Tech News: 5 Things to Know in Australia Today

Tech News: 5 Things to Know in Australia Today

Hello and welcome to this week’s penultimate day. There are a few things happening in tech land this morning, here are five we want to share with you.

 

1. ChatGPT could exit the EU

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has threatened to take his big tech toys elsewhere if the EU is not willing to play by his rules. Altman said on Wednesday his ChatGPT product might consider leaving Europe if it could not comply with the upcoming artificial intelligence regulations by the European Union. The EU is working on what could be the first set of rules globally to govern AI. Altman reportedly said that while OpenAI was “gonna try to comply” with EU regulations with the AI act, he was miffed by the way the European body defined “high-risk” systems. Read more about it here.

2. MilkRun is back

It’s been a rough several months for grocery delivery apps in Australia. Just last month, MilkRun announced that it was closing down, and then online marketplace for high-end restaurants and food, Providoor, closed its doors, as did online alcohol delivery service BoozeBud. Before this, lesser-known competitors, like Voly, Quicko and Send all folded. But, as the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting, one of them is being resurrected – Woolworths has brought the fallen Milkrun back to life, relaunching its Metro60 service with the startup’s blue branding, name, and customer list.

3. ‘Don’t #@!% the Planet’

Atlassian has published a 37-page report on “Stories, pointers, and lessons learned on our journey to a net-zero future”. The company reckons it’s already running its operations on 100 per cent renewable electricity and has a “science-based target” to reach net zero emissions no later than 2040. The whole report is an interesting read, including some motivational talk, such as, “Setting ambitious climate goals feels daunting, but it’s worth the effort. Don’t let the size of the program overwhelm you or hold you back from pushing farther than you think is feasible. You’ll be surprised by what you can achieve”.

4. ‘Sextortion’ on the rise, eSafety says

Reports of “sextortion” to the eSafety Commissioner have tripled in the first quarter of 2023, with more than 1,700 from January to March this year compared to 600 over the same period in 2022. Of the 1,700 reports, the bulk were from young people, with 1200 victims aged between 18 and 24 coming to eSafety for help. Per a report from the ABC, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said 90 per cent of these reports came from men.

5. Incredible findings from CSIRO researchers

Researchers in Western Australia have detected a ‘fast radio burst’ in a nearby galaxy that CSIRO said questions what we know about how the phenomena form. Using CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope on Wajarri Yamaji Country, WA, the work from the researchers indicate the source of the interstellar blast is in a much calmer galactic environment than other known events. ASKAP, or the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, is a a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory that has 36 ‘dish’ antennas that work together as one telescope. Read more about these findings on the CSIRO website.

BONUS ITEM: PlayStation Showcase kicked off this morning at 6 am – our friends over at Kotaku AU have done us a solid and put all of the show’s trailers into the one place. Here it is.

We’ll see you tomorrow.


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