AI/Machine Learning

Google backflipped on its policy of not using AI for weapons

- February 12, 2025 3 MIN READ

Last week, Google quietly abandoned a long-standing commitment to not use artificial intelligence (AI) technology in weapons or surveillance. In an update to its AI principles, which were first published in 2018, the tech giant removed statements promising not to pursue: technologies that cause or are likely to cause overall harm weapons or other technologies… Read more »

pot of gold
Business

Fresh from its $272 million win against Uber, class action lawyers Maurice Blackburn are now eyeing off Google’s adtech

- December 3, 2024 2 MIN READ

Law firm Maurice Blackburn is wading into an issue that’s vexed the federal government, competition watchdog the ACCC, as well as the media, investigating a potential class action against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct in Australia’s digital advertising market. The idea is likely to be tempting to publishers Google has not struck deals with under… Read more »

Lucinda Longcroft
Global tech

‘Who, moi?’ Australian Google exec denies the tech giant dominates search at a Senate hearing

- August 20, 2024 3 MIN READ

Google has claimed it does not dominate search engine services in Australia after a judge earlier this month found the tech giant operated an illegal search monopoly in the United States. Representatives from Google responded to questions from Australian senators during a meeting of the Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence on Friday, which also… Read more »

begging - coin put in a glass jar
Politics

ATO analysis reveals how tough it is to run a tech business in Australia, with Apple, Google and others struggling to make a buck

- April 5, 2024 3 MIN READ

Accounting tricks are helping Big Tech firms avoid paying tax on up to 96.6% of their Australian income, according to a new analysis of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) figures that showed Apple was the worst offender when it came to corporate tax minimisation. The tech giant took $9.3 billion from Australian customers during the 2021-22… Read more »

Google Incognito
Global tech

Turns out Google kept private browsing data to sell – but will now delete it as part of a class action settlement

- April 3, 2024 3 MIN READ

Google has agreed to delete data collected on users while they were in private browsing mode and properly inform them of how “incognito” this service actually is as part of a class action lawsuit settlement. Google-owner Alphabet settled the class action lawsuit, brought on by users of its Incognito private browsing mode in 2020 late last year,… Read more »

epic games characters
Global tech

The legal battle by Fortnite maker Epic Games against Apple and Google’s app stores began in Australia’s Federal Court this week

- March 20, 2024 3 MIN READ

A five-month legal showdown between three tech titans has kicked off in Australia, with Fortnite-maker Epic Game’s case against Apple and Google to have potentially huge ramifications for how we use our smartphones. Epic’s legal battle with Apple and Google began in Federal Court in Melbourne on Monday, centred on the dominance of the tech giant’s app… Read more »

Lion taming circus
Politics

Competition watchdog the ACCC is getting new powers over Big Tech to support media

- December 20, 2023 2 MIN READ

The government will give Australia’s competition watchdog more power to keep the likes of Google and Meta accountable as part of the News Media Bargaining Code which redistributes wealth from big tech companies into local news outlets in an effort to address an apparent power imbalance in the media industry. On Monday, the Commonwealth said… Read more »

Google search
Global tech

Google is now 25, but could AI herald an early demise for the world’s most popular search engine?

- September 4, 2023 4 MIN READ

Today marks an important milestone in the history of the internet: Google’s 25th birthday. With billions of search queries submitted each day, it’s difficult to remember how we ever lived without the search engine. What was it about Google that led it to revolutionise information access? And will artificial intelligence (AI) make it obsolete, or… Read more »

AI
AI/Machine Learning

AI ‘godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton pulls the pin with Google over artificial intelligence dangers

- May 3, 2023 2 MIN READ

Turing Award winner and AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has resigned from his position with Google in order to speak more openly about the dangers of artificial intelligence, raising questions about whether tech giants have silenced the people most qualified to inform the public about the emerging technology’s effects. In 2012, Hinton and two of his students, Ilya Sutskever… Read more »

Apple iPhone
Global tech

A class action against Google and Apple over app commissions is hunting for Australian app designers to join in

- April 3, 2023 2 MIN READ

Australian lawyers are seeking app developers to join a class action against Google and Apple over what they claim is an abuse of market power by charging 30% commissions on in-app spending while preventing competitive payment alternatives. The class action reflects similar legal action launched in 2020 by Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, against the… Read more »