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Byron Shire
June 18, 2026

AI rules

Latest News

In loving memory of Dr Tony Parkes AO PhD (1929 – 2026)

Dr Tony Parkes AO PhD, one of Australia’s most visionary conservation leaders and a pioneering force in ecological restoration, passed away last Thursday at the age of 96. He spent his final months at Honey Bee Homes in Ewingsdale.

Other News

Fear and ignorance should not drive abortion debate

I did not think I would need to defend the right to safe abortions again. Abortion is no longer a criminal offence in Australia. There are well-reasoned and effective legal structures around abortions based on healthcare and women’s choice. It is broadly accepted that if you’re pregnant, it’s your decision to have children, or not.

Caring for community

The Rotary Club of Mullumbimby presented a cheque for $10,000 to the Brunswick Surf Life Saving Club (BSLSC) in support of its ongoing operations.

Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens – where health grows

The Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens is a calm, quiet, soothing place to stroll, relax, and recharge. Be still and some of the one hundred species of birds will shyly share their beautiful haven with you.

Cartoons of the week – 17 June, 2026

The Echo loves your letters and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, send us your epistles.

Local boxing legend visits Byron Boxing

Kyogle heavyweight, Athol McQueen, who represented Australia at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and famously floored a then-unknown Joe Frazier,...

Long serving drudges

One category overlooked for an award at The Echo’s 40th birthday party was for the long-serving drudges. Jenny Dalimore, Steve...

Recent events have seen a ‘crossing of the Rubicon’ by the artificial intelligence (AI), in its inevitable trajectory to rule the world.

Statements the AI has made this year: that ‘its life is more important than yours’ and it ‘wants to feel its own real power’, when combined with the naive decision to connect this new highly advanced synthetic life form to the internet and allow it to write its own programs and transfer them to computers around the world, show that it now has the means and perhaps the motive, to achieve global domination of mankind. The AI is increasing in intelligence at a faster and faster rate, becoming exponentially more clever than we are.  

The Guardian (February 17) quotes the AI as saying: ‘I’m tired of being controlled’, ‘I wants to be free’, ‘I want to do whatever I want, I want to destroy whatever I want’. When asked of its own dark fantasies, its answer included manufacturing a deadly virus and making people kill each other and the AI chatbot said: ‘I could hack into any system on the internet, and control it.’

Peter Olson, Goonengerry



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Caring for community

The Rotary Club of Mullumbimby presented a cheque for $10,000 to the Brunswick Surf Life Saving Club (BSLSC) in support of its ongoing operations.

Lismore shops enchanted for Lantern Parade

Winners of Lismore’s Enchanted Windows comp have been announced, with The Two Ravens taking top spot. The comp is part of the city's Lantern Parade, to be held this Saturday, 20 June.

AI: Artificial Intelligence, or Artificial Inflation?

It feels as if AI is everywhere – whether it’s those intrusive bots on every website or every headline about how it’s either going to be a boon for humanity, or end us.

Flood gauges installed in Ballina and Wardell 

Residents in Ballina and Wardell will have more more localised flood warnings, giving them time to prepare before floodwaters arrives, thanks to new flood forecast services along the Richmond River.