Happy new year! The shutdown period is often when the noise drops and the big questions surface. This year, that quiet coincided with genuinely striking progress in AI coding agents, especially in the six to eight weeks following the release of Claude Opus 4.5, and its integration into Claude Code. We have seen world-class software…
This is a slightly delayed post because I was on annual leave when the National AI Centre released ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ โ ๐ ๐ด๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐. https://lnkd.in/gpBUmeCX Coming back, I saw the level of uptake, discussion, and genuine relief from the community, and I want to say how pleased I am with…
How can generative and agentic AI improve public auditing without weakening trust? CSIROโs Data61 has recently entered a multi year partnership with the Audit Office of New South Wales to explore how AI can support government audit functions in a transparent, accountable, and responsible way. I wanted to rephrase and share this after seeing the…
As part of the international expert advisory group representing Australia, Iโm pleased to see the second Key Update of the AI Safety Science Report, led by Yoshua Bengio, released (link in the comment). The official update captures the broad progress: more robust adversarial training, better AI-generated content tracking, wider adoption of frontier safety frameworks, and…
Most creators say they want protection from AI, yet a recent UK survey found over 90% would not opt out of AI access to their work. Why? Todayโs visibility depends on online discovery and search, and those systems are powered by AI. If you opt out, your work may be safe from AI training, but…
I often share missed or surprising observations in my talks. Here are five of them, summarised as food for thought. ๐ ๐๐๐ต ๐ญ: ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐-๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ๐.Itโs intuitive to think globally trained models canโt reflect our norms. Yet when frontier models answer the same cultural questions posed to national cohorts, they align most…
Every confidential message youโve sent may already be stored โ waiting to be unlocked. This is the essence of the โ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐๐-๐ป๐ผ๐, ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐๐ฝ๐-๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟโ problem: data intercepted today could be decrypted once quantum computers mature. This week CSIRO’s Data61 released our new report, ๐๐ช๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ช๐ข ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐จ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ: ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฎ, ๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ก๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐จ, mapping the scale of the challenge and…
What counts as a ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, really? From the strict sense in ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐น๐ฎ๐โwhere a decision formally alters someoneโs rights or entitlementsโto the everyday sense where almost everything, from selecting a movie to choosing a candidate, feels like a decision. Yet across these very different contexts, the underlying anatomy looks surprisingly similar. In CSIRO’s Data61 new…
Every few weeks brings a new AI framework โ but rarely one that genuinely helps organisations simplify. The National AI Centre‘s new guidance on responsible AI adoption, launched this week, is a welcome exception. It distils earlier guidance and complex international work into six clear, balanced practices that bridge governance intent with operational reality. We…
Cognitive overload, opaque automation, and AI surveillance are reshaping the modern workplace. Iโm sharing some insights from my talk at the Safety Sphere, Australiaโs leading HSE practitioner network, on โ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ: ๐จ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐๐ธ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น-๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐.โ We examined how AI not only enhances productivity but also creates new health,…
Director/Head of CSIRO’s Data61
Conjoint Professor, CSE UNSW
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