China's Cyberspace Administration has removed more than 100,000 online accounts over the past month for impersonating state-controlled media and spreading "fake news". The administration launched a campaign to clean up misinformation on social media in April. It is not the first time that the authorities in China have attempted to control online discussion, with sensitive topics regularly censored. The regulator said it had closed fake news units and news anchors, as well as eradicating 835,000 pieces of false information. Countries worldwide have attempted to tackle the problem of disinformation.
Shares of M&A Research Institute, a company that uses AI to match small and medium-sized business owners with successors in Japan who can keep the firms open, have surged, making 32-year-old founder Shunsaku Sagami a billionaire. The company aims to tackle the issue of closure of profitable businesses when there is no clear successor identified. It uses AI and its proprietary data to close deals in between 49 days and six months and charges up to 5% in fees for a successful closure, unlike some competitors who charge retainer fees even if deals don’t ultimately materialise.
Chinese multinational conglomerate Tencent's advertising revenues rose 17% in Q1, compared to the same period last year. The firm also revealed that its fintech segment saw a 14% rise in revenue driven, in part, by WeChat Pay and gaming sales. Shoppers and diners using the digital wallet contributed one third of the group's total revenues, while virtual armour and other game sales also contributed a third. However, the company was impacted by a new rule limiting the amount of time minors can play games, which led to a 96% drop in game time compared to Q1 2020.
Canadian author, Naomi Klein, is set to release her next book, "Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World" in September. Klein’s book will delve into the effects of artificial intelligence on the human identity by investigating far-right groups who “play-act” solidarity with the working class, AI-generated content which blurs the line between what is genuine and spurious, anti-vaxxers scrambling political allegiances, and much more. Klein uses analysis from Jordan Peele's movies, Freud, and other intellectuals to understand the world of AI colliding with the human’s identity. The books are releasing simultaneously in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K.
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer recognises that to implement a reformist agenda, voters must perceive that the proposals are rooted in their values and know that he can restrain his radicalism, as all successful Labour leaders have understood. Although the non-Tory vote exceeds the Conservative Party's vote at elections, the innate conservatism of many Labour voters means that they believe in strong defence, patriotism, wariness of social change and the rule of law. In his speech to the Progressive Britain conference last weekend, Starmer reprimanded progressives for abandoning Labour's working-class support, for exhibiting patronising contempt for those who fly the flag and for pursuing culture war politics.
Citi analyst Shreyas Madabushi has reiterated the company's bullish prediction on lithium prices due to the anticipated improvement of China's EV market and the return of battery restocking in H2 2023. Madabushi claims that lithium prices hit $28,000 per tonne in China over the past two weeks after declining by around 70% over the last five months to $22,000 per tonne. He targets a 25-40% upside, predicting that lithium carbonate prices have reached a bottom, citing improving market sentiment, demand from physical traders, recovering EV sales, lower inventories in the supply chain and more robust export arbitrage. Meanwhile, Bloomberg's energy specialist Javier Blas argues that weak oil prices are due to the thriving black market in oil, with Iran, Russia and Venezuela responsible for almost all the unanticipated and excessive production. Black market crude is available at a discount, with Iranian production having hit a four-year high last month, up 50% from mid-2020.
The CEO of ChatGPT's OpenAI, Sam Altman, has warned of the potential harm caused by artificial intelligence (AI) technology in a three-hour hearing before a US Senate sub-committee. Altman urged Congress to create new rules to regulate soaring AI power. He also shared his fears concerning increasingly powerful AI models and the potential for disinformation and algorithmic bias to undermine public trust. AI may clear the way for new jobs, although some may disappear, according to both Altman and Christina Montgomery, IBM’s vice-president and chief privacy and trust officer. Montgomery suggested the adoption of a "precision regulation approach to AI". Ex-NYC professor Gary Marcus called for the creation of a federal agency to review AI programmes before they were released to the public.
Apple and Samsung have upgraded their products to support disabled customers. Among Apple's new offerings are a tool enabling people to create a digital copy of their voice, providing a reserve for later use if lost to illness. Low-vision users can rely on the new Magnifier app, Point and Speak, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify objects and give an audio description of them. Samsung has added two new levels of amplification to its Ambient Sound feature to help mild-to-moderately hearing-impaired users communicate better in quiet places.
Japanese investment firm Softbank sees potential for investment opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), whose potential for rapid growth is akin to the early internet, according to founder Son Masayoshi. Yet experts are questioning whether investors will be able to distinguish between the upstarts backed by venture capital and the existing tech giants best placed to deploy the innovation for their existing customers. Analysts cite the earlier examples of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and chip makers nvidia and Micron, whose use of machine learning have helped generate their current market dominance.
The latest instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise, Fast X, is a "deeply affectionate, powerfully weird tribute to the series itself", according to a review in The Guardian. The film opens with new villain Dante Reyes (played by Jason Momoa) on the hunt for revenge against Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel), targeting his young son as well as anyone who has collaborated with the crew over the years. Once the film kicks into gear, there is no let-up for audiences, who will be strapped in until the end credits – and its ambition and the love of the series on which it is built impresses.
Amazon has launched three new devices as part of its Echo range, the Echo pop, Echo show 5 and the Echo show 5 kids. The retailer also released the Echo auto in the UK. The second-generation Echo Auto has been specifically designed to enable Alexa hands-free features for cars that do not have built-in AI support. Additionally, the brand-new Echo show 5 combines the utility of Alexa with the convenience of a compact screen and the Echo show 5 kids is designed with child-friendly responses and explicit-lyric filtering.
A Senate subcommittee hearing this week on regulating artificial intelligence (AI) was striking because the executives from Open AI and IBM who testified managed to largely avoid hostile questioning and attacks on their corporate responsibility for managing the dangers of AI that have characterised previous appearances by tech executives to Congress. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in particular charmed lawmakers by presenting a straight-talking and apolitical approach to the myriad of issues raised by AI. Altman was careful to emphasise that OpenAI’s aims are not to addict people to online content, nor to create tools that could startle, manipulate or misinform. The maturity and candidness he demonstrated clearly showed his passion about the subject and views as to why it is important to get it right. Consequently he may have manoeuvred his start-up into the influential position of being the 'go-to' firm with whom lawmakers might work to regulate, and lessen the potential risks associated with, AI specifically.
The head of the UK's navy has called for the increased use of drones, artificial intelligence and other technologies as standard in the armed forces, in order to keep up with rapid advancements across the globe. Admiral Sir Ben Key has warned that the country can't afford to 'come second' in the modern arms race, particularly in response to the deployment of modern suspected Russian subs. The move comes at a time when budgets have been strained and facing cuts in the future, with plans for two amphibious assault ships having already been scrapped last year.
China is now the world leader in initial public offerings (IPOs) after the number of IPOs in the US fell this year amid a regional bank crisis and a debt ceiling standoff. Over 100 deals totalling $25bn have been secured in mainland China so far this year. Beijing has made major reforms aimed at stimulating innovation, and it launched the Nasdaq-style STAR board in 2019 and earlier this year it rolled out the registration-based listing mechanism to all domestic stock exchanges. However, the fast influx of new IPOs is changing the country's stock market.
China has launched a global initiative to establish standards and ethical norms for the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The initiative, called the Global Initiative on Data Security, was announced at a conference in Beijing on September 9 and comes as China has pushed to develop AI technology rapidly in recent years. The initiative calls for the establishment of an open and transparent framework for data security and lays out principles for the use, storage, transfer, and processing of data, as well as for the development and use of AI. The move is seen as an attempt by China to assert its influence in the global AI landscape and build trust among countries regarding data security.
A report has argued that China's embrace of artificial intelligence (AI) for its military means the US needs to redesign its military to respond to the threat. Produced by the Special Competitive Studies Project, headed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt to speed up the adoption of AI in US defence establishment, the report argues that China’s 30-year effort to study US combat techniques will be greatly enhanced by the development of AI. The ratcheting up of AI usage by both countries has sparked concerns of an arms race, potentially exacerbating any diplomatic conflict. US concerns have included the risk of AI-enabled attacks against satellites in space and nuclear architecture, while Redwood City venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has argued that slowing down US AI research would benefit China. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a new international law on autonomy in weapons systems.
US investors are calling quits on China technology investments because of tensions between the countries, according to Ventures Capitalist Patrick Zhong. He said that a great deal of investors and company CEOs no longer travel to China because of Covid-19 restrictions which has caused everyone to put it on hold because of geopolitical concerns. Before founding M31 Capital, which has heavy ties to China, Mr Zhong invested in companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. While he is not concerned about China's technology regulation efforts, he said that he is optimistic entrepreneurs from different countries can work together in the future.
Leaders of the G7 countries – the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Canada – face several challenges as they gather in Hiroshima. The global economic outlook is unstable, while Russia continues its actions in Ukraine and China expands its economic and strategic growth. The G7 will need to address several issues, including enlisting middle countries such as those in Africa, and addressing China without creating undue confusion. Moreover, with concerns around nuclear proliferation and use re-emerging, the monitoring architecture of nuclear arsenals needs to be maintained to avoid future use of nuclear weapons. Finally, as global temperatures continue to rise and heatwaves become deadlier, coordinated responses and the regulation of cryptocurrency will become increasingly important.
Chinese company Nanjing Pengyuhui Technologies has promised users in China access to US-based AI art platform Midjourney, but the social media post was removed within a day due to concerns over uncensored content, the South China Morning Post reports. The deletion underscored the difficulties faced by generative AI services trying to enter China, which require internet operators to censor content. Officials are wary of the use of apps that generate deep fakes, which manipulate people’s faces in a digital format to look like someone else. Midjourney has been criticised for generating fake images of famous figures.
Grammarly is utilising generative AI in its eponymous software application to streamline corporate messaging. Users of Grammarly Business can utilise a summary of all points in a long email conversation, and the platform also creates responses from textual prompts and integrates with multiple office applications. Grammarly CEO, Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, said the software can allow “constant learning and automation of workflows and will ultimately save time and promote creativity”. The first generation of Grammarly Business is to be tested this June ahead of scalable implementation.
