Toby Walsh

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Toby Walsh |Tobi Walsh

Australia’s close-knit literary community – from writers and agents through to the Australian Society of Authors – have reacted with outrage. Black Inc, the publisher of the Quarterly Essay as well as fiction and nonfiction books by many prominent writers, had asked consent from its authors to train AI models on their work and then share the revenue with those authors. Now I have a dog in this race. Actually two dogs.

2 months ago | theconversation.com | Toby Walsh |Tobi Walsh

In 1989, political scientist Francis Fukuyama predicted we were approaching the end of history. He meant that similar liberal democratic values were taking hold in societies around the world. How wrong could he have been? Democracy today is clearly on the decline. Despots and autocrats are on the rise. You might, however, be thinking Fukuyama was right all along. But in a different way. Perhaps we really are approaching the end of history. As in, game over humanity.

Jan 29, 2025 | smartcompany.com.au | Clare Birch |Poppy Johnston |Toby Walsh

Founded in Australia in 2017, Dovetail helps businesses analyse unstructured data from customer videos, audio recordings, and documents. Initially, the platform focused on offering productivity features for manual data handling, such as creating highlights and adding tags. As large language models (LLMs) emerged, the startup began improving its products to automate processes to improve efficiency, such as identifying key moments in transcripts and classifying support tickets.

Jan 28, 2025 | smartcompany.com.au | Tegan Jones |Clare Birch |Poppy Johnston |Toby Walsh

Welcome back to Neural Notes, a weekly column where I look at the effect of AI on Australia. In this edition, we catch up with Build Club, a startup that has gone from a Sydney community accelerator to a global AI education platform in just 18 months. Build Club started in 2023 as a six-week residency program for engineers and enthusiasts to experiment with AI tools and build projects. Back then, founder and CEO Annie Liao was still working full-time in VC.

Jan 23, 2025 | smartcompany.com.au | Tegan Jones |Clare Birch |Poppy Johnston |Toby Walsh

Welcome back to Neural Notes, a weekly column where I look at how AI is affecting Australia. This week: US President Donald Trump unveiled his US$500 billion ‘Stargate,’ AI initiative. It’s ruffled a lot of feathers and incited clapbacks from the likes of Elon Musk. Here’s what it’s all about, Why Musk is mad, and the effect it could have on the Australian AI sector.