Good afternoon, Welcome to your twice-weekly look at how generative AI is transforming the way we live, work and play – plus the latest news and analysis. As charity donations dry up, the Kids Cancer Project turned to artificial intelligence to preserve precious staff resources, analyse donor base data and increase investments in cancer research. It has almost doubled its amount of regular donations to $2.2m a year. AI has allowed it to comb through copious amounts of data among its donor base to determine who is likely to give more. Australia’s peak research agency, CSIRO, has spent $15m on a new “supercomputer” that it says will speed up scientific discoveries, helping grow the national economy. It says the Dell-built computer will allow it to complete power-hungry artificial intelligence workloads and perform a range of tasks, including measuring crops and predicting bushfires. Stakeholders are getting impatient with the ‘snail-pace’ progress on the government’s copyright and AI rules, as it emerges that the body assigned to deal with the issue has met only twice in six months. The group largely comprises technology companies (Google, Microsoft, and Meta), creative groups and media companies (Screen Producers Australia, Australian Writers’ Guild and Free TV Australia), and consumer groups (Australian Library and Information Association). Let me know what you think — lynchj@theaustralian.com.au |