It’s another day in the world of technology, and there are plenty of exciting developments to discuss. From crackdowns on illegal gambling sites to government investments in flood warning networks, here are five things you need to know about what’s happening in tech today.
First up, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued a formal warning to Feral Holdings Limited for providing banned interactive gambling services through its CS:GO Roll website. The site allowed users to deposit “skins” from the popular video game Counter Strike: Global Offensive in exchange for in-game coins that could be used to wager on casino-style games. The ACMA found that these games were illegal under the Interactive Gambling Act of 2001 if played for money or anything else of value. As a result, CS:GO Roll has been pulled from Australia.
In other news, the federal government has announced plans to invest $236 million over 10 years into establishing a national flood warning network. This will involve purchasing and upgrading high-priority flood gauges currently owned by local, state, and territorial governments in flood-prone areas. Work in Queensland will be prioritized based on advice from the Met Office.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made his congressional debut today before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary. He argued that artificial intelligence (AI) should be given a broad runway to move forward quickly with light legislation that would regulate it. However, other expert witnesses expressed more skepticism about AI and brought up concerns about discrimination and unintended harm caused by it.
The Australian government is also considering tougher measures against Twitter if the company fails to comply with online safety laws and takedown notices. Following an investigation by The Guardian into Twitter’s handling of abusive content on its platform, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said that she was not ruling out further regulation or enforcement action against the company.
To bring everything together, Apple has launched Tap to Pay on iPhone in Australia after releasing it only in the US last year. This feature allows customers to pay using an NFC-enabled payment type, even if they don’t have an iPhone themselves. Westpac and Tyro Payments are the first payment platforms in Australia to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to their business customers.
That’s it for today’s tech news roundup. For more content like this, visit Gizmodo Australia. According to an inside source, these developments are just a few of the many exciting things happening in technology today.
