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‘Your craft is obsolete’: WiseTech staff in limbo as AI touted as better than humans

6 May 2026 at 15:00

The software company said in February it would cut 2,000 jobs but, as it touts new technology, workers are still waiting to hear which roles will go

Staff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they are among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI, with workers criticising the wait as stressful and “ridiculous”.

The comments come as its founder on Tuesday told investors an AI agent could learn a human’s job in just 15 minutes, according to the Australian Financial Review.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Wikipedia founder brands Australia’s social media ban an ‘unmitigated disaster’ and ‘embarrassment’

4 May 2026 at 06:49

Jimmy Wales remembers a toxic internet even before social media and says AI is ‘not a disaster’ for the free – and freely edited - online encyclopaedia

Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, has branded the Australian social media ban an “unmitigated disaster” and an “embarrassment” that is teaching kids to accept surveillance from tech companies when they go online.

The online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit was born in a world before social media, in 2001. But Wales told Guardian Australia that many of the ills of social media existed even in the earlier stages of the internet.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Calls grow to ban Palantir in Australia after manifesto described by UK MP as ‘ramblings of a supervillain’

30 April 2026 at 15:00

Spy tech firm says it’s just ‘a software company’ amid pressure for a ban on new contracts with government agencies

Just weeks after it implied some cultures are inferior to others in a manifesto described by one UK MP as the “ramblings of a supervillain”, the US spy tech company Palantir says it is just “a software company” amid calls for Australian government agencies to ban any new contracts with the controversial company.

In Australia, state and federal contracts with Palantir have reached nearly $80m, and federal investment in the company is reportedly more than $160m.

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© Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

© Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

© Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

Rental platform unnecessarily collected the data of millions of Australians, privacy commissioner finds

22 April 2026 at 03:47

2Apply’s over-collection of personal information adds to the power of the real estate industry in the competitive rental market, Carly Kind says

An online rental platform has been urged to stop collecting users’ personal information after the Australian privacy commissioner found the gathering of “excessive” data compounded the vulnerability of tenants amid the housing crisis.

RentTech platforms are increasingly used by real estate agents in Australia for people applying for rental properties to submit applications and supporting documentation. The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute has identified 57 different rent platforms operating in Australia.

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© Photograph: Cavan Images/Alamy

© Photograph: Cavan Images/Alamy

© Photograph: Cavan Images/Alamy

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