Australia is going sideways when the rest of the world goes forwards
Your weekly dose of AI & Startup news on our path to 1000 Aussie Startups
Welcome to MLAI. The heart of Australia’s AI + Startup ecosystem
🌏 Ecosystem Pulse
We’ve Mined Enough Rocks, Time to Mine Some Ideas.
For decades, Australia’s been coasting on vibes and minerals, iron ore, coal, gold, and the occasional rooftop solar panel. But Bloomberg’s latest feature says the gravy train’s slowing down, and it’s time for Australia to swap “Lucky Country” for “Smart Country.”
We don’t wanna say ‘told you so’… But this fits with MLAI’s mission we’ve been harping on about for a while.
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull and Jennifer Westacott (KPMG) basically dropped the same truth bomb: Australia’s economy is way too dependent on digging stuff up. R&D spending? 1.7% of GDP. The OECD average? 2.7%. Big yikes.
So yeah, the sunshine and beaches are great, but they don’t boost GDP. If Australia wants to keep the good life rolling, it’s gotta get serious about building cool sh*t.
Robots Are Now Building Solar Farms in Victoria (and Doing It Faster Than Us)
Nearly 500,000 solar panels are being installed at ENGIE’s new Goorambat East Solar Farm, and this time, the muscle comes from robots.
US startup Luminous just trialled its AI-powered LUMI S4 fleet in Victoria, their first run outside the US, and it’s already speeding up builds, cutting costs, and making renewable energy projects way more efficient (and a bit more sci-fi).
The best part: Luminous plans to open-source the world’s largest solar robotics dataset, backed by ARENA, to “democratise solar for humanity.” Not bad for a day’s work in Benalla.
⭐️ Startup Spotlight of the Week: Heidi Health – Australia’s AI Doctor’s Assistant Goes Global
Melbourne’s own Heidi Health just bagged a massive A$98 million Series B, led by Point72 Private Investments (yes, the VC arm of Steven A. Cohen’s hedge fund). This latest round pushes Heidi’s valuation to A$703 million, a staggering 450% jump from just seven months ago.
So far, Heidi’s platform has powered 73 million consults across 116 countries, returning 18 million hours to clinicians, and counting. Big names like Monash Health and Queensland Health are already on board.
We actually sat down with CTO Yu Liu at our previous ‘How to Start an AI startup’ event. Congrats to the team and well done pushing Australia’s startup ecosystem forward!
“It’s untenable that healthcare demand continues to rise while clinical time continues to shrink,” said CEO Dr Kelly. “AI is the key to making healthcare sustainable again.”
💚 The Heart of MLAI
Last weekend, the MLAI team came together for our North Star meeting, and it reminded us why we do what we do
At MLAI, we’re far more than volunteers, we’re a community united by a mission: to support and nurture Australia-based startups. Check in with us on slack if you want to learn more about the main goal.
🚨 Your Couch Called. It Wants a Break.
MLAI + Stone & Chalk Melbourne = your new office on King Street. 10 free spots daily. No catch. Just desks.
You can grab one if:
You’re full-time startup mode 💪
Your “office” is wherever your laptop doesn’t overheat ☕
You’ve forgotten what other humans sound like IRL 🦘
You’re tired of Slack being your only coworker
Limited spots → Hit us up for a desk by messaging #co-working in the MLAI Slack
🛠️ New AI Toys You Gotta Try
Yep, fresh off the AI press, here’s what’s making waves this week:
Sora 2 – OpenAI’s shiny new video generator with audio. It’s really good. See our GTA Roo slop below:
Agent Mode – Microsoft’s way of saying: “Let the AI handle the boring Office stuff while you look busy.”
Opera Neon – A browser that codes for you. Yep. Your tabs just became optional.
Plug in, poke around, and see which one makes you go: “Wait… AI just did that?!”
📅 Upcoming Events
AI Leap - Make It Happen with Google AI
October 15, 2025, One Darling Island Rd, Pyrmont, Sydney, Australia
Sydney’s about to get a full-on AI flex. Google + SXSW + MLAI = founders, innovators, and investors geeking out on AI’s next big moves. Expect demos, talks, and maybe a few “oh wow, that’s insane” moments.
🚨 Lottery Alert! 🚨
Free tickets are up for grabs. Enter the lottery and cross your fingers, fill in this form and maybe luck is finally on your side!
Needle In The Hashtag – MLAI Hackathon
Saturday 29 November 2025, Stone & Chalk, 121 King St, Melbourne CBD
Hunt hoaxes, hazards, and hate in a synthetic social network. Build detection tools, safety UX, and trust systems with real mentors, curated datasets, and serious prizes. Ship a prototype that actually makes feeds safer—especially for kids and at-risk users.
👉 Grab your seat on Humanitix. Come for the coding, chaos, and the occasional “wait, did we just make social media safer?” moment.
MLAI Social Drinks
Wednesday, 29 October 2025, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Location to be announced
Forget agendas, forget slides. This is Melbourne AI folks just hanging out, sharing war stories, swapping ideas, and pretending they understand all the new models over a cold one.
👉 Swag your spot here, because AI debates taste better with a cool beer in hand.
MedHack Part II: Electric Boogaloo
Saturday 7 February – Saturday 21 February 2026, Location to be announced
Put on your lab coats and your weekend warrior hat. Build the hospital of the future with clinicians, engineers, and optimists. Prototype real solutions, pitch to leaders, and maybe meet your future co-founder.
👉 Grab your ticket here. Because saving lives with AI sounds cooler than your weekend Netflix binge.
GenAI Evals, Monitoring, and Automated Prompt Engineering
Tuesday 28 October, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Location TBA, Melbourne
All the flashy GenAI demos are fun… until you try to actually make them work in the real world. Learn what it really takes to go from prototype to production-ready AI. Expect demos, war stories, and some practical “aha” moments you can actually steal.
👉 Get your tickets here - come for the AI, stay for the “oh wow, that actually works” moments.
Hackeroos Spooky Reddit Game Jam
8th – 28th October 2025
Build creepy, fun games that run inside Reddit using WebView. Open to first-timers and seasoned devs alike. Not an official Reddit hackathon, but admins gave it the thumbs up, and yes, you can still score Reddit Developer Funds, up to $167k USD per popular app.
MIDI-GPT: Human–AI Jam Sessions with Music LLMs
Wednesday, 9 October 2025, 6:00 PM, 912 Collins St, Docklands
💼 Jobs in Tech (This Week)
Data Scientist – Maincode – Sydney, NSW (Hybrid/Flexible)
Maincode is seeking a Data Scientist to help build Australian-made AI models from scratch. Developing foundation models, new reasoning architectures, and running them on state-of-the-art GPU clusters. The team is 100% homegrown, focused on transparency, independence, and world-class performance.
📧 Apply via email and say you came from MLAI!: [careers@maincode.ai]
AI memes this week
If you’ve made it this far… legend status unlocked!! Don’t forget to like and share our newsletter so you never miss the next AI scoop, wild hackathon, or mind-blowing tool. Your future self (and your inbox) will thank you. Catch ya next week!