🗞️ Ask me

Good morning. Your first internet love affair has officially logged off. Ask Jeeves is no more.

If you navigated the web in the early 2000s, you undoubtedly spent time querying the world’s most famous digital butler, even if his success rate was a bit rough.

After a 30-year legacy, Ask.com (the rebranded home of Ask Jeeves) has officially shut down, marking the final curtain call for a true pioneer of the search era.

All the headlines and more below...

ANTHROPIC BUILT AN AI HACKER TOO DANGEROUS TO RELEASE. IT FOUND A 27-YEAR-OLD BUG AND 181 FIREFOX EXPLOITS.

Claude Mythos Preview can find software flaws and chain them into working attacks faster than any tool before it. Anthropic won't release it publicly. They've given access to about 50 organisations under a locked program called Project Glasswing - Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase.

The model uncovered a 27-year-old bug in an operating system used in firewalls and routers worldwide. It doesn't just find vulnerabilities, it chains multiple flaws together and suggests how to exploit them from a single prompt. Anthropic says competing AI companies will release similar tools within 18 months. OpenAI is already testing GPT-5.4-Cyber. Bloomberg reported last week that unauthorised users obtained access to Mythos through third parties.

CyberCX warned Australian businesses Thursday they have a closing window before the technology, or copies of it, reach criminals. The Bank of England, Canadian finance minister and Trump administration have all held urgent meetings. It's unclear whether any Australian organisation has access - Anthropic opened a Sydney office this year and signed an agreement with the government, but no agency has confirmed they're in.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• CyberCX has warned Australian businesses, banks and infrastructure operators that Anthropic’s unreleased Claude Mythos AI, currently limited to about 50 global partners, can rapidly discover and weaponise thousands of software vulnerabilities. LINK

• Japan and Australia have agreed to consult on economic security contingencies and potential joint responses to economic coercion. LINK

• Unpaid superannuation has shortchanged 1 in 4 Australian workers a collective $24B between 2018 and 2023, averaging $1,730 per person annually. LINK

• Google has surged more than 140% in the past year as its AI-driven search, YouTube and cloud businesses expand, supported by US$144B recent capex and US$490B planned. LINK

• Australia’s housing crisis has deepened as ABS data shows March dwelling approvals fell 10.5% from February to 17,300, far below the 240,000-per-year National Housing Accord target. LINK

• Amazon has launched its 'Amazon Supply Chain Services' offering to let external businesses use its full logistics network, with Procter & Gamble, 3M and American Eagle Outfitters among initial customers. LINK

• Australia is shifting from climate intent to proof as federal climate policies and AASB S2 push rigorous emissions measurement, reshaping capital allocation, export competitiveness and regional jobs. LINK

TIKTOK AUSTRALIA MADE $884M AND SENT HALF OF IT TO THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

TikTok's Australian operation hit $884M in revenue last year, up 30%, but paid $458M to a group company registered in the Cayman Islands for ad space on its own app. It also moved $169M offshore through a cash pooling arrangement.

The platform now has 756 staff locally and recorded a net profit of $42M. Advertising revenue from Australian brands hit $605M, up 27%. Another $279M came from services TikTok Australia provides to other ByteDance subsidiaries, content moderation and server infrastructure. It owes $271M to ByteDance and other group entities, nearly double what it owed 12 months earlier.

The government is trying to force TikTok to pay media companies under a proposed News Bargaining Incentive. The platform says news accounts for less than 0.5% of engagement. The PM wants $250M total from tech giants and will charge companies that don't negotiate. ByteDance is officially incorporated in the Cayman Islands. TikTok says it helps 350,000 Australian businesses grow while routing half the revenue through a tax haven.

COMPANY NEWS

• Australians spent $14.5 billion on Uber services in 2025 as the company booked $2.1 billion in gross profit, shifted $1.85 billion in service fees offshore and maintained Qantas-linked loyalty incentives. LINK

• Chemist Warehouse is entering the UK as Sigma Healthcare acquires a major stake in Greenlight Healthcare, which will license the brand across 22 London-headquartered stores. LINK

• a2 Milk has recalled 3 batches of its discontinued USA label infant formula after tests found the toxin cereulide in ingredients, while reporting no infant harm and expecting no earnings impact. LINK

• TikTok’s Australian unit has generated $883.7M revenue in 2025, paid US$458M and transferred US$169M to a Cayman Islands affiliate, while net profit after tax rose to $41.8M. LINK

• NAB reported a $2.63B interim cash profit while booking a $706M impairment and $148M in downside provisions as its boss warns of worsening inflation and economic pressure. LINK

• Endeavour Group reported a 1.2% rise in FY26 second-half group sales and started a 3-year, $100M cost reduction plan including support office layoffs. LINK

• Accent Group downgraded its FY26 EBIT guidance to $79.5M to $84.5M as April sales and margins weakened amid higher fuel prices and deteriorating consumer confidence. LINK

• Cbus has warned that more than 500,000 members will face an average 46% rise in insurance premiums from July as soaring claims and higher TAL charges push annual default cover for 30-year-old construction workers from $590 to $857. LINK

A QUARTER OF AUSTRALIAN WORKERS WERE SHORTCHANGED $24B IN SUPER OVER FIVE YEARS

25% of Australian workers had super underpaid between 2018 and 2023. Average shortfall: $1,730 a year per affected worker.

NSW had the highest total shortfall at $8.1B ($1,780 per person annually). Victoria: $6.1B ($1,660 per person). Northern Territory had the worst per-person rate at $2,140 a year. Women, younger workers and low-income earners are hit hardest.

From July 2026, employers must pay super at the same time as wages instead of quarterly. Treasury estimates that will boost balances for 1.3M Australians, many of them women or under 30. The shift makes underpayments immediately visible rather than buried in quarterly cycles.

Say user_id. Get user_id.

Wispr Flow recognizes variable names, file references, and framework syntax mid-dictation. Speak your prompt, get developer-ready text for GitHub, Jira, or your editor. No mangled syntax. Ever.

Try Wispr Flow free

CHART OF THE DAY

The deadliest countries for journalists

ONE MORE SCROLL

Editor’s Pick: Is a low-salt diet as unhealthy as having too much?

Draft Pick: Super Netball round-up: A 'wishy washy' approach to Pride matches dulls the message.

Odd Pick: Surgeons transplant pig lung into brain dead human recipient for first time.

BRAINTEASER

What shape needs to replace the question mark to complete the sequence?

Answer below

OUR SOCIALS

ANSWER

Horizontal line for Z

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here