It’s probably not the best idea to let 3000 machine learning specialists loose on a casino floor, but nonetheless that was the setting for Amazon’s AI conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. re:MARS is Amazon’s showcase of all their cutting edge AI, space and robotics technologies. A flashy event that lived up to the promised hype, and... Continue Reading →

Technology — writ large — poses a range of ethical issues. The current tech-lash waging against the Facebook and Googles suggest that perhaps those issues haven’t been handled appropriately in more recent times.  We’re live in a time of not just rapid technological progress, but of multi-faceted technological progress as well. And while each technology... Continue Reading →

Denver’s a cool city to get stuck in. The beards a long, the mountains are tall and the people friendly.   There’s a lot to like. Which is why the city — a (give or take) three hour flight from either coast — isgrowing by almost 1000 persons a month (1.6 per cent).    Colorado is... Continue Reading →

This is an abridged version of the keynote talk I gave to the Maryland International Education Consortium’s Spring Conference on Maryland’s International Education Day. Sorry is a bit longer than usual. As Minister Counsellor for Industry, Science and Education, I cover a broad range of topics at the Australian Embassy. But the underlying thread that... Continue Reading →

“Labour markets and the world of work are transforming. An estimated 14% of jobs across the OECD face a high likelihood of automation and another 32% are likely to experience significant change over the next 10 to 20 years.” This, from the OECD’s new Going Digital: Shaping Policies, Improving Lives report, is a moderate take on a... Continue Reading →

When setting up or scaling up a business, an entrepreneur has a choice of raising capital through either equity or debt. But when it comes to human capital, investments are almost exclusively financed with debt. Almost. In 2016, Purdue University, a public university in Indiana, became one of the first universities to start offering a type... Continue Reading →

Innovation is a difficult sell. At best it’s happening in a garage somewhere: a uni dropout in Connies, developing a billion dollar app that I don’t understand, and won’t impact me directly. At worst, it’s Uber: a disruptive force that no one told me was coming, and has now cost me my job. For the... Continue Reading →

AI technology has been around for a surprisingly long time. In the 1980s, the US Army attempted to use neural networks to automatically detect camouflaged enemy tanks. Researchers trained an algorithm to distinguish between photos of camouflaged tanks in trees, and photos of trees without tanks. But when the researchers handed the work over to... Continue Reading →

The New England Patriots just won their sixth Super Bowl this Century. Their win over the LA Rams on Sunday night was their ninth appearance in the Super Bowl since 2001. In fact there have only been six times this century occurrences when the Patriots haven’t featured in the AFC Championship match.  What makes the Patriots’ success... Continue Reading →

Utah, just another flyover state between San Francisco and New York. Most of the land-locked state’s populated live in the greater Salt Lake City region. Outside of SLC, the state is sparsely populated, boasting amazing parks for winter sports and mountain biking, and some very rich mining deposits. (Rio Tinto operates the world’s second largest open-pit... Continue Reading →