Australian billionaire and Stake co-founder, Ed Craven, is investing big in the creation of Australia’s first sovereign LLM. We examine the sovereignty-first approach and ways this AI model could be used to support Stake Casino.
In the rapidly evolving world of sovereign AI, China is home to DeepSeek, and the US is home to OpenAI and Anthropic.
Now, billionaire Ed Craven and Dave Lemphers, the Founder and CEO of MainCode, are creating Australia’s answer to a large language model (LLM). This will mark the first time an Australian team has trained a frontier-scale LLM end-to-end onshore.
MainCode, with its ‘dream team’ of world-class technologists committed to Australia’s interests, will release the first ‘fully trained from scratch' sovereign large language model built entirely Down Under on infrastructure they operate and control.
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Betting Big on ‘Australia’s Own’ Tech
Ed Craven, the billionaire founder of crypto gambling platform Stake.com and casino-friendly video streaming site Kick, is betting big as MainCode’s majority investor.
Despite Stake being licensed offshore, Craven himself is firmly rooted in Australia and fully invested in building sovereign AI infrastructure through ventures like MainCode, which is based in his hometown of Melbourne, alongside Dave Lemphers.
‘Sovereignty First’ is Crucial to Success
Unlike most companies that fine-tune foreign models or rely on external APIs, MainCode is building its LLM from first principles, with Lemphers insisting:
QuoteIf you don’t own the main code, you don’t own the system.
The company is deploying its own GPUs, storage and training pipelines in Australian data centres - no outsourcing, no rented systems. By training locally, they aim to avoid risks like “invisible model contamination” and “embedded bias” from foreign platforms like OpenAI or DeepSeek.
Craven and Lemphers see MainCode as ensuring Australians have access to AI tools that reflect local values, laws and interests, especially as sensitive data increasingly flows into global LLMs.
Could MainCode’s AI be Used to Support Stake?
With Stake’s founder heavily invested in MainCode’s AI platform, the company’s model could potentially support the online betting platform in several ways in the future. MainCode’s AI could be used to analyse user behaviour, providing valuable insights to optimise operations, marketing strategies or even game offerings.
Given that the company’s AI is trained on Australian data, it could help Stake better serve local users or tailor services to specific preferences. It could also be used to monitor and manage content on Stake’s casino platforms, ensuring compliance with regulations and user safety.
Another possible use for MainCode’s LLM could be the scripting of influencer marketing material, something Stake is known to endorse to great effect, although often controversially.
MainCode’s LLM is more than a technological milestone; it's a statement about Australia’s ability to innovate in AI. By beginning with a domestic focus, the company is laying the foundation for a model that could one day rival the giants. With the launch not far off, we will be watching to see if Australia’s AI offspring can truly challenge ChatGPT.
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