This Month
- Analysis
- US election
Trump’s social network deserted but the party rages on elsewhere
Donald Trump’s army of Australian Truthers are well into their victory lap – everywhere other than his own dedicated social network.
- Amelia McGuire
September
- Analysis
- Tech crackdown
‘Daylight robbery:’ Canberra needs EU muscle to land big tech blow
The government wants to work cooperatively with tech moguls such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, but that seems like wishful thinking, and tougher laws are coming.
- Paul Smith
- Analysis
- AI
Three-month-old AI firm with 10 employees and no product raises $US1b
A huge investment in a company planning to build safe “superintelligence” has muted talk of the artificial intelligence bubble bursting.
- Paul Smith
August
- Analysis
- Analysis
In love with a bot? OpenAI data shows we are entering sci-fi territory
Humans falling in love with chatbots, and AI platforms hatching ‘catastrophic schemes’ are among concerns being monitored and managed by researchers at OpenAI.
- Paul Smith
Why this earnings season is the end of an era for Apple
The AI era is upon Apple, and all of its tech peers, and the stories it tells its investors and customers about its products are about to change forever.
- John Davidson
July
- Opinion
- Governance
Regulator needed as ASX techies tinker with critical infrastructure
The ASX has a glut of big tech upgrades to deliver, on top of its CHESS debacle ‘do-over’. If it stuffs them up, then everyone in the market suffers.
- Paul Smith
June
- Opinion
- AI
Better late than now: how Apple’s AI could have stayed in longer
It tells you something when even Apple, the company that rose to greatness on the back of lateness, has to come out with a product that isn’t quite ready.
- John Davidson
May
- Opinion
- Opinion
Apple ad fail shows why we fear AI
Apple has apologised for an ad for its new iPads that was so tone-deaf that the creative types, who normally love the company, had an existential fright.
- Paul Smith
- Opinion
- Quantum Computing
Answers emerge slowly to government’s $1b quantum questions
Questions are mounting over how PsiQuantum was backed when we have been told so often to marvel at local tech stars.
- Paul Smith
April
- Analysis
- Analysis
How much has Canva made Blackbird’s partners? Hundreds of millions
Publicly disclosed share sales and industry estimates suggest the fund’s partners are deep in yacht money, and they deserve to be.
- Nick Bonyhady
March
- Opinion
- Opinion
How the US suing Apple could change Australians’ digital world
The US Department of Justice has taken Apple to task over the very things it’s being tried for in a Melbourne courtroom. Does one case affect the other?
- John Davidson
- Analysis
- Microsoft
Shock as AI founders defect to Microsoft after raising $US1.3b
The AI sector has been stunned by the founders of an AI start-up defecting to Microsoft less than a year after raising $US1.3 billion to take on OpenAI.
- Updated
- Paul Smith
- Analysis
- Competition
Google’s plan to dodge day in court over ‘killing’ Aussie start-up
It is six years since an arbitrary ruling by Google killed a $200m Melbourne start-up. Now, its founder’s costly crusade for justice hangs on a US judge’s ruling.
- Paul Smith
February
- Opinion
- Bitcoin
FTX investor losses show the dangers of giving control to exchanges
A single bitcoin is worth $US26,000 more today than when the exchange collapsed, but investors being “paid back” won’t see any of that upside.
- Jessica Sier
January
- Analysis
- Analysis
White-collar jobs tumble, but shares soar as investors back AI future
Australian staff are likely to make up some of the 8000 jobs software giant SAP says will be affected by an AI-driven global restructure, as its shares hit a record.
- Paul Smith
December 2023
- Opinion
- Opinion
Recreating dead actors with AI does not make for a wonderful life
It may seem harmless to recreate Jimmy Stewart’s voice for a wellness app, but it is the start of a slippery slope that doesn’t end well for humanity.
- Paul Smith
November 2023
- Analysis
- Analysis
DP World took longer to speak than Optus. Why hasn’t it faced the same fury?
Optus has a PR problem because it has an actual problem. The same fate could befall DP World if it can’t get all its containers moving and explain the outage.
- Nick Bonyhady
October 2023
- Analysis
- AI
The AI ‘Nora Ephron problem’ is fast spreading
Hollywood’s screenwriters may have succeeded in halting the march of AI into movie scripts but recent upgrades to ChatGPT mean other workers might not be so lucky.
- Nick Bonyhady
September 2023
- Analysis
- High school
Schools and business embrace AI, but do we know what they’re doing?
Artificial intelligence seemingly lets students and workers do new and exciting things more efficiently, but without care, we risk sacrificing genuine knowledge for short-term gains.
- Paul Smith
- Opinion
- Opinion
Gig economy stoush shows government’s trouble fixing tech ‘disruption’
There is a lack of logic on both sides of the debate about planned changes to workplace rules for online service marketplaces.
- Paul Smith