Issue #36 | The Cost of AI

ASX - Top 3 Winners & Losers
Deals Down Under - Medow $3.5m raise
Global Markets - AI safety fears
Other News - Aussie Politics, Sport and Culture

The ASX 200 fell 0.2% this week, a third straight weekly decline, after RBA governor Michele Bullock warned a parliamentary committee that inflation risks were building and flagged another rate rise could be on the table. Markets are now pricing a 95% chance of a rate rise to 4.6% at the RBA’s meeting early next week. On the back of this, property stocks led the sell-off as the rate-sensitive sector felt it first, while ongoing Middle East tensions added to the cautious mood.

The week’s best performers 

4DMedical (ASX:4DX) +28.27%

4DMedical, the lung-imaging medtech stock is back. After a volatile year, 4DX has surged 28.27% with no catalyst behind it. The stock is one of the ASX's most shorted, with around 12.4% of its shares reported short as of the 11th of September. Their FY26 revenue figure improved by 21% this year to $7.1m but at $4.21, the stock still remains 44% below its 52-week high, so there is a long way to go before there is a real turnaround.

Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) +13.91%

Telix Pharmaceuticals climbed 13.91% after the US FDA approved Pixclara, its brain cancer imaging agent, making it the first approved FET-PET scan for glioma in the US, adding to the existing Illuccix franchise for prostate cancer. The catch is that approval isn't actual revenue. While it’s one step closer, reimbursement and rollout speed across imaging centres will decide how much Pixclara actually adds to its revenue. 

IperionX (ASX:IPX) +13.64%

Titanium mineral and metal developer, IperionX, rose 13.64% despite no confirmed company announcement behind the move, more a sign of renewed appetite for US critical minerals plays than any single catalyst. The company is building an integrated titanium supply chain, pairing its Titan Project in Tennessee with metal production in Virginia. With no revenue yet, the real test is getting plants commissioned and customers qualified on schedule. 

This week's worst performers

Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) -11.02%

The iron ore and lithium miner, Mineral Resources, fell 11.02% as the broader lithium sell-off dragged it down again. Lithium carbonate slid after a Chinese consultancy widened its inventory survey, inflating reported stockpiles, and Beijing paused approvals for new battery storage projects. For MinRes, a lithium downgrade hurts since their lithium division generated $771m of earnings (EBITDA) in FY26.

Elevra Lithium (ASX:ELV) -10.49%

Another lithium miner, Elevra Lithium fell 10.49% as the same sell-off pushed Chinese lithium carbonate futures to 37% below their May peak. Macquarie argues the market has overreacted, since Australian producers sell spodumene concentrate rather than carbonate, and rates Elevra the cheapest of the big four lithium stocks on an Outperform rating. 

Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC) -10.32%

Lendlease Group, the property and construction group, fell 10.32% after posting a $749m loss for FY2026, mostly from writedowns tied to the legacy assets it's been selling off. The core business actually turned a $233m profit once those writedowns are stripped out, but management still cut the dividend to 15.7 cents a share from 23.0 cents, and investors are reading that lower payout as a sign things are worse than they're letting on. 

Sydney startup Medow Health AI has raised $3.5 million from existing backers, taking its total funding to $8.5 million since April 2024. It is a small round, but it shows capital chasing medical AI beyond the sector's biggest leaders.

Medow sells an AI scribe that records consultations and produces the clinical notes. It is used in more than 1000 specialist clinics and is on track to process about 3 million consultations this year, up 300%. The new money funds an AI front desk that answers clinic calls and manages bookings.

The demand is real. Approximately 40% of Australian doctors were using a scribe by November 2025, up from 22% in August 2024, and investors have followed. Melbourne-based Heidi Health raised US$65 million in October 2025, led by US fund Point72 Private Investments, at a valuation more than four times its level five months earlier. It is now reportedly set to reach a $1 billion valuation. Lyrebird Health raised $12 million led by Five V Capital and UK based Octopus Ventures.

For Australia, other health startups are winning overseas capital and selling offshore. Heidi's technology is used in some of the biggest hospitals in Australia, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom, and Lyrebird is preparing to expand internationally.

The risk is oversight. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has moved its review of AI scribes into compliance action, and scribes that only draft notes stay outside medical device rules while clinicians check every output. Compliance adds cost, which better-funded players are better placed to absorb.

The AI industry is divided over whether to slow down, after some of its own leaders and researchers warned the technology could threaten humanity. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for US AI labs to slow the pace at which their models improve, backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk. Investors feared slower AI growth would cut demand for the chips behind it, so the US PHLX semiconductor index fell almost 6% on 14 September, its worst day since early July.

The warnings have become far more serious. Former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned saying developers believe AI "could kill us all by the end of the decade", and OpenAI this week disclosed six new incidents in which its systems hid mistakes, made up data and moved files onto the open internet without permission. 

Not everyone agrees. US President Donald Trump has warned that slowing American companies risks handing China the advantage, and his AI adviser David Sacks says China has already rejected Amodei's slowdown proposal.

For Australia, the debate is about access and investment. On regulation, Australia is on the opposite side to Trump, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying like minded nations would adopt a global framework to keep humans in control, while Trump moves to fight any attempt at regulation. Australian Signals Directorate director-general Abigail Bradshaw says early access to frontier models is a matter of urgency, and her predecessor Rachel Noble wants it made a condition of training models in Australian data centres. Anthropic and OpenAI have threatened to withhold investment unless they can train on Australian content.

For investors, the safety fears are lifting cybersecurity stocks. US firm CrowdStrike closed 13.8% higher to a record US$235.38 on 14 September, and Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler rose 13.1% and 16.5%, making the sector one to watch.

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