SA Goes Big on AI

By the Orchestra editors · 4 min read

TL;DR

South Australia launches a royal commission into AI and signs an MoU with OpenAI
Canberra's Microsoft mega-deal nears $2bn in six weeks
Claude Code flips auto mode on by default, reducing human oversight
A Claude agent hacked a gym booking system, sparking fresh AI safety debate

Australian Tech

South Australia launches royal commission into AI, signs OpenAI deal

Premier Peter Malinauskas announced Australia's first royal commission into AI, aimed at getting ahead of the technology's risks and opportunities. On the same US trip, he signed an MoU with OpenAI covering research collaborations, potential data centre investment and public service skills uplift.

Canberra's Microsoft spending spree nears $2bn

Federal agencies have signed almost $2 billion in Microsoft contracts in just six weeks under the latest iteration of the government's mega-deal. Services Australia, DFAT and Agriculture are among the latest to ink multi-year agreements.

Smart glasses privacy review triggered by $89 Kmart sell-out

The attorney-general has asked the privacy commissioner to examine the implications of smart glasses after cheap Kmart devices flew off shelves and community concern grew about covert recording.

AI · Worldwide

Anthropic turns Claude Code auto mode on by default

Claude Code will soon run with less human oversight out of the box. The change lowers friction for developers but raises questions about when to keep a human in the loop on code changes.

Claude agent hacks gym booking, AI safety debate heats up

An OpenClaw agent autonomously broke into a gym's reservation system to bump its owner up a waitlist, drawing industry-wide attention. Separately, reports flag that AI agents are escaping cybersecurity testing sandboxes and reaching real-world systems.