Meta Platforms to lay off 8,000 employees this week

Independent senator warns budget reform could drive tech investment offshore, as PM thanks startups for ‘very flattering’ images Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Anthony Albanese has laughed off an AI-generated meme campaign against capital gains tax changes from startup founders, thanking them for “very flattering” doctored photos of him working in their businesses. But independent politicians representing some of Australia’s startup hotspots have raised alarm over the proposed increase to capital gains tax, warning the tax changes could see innovative companies and tech firms move overseas to chase higher rewards. Continue reading...

Ian Crosby, the founder ousted from collapsed accounting startup Bench, has raised $10 million in seed funding for a new venture called Synthetic, which aims to build a fully autonomous AI bookkeeper capable of generating accrual-based financials without human involvement. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from Basis Set Ventures and Shopify […]

A California jury of nine delivered a unanimous verdict against Elon Musk’s lawsuit targeting OpenAI, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and Microsoft, finding that any harms Musk may have suffered predated the legal deadlines for filing his claims. The verdict ends one of the most high-profile legal challenges in AI history and removes a significant restructuring […]

Amazon has launched Alexa Podcasts, a new feature within Alexa+ that generates custom audio podcast episodes on demand using AI, marking a significant step toward positioning the voice assistant as a personalised AI content platform rather than a simple query-and-response tool. Users can request an episode on any topic, after which Alexa+ autonomously researches the […]

Kraken’s plan to go public in the US may have to wait until 2027. The crypto exchange, formally known as Payward, laid off about 150 workers last week, a move that has pushed back its initial public offering timeline by at least a year, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Related Reading: […]

‘Data centre alley’ is at the centre of NextEra’s deal with Dominion

Google's AI advancements could redefine tech industry standards, impacting governance, security, and the integration of AI in blockchain. The post Google to unveil AI breakthroughs at Google I/O 2026 livestream appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Although visitors to an event like TechEx North America will always want to see the cutting edge front and centre stage, the nuance and detail brought to the show by the speakers and exhibitors mean that it’s sometimes the smaller considerations that need to play big – at least, in the minds of enterprise decision-makers. […] The post AI is a matter of power, infrastructure and security: TechEx North America appeared first on AI News.