If you're going to apply for Startup Battlefield Australia, now is the time. Applications close July 6, and once the deadline passes, the opportunity is gone.

Meta's AI chief, Alexandr Wang. Bloomberg/Getty Images Meta's AI chief, Alexandr Wang, says its coming Watermelon AI model now matches OpenAI's GPT-5.5. Wang shared the update at a town hall as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on AI investments. Meta is trying hard to beat OpenAI and other AI rivals, but its efforts haven't panned out yet. Meta is making significant progress in the AI model race, its superintelligence chief Alexandr Wang told employees today. In an internal town hall, Wang said that Meta's upcoming AI model — which is codenamed Watermelon — has caught up with OpenAI's flagship GPT-5.5 model, he said, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Wang cited the achievement based on closely followed AI model benchmarks. It's not clear which benchmarks Wang cited. "Watermelon, our next model after Avocado, is currently in training," Wang said in the town hall, according to a person familiar with the matter. "Watermelon uses an order of magnitude more compute than Avocado," he added, referring to Meta's internal codename for Muse Spark, the first in a family of models that the company released in April. Wang alluded to that progress publicly, too. In a post on X on Thursday, he said an update to the current model Muse Spark is coming soon, with major gains in coding and agentic capabilities aimed at closing the gap with rival models. Asked by a user when Meta would have a coding model on par with Anthropic's Claude Opus, Wang replied that it would be "pretty soon," adding that users would like what the company has "cooking." Meta's AI ambitions have long hinged on a simple goal: closing the gap with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Despite a massive investment in chips, data centers, and talent, the company has struggled to convince developers and customers that its models belong at the industry's leading edge. If Wang's assessment is accurate, it would mark the clearest sign yet that Meta's investment and Zuckerberg's aggressive talent blitz are beginning to pay off, even as the race continues to move at a rapid pace. GPT 5.5 is a powerful AI model that OpenAI released in April of this year. OpenAI then debuted its most powerful model yet, GPT 5.6, late last month, but hasn't released it generally yet, based on the US government's requests. Meta declined to comment. OpenAI didn't respond to a request for comment. In April, Meta released the first in a series of models called Muse Spark, which performed well on benchmarks but did not match or exceed OpenAI or other labs such as Anthropic. Zuckerberg is ferociously pushing for Meta to get ahead in the AI race. He appointed Wang last year to head this effort, renaming the company's AI division to Meta Superintelligence Labs. At Meta, Wang oversees a team of elite AI researchers known as TBD, along with other AI efforts, such as a recent hardware push. Meta has offered top AI talent hundreds of millions of dollars each to join, Business Insider previously reported. That talent push comes as Meta ramps up spending on infrastructure. The company told investors this year that it expects to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion this year on chips, data centers, and other infrastructure, up from an earlier forecast of $115 billion to $135 billion, citing rising component costs and additional data center spending. Have a tip? Contact Charles via email at crollet@businessinsider.com or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Contact Pranav via email at pdixit@insider.com or on Signal at 408-905-9124. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely. Read the original article on Business Insider

At an internal meeting, the Meta CEO reportedly said that AI development efforts were not moving as quickly as anticipated.

A nurse collected 16 vials of blood for the test at Human Longevity. One vial was sent to a genomics lab to assess my genetic risks for various diseases. Business Insider I took a series of longevity tests at a Human Longevity clinic in Silicon Valley. I was most concerned about my risk for cancer. Thankfully, those results were promising. However, my genetic results showed an elevated risk for some neurological conditions. After my father died last year of pancreatic cancer at 72, I found myself thinking about a question that's easy to avoid when you're healthy: How much of my future is already written into my biology? To find out, I enrolled in an executive health program at Human Longevity, a Silicon Valley clinic that combines full-body imaging, blood testing, and genomic sequencing to assess health risks and longevity. In total, the tests cost about $12,000. What I learned was both reassuring and unsettling. My father, Ira, with my oldest daughter, Golda, in 2013. Daniel Allen Over the course of about four hours, I underwent a battery of tests, including a whole-body MRI, extensive blood work, and genetic sequencing. The upside is that some of the results offered the news I was hoping for. My MRI scans were clear, my arteries showed no calcification, and best of all, a blood test designed to detect signals from more than 50 cancers came back negative. At the same time, however, the testing uncovered risks I hadn't expected. The cancer results mattered most A doctor from Human Longevity checks my pulse. Business Insider Cancer was the thing I cared about most going into the process. During my follow-up consultation, I asked Dr. Keon Pearson, a clinician at Human Longevity, about my risk for pancreatic cancer, specifically. He pointed to two encouraging findings: a normal CA19-9 (Cancer Antigen 19-9) biomarker result and a negative GRAIL Galleri liquid biopsy test, which is particularly sensitive for pancreatic, liver, head and neck, and esophageal cancers, Dr. Pearson said. The full-body MRI took about 45 minutes. I almost fell asleep as I listened to a "yacht rock" playlist. Business Insider The good news was that he told me my test results indicated I had a 99% chance of being cancer-free. When I later met with a genetic counselor to review my genome sequencing results, I learned that the clinic hadn't identified any of the high-risk inherited mutations it screens for across more than 2,000 conditions. That included hereditary cancer syndromes. For someone whose father died of pancreatic cancer, that was a relief. The numbers that surprised me An echocardiogram technician uses an ultrasound to create real-time moving images of my heart. Business Insider Some of my results were less straightforward, however. At 6-foot-4 and 246 pounds, my body mass index measured 30.1 kg/m², which technically places me in the obese category. Pearson quickly pointed out that BMI doesn't tell the whole story. My body-fat percentage came in at 23.6%, slightly above the clinic's preferred range for men. At the same time, my skeletal muscle index was so high that Pearson told me it was "one of the highest I've seen." My bone density was also strong, ranking at least in the 84th percentile. My coronary artery calcium score was zero, meaning no calcifications were detected in my arteries that could otherwise raise my risk of heart disease. Still, there were areas where Pearson said I could improve. My liver-fat measurement of 3.1% fell within the normal range, but he said it was above what he would consider optimal for longevity. Then there was the one marker I couldn't simply fix with diet or exercise. A nurse collected 16 vials of blood for the test at Human Longevity. One vial was sent to a genomics lab to assess my genetic risks for various diseases. Business Insider Pearson told me I had elevated lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), a cholesterol-related particle that is genetically determined. Elevated Lp(a) is associated with stiffer heart valves and a raised risk for heart attack and stroke. "It's probably six times more dangerous pound for pound compared to LDL cholesterol," Dr. Pearson said. "It's not sensitive to your diet. It's not sensitive to exercise," he said. Essentially, this number won't budge without prescription drugs. The DNA results I wasn't expecting What I didn't expect was my genetic test results. I learned that I'm a carrier for several recessive genetic disorders, including phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency, better known as PKU. PKU is a genetic disorder that prevents the body from breaking down the amino acid phenylalanine and, if not treated, can build up and cause severe brain damage. It's the reason why foods and drinks with aspartame, an artificial sweetener that contains phenylalanine, have a warning label. Because I carry only one copy of the gene variant, I don't have the disease, and my wife doesn't carry it, so our children were not in danger. Then we got to the neurological risks. My genetic counselor explained that I carry one APOE3 gene and one APOE4 gene. According to Human Longevity's analysis, that raises my lifetime risk of Alzheimer's disease above the general population. But all of my grandparents made it to the end of their lives without dementia. "I will just say that my initial reaction to this is somewhat alarmed," I told the genetic counselor during the consultation. The report also placed me in the 99th percentile genetically for Parkinson's disease risk. The counselor emphasized that the absolute lifetime risk remained relatively low — about 2.7%. Then, after all of that, I got one final piece of good news. I carry a variation of the FOXO3 gene, which researchers associate with a greater likelihood of living past age 90. That finding immediately made me think of my maternal grandfather, who lived to 98. The experience didn't tell me how long I'll live. No test can do that. What it did reveal was something more practical: which risks appear hardwired into my DNA, and which ones still respond to the choices I make every day. Some of the cards are already on the table. What I do with the hand is still up to me. Read the original article on Business Insider

Anna Heim / TechCrunch: Finnish quantum computing company IQM closed up 2% in its Nasdaq debut Thursday after going public via a SPAC merger at a ~$1.9B valuation  —  IQM, a full-stack quantum company out of Finland, went public on the Nasdaq Thursday via a SPAC merger at a valuation of about $1.9 billion.

True Anomaly and Rocket Lab are performing Top Gun-style satellite fly-bys for the U.S. military.

Improved institutional safeguards and stricter regulations have pushed the burdens of protection and risk reduction on to Australian businesses.

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Charlie Javice, founder of Frank, was convicted of defrauding JPMorgan Chase. Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images JPMorgan must continue covering convicted fraudster Charlie Javice's legal fees, a judge ruled. Javice, convicted of defrauding JPMorgan, faces seven years in prison. Another judge this week denied a request to remove her ankle monitor while her case is on appeal. JPMorgan Chase must keep paying the legal fees of convicted fraudster Charlie Javice, a Delaware judge ruled Thursday. The ruling came after the bank accused Javice, who was convicted last year of defrauding JPMorgan, of accumulating "astronomical" legal fees, including expenses such as $530 for gummy bears and a $581 dinner for two with a $161 seafood tower. "We respectfully disagree with the Delaware decision about the bounds of reasonableness and are considering next steps," Pablo Rodriguez, a spokesperson for JPMorgan, said in a statement shared with Business Insider. Javice was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for using inflated data to trick JPMorgan into paying $175 million for her fintech startup, Frank. She and co-defendant Olivier Amar, who was chief growth officer at Frank, were also ordered to pay $288 million in restitution to JPMorgan. JPMorgan has been ordered to pay Javice's legal fees while the litigation plays out, under the terms of its contract with Frank. "For months, JPMorgan waged a public campaign built around sensational headlines about Charlie's legal expenses, including claims that were inaccurate, misleading, or didn't even involve her," Juda Engelmayer, a spokesperson for Javice, said in a statement provided to Business Insider. "Today's ruling is a reminder that public narratives don't override contractual obligations," he added. Convicted in March 2025, Javice has been free on $2 million bail while her case goes through appeals. Javice has tried and failed several times to get her ankle bracelet removed. A New York judge this week denied Javice's request to have her court-mandated GPS ankle monitor removed in exchange for doubling her bond to $4 million. The judge said the prospect of over seven years in prison and the large restitution she owes meant her new proposal "does not mitigate the risk of flight," adding that $4 million "pales in comparison to Javice's multimillion-dollar restitution and forfeiture obligations." Read the original article on Business Insider

British data intelligence startup StirlingX Ltd. has raised $20 million in an early-stage round to accelerate product development and push into new markets. StirlingX describes itself as a data intelligence company built inside a drone maker. Its platform is designed to capture, secure, fuse, analyze and act on data pulled from complex and contested settings. […] The post StirlingX raises $20M for sovereign data intelligence platform appeared first on SiliconANGLE.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Louis Grasse/Reuters Mark Zuckerberg told staff Meta's "journey to superintelligence" is on track, but will take time. Meta is making its AI training program opt-in, CTO Andrew Bosworth said, after a leak and backlash. Bosworth also acknowledged morale issues at the company. Superintelligence at Meta is coming. But it's going to take a bit of time and elbow grease, first. That's what the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees at an internal town hall on Thursday, according to two sources who listened in. Meta is pouring vast resources into AI, but progress on AI agent technology hasn't moved as quickly as the company expected, Zuckerberg said, in comments first reported by Reuters. Meta's latest internal reset shows the tension at the heart of the company's evolving AI strategy. Zuckerberg and his team are racing to build AI models and pouring tens of billions of dollars into talent and infrastructure. But the company is also learning that moving fast has costs. As Meta pushes employees to accelerate AI development, it's increasingly having to balance speed with trust, morale, and the buy-in of the workforce expected to build it. Even so, Meta still remains on a "journey to superintelligence," Zuckerberg told staff in the town hall, adding that the company expects to see some benefits within the next three to six months according to an employee on the call. That journey will take hard work, Zuckerberg said, pointing to just how competitive the AI landscape has become, Meta declined to comment. Meta is also walking back one of the more contentious pieces of its AI push. Chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth told the town hall that the company's AI training program, which used employees' keystrokes and mouse movements to train its models, will be opt-in only if and when it resumes, a person on the call said. Business Insider previously reported that the mandatory version sparked a backlash from employees who were uncomfortable with their activity being recorded. Meta paused the program last month after an internal leak exposed employee conversations and keystrokes to their colleagues. Bosworth acknowledged the rollout had damaged morale and trust within the company. But he said it had also generated more useful data than expected, enough, he suggested, that Meta hadn't needed to deploy it as broadly as it did. The reversal echoes another recent retreat: last month, Meta gave engineers the option to leave its Applied AI task force, after having reassigned thousands of them to the unit — a climbdown some employees dubbed "the undraft." That move came weeks after Bosworth warned staff that morale was "probably one of the worst it's ever been" in Meta's 20-year history — and after Meta laid off 10% of its staff, roughly 8,000 people, in May. Have a tip? Contact Charles via email at crollet@businessinsider.com or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Contact Pranav via email at pdixit@insider.com or on Signal at 408-905-9124. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely. Read the original article on Business Insider

Bloomberg: Sources: Crusoe is in active talks to raise ~$3B in a funding round expected to value the company in the ~$30B range, up from a ~$10B valuation in October  —  Crusoe, the data center upstart with contracts to supply AI computing power for the likes of Meta Platforms Inc. and Oracle Corp. …

Selby's VC firm, Copper Sky Capital, is currently raising a $300 million second fund, according to a regulatory filing.

Google’s Nano Banana 2 Lite shows how faster, cheaper AI image generation could reshape creative workflows and business tools. The post 5 Things Google’s Nano Banana 2 Lite Reveals About the Future of AI Images appeared first on TechRepublic.

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AI has transformed how organizations operate, driving unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation. However, AI adoption can be impeded by concerns... AI has transformed how organizations operate, driving unprecedented levels of productivity and innovation. However, AI adoption can be impeded by concerns surrounding data privacy, sovereignty and how to secure data while it is in use, or during inference and engagement with AI models. NVIDIA Confidential Computing (CC) was engineered to be a secure and performant solution for the era of agentic… Source

Anduril Industries, which manufactures defense systems and technologies, is deploying unusual methods to identify talent. "Very few companies in defense have actively recruited talent in a way that goes beyond the traditional," said Jeff Miller, the company's chief marketing, in an interview at the 2026 Cannes Lions Festival. Miller says Anduril's approach is deliberately "divergent" because they are trying to attract different types of employees. So the company's "Don't work for Anduril" campaign has focused on why the it isn't a fit for everyone. "We said there aren't any baristas or nap pods," he said. "We basically told them all the reasons that they should filter themselves out." Despite the stark message, Miller says recruitment is up and the process is more efficient. Read the original article on Business Insider

Katie Paul / Reuters: At a town hall, Mark Zuckerberg said Meta's AI agent development has not accelerated as expected and its reorganization was not as “clean” as it could have been  —  Meta (META.O) Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told an internal town hall on Thursday that AI agent development …

Microsoft Frontier Company is the latest example of how experts are necessary to achieving returns on AI investments.

IQM, a full-stack quantum company out of Finland, went public on the Nasdaq today at a valuation of about $1.9 billion.