The Victorian government’s $2 billion investment fund, Breakthrough Victoria has appointed Rod Bristow as its new chief executive officer. Bristow previously spent four years as CEO of early stage and climate-tech VC Investible, building out its Asian presence, and as well as raising a $32 million climate tech fund a $51.6m 2nd early-stage fund, and a new… Read more »
Large social media companies should have to proactively remove harmful content from their platforms, undergo regular “risk assessments” and face hefty fines if they don’t comply, according to an independent review of online safety laws in Australia. The federal government this week released the final report of the review conducted by experienced public servant Delia… Read more »
DeepSeek, the hedge fund-backed Chinese version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has been prohibited on Australian government-issued systems and devices following a risk assessment by the Department of Home Affairs. Department secretary Stephanie Foster issued a Protective Security Policy Framework direction on Tuesday saying “the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level… Read more »
The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek has rattled the tech industry with the release of free, cheaply made AI models that compete with the best US products such as ChatGPT. Users are rushing to check out the new chatbot, sending DeepSeek’s AI Assistant to the top of the iPhone and Android app charts in… Read more »
An independent review is underway into “lessons learned” from the process enabling a $940 million deal for US firm PsiQuantum to attempt to build the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, as well as how potential conflicts of interest were managed, newly tabled documents reveal. The documents, released to the Senate late last year,… Read more »
A Sydney startup pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to analyse medical scans to rapidly identify potential diseases such as cancer, even before clinicians spot them, has taken on $32 million from the federal government’s signature National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) as part of a planned $100 million+ Series C. Harrison.ai has trained generative AI… Read more »
A Tasmanian senator best known for her campaign to ban transgender people from women’s sport has been named by Opposition leader Peter Dutton as the Coalition’s spokesperson for government services, the digital economy, science and the arts. Senator Claire Chandler will be shadow minister stalking current science and industry minister Ed Husic in the forthcoming… Read more »
In one of his first moves as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump announced a new US$500 billion project called Stargate to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the US. The project is a partnership between three large tech companies – OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle. Trump called it “the largest… Read more »
Freshly elected US president Donald Trump has exercised his usual degree of modesty and named his newly launched cryptocurrency or memecoin, $Trump. And like the man himself, the coin’s price is extraordinarily volatile. The price ran up to US$75, fell below $60, went back to $75, fell below $40, then rose back to $60 and… Read more »
Canberra has a new think tank for tech policy founded by three women to offer advice on the way forward in a digital world. The Tech Policy Design Institute (TPDi) bills itself as Australia’s first non-partisan, independent think tank focused on best practice technology policy. Its cofounders, Johanna Weaver, Zoe Jay Hawkins and Sunita Kumar, said… Read more »
Social media giant TikTok is preparing to shut down its app in the United States this Sunday – the day that legislation signed by President Joe Biden last year banning the app takes effect. There is a slim chance this dramatic development might not happen if the US Supreme Court accepts a last minute legal… Read more »
The federal government will make another $3 billion equity investment into the National Broadband Network (NBN) to national fibre-to-the node (FTTN) network as Labor and the Coalition begin campaigning ahead of an election due by May. NBN Co will contribute more than $800 million to the plan to upgrade around 622,000 homes and businesses nationally… Read more »
FinTech Australia has released its formal position on the RBA’s review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging, advocating for an approach which keeps competition high but does not place an outright ban on surcharging. The view was formed after months of consulting with the peak body’s member base of over 400 companies and commissioning… Read more »
As an active contributor to Australia’s innovation ecosystem for the last 15 years, and a native Sydney-sider, I’m stunned by last week’s news that the Sydney Startup Hub will be kicked out of its wonderful Wynyard location in October 2025. The reason? It’s younger sibling – Tech Central – is struggling and needs propping up. … Read more »
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has struck a $50 million deal with the Australian Information Commissioner to settle a Federal Court case over privacy breach involving the Cambridge Analytica political scandal. While it’s the second largest settlement struck by Meta over the matter, its a fraction of the US$725 million (A$1.14bn) the tech giant paid to… Read more »
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