G'day.

Mostly money today, which makes a change from a week of rules. Two items come down to telling a real cost from a vendor's number.

In today’s briefing:

⚡Data centres pulling electricians off housing

🏠IAG puts AI on the claims line

💰AI running costs cut 80 per cent

⚖️Europe's AI fines start Sunday

📊Microsoft's nine-hours claim

🇦🇺Seen in the Wild: weeds sprayed from orbit

🛠️Tool Spotlight: Grammarly

💡Chasing a quiet quote

☎️A free government AI line

Following on: data centres are pulling electricians off housing. Yesterday it was who pays to power them. Today the same buildout hits the labour market. The Electrical Trades Union says about 10 per cent of the industry is now on data centre construction, up from effectively nothing, and secretary Michael Wright says housing feels it first because it pays least. A TAFE place is an 18 month wait.

Why it matters for you: Expect longer lead times and firmer quotes on electrical work for 18 months. Book earlier than feels necessary.

Source: AAP News

The insurer behind NRMA and CGU has signed on to OpenAI's Presence platform so voice agents can take simple claims by phone, freeing staff during storms. It is pencilled in for the first half of FY2027, and IAG's own word is "explore".

Translated: nothing is switched on yet.

Why it matters for you: Ask early whether you are talking to a person, and ask to be passed to one if your matter is unusual. Almost nobody does. Source: iTnews

The Daily Rundown: OpenAI cut the price of two of its three GPT-5.6 models on Thursday, three weeks after launch. Mid-tier Terra fell 20 per cent, cheap Luna fell 80 per cent, and expensive Sol did not move. CNBC puts it down to buyers refusing costly models without a clear return.

Practical takeaway: These are wholesale rates paid by firms that build AI into products, so it reaches you second-hand. If a supplier justified an AI price with running costs six months ago, raise it before you renew.

Source: CNBC

The Daily Rundown: From 2 August the European Commission can enforce the AI Act's transparency rules and fine for the first time, up to €15 million or 3 per cent of turnover. Two duties reach ordinary businesses: tell people when they are dealing with a chatbot, and mark AI-generated text, images, audio and video. Most higher-risk duties slid to 2027. These two did not.

Practical takeaway: Selling into Europe means two checks this week: does your chatbot say it is a bot, and is your AI copy labelled. The disclosure is the setting people skip, because the widget came with the website and nobody has opened its settings since.

Source: The European Post, EU AI Act Article 99

The Daily Rundown: Microsoft published Australian numbers on Thursday: 18 of the ASX top 20 and 66 government agencies now use Microsoft 365 Copilot, and EY-Parthenon research it cites estimates nine hours a month back per user. Translated: Microsoft paid for a study finding Microsoft's product worth buying.

Practical takeaway: That is the figure your IT provider will quote, so know its parentage: vendor-commissioned, from large organisations with training budgets. Copilot earns its fee when your work already lives in Outlook, Teams and Excel. Otherwise you are paying monthly to learn that.

Source: Microsoft

Grammarly, a browser extension and phone keyboard that checks your writing wherever you type it: Gmail, Outlook, Word, your quoting software. The free tier is no demo: live spelling and grammar, tone detection that flags an email reading as apologetic, and 100 AI prompts a month. Pro is US$12 a month billed annually, or US$30 month to month for the same thing. Its rewrites do sand you into corporate English.

Verdict: Stay on free. Pro only pays for itself if you write for a living.

Source: Grammarly

Grain growers are turning boomsprays they already own into spot sprayers. weedSAT, built by Toowoomba agtech DataFarming with the University of Sydney, funded by grains research body GRDC, picks out plants inside a 30cm square from orbit, then tells the sprayer which sections to switch on. About 90 per cent of booms with section control can use it, so there is nothing to buy. DataFarming's own figures put herbicide use down 70 to 80 per cent at about $7 a hectare, against a blanket spraying benchmark near $20.

Why it matters for you: Worth copying at any size. It uses machinery already in the shed, does one job, and is priced against what it replaces.

Sources: GRDC GroundCover, DataFarming

Most people ask AI to write the email. Better: hand it the awkward situation, since the social problem is the part you were stuck on.

Try this: "I quoted $4,800 for bathroom waterproofing 11 days ago and heard nothing. I don't want to sound desperate or drop my price. Write a four-sentence follow-up that gives them an easy way to say no, and mentions my next start date of 18 August."

The federal small business AI centre has opened a free AI information line on 1800 517 403. An assistant that says it is AI talks through your problem, then texts a summary.

Source: ai.gov.au

If today's employer transparency rules have you wondering whether your business is ready, that's exactly the kind of practical prep Vortex Academy's courses covers, plain-English guidance on using AI responsibly, not just effectively. Have a look at what's on offer