AI Search Gets Guardrails

By the Orchestra editors · 4 min read

TL;DR

UK regulators force Google to let publishers opt out of AI Search features, with global rollout planned
Google's Gemma 4 12B model is sized to run on any laptop with 16GB of RAM
Fishburners rescued from administration by Scalare Partners
Australia's data centre environmental impact still largely unmeasured

AI · Worldwide

UK forces Google to offer AI Search opt-out for publishers

The UK Competition and Markets Authority is requiring Google to let publishers keep their content out of AI Overviews and block it from being used to fine-tune models. The tool will be tested in the UK first then rolled out globally, which means Australian publishers should eventually get the same controls.

Google ships Gemma 4 12B, a local-first open model

Google's new Gemma 4 12B uses a novel encoding scheme and speculative token prediction to run on any machine with 16GB of RAM. That puts a genuinely capable open model within reach of devs on standard laptops, no cloud GPU required.

Meta's WhatsApp Business AI agent goes global

Meta has rolled out an AI agent for WhatsApp Business worldwide, charging on a per-token basis. For AU businesses already reliant on WhatsApp for customer comms, this is a low-friction way to automate support without building a custom bot.

Australian Tech

Scalare Partners rescues Fishburners from administration

Scalare Partners has acquired the well-known Sydney startup hub Fishburners out of administration in a cash-only deal. Terms weren't disclosed but the move keeps one of Australia's longest-running co-working and incubator spaces alive.

Australia's data centre boom outpacing environmental oversight

With OpenAI's Sam Altman flagging Australia as a potential "data centre capital of the world", InnovationAus reports the country still lacks reliable data on the water and energy impact of the facilities already being built.