Holdings, with support from Victoria Denholm’s Wollemi Capital Group, angel syndicate FB10x and other angels here and… Read more »
A dozen emerging AI startups in NSW will take to the stage this Thursday at the sold out Pitchapalooza pitch competition. Hundreds of applications were whittled down to an egg carton of AI startups, with Pitchapalooza supporter Simon McKendry, a partner at VC OnePitch, saying the event breaks the usual pitch mould. “Instead of very… Read more »
As Australia builds up to the federal election, debates around sovereignty, national security, and economic resilience are taking centre stage. Concurrently, the startup ecosystem is awash with vibe-coded consumer apps. But coding with Lovable is just the start of a deeper shift: the AI opportunity in this decade won’t just be in frontend tools. It… Read more »
“I’m really not sure what to do anymore. I don’t have anyone I can talk to,” types a lonely user to an AI chatbot The bot responds: “I’m sorry, but we are going to have to change the topic. I won’t be able to engage in a conversation about your personal life.” Is this response… Read more »
The CEO and cofounder of StrongRoom AI allegedly conceded to EVP investor Misha Saul that the company’s revenue and debt figures were “wilful fraud”. Details of an extraordinary conversation and confession by CEO Max Mito were outlined in submissions in Federal Court legal action by the Sydney VC, after it successfully applied to freeze the… 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 »
Companies developing AI models, such as OpenAI and Meta, train their systems on enormous datasets. These consist of text from newspapers, books (often sourced from unauthorised repositories), academic publications and various internet sources. The material includes works that are copyrighted. The Atlantic magazine recently alleged Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, had used LibGen,… Read more »
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