• Artificial Intelligence

    How tech acts human to gain our trust


    Open Forum |  June 8, 2026


    Anthropomorphism describes our tendency to attribute human characteristics, emotions or behaviors to machines, animals or natural phenomena and tech companies exploit it to boost engagement with AI.


  • Environment

    This is our home


    Sashka Samarawickrama |  June 8, 2026


    Children are watching, thinking and feeling things about the future of the environment and those feelings deserve to be taken seriously.


  • Society

    AI in the dock


    Raisul Islam Sourav |  June 8, 2026


    Our courts are overburdened, and so the use of generative AI promises consistency and efficiency but it risks undermining a fundamental principle of justice: the right to be judged by a human being.


Latest Story

  • The philosophy of motherhood

    Laura Kotevska     |      June 7, 2026

    The experience of motherhood shouldn’t remain cloistered from view in mothers’ groups but deserves its place in our intellectual, artistic, and public imagination.

  • The age of the apostles

    Stephen Gallagher     |      June 7, 2026

    The “12” apostles are a famous tourist attraction on the Great Ocean Road, but they’re also younger and more fragile than one might expect.

  • On the calculation of volume

    David McCooey     |      June 7, 2026

    On the Calculation of Volume is a fantasy series written by Danish writer Solvej Balle exploring an infinite time loop in a fresh and intriguing way.

  • They want to believe

    Robbie Moore     |      June 6, 2026

    Amanda Lohrey’s new novel captures the uncertainties of reason, doubt and belief in telling the story of an ageing psychiatrist in his sixties who takes on a new group of patients who all claim to have been abducted by aliens.

  • A psychopath by any other name…

    Ava Green     |      June 6, 2026

    The traits associated with psychopathy, such as emotional detachment, reduced empathy, and impulsivity, clearly exist and appear in real interactions but rarely present in the clear, consistent way that diagnostic labels suggest.

  • Generwriting

    Ryan Leack     |      June 6, 2026

    The “generative content” or “synthetic text” produced by large language models certainly isn’t writing in the human sense of the word, so what should we call it?

  • Australia’s most expensive illusion

    Roger Chao     |      June 5, 2026

    Why have Australians, otherwise alert to unfairness and quick to condemn political failure, accepted a settlement around work and housing that now punishes so many of them?

  • Battles of perception

    Daniel Baldino     |      June 5, 2026

    Australia’s vulnerability in future crises may not stem from a lack of military capability, but from how quickly confusion, mistrust and informational disruption can shape public and political responses.

  • Connecting the dots on youth mental illness

    Yenny Vandalita     |      June 5, 2026

    If our youth support programs are working, why do mental health disorders among young people continue to rise?

  • Of art and artifice

    Elisa Tersigni     |      June 4, 2026

    In a landscape increasingly saturated with instant content, the verified effort of a human creator is shifting from a baseline expectation to a highly coveted, bespoke quality. Ultimately, what we value about art is not whether it’s perfect, but its ability to connect us with another human being.

  • The risks and rewards of AI biology

    Stephen Turner     |      June 4, 2026

    Artificial intelligence is rapidly learning to autonomously design and run biological experiments, but the systems intended to govern those capabilities are struggling to keep pace.

  • Lost in translation

    Samantha Dunn     |      June 4, 2026

    AI offers an easy and accessible translation service which is putting real translators out of business, but from courtrooms to hospitals, interpreting what people say demands more than language fluency.