The top things worth knowing about in AI today.
The European Commission's AI Office began enforcing the AI Act's transparency obligations on 2 August. Chatbots must tell users they are talking to a machine, deepfakes must be labelled, and AI-generated content needs machine-readable markers. More than 180 organisations have signed the accompanying Code of Practice, and systems already on the market have until 2 December to comply.
Read morePalantir reported Q2 revenue of $1.94 billion, up 93% year on year, with US commercial revenue reaching $764 million on 149% growth. It raised full-year guidance to about $8.15 billion. It is the clearest public number yet on how much enterprises are spending to run AI in production rather than pilot it.
Read moreGoogle's Spark agent can now operate desktop Chrome using your logged-in accounts and saved passwords, handling tasks like researching flights and starting a booking. Access expanded to AI Pro subscribers across more than 160 additional countries. Payments and other sensitive steps still need human approval.
Read moreOracle expanded its Google Cloud partnership to make Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Gemini 3.5 Flash available in AI Agent Studio for Fusion Applications, alongside embedded uses across Fusion and NetSuite. Customers building Fusion-native agents get model choice they did not have before. If you already run Oracle, agent work no longer means standing up a separate stack.
Read moreHush Security raised a $30 million Series A with Akamai joining Battery Ventures and YL Ventures, taking it to $41 million raised. Its platform issues scoped, just-in-time permissions to enterprise AI agents at runtime instead of handing them standing credentials. Agent identity is becoming a budget line rather than a design detail.
Read moreThe Australian Standards for AI go to National Cabinet this month, following the establishment of the Office of AI inside Prime Minister and Cabinet on 15 July. The framework includes mandatory obligations for large AI data centres, which would have to fund new power generation and pay for additional water use. Legislation is not expected until early 2027.
Read moreA short read every week — the few things worth your time, and nothing that isn’t.