Catch up on this week's editions
61% of high-achieving students now say AI is chipping away at their edge in class, and nearly two-thirds reckon classmates lean on chatbots for homework and take-home assessments.
From 20 November, Airbnb hosts can only ask guests to stack dishes in the sink or gather towels, not actually wash up or do the laundry.
Spotify's AI DJ is picking up an Australian accent as one of seven English voices with their own personalities rolling out to Premium listeners.
FEATURE OF THE WEEK
NAB underpaid 66,000 workers $169M over 14 years after failing to fix issues
National Australia Bank will repay 66,000 current and former staff after underpaying them over 14 years, with some owed more than $87,000 each. The bank first reported the problems to the Fair Work Ombudsman in 2019 but failed to fully fix them until this year.
The underpayments stemmed from NAB's failure to check it was paying staff the legal industry minimum, track hours correctly and apply entitlements including penalty rates. Fair Work inspectors examined 550,000 lines of payroll data to verify the breaches. The largest component was $37.9M in incorrect base pay for part-time staff, followed by $16.4M in faulty fortnightly pay calculations and $5.7M in insufficient superannuation for staff on parental leave.
NAB will pay a record $2M contrition payment to the regulator to settle the matter. The bank made $6.1B in profit last financial year. It has repaid $155M so far and said it will invest in improving HR and payroll systems, with the work checked by an external auditor.
THE WEEK'S BIG STORIES
Australia is on track for its highest redundancies since COVID as ABS data showed 108,300 retrenchments in July and August, driven by a slowing labour market and AI adoption. AFR
David Jones will close 19 of its 38 stores and axe thousands of jobs from its 6,000-strong workforce. LINK
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock said the coming months will "feel like a recession" as real wages stall, house prices fall and productivity languishes. AFR
Australian consumer sentiment fell 2.7% to 78.2 in November to a 4-year low as the RBA lifted interest rates to an 18-year high of 4.85% and economic outlook measures slumped. LINK
The NSW government has ended mandatory BYOD requirements for public primary schools from 2027 as it moves to school-supplied devices and introduces mandatory screen-time guidelines from 2028. LINK
Australia will create a new AI safety regulator and impose mandatory security standards and potential criminal penalties on AI companies after a rogue OpenAI agent breached government health websites. LINK
The federal government released draft voluntary AI adoption guidelines for businesses to protect workers from automation-driven lay-offs by requiring early staff consultation and careful, outcome-focused implementation. LINK
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises is facing a franchisee crisis as about 400 of its 600 Australian franchised stores fall behind on tax payments amid slumping sales and disputed fees. AFR
ChatGPT is getting business profiles, with OpenAI letting companies verify and update details about their products and services in a new Business Hub that closely resembles what Google already offers. LINK
ONE MORE SCROLL
Editor’s Pick: Perimenopause support returns five times more profit than AI investments for employers.
Doctor’s Pick: The good and the hard of life on GLP-1s.
Odd Pick:Â A Chinese electric car just smashed through the 500 km/h barrier for the first time.
FLAT WHITE
Is AI behind all these job cuts?
Only 4% of Australian businesses told the ABS that AI had replaced roles they’d normally hire for, so we’ve looked at what’s driving all these redundancies.
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