July 2022

We're seeing the expanding reach of artificial intelligence across science, industry, culture, and public debate. Research stories point to rapid technical progress, from software that edits images using brain signals to robots learning faster with synthetic data. Utilities and heavy industry are testing AI in practical settings, such as Snowy Hydro’s robot dog for inspections and maintenance. Large technology companies are rethinking limits, with Microsoft retiring emotion-reading facial recognition while open-sourcing large-scale translation tools, and Google publishing new work on generalist AI agents. At the same time, concern is growing about where this leads. Articles and talks question sentience, artistic value, and creative ownership as AI-generated art spreads, while filmmakers, journalists, and artists explore how humans still shape meaning and intent. Governments and institutions are responding with ethics frameworks, responsible AI programs, and new rules, including Australia’s national ethics guidelines. Together, these pieces show AI pushing into daily life and creative practice, while society debates how much trust, authority, and authorship machines should hold. That is July 2022 in AI.