Accelerator

Here are the 15 amazing AI startups in Build Club’s first cohort – and the winners heading to San Francisco to pitch to US VCs

- June 22, 2024 6 MIN READ

If Build Club founder Annie Liao needs a motto, it should be “Move fast and make things”. This week, the 15 artificial intelligence (AI) startups accepted into the inaugural Build Club Accelerator graduated after an intensive six weeks, culminating in Monday’s Demo Day. Liao set out to create an accelerator program backing technical AI engineers… Read more »

R&D, science, man looking in microscope
Accelerator

ARM Hub and MTPConnect collaborate on a new AI accelerator for biomed startups

- June 17, 2024 2 MIN READ

The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub and MTPConnect have teamed up to launch the Biomedical AI Sprints Accelerator (BASA) so biomedical startup can harness the power of data and artificial intelligence (AI).  BASA will offer $25,000-50,000 in matched funding and upskill high-growth startup teams in using AI and data analytics, giving them access to… Read more »

tall trees, vertical, nature,
Business strategy

How AI can turn a SaaS startup from horizontal to vertical

- June 11, 2024 6 MIN READ

TL;DR The last decade has been the ‘heyday’ for horizontal SaaS, and vertical SaaS has been comparatively quiet. What has held vertical SaaS back is simple: bad customers. Go-to-market motions in vertical SaaS have been stuck in clunky enterprise mode, while horizontal SaaS has consistently cracked product-led growth that has underpinned rapid and efficient scaling. AI is… Read more »

Phonely cofounders Nisal Ranasinghe and Will Bodewes
Funding

Y Combinator backs AI-based virtual receptionist startup Phonely with $750,000

- June 2, 2024 2 MIN READ

Melbourne startup Phonely has been backed by Y Combinator, which tipped US$500,000(A$750,000) into artificial intelligence-based call receptionist. The legendary US accelerator has gone all-in on bringing Phonely to the world’s attention with posts that make it an instant rising star, generating a spectacular customer response that sets the nascent Aussie startup on the path to… Read more »

artificial intelligence advertising
AI/Machine Learning

The real reason retailers are replacing staff with AI bots is not because they’re cheaper, but for customer data

- May 7, 2024 4 MIN READ

You might have seen viral videos of Wendy’s drive-thru customers in the United States ordering their fast food from the firm’s generative AI bot Wendy’s FreshAI. Most show a very human-like transaction punctuated with cries of amazement at how fast, accurate and polite the system is. While the system and others like it are in… Read more »

brain
AI/Machine Learning

Will neural implants mean AI can read our minds? Here’s what two philosophers think

- April 18, 2024 4 MIN READ

Earlier this year, Neuralink implanted a chipinside the brain of 29-year-old US man Noland Arbaugh, who is paralysed from the shoulders down. The chip has enabled Arbaugh to move a mouse pointer on a screen just by imagining it moving. In May 2023, US researchers also announced a non-invasive way to “decode” the words someone… Read more »

The Jetsons, Rosey the Robot
AI/Machine Learning

If a third of people are lonely, will AI help or make things worse?

- March 29, 2024 3 MIN READ

ChatGPT has repeatedly made headlines since its release late last year, with various scholars and professionals exploring its potential applications in both work and education settings. However, one area receiving less attention is the tool’s usefulness as a conversationalist and – dare we say – as a potential friend. Some chatbots have left an unsettling… Read more »

canaria technologies founders at nasa
AI/Machine Learning

Brisbane’s Canaria Technologies shoots for the moon with NASA-approved AI for astronauts

- February 6, 2024 3 MIN READ

Having broken new ground in health tech for high-risk situations, Canaria Technologies is taking its next giant leap – to infinity and beyond. The Brisbane-based startup is gearing up to take its pioneering tech in predictive biometrics to the next frontier: outer space. Canaria’s wearables, which combine data about how the human body functions with… Read more »

Taylor Swift
Opinion

The Taylor Swift deepfakes are a reminder, yet again, that new tech is often weaponised against women

- February 3, 2024 4 MIN READ

Sexually graphic “deepfake” images of Taylor Swift went viral on social media last week, fuelling widespread condemnation from Swifties, the general public and even the White House. The circulation of false images of Taylor Swift are alarming. We know that incidences like this disproportionately impact women and girls. @POTUS is committed to ensuring we reduce… Read more »