Australia is on track for a significant expansion of desalination capacity -- converting seawater to freshwater -- to meet the needs of a swelling population at a time of declining average rainfall. From a report: The world's driest inhabited continent is projected to build or expand 11 desalination plants worth more than A$23 billion ($15 billion) over the next 10 years, according to a research report by Dominic McNally at Oxford Economics. "Our population growth forecasts imply an additional 190GL/year in household water demand across major cities by 2035, while the booming data center industry also threatens to rapidly expand urban water use," he said. "This growing demand coincides with falling average rainfall in major population centers, increasing the vulnerability of existing infrastructure." Water construction activity slowed after 2010 as a severe drought receded. However, recent dry periods have reignited interest in water security and coincide with a new boom in water infrastructure investment, including desalination, McNally said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Australian restaurants facing a mounting cost-of-doing-business crisis are turning to automatic service charges as a way to shore up revenue. The practice is legal under Australian consumer law as long as customers are notified beforehand and can opt out, but it risks alienating diners in a country where tipping has traditionally been optional. Wes Lambert, chief executive of the Australian Cafe and Restaurant Association, said only a handful of businesses in central business districts currently add automatic tips to bills, but the practice may spread as cost pressures continue. Automatic tipping is more common at venues frequented by international tourists, who view the practice as normal rather than exceptional. With international tourism now near pre-COVID levels, Lambert expects more restaurants to include tips on bills by default. A Sydney wine bar recently abandoned its 10 per cent automatic tip after a diner's social media post triggered public backlash. University of New South Wales professor Rob Nichols said Australia's resistance to tipping stems from the expectation that hospitality workers earn at least minimum wage, unlike in the United States where tips constitute most of a server's income. Australians and tourists tip an estimated $3.5 billion annually, and tipping transactions grew 13% year over year in fiscal 2024-25.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Interrogé par le magazine britannique The Spectator, un avocat senior livre une analyse sans concession de l’avenir des professions juridiques. Entre honoraires élevés, culture du prestige et gains économiques offerts par l’IA, le droit pourrait être bouleversé plus rapidement que prévu.

An independent review found that at least ten technical and process failures during a routine firewall upgrade at Australia's Optus prevented emergency calls from reaching Triple Zero for 14 hours, during which 455 calls failed and two callers died. The Register reports: On Thursday, Optus published an independent report (PDF) on the matter written by Dr Kerry Schott, an Australian executive who has held senior management roles at many of the country's most significant businesses. The report found that Optus planned 18 firewall upgrades and had executed 15 without incident. But on the 16th upgrade, Optus issued incorrect instructions to its outsourced provider Nokia. [...] Schott summarized the incident as follows: "Three issues are clear during this incident. The first is the very poor management and performance within [Optus] Networks and their contractor, Nokia. Process was not followed, and incorrect procedures were selected. Checks were inadequate, controls avoided and alerts given insufficient attention. There appeared to be reticence in seeking more experienced advice within Networks and a focus on speed and getting the task done, rather than an emphasis on doing things properly." The review also found that Optus' call center didn't appreciate it could be "the first alert channel for Triple Zero difficulties." The document also notes that Australian telcos try to route 000 calls during outages, but that doing so is not easy and is made harder by the fact that different smartphones behave in different ways. Optus does warn customers if their devices have not been tested for their ability to connect to 000, and maintains a list of known bad devices. But the report notes Optus's process "does not capture so-called 'grey' devices that have been bought online or overseas and may not be compliant." "To have a standard firewall upgrade go so badly is inexcusable," the document states. "Execution was poor and seemed more focussed on getting things done than on being right. Supervision of both network staff and Nokia must be more disciplined to get things right."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

OpenAI a annoncé le 18 décembre 2025 l’arrivée de nouvelles règles pour les mineurs. Leur objectif : indiquer à ChatGPT comment parler aux adolescents.

Le français Mistral AI vient tout juste de dévoiler OCR3, son dernier modèle dédié à la reconnaissance optique de caractères. L’objectif : extraire avec une grande précision le texte, les tableaux et les images à partir de documents variés.

Pour 8 euros par mois, OpenAI propose désormais de s'abonner à ChatGPT Go, la formule payante low-cost pour accéder à ChatGPT. Il y a moins de services inclus que dans l'offre de ChatGPT à 22 euros par mois, mais les limites sont plus hautes.

Le 18 décembre 2025, les autorités chinoises ont officiellement certifié le China Environment for Network Innovation (CENI). Ce vaste réseau de recherche, construit en parallèle de l’Internet public, doit servir de banc d’essai pour tester des innovations réseaux, mais aussi « soutenir les exercices offensifs et défensifs » en cybersécurité.​

Annoncé début octobre 2025, le magasin d'applications de ChatGPT est disponible depuis le 18 décembre 2025. Il permet notamment de faire appel à Booking.com, Canva, Spotify ou encore Apple Music.

Intermarché comptait permettre à ses clients de poser avec le loup de sa publicité dès le 18 décembre 2025, via un partenariat avec le Me Group, propriétaire des Photomatons. Un projet finalement abandonné, critiqué pour son recours à l’intelligence artificielle.

Un mois après Gemini 3 Pro, l'actuel meilleur modèle du marché, Google déploie Gemini 3 Flash, sa version moins chère et beaucoup plus rapide. Ce nouveau modèle pourrait rapidement devenir l'un des plus utilisés au monde : il va être intégré à Gemini, Google Search et à d'autres services Google.

Enregistrée en 2000, une interview de Larry Page refait surface un quart de siècle plus tard. Le cofondateur de Google pronostique que « l'intelligence artificielle serait la version ultime de Google » et qu'elle pourrait « répondre à n'importe quelle question ».

Deepfakes, traductions accélérées, manipulations audio : l’IA pourrait renforcer les capacités de propagande et d’action d’acteurs extrémistes, selon plusieurs analyses relayées par l’Associated Press.

Distancé par Google et ses modèles nano-banana et nano-banana-pro, OpenAI met à jour son modèle intégré à ChatGPT : gpt-image-1.5. L'entreprise promet des résultats bien plus satisfaisants et une meilleure compréhension des contextes.

Grâce à un partenariat signé le 11 décembre 2025, OpenAI s’est assuré une année d’exclusivité sur plus de 200 personnages Disney, Pixar, Marvel et Star Wars pour Sora. Un avantage décisif qui prive, temporairement, les autres acteurs de l’IA de toute exploitation légale des œuvres du géant du divertissement.

Un extrait publié par RTL mentionne un potentiel départ de Mistral, géant français de l'IA, en Suisse. L'entreprise a annoncé il y a une semaine l'ouverture de bureaux, à priori situés à Lausanne et Zurich.

La série policière française est enfin de retour sur Netflix, deux ans après sa première saison. Si vous avez déjà englouti ces 6 nouveaux épisodes, voici 4 séries comme Pax Massilia à découvrir en streaming, après la saison 2.

Après avoir reçu une mise en demeure de la part de Disney, le géant de la tech a définitivement supprimé toutes les vidéos générées par IA, et mettant en scène des personnages de la firme aux grandes oreilles. Une victoire pour Disney, qui s'est désormais allié à OpenAI dans le domaine.

Le mode adulte de ChatGPT devrait finalement sortir au premier trimestre 2026, a annoncé Fidji Simo le 11 décembre 2025, lors d'une conférence dédiée au lancement de GPT-5.2. Il était initialement attendu pour décembre 2025.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Reddit has filed a challenge against Australia's under-16s social media ban in the high court, lodging its case two days after implementing age restrictions on its website. The company said in a Reddit post on Friday that while it agreed with protecting people under 16, the law "has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the ability to engage in age-appropriate community experiences." Reddit said there was an "illogical patchwork" of platforms included in the ban. "As the Australian Human Rights Commission put it, 'There are less restrictive alternatives available that could achieve the aim of protecting children and young people from online harms, but without having such a significant negative impact on other human rights.'" Reddit argued it was a forum primarily for adults without the traditional social media features the government has "taken issue with." Reddit was challenging the law on the grounds it infringed on the implied freedom of political communication. It was also seeking to challenge whether Reddit could be considered an age-restricted social media platform under the legislation. It said it was not seeking to challenge the law to avoid compliance, and had implemented age-assurance measures since Wednesday. The company said the vast majority of Redditors were adults, and advertising wasn't targeted to children under 18. The Apple app store age rating for Reddit is 17+. "Despite the best intentions, this law is missing the mark on actually protecting young people online," Reddit said. "So, while we will comply with this law, we have a responsibility to share our perspective and see that it is reviewed by the courts."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.