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One of the biggest stories in the AI space is that OpenAI reportedly inked one of the biggest cloud contracts ever, a $300 billion agreement with Oracle for compute power over five years, beginning in 2027.
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In today’s There’s a Glitch :
Oracle Shares Surge 43% on Record $455B AI Contract Revenue
Australian Firm Demos Sovereign AI Chatbot for Defence Operations
Australian AI Startup Pledges $10M to Pay Content Creators in ChatGPT Challenge
Ex-Sharesies Executives Raise $4.6M for Financial Adviser AI Assistant
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🔥Oracle Shares Surge 43% on Record $455B AI Contract Revenue
The Breakdown: Oracle just secured $455 billion in outstanding contract revenue through massive AI deals, quadrupling year-over-year performance and sending shares up 43% — revealing the database giant has quietly positioned itself as a major force in enterprise AI infrastructure.
The Details:
Contract surge: Outstanding performance obligations hit $455 billion for the quarter ending August 31, representing more than 400% growth from the same period last year
Market reaction: Shares jumped as much as 43% in Wednesday trading, adding approximately $100 billion to co-founder Larry Ellison's net worth in a single session
Revenue recognition: The massive contract backlog represents committed future revenue that Oracle expects to collect, providing unprecedented visibility into long-term business performance
AI positioning: Multi-billion dollar deals demonstrate Oracle's database and cloud infrastructure have become critical components for enterprise AI deployments at scale
Competitive advantage: The contract volume suggests Oracle is capturing significant market share in AI infrastructure that wasn't reflected in previous quarterly reports
Why It Matters: Oracle's explosive contract growth positions the company as an unexpected winner in the AI infrastructure race, challenging assumptions about which legacy tech companies can successfully pivot to artificial intelligence. While competitors like Microsoft and Google dominate AI headlines, Oracle's database expertise appears uniquely valuable for enterprises requiring robust, scalable AI data management. The massive contract backlog provides Oracle with revenue predictability that few tech companies enjoy, potentially reshaping how investors value traditional enterprise software providers in the AI era. This development suggests the AI boom may benefit established infrastructure players more than pure-play AI companies, fundamentally altering competitive dynamics across the technology sector.
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🤖 Australian Firm Demos Sovereign AI Chatbot for Defence Operations
The Breakdown: Bluerydge just successfully demonstrated SierraBlue, Australia's first sovereign AI chatbot built specifically for Defence and secure government operations, completing seven months of collaborative development with UNSW Canberra — positioning Australia to deploy mission-critical AI without relying on foreign cloud infrastructure.
The Details:
Sovereign capability: SierraBlue operates entirely in secure, disconnected environments using custom large language model technology trained on classified intelligence reports, logs and databases specifically for Defence applications
Rapid development: Defence Trailblazer's Accelerating Sovereign Industrial Capabilities program co-funded the project, enabling transition from research to working prototype in just seven months through university-industry collaboration
Security features: The system supports encrypted data streams and configurable access controls, designed for deployment in mobile tactical operations and secure data center infrastructure where cloud-based AI is prohibited
Next phase deployment: Development now focuses on embedding SierraBlue into cyber-physical systems including autonomous vehicles, unmanned platforms and human-machine teaming applications for real-time battlefield decision-making
Academic partnership: UNSW Canberra researchers led by Dr Timothy Lynar provided critical research capabilities, while Bluerydge co-founders Adam Haskard and Tom Kazan directed commercial development and military integration planning
Why It Matters: SierraBlue represents Australia's first significant step toward AI sovereignty in national defence, addressing growing concerns about relying on foreign-controlled AI systems for sensitive military operations. The successful demonstration proves that mid-sized Australian firms can develop world-class AI capabilities when supported by targeted government funding and academic partnerships. As global tensions rise and cyber warfare becomes increasingly sophisticated, nations worldwide are prioritizing sovereign AI development to maintain operational independence and protect classified information from potential foreign surveillance. The project's focus on embodied AI for autonomous systems positions Australia at the forefront of next-generation military technology, potentially creating export opportunities while ensuring Defence forces can operate effectively in contested environments without external connectivity dependencies.
🚨 Australian AI Startup Targets ChatGPT with $40M Sovereign Technology Initiative
The Breakdown: Sovereign Australia AI just secured conditional contracts for hundreds of advanced Nvidia chips to build "Australis," a locally-trained AI model designed to challenge ChatGPT while addressing critical data sovereignty concerns — committing over $10 million to properly compensate Australian content creators and media companies for copyrighted training material.
The Details:
Infrastructure investment: The startup has signed conditional purchase agreements through Sharon AI for advanced Nvidia chipsets, representing approximately $40 million in total infrastructure spending to develop competitive AI capabilities within Australian borders
Content creator compensation: Unlike major international AI companies facing copyright litigation, Sovereign Australia AI has allocated more than $10 million specifically for licensing fees to Australian media companies, authors, and content creators whose work will train the system
Data sovereignty approach: The company will exclusively use Australian-owned data centers, including facilities operated by $11 billion NextDC, ensuring sensitive government and corporate information remains within national boundaries and complies with local privacy regulations
Ethical training standards: The platform commits to respecting "robot.txt" files that request web crawlers avoid scraping content, addressing widespread industry practices of unauthorized data collection that have triggered numerous legal challenges globally
Funding strategy: Co-founders Simon Kriss and Troy Neilson are targeting under $100 million in total development costs from Australian investors, significantly less than the billions raised by international competitors like OpenAI
Why It Matters: Sovereign Australia AI represents a pivotal moment in the global AI sovereignty movement, as nations increasingly recognize the national security implications of relying on foreign-controlled artificial intelligence systems for critical operations.
The company's explicit commitment to content creator compensation directly addresses one of the most contentious legal and ethical issues facing the AI industry, where major players continue to face copyright lawsuits over unauthorized training data usage.
Australia's push for AI independence reflects broader geopolitical tensions, particularly concerns about potential foreign influence over AI systems used by government agencies, defense forces, and critical infrastructure operators. The startup's focus on ethical AI development and transparent funding could establish new industry standards, potentially influencing how other nations approach AI sovereignty while providing a pathway for content creators to monetize their intellectual property in the AI era.
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🚀Ex-Sharesies Executives Raise $4.6M for Financial Adviser AI Assistant
The Breakdown: Ex-Sharesies executives just secured A$4.2 million ($4.6 million) in pre-seed funding for Marloo, an AI assistant targeting the financial advisory industry's massive paperwork problem — positioning New Zealand entrepreneurs to capture significant market share in the rapidly expanding intersection of artificial intelligence and financial services.
The Details:
Founding expertise: Co-founders Shakeel Lala and Hardy Michel bring proven FinTech experience from their senior management roles at Sharesies, New Zealand's leading investment platform, providing deep industry knowledge of financial service pain points and regulatory requirements
Market opportunity: The startup addresses critical inefficiencies facing wealth-planning, insurance and mortgage advisers who currently spend excessive time on administrative tasks rather than client-focused advisory work
Investor confidence: The substantial pre-seed round attracted multiple prominent New Zealand entrepreneurs, signaling strong market validation and experienced mentorship for the emerging AI application
Technology focus: Marloo's AI assistant specifically targets paperwork automation and administrative workflow optimization, representing a practical application of artificial intelligence that delivers immediate measurable value to professional service providers
Strategic timing: The funding comes as financial advisory firms globally seek technology solutions to improve operational efficiency while maintaining compliance with increasing regulatory demands
Why It Matters: Marloo represents New Zealand's growing capability in practical AI applications beyond theoretical research, demonstrating how local entrepreneurs can identify specific industry problems and build targeted technological solutions. The financial advisory sector's paperwork burden has long been a barrier to scalable growth, with advisers spending significant portions of their time on administrative tasks rather than revenue-generating client interactions.
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly sophisticated, companies that successfully automate professional service workflows stand to capture substantial market value while improving industry productivity. The involvement of prominent Kiwi entrepreneurs in the funding round suggests confidence in both the team's execution capability and the market opportunity, potentially positioning New Zealand as a hub for specialized FinTech AI development. Success could establish a template for other professional service sectors facing similar administrative inefficiencies, creating broader economic impact beyond the immediate financial advisory market.
Reddit, Yahoo, and Major Publishers Launch RSL Standard to Force AI Companies to Pay for Content Usage. Major internet publishers including Reddit, Yahoo, and Medium have launched the Really Simple Licensing (RSL) Standard and nonprofit RSL Collective to automatically ensure AI companies pay fair compensation when using web content for training or generating responses, addressing widespread concerns about AI systems using copyrighted material without permission or payment.
MIT Spinoff Alterego Unveils AI Wearable That Reads Your Thoughts for Silent Communication. Boston startup Alterego, an MIT Media Lab spinoff, has launched a groundbreaking AI-powered wearable headset that detects subtle jaw and throat muscle movements to enable silent communication and thought-to-command interaction without speaking aloud, demonstrating capabilities previously only possible with invasive brain-computer interface devices.
OpenAI Backs 'Critterz' AI-Generated Animated Film to Slash Hollywood Production Costs by 90%. OpenAI is providing GPT-5 and advanced AI tools to support "Critterz," an ambitious AI-generated animated feature film that aims to complete production in just 9 months with a sub-$30 million budget—dramatically reducing typical Hollywood animation timelines from 3 years while targeting a 2026 Cannes Film Festival debut to prove artificial intelligence can revolutionize film production.
TikTok Owner ByteDance Launches Seedream 4.0 AI Image Generator to Challenge Google's Viral 'Nano Banana. TikTok owner ByteDance has launched Seedream 4.0, an advanced AI image generation and editing tool that the company claims surpasses Google DeepMind's popular "Nano Banana" (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image) model in internal benchmarks for prompt adherence, alignment, and aesthetics, while combining text-to-image capabilities with sophisticated editing features at $30 per 1,000 generations.
Replit Raises $250M at $3B Valuation as AI Coding Platform Revenue Jumps 50x. Replit, the AI-powered software creation platform, raised $250 million at a $3 billion valuation from investors including Google and a16z, while launching Agent 3, its most autonomous AI coding agent that can work for up to 200 minutes on complex development tasks.
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