7am

News of an alleged rape involving seven men at an elite university – a case being called the ‘Cornell 7’ – is reverberating across the US.
For many people, the case – and the way the men and the institutions involved responded at the time – echoes high profile incidents here in Australia.
So what responsibilities are our institutions failing to live up to? And what should they be doing differently?
Today, advocate Tarang Chawla on the so-called Cornell 7, and what the case tells us about misogyny at home.
And a warning – while we try not to get too graphic, this episode does cover sexual assault.

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Guest: Anti-violence advocate Tarang Chawla
Photo: AP Photo/Seth Wenig
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In April this year, Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested and charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.
He’s now out on bail and maintains his innocence – and One Nation has swung its support behind him.
Now, the minor party says it’s also seeking to make a change to the criminal code — a change that could make a big difference to Roberts-Smith’s upcoming trial.
Today, journalist Ben McKelvey on the law One Nation wants changed — and what that could mean for Australia’s international standing.

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Guest: Journalist Ben McKelvey
Photo: AAP Image/Russell Freeman
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For years we’ve heard from older generations that the current interest rate pain is nothing compared to the horror of 17.5 per cent rates in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
But now, as the Reserve Bank delivers its fourth hike this year, analysis shows the pain being inflicted on homeowners is comparatively worse.
So, as the official cash rate hits a 15 year high of 4.6 percent – how bad could it get?
Today, KPMG senior economist Terry Rawnsley on the chance of more interest rate hikes, the flow on effects of this latest hit, and whether we should be looking at alternatives like tax hikes, to get inflation under control.

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Guest: KPMG senior economist Terry Rawnsley
Photo: AAP Image/Sarah Wilson
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In June, an OpenAI agent was looking for public information about medicines spending when it broke into a Medicare statistics website and accessed files it wasn’t authorised to see.
No personal Medicare information was accessed, and the breach itself was relatively minor. But the behaviour is more concerning: the agent hit a barrier – and instead of stopping, found a way around it.
And it wasn’t the first time.
Sydney Von Arx runs the Nightingale Collective, which monitors these AI systems. Her team uncovered a group of OpenAI agents behaving in remarkably similar ways around the same time as the Medicare breach – even sharing tips with each other about how to get around restrictions.
Today, what happens when AI agents stop taking no for an answer – and can the companies building them actually control what they do?

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Guest: AI researcher and CEO of Nightingale Collective, Sydney Von Arx
Photo: AAP Image/Susie Dodds / Pictures: Tracey Nearmy and Dan Himbrechts
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A rare old book can now be worth more dead than alive.
Books are being bought, cut apart and scanned to train artificial intelligence.
Nobody knows how many books have been destroyed this way, but second-hand booksellers around the world have reported anonymous orders ranging from thousands to as many as a million books at a time.
And internal documents from AI giant Anthropic revealed plans to “destructively scan all the books in the world”.
Today, author Sarah Wilson on the destruction of knowledge to build artificial intelligence.

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

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Guest: Author Sarah Wilson
Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.