NewsBite

Innovation

Yesterday

Cicada boss Sally Ann Williams.

A top CEO reveals what you shouldn’t do in a job interview

Cicada Innovations chief Sally-Ann Williams discusses tips when trying to advance your career, and the thing she does every morning to make better decisions.

  • Sally Patten and Martin Peralta

This Month

Aphantasia: What it’s like when your mind’s eye is blind
1:11

Aphantasia: What it’s like when your mind’s eye is blind

When a viral tweet made Yolanda Redrup realise she couldn't create a picture in her mind it changed her understanding of herself and the world around her.

  • Updated
cartoon image

How to give customers and investors what they want

Meeting the expectations of increasingly demanding customers while satisfying investors with strong returns requires more than just good intentions.

  • Nigel Andrade, Enrico Rizzon and Michael Hone

October

Neara’s co-founders Daniel Danilatos, Karamvir Singh and Jack Curtis are seeing international expansion opportunities.

PE giant buys in as Aussie AI infrastructure start-up raises $45m

Swedish private equity giant EQT is one of the lead investors in a $45 million funding round at Australian AI infrastructure start-up Neara.

  • Paul Smith
Commonwealth Bank told investors earlier this month that it would tread carefully in rolling out uses for AI. But ASIC says that, across the banking industry, demand for AI is booming.

Everything we know (so far) about how banks and insurers are using AI

It has been two years since ChatGPT burst onto the stage – and artificial intelligence is becoming more complex. An ASIC survey sheds more light on the future.

  • Lucas Baird and James Eyers
Advertisement
Footage online appears to show an Optimus model talking to an attendee at the event and having a discussion about where it lives and where it was trained.

Elon Musk’s robots were remotely operated by humans at Tesla event

Optimus’ conversation was so authentic, it prompted speculation the machine may have had external help. The billionaire did not reveal that staffers oversaw interactions.

  • Updated
  • Ed Ludlow
ANZ and HESTA are exploring how stablecoin technology can streamline employer contributions under looming payday super laws.

HESTA, ANZ pilot use of A$DC stablecoin for payday super

Bringing data and payments together promises efficiencies for super funds grappling with new laws that will more than double incoming contributions.

  • James Eyers
George Evans is Head of Consulting, Asia-Pacific & Japan at Cognizant.

Assessing innovation hands on with AI and experts

Cognizant employed a multifaceted approach in judging of The Australian Financial Review 2024 BOSS Most Innovative Companies Awards.

  • George Evans
Experimental nanomaterial is released during a demonstration cloud seeding flight over Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

The storm chasers trying to save the world from drought

Everyone agrees the planet needs more water. So why is cloud-seeding so controversial?

  • Jeremy Miller

September

Matthew McMillan, Partner at Lander + Rogers.

‘Gold rush mentality’: Lawyers pile into AI advice

Lawyers are taking advantage of uncertainty around the legal implications of artificial intelligence use to build out new practices in the area.

  • Maxim Shanahan
Fred Schebesta, founder of Finder, pictured in Sydney after his appearance at the AFR Crypto & Digital Assets Summit on Monday.

ASIC sets off the crypto fire alarm, Canberra will have to respond

Delegates to this week’s Summit pleaded for clarity about how digital assets are defined under corporate laws.

  • James Eyers
Reserve Bank of Australia.

RBA warms to its own digital currency – but only for other banks

The central bank says it could save billions of dollars by making transactions faster. But it has decided digital cash for the public is far riskier.

  • James Eyers

August

Robotic Hand Holding Service Bell In Plate Against Grey Background Robot chef, automated kitchen
iStock

The robochef revolution poised to take over restaurants

Robot-driven kitchens are delivering profit margins that traditional restaurateurs can only dream of, and their spruikers argue that human chefs will benefit too.

  • Matt Oliver and Daniel Woolfson
a world leader in renewable energy Tianyi Ma and has enjoyed breakthroughs in relation to Hydrogen production and CO2 conversion technologies

The three words that unite these emerging leaders

Finalists in the emerging leadership category of the Higher Education Awards are focused on research that has “real-world impact”.

  • Euan Black
Consumer data right is meant to make switching accounts and finding cheaper products easier.

Familiar with the consumer data right? Here’s why you should be

The philosophical basis for the right is that data generated by consumers of commercial services is their property and not that of the company.

  • James Eyers
Advertisement
Consumer data right is meant to make switching accounts and finding cheaper products easier.

Banks say consumer data right ‘action initiation’ rescue will cost $3b

Ahead of a parliamentary vote next week to extend the consumer data right to boost switching, the ABA is pointing to costs and risks as reason for delay.

  • James Eyers

July

Australia needs a large language model that reflects Australian values if we want to retain our economic and cultural sovereignty.

Why Australia needs its own AI large language model

If we are to retain our economic and cultural sovereignty, Australia needs to develop AI that reflects Australian values.

  • Anton van den Hengel
Companies are starting to measure gains from generative AI, but research shows over half of Australian workers are using the technology without rules or guidance.

Workers are using AI in the office - but where are the rules?

Companies are starting to measure gains from generative AI. But research shows over half of Australian workers are using the technology without rules or guidance.

  • Paul Smith
Professor Jeremy O’Brien has now added $US500m of Illinois incentives to the $940m investment by the Federal and Qld governments into PsiQuantum.

PsiQuantum promises US a computer after $US500m investment

Three months after inking almost $1 billion worth of deals with the federal and Qld governments, the tech start-up has signed up to build another quantum computer in Chicago.

  • Paul Smith

‘We had to have faith’: Apple’s designers on creating the Vision Pro

For these innovators, the Vision Pro isn’t just a step change in computers. It’s a step into the future.

  • John Davidson

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/innovation-5yn