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Tech Observed

This Month

  • Analysis
  • AI
Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks starred in Sleepless in Seattle, the script of which is now safe from being reused by a Hollywood AI chatbot.

The AI ‘Nora Ephron problem’ is fast spreading

Hollywood’s screenwriters may have succeeded in halting the march of AI into movie scripts but recent upgrades to ChatGPT mean other workers might not be so lucky.

  • Nick Bonyhady

September

Despite concerns about cheating, Australian public school principals say AI needs to be embraced by schools.

Schools and business embrace AI, but do we know what they’re doing?

Artificial intelligence seemingly lets students and workers do new and exciting things more efficiently, but without care, we risk sacrificing genuine knowledge for short-term gains.

  • Paul Smith
The gig economy rules proposed by the government appear most logical in relation to Uber and Uber Eats.

Gig economy stoush shows government’s trouble fixing tech ‘disruption’

There is a lack of logic on both sides of the debate about planned changes to workplace rules for online service marketplaces.

  • Paul Smith

August

The telco sector internationally and locally is warning that future infrastructure investment is becoming uneconomic ... but not everyone agrees tech platforms should pay.

Telcos struggle for public sympathy in big tech battle

The telco sector will open a can of worms if it goes after big tech for more payments, and it may struggle to win the argument.

  • Paul Smith
Metigy chief executive David Fairfull projected the image of a successful founder.

Metigy shows the dark side of start-up myth making

The loudest parts of the industry spruik the idea that founders are gifted with a unique ability to turn outlandish visions into reality, doubters be damned.

  • Nick Bonyhady
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July

Banks will hate it, but tourists and expat workers will be cheering as new tech lowers FX fees across SE Asia, while fintechs compete to transform the world’s largest financial market.

Bye bye bank fees, as tech cuts out costly foreign exchange pain

Banks will hate it, but tourists and expat workers will be cheering as new tech lowers FX fees across SE Asia, while fintechs compete to transform the world’s largest financial market.

  • Tom Richardson
Microsoft boss Satya Nadella,

Why bosses will pay a premium for Microsoft’s ChatGPT tools

The premium price for Microsoft’s AI-based Copilot product looks cheap, if it can deliver on its productivity promises, bosses say.

  • Tess Bennett
Forget cage fighting, the rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk is getting ever more juvenile.

For Musk and Zuck size matters, but it’s what you do with it that counts

As Threads battles Twitter with record breaking user sign-ups the stoush between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg is getting ever more puerile and bizarre.

  • Paul Smith
Bored Apes were expensive and highly sought after ... for a short period of time.

Bored Ape owners sent broke after NFT price collapse

The cartoon apes that became a status symbol during the NFT boom of 2021 have become a financial albatross for some of their once proud owners, who have plunged into debt.

  • Jessica Sier

June

Blackbird Ventures partner Nick Crocker earned the ire of one experienced tech investor for suggesting it was right to make overvalued investments in 2021.

VCs told to get real about their role in the tech wreck

A seasoned investor watching last week’s AFR Entrepreneur Summit was stunned to see their VC peers’ lack of self-reflection about hugely over-valued start-ups.

  • Paul Smith

May

A fake image of an explosion, supposedly at the Pentagon, seems to have proven the ability of cheap AI apps to move global financial markets.

Deepfakes spell deep trouble for markets

A fake image of an explosion at the Pentagon showed the ability of cheap AI apps to move global financial markets, and nobody seems to know what to do about it.

  • Paul Smith
  • Analysis
  • AI
Phoenix the general purpose robot.

Meet the AI humanoid robot that is already stacking shelves

Depending on your perspective you will either be delighted or terrified to meet Phoenix, the humanoid robot, who his creators say, is here to help.

  • Paul Smith
Snapchat recently joined the rush of companies announcing AI chat features based on GPT-4, essentially experimenting on its audience to fine tune an initially dangerous product.

Snapchat’s rushed AI rollout has horrific results

Launched without necessary training, bots from huge companies are showing themselves to be dangerously bad, and rules are urgently needed to force responsibility.

  • Paul Smith

March

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, spoke strongly about the need for cooperation between companies and government following cyberattacks.

Optus and Telstra unite in cyber battle

In the aftermath of its massive cyberattack Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin cut a lonely figure, but now even Optus’ bitterest rivals are in her corner.

  • Paul Smith

February

Microsoft and Google are going head-to-head on their AI platforms, but they need real humans to make sure the bots don’t say horrific things.

Robo-debt disgrace shows why AI cannot replace important jobs

New AI systems such as ChatGPT are untrustworthy, and the robo-debt scandal has shown the peril of abdicating responsibility to unfeeling bots.

  • Paul Smith
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December 2022

NBN Co has written off $31 billion of costs.

No shame in NBN’s blowout, Labor was on the right side of history

The government should own its mistake in promising unlikely commercial returns on the NBN because it was ultimately right on the bigger picture.

  • Paul Smith

November 2022

Mitchell Duke celebrates with Jackson Irvine after scoring a goal.

SBS makes tech trade-offs to avoid ‘Floptus’ World Cup disaster

At the last World Cup soccerl fans adopted the word ‘Floptus’ to rage at the failings of Optus’ coverage, but this time – like the Socceroos – SBS is delivering the goods.

  • Paul Smith
Sam Bankman-Fried’s quant firm Alameda wasn’t as sharp as its reputation suggested.

Playing on ‘cheat mode’, Alameda still lost billions

Every trader I speak to is stunned by Alameda’s collapse. Not because FTX was found to be shovelling customer money over to Alameda - though that’s sickening enough - but because Alameda actually lost it in the market.

  • Updated
  • Jessica Sier

October 2022

The pandemic has delivered huge growth for the technology sector, a trend that is captured by technology themed ETFs.

Medibank customers in limbo as hacker ransom dilemma plays out

The health insurer is weighing up whether to pay off its hackers to avoid customer data being leaked, but it would be mad to do so and the government should forbid it.

  • Paul Smith
Whether wittingly or not, Medibank CEO David Kockzar played investors and customers like a fiddle with early assurances about having kept data safe from hackers.

How Medibank managed to spin a cyber crisis

First Optus and then Medibank fluffed their lines when responding to cyber disasters, but Medibank’s early PR “win” could backfire spectacularly.

  • Updated
  • Ayesha de Kretser

The Australian Financial Review Magazine

BOSS Financial Review

British beauty entrepreneur Sarah-Jane Duncanson “Trinny” Woodall at the Park Hyatt, Sydney.

Life & Leisure

Living it up, but not at The Ritz: Raffles London at The Old War Office has been restored to full baroque Edwardian elegance.

Rich List

Chemist Warehouse paid $364m in dividends in the last 12 months.