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AI is changing the way businesses operate. As AI commoditises technical capability, the value shifts to judgement about which decisions are worth making and accountability for what the technology delivers. Analyst firm Omdia expects a tougher market for partners in 2026 , with growth tempered by rising costs and specialisation increasingly separating those who grow from those who do not. The…
Spark has reduced its headcount by over 600 people in the past year as it prepares to split into two divisions. In its annual report, released alongside its 2026 financial year results , Spark reported overall headcount of 3,416 employees as of 30 June 2026 – down from 4,043 as of 30 June 2025. This comes after Spark announced last month that it was introducing a new organisational structure which…
Spark New Zealand has seen a return to revenue growth for its mobile services in its 2026 financial year, along with a boost to its cash flow and balance sheet following the sale in its data centre business. However, revenues were down across its broadband and IT services, while cloud revenue remained flat. Releasing its 2026 financial results today, the company reported revenue of $3.9 billion…
Apple’s latest filing in its ongoing fight with OpenAI makes it sound as if Apple legal is so frustrated at the arguments the AI firm is making that it’s begun swatting them away like a parent might dismiss a child. Apple v. OpenAI: The story so far If you’ve not been keeping up with tech’s latest legal soap opera, here’s the overview of what’s true: Apple filed a suit against OpenAI in which it…
AI is known to be confidently wrong, and now it’s influencing humans to be that way, too. In a new study, researchers tested AI’s influence on humans reviewing innovation proposals, and found that AI recommender tools were persuasive enough to convince the evaluators to reject decisions made by independent human experts, thus causing them to pass on promising innovations. Similarly, they went…
OpenAI this week announced multiple moves designed to counter negative perceptions of its security and privacy, saying it had slowed its pace of scaling, implemented a two-week pause in reinforcement learning, and will be offering zero data retention for “eligible API customers.” In its first announcement, issued Tuesday, OpenAI said it “temporarily” slowed the pace of its scaling, in addition to…
The third day of EDGE 2026 brought together channel leaders, vendors and MSPs for a packed morning of insights focused on the future of selling, scaling and succeeding in an AI-driven market, before attendees headed out for networking activities across Cairns. Opening proceedings, EDGE Brains Trust member Moheb Moses challenged delegates to rethink customer engagement in his keynote, The Modern…
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has reported a 19 per cent increase in cyber security incidents with the potential to cause national harm in the second quarter of 2026. This is according to the NCSC’s latest Cyber Security Insights report, which stated direct financial losses from cyber security incidents during the quarter came to $2.7 million. The Centre responded to 1,129 incident…
While token economics are improving, this alone won’t prevent overall AI costs from rising as organisations move from chatbots to agentic systems. Analyst firm Gartner predicts AI inference costs per agentic workflow will increase more than fivefold by 2028. This comes as organisations move from assistive AI features to increasingly complex, multistep execution. According to the firm, this…
Oracle’s focus on collaborating earlier with partners in joint engagements is working in the vendor’s favour as it uses AI to open up more opportunities. In 2025, the vendor’s group vice president and head of alliances and channels for Asia Pacific (APAC) Lalit Malik said Oracle had changed its partner strategy to engage with partners earlier in projects than it previously had . More than a year…
Industry body Tech New Zealand has launched a manifesto, along with a local tech community, with the aim to help boost the country’s quantum and photonics sectors. According to the group, New Zealand has deep roots in quantum and photonic science and a well-established photonics sector, which generates about $1.5 billion in output, employs nearly 5,000 people and includes more than 350 companies.…
