In a world rife with opposing views, let’s draw attention to something we can all agree on: if I show you my pen, and then hide it behind my back, my pen still exists – even though you can’t see it anymore. We can all agree it still exists, and probably has the same shape… Read more »
I love writing code to make things: apps, websites, charts, even music. It’s a skill I’ve worked hard at for more than 20 years. So I must confess last week’s news about the release of a new “AI assistant” coding helper called GitHub Copilot gave me complicated feelings. Copilot, which spits out code to order… Read more »
Computer vision software startup Black.ai has raised $5.4 million in a Seed+ round. It was led by Jelix Ventures, with support from Right Click Capital and several angel investors. The six-year-old business has now raised $8.55 million and will use the funds to double its local headcount, expands its industry reach, and build out its… Read more »
Google’s LaMDA software (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) is a sophisticated AI chatbot that produces text in response to user input. According to software engineer Blake Lemoine, LaMDA has achieved a long-held dream of AI developers: it has become sentient. Lemoine’s bosses at Google disagree, and have suspended him from work after he published his… Read more »
Well-known Australian retailers are using facial recognition technology to identify customers who enter selected stores, an investigation by consumer advocacy group CHOICE has found. Hardware giant Bunnings, Kmart and The Good Guys are capturing facial recognition data. CHOICE asked 25 Australian retailers whether they use facial recognition technology, and analysed their privacy policies. Those three… Read more »
When a new coronavirus emerged from nature in 2019, it changed the world. But COVID-19 won’t be the last disease to jump across from the shrinking wild. A few weeks ago, it was announced that Australia, is no longer an onlooker, as Canada, the US and European countries scramble to contain monkeypox, a less dangerous… Read more »
The first serious accident involving a self-driving car in Australia occurred in March this year. A pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries when hit by a Tesla Model 3 in “autopilot” mode. In the US, the highway safety regulator is investigating a series of accidents where Teslas on autopilot crashed into first-responder vehicles with flashing lights… Read more »
Sydney-based voice communication platform, Curious Thing has raised $7 million in pre-series A funding. The round led by private investment firm Hawkstone, supported by Blacksheep Capital and January Capital, with existing investors, Westpac’s VC fund Reinventure, and Qualgro, returning after backing a $1.5 million round in 2019. The cash injection will be used to help the… Read more »
If you’ve seen photos of a teapot shaped like an avocado or read a well-written article that veers off on slightly weird tangents, you may have been exposed to a new trend in artificial intelligence (AI). Machine learning systems called DALL-E, GPT and PaLM are making a splash with their incredible ability to generate creative… Read more »
While many worry that they’re going to lose their job to a robot in the years ahead, that’s already happening in an area few suspected: social media influencers It seems the age of the Kardashians is waning, replaced by artificial intelligence and digital influencers embraced by those under their influence. New research, led by Swinburne… Read more »
Sydney medtech Eyes of AI launches its rapid x-ray analysis this month after three years of development. Artificial intelligence-driven dental software platform has been trained using more than 1 million x-ray images since 2019, alongside has input from leading dental clinicians and research centres globally. Sydney-based founders Dr Sen Le and Khoa Le built the… Read more »
Recruitment automation startup PredictiveHire, which uses an AI bot to tell immediately if a candidate is right for a job using just five questions answered via phone text, has raised $7 million in a pre-Series A round. Sydney talent recruiting firm Hudson is one of the startup’s key backers, along with several individuals including Yarra Capital… Read more »
Hands up if you’ve ever cursed, mocked or yelled at a chatbot. No surprise if you have. Those automated “helpers” – supposedly designed to make customer service smarter, faster and more efficient – can certainly be a source of frustration for sentient beings. Interactions with chatbots have become increasingly common in our daily lives. But… Read more »
Aussie “GiveTech” startup Dataro has raised $2.5 million in a seed round to help charities improve their fundraising capacity. The raise was led by Basis Set Ventures, Black Sheep Capital, and Save The Children Dataro uses AI-driven technology to transform how charity fundraising works. Its machine learning algorithms analyse patterns in a charity’s entire history of… Read more »
Australia’s biggest telco and data science Quantium plan to launch a joint venture business Telstra says will “unlock the potential of data and AI” for the company and its customers. Sydney-based Quantium is a global leader in using artificial intelligence (AI) to translate raw data into actionable insights. The Woolworths-backed business now operates in 20… Read more »
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