A new national initiative is aiming to accelerate AI skills across Australia’s vocational education and training sector against a backdrop of patchy adoption and growing concern about capability gaps. According to the government’s latest AI Adoption Tracker, 41 per cent of small and medium enterprises now
Shares of US quantum computing companies jumped on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump’s administration is in discussions to acquire equity stakes in exchange for federal funding. Shares of IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave Quantum and Quantum Computing surged between 7.8 per cent and 16 per cent
The changes to government purchasing arrangements announced by Finance minister Katy Gallagher this week are underwhelming. For the tech sector at least, these reforms will do little to improve prospects for local companies winning a bigger proportion of federal contracts. Small and medium-sized businesses are given mandatory first access to
Finance minister Katy Gallagher says the federal government will continue single-sourcing arrangements with tech giants “where they deliver value”, but that some of the deals are falling short. She has also signaled changes may be coming to help Australian businesses compete, amid concerns the mega-deals give a handful of companies
Australia’s innovation funding and programs are grossly misaligned with its industrial structure, leading to a nation of inventors focused on fundamental work but not enough innovators to deliver “real life” outcomes and grow companies. That’s according to Dr Jens Goennemann, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre managing director and a former
The world’s leading technology companies regularly publish research papers in the top AI conferences as part of their strategy to build global competitive advantage. These companies include AI behemoths such as OpenAI and Anthropic, heavy users of AI in the tech stack such as Amazon and Meta, and early stage tech
A seven-year industry-led mission to advance additive manufacturing kicked off in Melbourne on Thursday with the launch of a $258 million Cooperative Research Centre. Under an “Australia Makes” slogan the CRC is starting with nuclear engineering and aerospace partners but expects to work with more than 60 businesses. Federal funding
Google said it has developed a computer algorithm that points the way to practical applications for quantum computing and will be able to generate unique data for use with artificial intelligence. The new algorithm called Quantum Echoes, which runs on the company’s quantum chip, is 13,000 times faster than the
Australia has ordered four artificial intelligence chatbot companies to explain their measures to protect children from exposure to sexual or self-harm material, as its internet regulator beefs up safety measures on the AI front. The realistic conversational abilities of such services have taken the world by storm, but have also
Australian AI safety activists and academics are among hundreds of signatories of a new open letter demanding a ban on superintelligent AI systems until there is broad consensus they can be developed safely. More than 800 people have signed the letter so far, including heavyweight names like AI pioneer Geoffrey
Federal policymakers must move past notions that Australia’s semiconductor industry is tied to mass silicon chip fabrication, the NSW chief scientist said on Wednesday while pushing for a bottom up policy approach. Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, who is also the state’s chief engineer and responsible for its deep tech funding programs,
Small and medium-sized businesses will gain priority access to select government technology and consulting contracts worth less than $125,000 under forthcoming changes to procurement rules. But the update will not prevent a foreign firm from bidding for and winning contracts under the open tendering threshold, which is being raised for
A new national initiative is aiming to accelerate AI skills across Australia’s vocational education and training sector against a backdrop of patchy adoption and growing concern about capability gaps. According to the government’s latest AI Adoption Tracker, 41 per cent of small and medium enterprises now
Shares of US quantum computing companies jumped on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump’s administration is in discussions to acquire equity stakes in exchange for federal funding. Shares of IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave Quantum and Quantum Computing surged between 7.8 per cent and 16 per cent
The changes to government purchasing arrangements announced by Finance minister Katy Gallagher this week are underwhelming. For the tech sector at least, these reforms will do little to improve prospects for local companies winning a bigger proportion of federal contracts. Small and medium-sized businesses are given mandatory first access to
Finance minister Katy Gallagher says the federal government will continue single-sourcing arrangements with tech giants “where they deliver value”, but that some of the deals are falling short. She has also signaled changes may be coming to help Australian businesses compete, amid concerns the mega-deals give a handful of companies
Australia’s innovation funding and programs are grossly misaligned with its industrial structure, leading to a nation of inventors focused on fundamental work but not enough innovators to deliver “real life” outcomes and grow companies. That’s according to Dr Jens Goennemann, the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre managing director and a former
The world’s leading technology companies regularly publish research papers in the top AI conferences as part of their strategy to build global competitive advantage. These companies include AI behemoths such as OpenAI and Anthropic, heavy users of AI in the tech stack such as Amazon and Meta, and early stage tech
A seven-year industry-led mission to advance additive manufacturing kicked off in Melbourne on Thursday with the launch of a $258 million Cooperative Research Centre. Under an “Australia Makes” slogan the CRC is starting with nuclear engineering and aerospace partners but expects to work with more than 60 businesses. Federal funding
Google said it has developed a computer algorithm that points the way to practical applications for quantum computing and will be able to generate unique data for use with artificial intelligence. The new algorithm called Quantum Echoes, which runs on the company’s quantum chip, is 13,000 times faster than the
Australia has ordered four artificial intelligence chatbot companies to explain their measures to protect children from exposure to sexual or self-harm material, as its internet regulator beefs up safety measures on the AI front. The realistic conversational abilities of such services have taken the world by storm, but have also
Australian AI safety activists and academics are among hundreds of signatories of a new open letter demanding a ban on superintelligent AI systems until there is broad consensus they can be developed safely. More than 800 people have signed the letter so far, including heavyweight names like AI pioneer Geoffrey
Federal policymakers must move past notions that Australia’s semiconductor industry is tied to mass silicon chip fabrication, the NSW chief scientist said on Wednesday while pushing for a bottom up policy approach. Professor Hugh Durrant-Whyte, who is also the state’s chief engineer and responsible for its deep tech funding programs,
Small and medium-sized businesses will gain priority access to select government technology and consulting contracts worth less than $125,000 under forthcoming changes to procurement rules. But the update will not prevent a foreign firm from bidding for and winning contracts under the open tendering threshold, which is being raised for
