Future of work

Australian students get 12 months of Google Gemini Pro at no cost

Google has launched a free twelve-month Gemini Pro plan for students in Australia aged eighteen and over, aiming to make AI-powered learning more accessible.

The offer includes the company’s most advanced tools and features designed to enhance study efficiency and critical thinking.

A key addition is Guided Learning mode, which acts as a personal AI coach. Instead of quick answers, it walks students through complex subjects step by step, encouraging a deeper understanding of concepts.

Gemini now also integrates diagrams, images and YouTube videos into responses to make lessons more visual and engaging.

Students can create flashcards, quizzes and study guides automatically from their own materials, helping them prepare for exams more effectively. The Gemini Pro account upgrade provides access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, Deep Research, NotebookLM, Veo 3 for short video creation, and Jules, an AI coding assistant.

With two terabytes of storage and the full suite of Google’s AI tools, the Gemini app aims to support Australian students in their studies and skill development throughout the academic year.

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Data Act now in force, more data sharing in EU

The EU’s Data Act is now in force, marking a major shift in European data governance. The regulation aims to expand access to industrial and Internet of Things data, giving users greater control over information they generate while maintaining safeguards for trade secrets and privacy.

Adopted as part of the EU’s Digital Strategy, the act seeks to promote fair competition, innovation, and public-sector efficiency. It enables individuals and businesses to share co-generated data from connected devices and allows public authorities limited access in emergencies or matters of public interest.

Some obligations take effect later. Requirements on product design for data access will apply to new connected devices from September 2026, while certain contract rules are deferred until 2027. Member states will set national penalties, with fines in some cases reaching up to 10% of global annual turnover.

The European Commission will assess the law’s impact within three years of its entry into force. Policymakers hope the act will foster a fairer, more competitive data economy, though much will depend on consistent enforcement and how businesses adapt their practices.

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Data labelling transforms rural economies in Tamil Nadu

India’s small towns are fast becoming global hubs for AI training and data labelling, as outsourcing firms move operations beyond major cities like Bangalore and Chennai. Lower costs and improved connectivity have driven a trend known as cloud farming, which has transformed rural employment.

In Tamil Nadu, workers annotate and train AI models for global clients, preparing data that helps machines recognise objects, text and speech. Firms like Desicrew pioneered this approach by offering digital careers close to home, reducing migration to cities while maintaining high technical standards.

Desicrew’s chief executive, Mannivannan J K, says about a third of the company’s projects already involve AI, a figure expected to reach nearly all within two years. Much of the work focuses on transcription, building multilingual datasets that teach machines to interpret diverse human voices and dialects.

Analysts argue that cloud farming could make rural India the world’s largest AI operations base, much as it once dominated IT outsourcing. Yet challenges remain around internet reliability, data security and client confidence.

For workers like Dhanalakshmi Vijay, who fine-tunes models by correcting their errors, the impact feels tangible. Her adjustments, she says, help AI systems perform better in real-world applications, improving everything from shopping recommendations to translation tools.

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Public consultation: EU clarifies how DMA and GDPR work together

The European Commission and European Data Protection Board have jointly published long-awaited guidelines clarifying how the Digital Markets Act aligns with the GDPR. It aims to remove uncertainty for large online platforms over consent requirements, data sharing amongst other things.

Under the new interpretation, gatekeepers must obtain specific and separate consent when combining user data across different services, including when using it for AI training. They cannot rely on legitimate interest or contractual necessity for such processing, closing a loophole long debated in EU privacy law.

The Guidelines also set limits on how often consent can be re-requested, prohibiting repeated or slightly altered requests for the same purpose within a year. In addition, they make clear that offering users a binary choice between accepting tracking or paying a fee will rarely qualify as freely given consent.

The Guidance also introduces a practical standard for anonymisation, requiring platforms to prevent re-identification using technical and organisational safeguards. Consultation on the Guidelines runs until 4 December 2025, after which they are expected to shape future enforcement.

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Labels and Spotify align on artist-first AI safeguards

Spotify partners with major labels on artist-first AI tools, putting consent and copyright at the centre of product design. The plan aims to align new features with transparent labelling and fair compensation while addressing concerns about generative music flooding platforms.

The collaboration with Sony, Universal, Warner, and Merlin will give artists control over participation in AI experiences and how their catalogues are used. Spotify says it will prioritise consent, clearer attribution, and rights management as it builds new tools.

Early direction points to expanded labelling via DDEX, stricter controls against mass AI uploads, and protections against search and recommendation manipulation. Spotify’s AI DJ and prompt-based playlists hint at how engagement features could evolve without sidelining creators.

Future products are expected to let artists opt in, monitor usage, and manage when their music feeds AI-generated works. Rights holders and distributors would gain better tracking and payment flows as transparency improves across the ecosystem.

Industry observers say the tie-up could set a benchmark for responsible AI in music if enforcement matches ambition. By moving in step with labels, Spotify is pitching a path where innovation and artist advocacy reinforce rather than undermine each other.

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Veo 3.1 brings audio and control to AI filmmaking

Google DeepMind has unveiled Veo 3.1, the newest upgrade to its video generation model, bringing more artistic freedom, realism and sound integration to its AI filmmaking tool, Flow.

The update gives creators advanced scene control and introduces generated audio across existing features like ‘Ingredients to Video’, ‘Frames to Video’ and ‘Extend’.

Users can now fine-tune visuals by combining multiple reference images, seamlessly link frames into longer clips, and edit scenes with new insert and removal tools that handle shadows and lighting automatically.

Flow’s new precision tools mark a significant step toward cinematic-level storytelling powered by AI.

Veo 3.1 is also accessible through the Gemini API, Vertex AI and the Gemini app, broadening its availability to developers and enterprises alike.

These enhancements signal Google’s ongoing ambition to push the boundaries of generative video technology for creative and professional applications.

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Google and Salesforce deepen AI partnership across Agentforce 360 and Gemini Enterprise

Salesforce and Google have expanded their long-term partnership, introducing new integrations between Salesforce’s Agentforce 360 platform and Google’s Gemini Enterprise. The collaboration aims to enhance productivity and build a new foundation for intelligent, connected business operations.

Through the expansion, Gemini models now power Salesforce’s Atlas Reasoning Engine, combining multimodal intelligence with hybrid reasoning to improve how AI agents handle complex, multistep enterprise tasks.

These integrations also extend across Google Workspace, bringing Agentforce 360 capabilities directly into Gmail, Meet, Docs, Sheets and Drive for sales, service and IT teams.

Salesforce highlights that fine-tuned Gemini models outperform competing LLMs on key CRM benchmarks, enabling businesses to automate workflows more reliably and consistently.

The companies also reaffirm their commitment to open standards like Model Context Protocol and Agent2Agent, allowing multi-agent collaboration and interoperability across enterprise systems.

A partnership that further integrates Gemini Enterprise with Slack’s real-time search API, enabling users to draw insights directly from organisational data within conversations.

Both companies stress that these advances mark a major step toward an ‘Agentic Enterprise’, where AI systems work alongside people to drive innovation, improve service quality and streamline decision-making.

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Between trips, Uber pilots paid AI data work

Uber is piloting ‘Digital Tasks’ in the US, letting select drivers and couriers earn by training AI models between trips.

Tasks include short selfie videos in any language, uploading multilingual documents, and uploading category-tagged images; each takes minutes, and pay varies by task.

Uber says demand came from US drivers seeking off-road income; participants can opt in via the Work Hub and need no extra experience.

Partners commissioning the data aren’t named. The pilot starts later this year, with potential expansion to non-drivers and wider markets.

The move diversifies beyond rides and delivery as robotaxis loom. Uber argues for more earning channels now, while autonomy scales over time.

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Nurses gain AI support as Microsoft evolves Dragon Copilot in healthcare

Microsoft has announced major AI upgrades to Dragon Copilot, its healthcare assistant, extending ambient and generative AI capabilities to nursing workflows and third-party partner integrations.

The update is designed to improve patient journeys, reduce administrative workloads and enhance efficiency across healthcare systems.

The new features allow partners to integrate their own AI applications directly into Dragon Copilot, helping clinicians access trusted information, automate documentation and streamline financial management without leaving their workflow.

Partnerships with Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, Atropos Health, Canary Speech and others will provide real-time decision support, clinical insights and revenue cycle automation.

Microsoft is also introducing the first commercial ambient AI solution built for nurses, designed to reduce burnout and enhance care quality.

A technology that automatically records nurse-patient interactions and transforms them into editable documentation for electronic health records, saving time and supporting accuracy.

Nurses can also access medical content within the same interface and automate note-taking and summaries, allowing greater focus on patient care.

The company says these developments mark a new phase in its AI strategy for healthcare, strengthening its collaboration with providers and partners.

Microsoft aims to make clinical workflows more connected, reliable and human-centred, while supporting safe, evidence-based decision-making through its expanding ecosystem of AI tools.

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Lehane backs OpenAI’s Australia presence as AI copyright debate heats up

OpenAI signalled a break with Australia’s tech lobby on copyright, with global affairs chief Chris Lehane telling SXSW Sydney the company’s models are ‘going to be in Australia, one way or the other’, regardless of reforms or data-mining exemptions.

Lehane framed two global approaches: US-style fair use that enables ‘frontier’ AI, versus a tighter, historical copyright that narrows scope, saying OpenAI will work under either regime. Asked if Australia risked losing datacentres without loser laws, he replied ‘No’.

Pressed on launching and monetising Sora 2 before copyright issues are settled, Lehane argued innovation precedes adaptation and said OpenAI aims to ‘benefit everyone’. The company paused videos featuring Martin Luther King Jr.’s likeness after family complaints.

Lehane described the US-China AI rivalry as a ‘very real competition’ over values, predicting that one ecosystem will become the default. He said US-led frontier models would reflect democratic norms, while China’s would ‘probably’ align with autocratic ones.

To sustain a ‘democratic lead’, Lehane said allies must add gigawatt-scale power capacity each week to build AI infrastructure. He called Australia uniquely positioned, citing high AI usage, a 30,000-strong developer base, fibre links to Asia, Five Eyes membership, and fast-growing renewables.

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