The Algorithm Age

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude can boost productivity, but learning how to use them in the workplace can be a challenge. Experts say being an effective communicator, treating the technology like a collaborative partner, and taking advantage of the growing features are key to success for anyone—no technical experience required. You’ve probably heard the saying, AI will not replace you—but a human using AI will. After all, it’s the sentiment expressed by CEOs, the likes of Nvidia’s Jensen Huang , Indeed’s Chris Hyams , and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos . However, getting ahead of the game and implementing AI into your work routine is often easier said than done—especially for those who don’t even know where to start. In fact, getting up and running is one of the biggest challenges in today’s AI era, according to Jules White, a computer science professor at Vanderbilt University. “The main problem is that most people don’t know where to sta...

Some video game players recently criticised the cover art on a new video game for being generated with artificial intelligence (AI). Yet the cover art for Little Droid, which also featured in the game’s launch trailer on YouTube, was not concocted by AI. It was, the developers claim, carefully designed by a human artist. Surprised by the attacks on “ AI slop ”, the studio Stamina Zero posted a video showing earlier versions of the artist’s handiwork. But while some accepted this evidence, others remained sceptical. In addition, several players felt that even if the Little Droid cover art was human made, it nonetheless resembled AI-generated work. However, some art is deliberately designed to have the futuristic glossy appearance associated with image generators like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion. It’s becoming increasingly easy for images, videos or audio made with AI to be deceptively passed off as authentic or human made. The twist in cases like Lit...

Solicitor Kelly Waring isn't shy about how beneficial artificial intelligence (AI) is to her litigation work spanning clients across New South Wales and south-east Queensland. "Evolve or die," she said. The 36-year-old principal director of Lismore-based firm Parker Kissane introduced an AI program to the team's workplace 12 months ago, which allowed complex case summaries to be fast-tracked, as well as managing accountancy and clerical tasks. "It hasn't totally changed the game just yet, but it is on its way," she said. Tasks that young lawyers traditionally cut their teeth on are predicted to be significantly disrupted by digital automation, and female graduates will suffer the most as a result, new research has found. "Women make up the majority of legal graduates today, but they're concentrated in areas that are most vulnerable to automation, AI," said lead author Meraiah Foley from the Univers...

Last month, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report on generative AI training , concluding that use of copyrighted materials to train artificial intelligence models is not fair use . That conclusion is wrong as both a matter of copyright law and AI policy. AI is too important to allow copyright to impede its progress, especially as America seeks to maintain its global competitiveness in tech innovation. Fair use is a defense to copyright infringement that allows companies like Google to reproduce web pages in order to develop their search engines. If Google faced liability for copying the material it indexes, it would go out of business. Similarly, generative AI systems should have permission to be trained on material that is often copyrighted, such as images or articles, to achieve sufficient accuracy. AI datasets currently utilize a process called “backend copying,” often mimicking how humans learn words and ideas from reading copyrighted materials, which has n...

Lumier Rodriguez flipped on the “open to work” setting on the professional social network LinkedIn to show that she was actively looking for contract work in April. She thought she’d instantly get responses from recruiters. She was met with silence. So she started actively applying to jobs. But rather than hear back from human recruiters, she received emails, calls and texts from artificial intelligence agents called virtual recruiters seeking interviews. By late June, she had been screened over the phone and via video by AI four times, leaving her to wonder: “Where are all the people?” “It felt a little bit like when you have a blind date and you don’t get enough information before going,” said Rodriguez, a Central Florida resident. “You don’t want to be rude and hang up … but I also felt catfished a little bit.” Increasingly, job candidates are running into virtual recruiters for screenings. The conversational agents, built on large language models, help recruiting fir...

Lumier Rodriguez flipped on the “open to work” setting on the professional social network LinkedIn to show that she was actively looking for contract work in April. She thought she’d instantly get responses from recruiters. She was met with silence. So she started actively applying to jobs. But rather than hear back from human recruiters, she received emails, calls and texts from artificial intelligence agents called virtual recruiters seeking interviews. By late June, she had been screened over the phone and via video by AI four times, leaving her to wonder: “Where are all the people?” “It felt a little bit like when you have a blind date and you don’t get enough information before going,” said Rodriguez, a Central Florida resident. “You don’t want to be rude and hang up … but I also felt catfished a little bit.” Increasingly, job candidates are running into virtual recruiters for screenings. The conversational agents, built on large language models, help recruiting fir...

Recent figures reveal a sharp rise in the share of job postings mentioning generative AI (GenAI) over the past two years across Europe, North America, and Australia. “Nearly every job will be impacted by AI (artificial intelligence) at some point,” said Pawel Adrjan, Director of Economic Research at Indeed. In major European economies, the share of GenAI-related job postings more than doubled in the 12 months to March 2025, according to the global hiring platform Indeed. What are GenAI jobs? GenAI jobs refer to roles involving the development, implementation, or oversight of generative artificial intelligence technologies. This could include positions building GenAI features, or roles leveraging this tech to create more efficient processes such as reviewing data, summarising reports, or drafting written or creative materials. Ireland is leading the way by a significant extent in Europe when it comes to these kinds of jobs. Indeed data shows that, as of 31 March 202...

Most of us have a sport that we just love to watch, whether it’s something more mainstream, such as football and Formula One (F1), or something slightly harder to access regularly, such as equestrianism, strongman or swimming. And while many super fans have been taking part in fantasy leagues or replaying their favourite goals online for years, generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) is set to democratise the way we can all access, engage with, and enjoy our favourite sports. Next spoke to Samira Panah Bakhtiar, General Manager of Media & Entertainment, Games, and Sports at Amazon Web Services (AWS), to find out how they’re helping fans get closer to the action. F1 insights from inside the car If you’ve ever watched F1 , you probably enjoy the nail-biting speed, driver tactics, and listening in to the team radio - which can often provide comical moments. Now, by ingesting over a million points of data during every minute of every race throughout a seaso...

The rapid advancement of AI is reshaping industries , redefining job roles, and making adaptability more critical than ever. The question isn't whether it will impact your career, but how you can prepare yourself to thrive in this evolving landscape. As a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the author of " The Systems Leader ," I've spent 23 years studying how professionals can navigate disruptive changes. Resilience in the AI era requires a combination of continuous learning, adaptability and relationship-building. After studying over 400 leaders from around the world, here are the five best habits I've seen for future success: 1. Be a lifelong learner The most successful people, the ones who build thriving careers amid uncertainty, actively seek out new knowledge and skillsets. They understand that ignoring changes you don't like, especially when it comes to technology, is a dangerous trap that can lead to obsolescenc...

The rapid advancement of AI is reshaping industries , redefining job roles, and making adaptability more critical than ever. The question isn't whether it will impact your career, but how you can prepare yourself to thrive in this evolving landscape. As a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the author of " The Systems Leader ," I've spent 23 years studying how professionals can navigate disruptive changes. Resilience in the AI era requires a combination of continuous learning, adaptability and relationship-building. After studying over 400 leaders from around the world, here are the five best habits I've seen for future success: 1. Be a lifelong learner The most successful people, the ones who build thriving careers amid uncertainty, actively seek out new knowledge and skillsets. They understand that ignoring changes you don't like, especially when it comes to technology, is a dangerous trap that can lead to obsolescenc...

A US judge on Wednesday handed Meta a victory over authors who accused the tech giant of violating copyright law by training Llama artificial intelligence on their creations without permission. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco ruled that Meta's use of the works to train its AI model was "transformative" enough to constitute "fair use" under copyright law, in the second such courtroom triumph for AI firms this week. However, it came with a caveat that the authors could have pitched a winning argument that by training powerful generative AI with copyrighted works, tech firms are creating a tool that could let a sea of users compete with them in the literary marketplace. "No matter how transformative (generative AI) training may be, it's hard to imagine that it can be fair use to use copyrighted books to develop a tool to make billions or trillions of dollars while enabling the creation of a potentially endless stream of com...

Despite Sam Altman’s claims that we’ve crossed the AI “event horizon,” the reality is that today’s models remain far behind human intelligence in scale, flexibility, efficiency and learning, says Lewis Liu Sam Altman is currently peddling the “ gentle singularity “, claiming we are already “past the event horizon” for AI – at the point where the technology will be infused in every part of our lives and, in his words, “wonders become routine, and then table stakes”. But despite his claims that we’ve crossed this threshold, the math tells a different story. I want to take a cold, hard look at what this actually means and examine the technical realities behind Altman’s vision, especially given how the rise of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence – AI genuinely smarter than humans) will shape human civilisation in the years to come. There are obviously two camps: those who believe we are already at or super close to achieving AGI (Altman is the high priest of this mov...

In recent years, the field of artificial intelligence has experienced monumental advancements. These innovations have paved the way for various industries to incorporate AI, enhancing effectiveness and efficiency across the globe. Among the current leaders in AI development, Google DeepMind has consistently stood out. Today, we delve into how Gemini Robotics is leveraging DeepMind’s cutting-edge technology to revolutionize local AI applications. About Gemini Robotics Gemini Robotics has emerged as a formidable player in the AI landscape, with a focus on creating accessible and practical AI solutions at the local level. Founded on the principles of innovation and sustainability, Gemini Robotics seeks to bridge the gap between high-end AI technology and everyday applications. Here’s what makes them stand out: Commitment to Community : Gemini Robotics is dedicated to bringing top-tier technology into every community, irrespective of its size. Focus...

Amid heated public debates over the growing use of artificial intelligence in everyday life, the Latin Grammy-winning pop star Camilo warns humanity against an over-reliance on one particular AI platform: ChatGPT. On June 25, the Colombian singer-songwriter released the Trooko-produced electro-pop single, “Maldito ChatGPT,” which playfully critiques the role of artificial intelligence in human affairs. In his lyrics, he consults the ChatGPT bot for advice on how to resolve his relationship woes. “You're not for me, that's what ChatGPT told me, it knows me better than I know myself.” The new music video — directed by Camilo’s spouse, Evaluna Montaner, and Sebastian Andrade — is just as critical of this “smart” technology. Set in a dimly-lit office with Post-it notes and paper scattered about the cubical, the visuals pay homage to the aesthetics of the 1999 cult comedy film “Office Space.” Camilo, dressed in full office wear (save for his feet) agonizes over his...

A federal court on Wednesday ruled that Meta Platforms Inc.’s use of millions of copyrighted books, academic papers, and comics to train its Llama artificial intelligence models falls under “fair use”. This marks a significant legal win for tech companies developing generative AI. The lawsuit, filed by a group of writers including Ta-Nehisi Coates and Richard Kadrey, accused the $1.4 trillion social media and AI giant of illicitly using a huge web content catalog without permission. These works were obtained through archives such as LibGen — a shadow library that hosts content without granting publisher rights. However, US District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco sided with Meta, concluding that the authors failed to make the right legal arguments to support their claims. “This ruling does not stand for the proposition that Meta’s use of copyrighted materials to train its language models is lawful,” Chhabria clarified in his decis...

The future of the OpenAI-Microsoft partnership—one of the most storied in tech history—hinges in part on the meaning of an amorphous AI buzzword that divides many in the industry. The contract between the tech partners, who have been locked in acrimonious negotiations , stipulates that when OpenAI’s systems reach “artificial general intelligence,” or AGI, the startup will be able to limit Microsoft’s access to its future technology. Microsoft is fighting hard to prevent that. Many AI experts see AGI as the point at which generative AI systems achieve humanlike intelligence, but OpenAI and Microsoft are at odds over the issue. OpenAI executives including Sam Altman believe they are close to being able to declare that their AI tools have achieved the AGI level of proficiency, according to people familiar with the matter. Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella has expressed skepticism that reaching such a benchmark is possible. Their disagreement mirrors a debate among Si...