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Disruption

February

Bankers will soon be using AI “agents” to help them service customers.

Westpac works with Accenture to deploy AI agents

The bank has already used agentic AI to assist its engineers move code to new cloud-based systems. Triaging mortgage applications could follow.

Jamila Gordon, founder and CEO of Lumachain, photographed in Chicago.

How Jamila leapt from Somalian village to VC-backed AI firm

Jamila Gordon came to Australia thanks to the kindness of a stranger. Studying here transformed her life – and now she’s changing the food industry.

The lawmakers note China Mobile, owned by the Chinese government and with close ties to the Chinese military, has been banned by the Federal Communications Commission for use in the US.

New US bill seeks to ban DeepSeek app on government devices

The two sponsors, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, cite concern that the chatbot’s code is linked to China’s Communist Party.

January

DeepSeek has upended global markets with it’s claim that it’s cheaper and better.

What is DeepSeek, the AI company upending the stock markets?

A frenzy over an artificial intelligence chatbot made by Chinese tech startup DeepSeek was upending stock markets on Monday.

The AI revolution is just beginning, according to Bank of America.

This is how the magnificent seven’s bubble could burst

AI will reshape markets and economies in the next five years, according to Bank of America. But today’s tech giants might not be the biggest winners.

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November 2024

The IT consulting area to super and wealth is growing fast.

Fewer super funds means more business for this tech consultancy

The ongoing merger activity in the superannuation sector has supercharged growth at Wollongong-headquartered IT services company Novigi.

Bridgit CEO and Co-Founder, Aaron Bassin. says lower interest rates will be a boost to his business.

Fintech offers $8m bridging loans in minutes as Citi backs $250m facility

Bridgit uses AI to approve loans for those looking to buy their next home before their existing one has sold. It claims an average approval time of about four hours.

Anthony Miller (left) will succeed Peter King as Westpac CEO in December.

Incoming Westpac boss Anthony Miller takes on bank’s tech rescue

A $3 billion-plus technology project known as Unite will become a key plank of the new Westpac boss’ agenda when he takes the reins next month.

September 2024

Blue-sky thinking … Andrew Grill, ‘the actionable futurist’.

Meet the ‘actionable futurist’ who demystifies tech for the C-suite

Futurist Andrew Grill reckons execs will struggle to make good decisions about deploying tech in their businesses if they’re not actively using it themselves.

Margrethe Vestager: “Before this case, the prevailing belief was that digital companies should be left to operate freely.”

Google and Apple face billions in penalties after losing EU appeals

The decisions, handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Union, were seen as an important test of efforts to clamp down on the world’s largest technology companies.

July 2024

OpenAI has unveiled a prototype of SearchGPT, a new web search chatbot that will rival Google.

Look out Google, here comes SearchGPT

OpenAI has unveiled a prototype of SearchGPT, a new web search chatbot that could rival Google, and change how people navigate the online world.

June 2024

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang keeps delighting the market.

It’s bubbles like AI that make the tech world go around

From telegraph fever to the first internet bust, irrational over-investment creates profitable technology businesses that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

‘First draft fairy:’ How corporate lawyers are using game-changing AI

Legal eagles inside some of Australia’s best-known companies are training themselves to stay competitive in the AI era.

May 2024

CBA boss Matt Comyn has a flurry of ideas in his head about how AI will affect his industry and country.

Why CBA’s AI future needs more reimagining

A US trip left CBA chief executive Matt Comyn with questions to which he doesn’t have all the answers. It’s a common theme across the Australian business world.

Productivity Commissioner Stephen King at Tuesday’s inaugural The Australian Financial Review AI Summit.

Companies ‘must take responsibility for not breaking laws with AI’

The competition and corporate regulators say businesses have all the information they need to experiment with AI, after being accused of providing a lack of guidance.

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April 2024

Looking beyond the “low-hanging fruit” of AI productivity: Dave Mackenzie, the managing principal for digital at Aurecon.

AI could ‘break the productivity cycle’ for construction

Engineering firm Aurecon says the developing use of artificial intelligence could supercharge efficiency on big projects.

GoCatch founders Andrew Campbell and Ned Moorfield pictured in 2013, before they allegedly fell out over the company’s direction.

Founder fights and investor fury exposed as Uber makes its case

Investors in fallen transport app GoCatch were alarmed by its lack of progress and wanted to sack its co-founders around the time UberX launched in Australia, private emails show.

Can Netflix’s billionaire founder Reed Hastings disrupt skiing?

Can the new owner of Utah’s Powder Mountain transform the ski industry the way he did entertainment, even as he learns the ski business on the fly?

Well before the ridesharing giant dominated, it had a big local rival. This week, Victorian courts will hear explosive claims of how it killed the competition.

Uber’s ‘espionage plot’ to ‘crush’ Packer-backed rival GoCatch

Well before the ride-sharing giant dominated, it had a big local rival. This week, Victorian courts will hear explosive claims of how it killed the competition.

March 2024

An autonomous tractor at Treasury Wine’s Barossa South vineyard. Brett Pringle (left) from Robotics Plus and Angus Davidson, vineyards manager.

How these top companies are using AI every day

From sensing the water needs of grapevines to avoiding iron ore spills in the Pilbara, artificial intelligence is helping Australia’s major companies become more efficient.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/disruption-1mqe