AI's Biggest Shifts This Week

Ollie Carter

Alright folks, welcome back to The AI Intelligence Podcast, with thanks for Advancer, The AI Agency. It's Ollie here with Llew, and I'm telling ya, this week in AI feels like something out of a sci-fi movie. Llew, have you seen what Google's Willow quantum chip did? Five minutes—that's all it took to crunch a problem that would've taken, uh, septillions of years on a normal supercomputer. Like, that's not a typo. Septillions—with an S.

Llew Jury

Hi Ollie, it's great to be back on the pod again today. Yes, this is wild. I remember a few years back—maybe closer to five—Quantum started to make waves in the VC and investment community. Back then, it felt bleeding edge just to talk about quantum circuits on a whiteboard at a pub. Now Google's going, "Hey, let's shrink cryptography, drug discovery, and even supply chain stuff down to practically no time at all." I mean, the scale of change in half a decade... it's, ah, almost unrecognisable, right?

Ollie Carter

Yeah, that's the bit that knocks me. Like, we spoke about Rigetti's quantum processor a few weeks ago, but Willow's leap? This is suddenly not just a science project. It puts quantum at the core of AI advances. When you think about what this means for, say, cybersecurity—quantum cracking codes in minutes instead of millennia—whole industries just got a wake-up call.

Llew Jury

And Ollie, you know, that ties directly into the business world. Startups and corporates, they're suddenly thinking, "How do we prep for quantum resilience?" But it's not all bits and qubits—check this out. Tencent just dropped HunyuanWorld-Voyager, turning single photos into full-on explorable 3D videos. It's like, hey, give AI the front of your house and suddenly you can stroll around the backyard in VR. Amazing! Game devs, content folks, they must be losing their minds over this.

Ollie Carter

Oh, for sure. I mean, as much as Willow's this brain-bending quantum leap, when Tencent puts that generative AI mojo to digital worlds, it’s gonna shake up VR, gaming—heck, even digital twins for factories or urban planning. But do you remember how much hard yakka it took to stitch together 3D environments before? Now, some open-weights model is doing it on the fly. There are gonna be caveats—some weird glitchy bits—but still, that's... wow.

Llew Jury

I keep thinking, five years ago, Aussie startups were just getting their heads around this stuff. Fast-forward and we're debating whether quantum or generative 3D is gonna change the world first. It’s all just moving so fast, mate. And honestly, you realise how much risk and reward is out there for anyone brave enough to jump in. Where was I—oh right, let’s see what else is getting a shakeup this week.

Ollie Carter

There's been a ton of action around large language models again, as per. OpenAI actually published why their models hallucinate—finally, some transparency, right? Could be a game-changer for safety and standards if the industry's willing to follow. Like, models talking to themselves, inventing stuff... at least now we get a proper look under the hood.

Llew Jury

Exactly. The black box gets a little less, well, black. And hot on their heels—Zhipu pushes out GLM-4.5, Google’s gone to Gemini 2.5, and DeepSeek’s at V3.1 or is it R1 now? It almost feels like every week another LLM drops, and it's not just text now. We're talking multi-modal, unified for coding, reasoning, agent stuff—the whole enterprise stack. That global competition just keeps ramping up.

Ollie Carter

And in a weird way, it's not just the tech that's changing—it's who gets to steer it. Did you see C3 AI's new CEO? Stephen Ehikian—guy's got government chops. And, this stat blew me away: nearly half of FTSE 100 companies now have a Chief AI Officer. Feels like it was only yesterday I was pitching AI projects to bored-looking board members who just wanted to talk cost savings and risk. It was, honestly, like pulling teeth. Now, the boardroom has emptied out and filled up with new faces, all focused just on AI.

Llew Jury

That’s spot on, Ollie. Like, imagine trying to get approval for an AI pilot five years back—how skeptical those directors could be. Now, nearly half the biggest companies in the UK are appointing people whose whole remit is making AI a strategic weapon. We've seen people move into Chief AI roles everywhere: KPMG shook up their C-suite, Bounteous appoints an EVP for Data & AI. It's a whole new leadership game. It makes you wonder, Ollie—do you reckon there’s still boardrooms dragging their feet, or is the tide turned for good?

Ollie Carter

Well, I’d say there’s a few laggards, but most are running to catch up. The whole industry’s moving too quickly to just sit tight. And with every new model—like those Zhipu and Gemini updates—there's new risks, and new opportunities, boards simply can't ignore. It's a proper scramble out there. And look, honestly, bit of a relief to see companies treating AI as more than just a flashy pilot now. Feels like we’re in an actual race, not just running proof of concepts for the fun of it.

Llew Jury

Yeah, it all comes back to this—AI’s now a core business competency. If you’re a leader and you're not across the AI brief, you’re already playing catchup. Anyway, compliance and capital are absolutely roaring too, so let's move to that…

Ollie Carter

All right, this is the bit everyone in tech and business is sweating on—AI regulation is charging ahead globally. Over six hundred AI-related bills in the US just last year, the EU AI Act is live with some seriously steep penalties. Every company we talk to is scrambling—not just to stay compliant, but to avoid fines that’ll make your eyes water!

Llew Jury

It’s the pace, mate. One day you’re wrangling a model, next day there’s a dozen compliance checks just to put it in production. And it’s kicked global politics into gear, Trump’s team is now all about American AI dominance—federal funding, tax breaks, public-private alliances. Big swing from lip service to actual dollars. It's the same pressure-cooker feeling in boardrooms as funding news comes out—Anthropic closing a $13 billion round, Sierra AI up at ten billion. The whole capital scene’s hotter than it’s ever been, even on the back of all that uncertainty.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, the numbers are nuts—$47.3 billion in company funding last quarter alone. Feels like every time we blink, the stakes get higher. And it’s not just headline startups either. Adobe’s made their entire Creative Cloud AI-powered—text to video, voice effects, all of it. Meanwhile, eLearning’s getting hyper-personalized, and AI’s cracking carbon tracking and wildfire predictions. Like, we talk about theory—and suddenly there’s real-world impact.

Llew Jury

Spot on, Ollie. I saw an amazing one—a bushfire team in regional NSW using AI-driven climate models to plot evacuation and resource deployment last season. Five years back, they’d have waited hours for weather updates. Now? It’s live, second-by-second stuff. For all the headlines, this is the bit that matters: these investments don’t just drive product demos, they help Aussies on the ground where it counts. And I reckon those are the stories that’ll push tech adoption through any regulatory or boardroom drama.

Ollie Carter

Yeah, if nothing else, all this capital and compliance isn’t just for the hype. It’s for real impact—on climate, art, business ops, you name it. All right, Llew, let’s wrap it there—anything else for our listeners?

Llew Jury

Nah, mate, I think that covers the wild ride this week. If you’re an exec, investor, or coder out there, stay sharp and keep watching these shakeups—it’s all changing by the minute. Ollie, as always, thank you and catch you next week!

Ollie Carter

Always, Llew! And before we go, a shout and thanks to the great team and our sponsor Advancer. Advancer are the AI experts providing real world AI and Automation strategy, AI products and customised AI solutions for your business. Check them out at Advancer.com.au! Thanks for tuning in everyone—don’t forget to follow and send in your questions. We’ll be back next week with another deep dive into what’s next in AI land. See ya, Llew. See ya, listeners!