Joseph Brookes

A Senate inquiry into aged care services has found the government technology needed to usher in generational reforms next month isn’t ready and the delay is holding up the sector’s own preparations. The inquiry’s final report, tabled Wednesday, calls on the government to finalise its aged care technology environment as “a matter of urgency” ahead of the new Aged Care Act coming into force next month. The committee was “alarmed” by evidence from providers that government technology is still is not finalised even after the original July deadline was pushed back to November and a $1.2 billion budget.

Australia’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer has secured investment from the federal government’s industry fund, a former Prime Minister and several super funds to keep developing Wi-Fi microchips for IoT devices in NSW. The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation announced its $35 million investment – its biggest direct investment in a tech firm -- on Tuesday as part of Morse Micro’s Series C funding round. The Corporation joins venture capital funds Blackbird and Main Sequence, and former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the $88 million round.

A three year probe into Kmart’s use of facial recognition across dozens of stores has found the retailer breached privacy law when it captured and analysed customers’ faces without consent or notification. Kmart deployed the facial recognition technology at 28 stores between 2020 and 2022 in an attempt to identify people committing refund fraud. But it did not notify shoppers or seek their consent despite collecting biometric information, which is considered sensitive personal information under Australian privacy law.

Australia has begun explanatory talks with the European Commission about joining the $170 billion Horizon Europe initiative, the world’s largest funding program for research and innovation. Science minister Tim Ayres’ decision to start the talks comes after the Albanese government last year rejected growing calls from the sector to follow nations like Canada and New Zealand in signing up. Joining would require the federal government to contribute to the mammoth fund but offer new access for Australian innovators to research grants, collaborative projects and industry partnerships.

NSW procurement reforms slow out of the blocks

US researchers that analysed hundreds of enterprise level generative AI tools found only one in 20 actually delivered significant value, despite big businesses pouring more than $60 billion into the technology. The study, by MIT’s NANDA initiative, runs counter to fears the generative AI is on the cusp of disrupting industries and displacing workers, and arrives as some of Australia’s biggest corporates double down on their investments.“ Despite [US]$30–40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI, this report uncovers a surprising result in that 95 per cent of organizations are getting zero return,” the MIT study says.

Dedicated industry and government plans to harness artificial intelligence will be developed with urgency after the Albanese government and stakeholders agreed to elevate the frontier technology to a “national priority”.The regulatory question remains live, however, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers ordering a gap analysis before committing to any new dedicated AI laws. The consensus on the technology’s importance was reached on Thursday at the government’s economic reform roundtable, where AI emerged from discussions as one of 10 key reform directions and an area for urgent action.

As Australia looks to artificial intelligence to lead a new wave of productivity it’s worth remembering its mathematical limitations and that the frontier vendors will ruthlessly chase their losses. Dr Joseph Sweeney, an IRBS analyst and Australian tech industry veteran, says generative AI can be useful. But despite its appearance and market claims, it has has no intelligence, emotion or emergent behaviour. Generative AI is better thought of as a “Dewy Decimal system on crack” that still needs to be paid for, he said.

The university regulator is set to gain new powers in response to what Education minister Jason Clare says is an undeniable slide in governance at institutions around the country, including wage theft, campus assault and disturbing allegations of harassment at the top of the ANU. On Tuesday, Mr Clare announced plans to beef up the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) after little power changes in the regulator’s 15-year history. The sector's peak body said it was a sensible move but warned it must not add to “the growing thicket of regulation weighing down universities”.

Crumbling technology, design flaws and gaping governance gaps in the federal government’s punitive welfare compliance system mean the appropriateness of its automated decisions can not be assured. The government sought independent assurance earlier this year after a series of IT issues and serious doubts about the legality of decisions to cancel support payments under its Targeted Compliance Framework. A six-month review by Deloitte published Thursday could not provide it, and has instead raised more questions about how the Employment department failed for years to address serious defects or properly implement social security law.