<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Friday Headlines: &lt;/strong&gt;Anthony Albanese facing increasing anger from Bondi victims' families, heavily armed tactical police arrest seven men in Sydney&amp;rsquo;s southwest, migrant intake hits three-year low, Australia facing storms and heatwaves today as Christmas Day forecast drops and our fav stories of 2025!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Take part in The Briefing survey &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.entertainmentresearchandinsights.com.au/c/a/6PlXYcdakTiPXQuBYBvx4"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;HERE.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Deep Dive:&lt;/strong&gt; Australia has a long&amp;nbsp;track record&amp;nbsp;of world-changing research, from Wi-Fi to the bionic ear, and now one Melbourne academic thinks the next frontier might be in comedic robots.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;University of Melbourne researcher Dr Robert Walton has received more than half a million dollars in public funding to explore whether AI and robots can perform believable comedy, and what it can teach us about&amp;nbsp;humour&amp;nbsp;and human-machine interaction.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;In this episode of&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;The Briefing&lt;/em&gt;, Chris Spyrou speaks with Dr Walton about what this research could mean far beyond the stage.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Follow The Briefing:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;TikTok: &lt;a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@thebriefingpod"&gt;@thebriefingpod&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;Instagram: &lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebriefingpodcast/" aria-label="Link @thebriefingpodcast&amp;nbsp;"&gt;@thebriefingpodcast&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;YouTube: &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/@TheBriefingPodcast"&gt;@TheBriefingPodcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;Facebook: &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/thebriefingpodcast/"&gt;@thebriefingpodcast&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Briefing

LiSTNR

Calls for PM to resign + Try not to laugh: robot edition

DEC 18, 202523 MIN
The Briefing

Calls for PM to resign + Try not to laugh: robot edition

DEC 18, 202523 MIN

Description

Friday Headlines: Anthony Albanese facing increasing anger from Bondi victims' families, heavily armed tactical police arrest seven men in Sydney’s southwest, migrant intake hits three-year low, Australia facing storms and heatwaves today as Christmas Day forecast drops and our fav stories of 2025! Take part in The Briefing survey HERE.  Deep Dive: Australia has a long track record of world-changing research, from Wi-Fi to the bionic ear, and now one Melbourne academic thinks the next frontier might be in comedic robots.   University of Melbourne researcher Dr Robert Walton has received more than half a million dollars in public funding to explore whether AI and robots can perform believable comedy, and what it can teach us about humour and human-machine interaction.   In this episode of The Briefing, Chris Spyrou speaks with Dr Walton about what this research could mean far beyond the stage.  Follow The Briefing: TikTok: @thebriefingpodInstagram: @thebriefingpodcast YouTube: @TheBriefingPodcastFacebook: @thebriefingpodcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.