Having spent the first term of government as Industry Minster with carriage of AI, Ed was a terrific person to share his views on the power dynamics driving tech policy in Australia. His observations on the tendency of government to take safe options when it comes to tech procurement shows how status quo actively favours the hyper-scalers. He also expanded on his recent Saturday Paper article on data centres (this is paywalled but worth a sub). And it was great getting an inside view of the balance between opportunity and risk that decision makers need to grapple with on a daily basis. But the one thing shining through for me was that so much of the approach to AI is still in its formative stages, which is why engagement with elected reps are so important.
Other issues that got a lap of the kitchen table this week:
Who is enabling Nudify apps? Lizzie looked at how app stores are getting around bans on this heinous application of technology and actively pushing them towards users.
This piece from 404 Media reports on the research from the Tech Transparency project
Lizzie also mentioned this comprehensive longer-term research from Indicator
and she also referenced the work going on in Australia to cover this apps via the nascent digital duty of care
Is there a world beyond the US AI stack? Dan waxed lyrical at the growing number of nations diversifying their tech infrastructure beyond the US tech giants.
He cited this TechCrunch report about France’s decision. to ditch Microsoft Windows for the open source operating system Linux.
Ed contrasted this decision with the Australian Government $25 billion invesemt deal (terms and conditions apply) with Microsoft
As always, some sharp reporting on the announcement from Nine’s David Swan
What’s Alex Karp smoking? – I looked at the Palantir CEO’s fascist-adjacent political manifesto and concerns about the company’s growing footprint in Australia.
· Here’s a link to the 22 piont Manifesto (warning its on X)
But you really need to watch him in action to get the full menace of his ambitions -
This piece, originally published in Wired chronicles how Palantir’s internal staff are raising the red flags
And if you can get behind Crikey’s paywall, Burning Platforms buddy Cam Wilson has some docs explaining the Palantir operating model (and if you can’t Cam is about to be free to the world as the new national AI reporter for our
ABC!)
Hope this helps flesh out what was an excellent discussion with slightly fewer tech SNAFUs than normal!
