74. THE AI BOOM

It’s natural to feel a little uneasy about the rise of artificial intelligence. But fear not! We discuss strategies to future-proof your job in the AI revolution.

Automated exam assessing

Macquarie University is developing an AI system capable of marking student exams.

Australia is experiencing critical teacher shortages and increased workloads. Conventional exam grading is a time consuming and expensive process, which uses precious resources many schools can’t afford to waste, such as labour.

In an attempt to combat this, researchers from Macquarie University’s Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence have been given a $500,000 grant to put towards developing algorithms that can be used to mark student papers.

This program will be developed by analysing previous exams, lectures and other materials to identify and evaluate patterns in responses. Using this information, AI will be able to accurately, quickly and more efficiently mark exams.

According to Professor Amin Beheshti, director of the Centre for Applied AI, this new grading system has many benefits for student learning.

“It will save time and resources, allowing educators to focus on other important tasks. It eliminates human bias, ensuring all students are graded fairly and accurately, and it provides immediate feedback to students, allowing them to learn from their mistakes and improve their performance in future exams.

“Another key benefit of using

Super Satellites

Apple’s text-for-help initiative has been launched in Australia.

Focused on preventing injury and fatality in the bush, the service allows stranded Aussies to send for help even when they have no signal on their phone. Apple users can connect to Globalstar’s 48 low-Earth orbit satellites, allowing them to call emergency services under this satellite coverage.

The initiative was first launched in the US and Canada in November 2022, and has already supported the search and rescue of individuals in three US states.

According to Greg Joswiak, Apple worldwide marketing senior vicepresident, the technology was inspired by a desire to increase safety for users in rural areas.

“Some of the most popular places to travel are off the beaten path and simply lack cellular coverage,” he says.

generative AI to automate exam marking is its ability to detect plagiarism. By analysing and comparing the answers provided by students in the same exam, as well as previous exams, generative AI algorithms can identify similarities that may indicate plagiarism.”

This will promote academic integrity and offer a fair examination of all students’ work. The program is still in its early stages, but it indicates a renewed focus on the education sector and the continued integration of technology into everyday life.

“Our teams worked tirelessly to tackle a new set of technical challenges to bring this service to life.”

However, some issues still remain when it comes to accessing this important service. Only Aussies carrying an iPhone 14 currently have the ability to use the remote connection, due to hardware limitations on older phones. This limits the effectiveness of the program for many users who possess older models.

Luckily, researchers are continuing to work on this technology in the hopes of expanding coverage to all Apple phones in the near future. Similarly, Google and Android are expected to announce similar services later in the year. Apple’s text-for-help initiative needs improvements before all Aussies can be confident in their ability to call for support no matter where they are, but it does speak to an exciting future for digital connection and safety.

AUSTRALIA’S FIRST EXPENSE MANAGEMENT TOOL KEEPS ON GROWING

Sharon Nouh, CEO of ProSpend (formerly expensemanager) is so much more than her current job title. A ‘women-in-tech’ pioneer in Australia, a single mum, an innovator, a two-time entrepreneur, a pet parent, interior design enthusiast, art collector… the list goes on. Sharon’s story is inspiring, to say the least.

The tech industry across the globe, is predominantly male led so Sharon’s success is a testimony to the fact that gender doesn’t determine one’s ability to be successful in the software industry.

Having worked for travel agencies and set up her own in Adelaide and Sydney, she saw first-hand the difficulties her clients had with manual and paper reconciliation of travel and entertainment expenses. After the merger of her travel agencies with a travel technology company, Sharon saw this as her opportunity to use technology to solve this manual process. She designed and led the development of Australia’s first expense management tool, launching with its first customer, KFC, which took a leap of faith in Sharon and her minimum viable product (MVP). This was almost a decade ago, and KFC remains a ProSpend customer today.

Sharon didn’t just stop at automating expenses, knowing that businesses would want to automate all of their business spend processes. Today the ProSpend platform digitises and automates business expenses, invoices, purchase orders, budgets and its most recent launch is a treasury module that includes virtual debit cards and payments.

As a complete business spend management platform, ProSpend is now a partner to more than 550 customers across Australia and New Zealand.

“I hope my success will inspire other women and girls to pursue careers in technology and to challenge the perception of VCs that backing women-led technology companies is worthwhile,” says Sharon.

We have been providing highly skilled and experienced heavy mobile equipment maintenance personnel to our clients in the resources sector for over twenty years.

We are always on the lookout for dedicated mechanical tradespeople, whether you are highly skilled and experienced or just starting out, we will find the right job for you; and what’s more, we will pay for your interstate flights and accommodation, or fly you to any destination for your R&R, including overseas.

Make the change, feel the difference!

Business enquiries welcome.

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