Ever since AI started developing content, the doors were opened for authors, writers, creators, and such to sue technology companies for copyright infringement. Even before AI, failure to attribute, acknowledge, or get permission to use existing content has resulted in some heavy lawsuits being filed.

While there is no denying that AI is capable of creating content that is almost as good as the work of real talent, the reality is that the technology is only capable of doing this by learning from the best. However, in this case, learning from the best and making a profit out of it is not ethically acceptable to many.

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As AI capabilities improve, more authors, publishers and content creators are beginning to feel that the technology is merely copying their work or using it without their permission. Over the past few months alone, more AI firms have been facing lawsuits, not just from authors and such, but also from publishing companies and even Elon Musk himself.

Last year, AI firms announced plans to watermark AI content for safety purposes. The watermark will also serve as an identifier for AI-generated content. However, there are still some arguments about this, especially since AI is generating content based on images and texts that have previously been produced by real talent.

Here’s a look at some of the most recent AI lawsuits filed against AI firms.

NVIDIA

Reuters reported that Nvidia has been sued by three authors who said it used their copyrighted books without permission to train its NeMo, opening a new tab AI platform. Brian Keene, Abdi Nazemian and Stewart O’Nan said their works were part of a dataset of about 196,640 books that helped train NeMo to simulate ordinary written language before being taken down in October “due to reported copyright infringement.”

Open AI

Open AI is already facing several lawsuits on copyright infringement from various individuals. The most recent lawsuit was filed by Elon Musk. According to a report by Bloomberg, Musk is accusing OpenAI of breaching its funding agreement by prioritizing profits over the benefit of humanity.

Apart from Musk, Open AI is also being sued by the Authors Guild of America. In a class-action suit, renowned writers claim the company’s large language models (LLM) engage in systematic theft on a mass scale.

Journalist and nonfiction author Julian Sancton has also sued Open AI, claiming the company used his work without permission to train its generative AI tools.

Media companies Raw Story Media Inc., The Intercept Media Inc. and AlterNet Media Inc. also filed lawsuits. The news organizations claim OpenAI and co-defendant Microsoft violated the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act by stripping away copyrighted information when they trained ChatGPT.

Microsoft

Both Microsoft and Open AI are being sued by the New York Times after the publication claims the AI firms has used millions of Times articles to build out its AI tool. The suit alleges chatbots like ChatGPT “seek to free-ride” on the Times’s content and threaten to stifle its revenue.

Another journalist, Nicholas Gage and author Nicholas Basbanes have also filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI in January, claiming the companies wrongfully used their work to train AI models. Gage has written investigative stories for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Basbanes has written books about the history of publishing.

Google

In Europe, more than 30 European media organizations sued Google in the Netherlands seeking US$2.3 billion and accusing the search giant’s advertising business of violating antitrust laws.

Anthropic

AWS-funded Anthropic is being sued by a group of top music publishers. The complaint alleges the AI firm used copyrighted lyrics from at least 500 songs, and that its Claude AI chatbot disseminates them on its platform.

Both Microsoft and Open AI are being sued by the New York Times after the publication claims the AI firms has used millions of Times articles to build out its AI tool (Image – Shutterstock)

How can AI firms deal with this?

While the lawsuits are ongoing, the reality is that AI is only going to get more sophisticated and create even better content as LLMs continue to learn and be developed. Just as an AI learns to improve productivity at work, the same models will also learn how to eventually create content based on its own work.

However, users need to remember that beneath all the content generated by AI, the foundation work and original ideas were designed, created and generated by real humans who used their own imagination and ideas. This is something technology will never be able to replicate at this point in time.

AI firms continue to claim that their models train on existing data that are publicly available. The reality is, even this publicly available data could soon end up being copyright protected if attributions are not properly made.

At the end of the day, if the AI does not credit it properly, the content can be considered plagiarism and lawsuits could be inevitable.

The post It’s sue season as AI firms face lawsuits   appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The transformative role of AI in shaping the future of the built world is unfolding rapidly. From construction sites to engineering design, AI technologies are revolutionizing the way we build, optimize, and manage infrastructure.

In construction, AI is capable of providing valuable insights for decision-making based on the data it analyzes. This includes having access to real-time visibility. Traditionally, construction leaders relied on outdated designs, lagging schedules, and performance metrics lacking real-time insights. AI changes this landscape. Real-time visibility allows adjustments that uplift project profitability, reduce delays, and enhance safety.

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AI also helps improve maintenance and safety schedules. AI algorithms analyze sensor data to predict equipment failures. By identifying potential issues before they escalate, construction companies can reduce downtime, improve safety, and save costs. Predictive maintenance ensures that machinery operates efficiently and minimizes unexpected breakdowns.

For AI in engineering, the ability for plants to have smart production lines is just one of the many capabilities AI offers. This also helps businesses minimize waste, and improve overall efficiency.

At the same time, AI-powered sensors detect anomalies in infrastructure, ensuring safety and longevity. Whether it’s bridges, dams, or high-rise buildings, real-time monitoring helps prevent catastrophic failures. AI models can also analyze energy consumption patterns in buildings and industrial facilities. By optimizing heating, cooling, and lighting systems, engineers reduce environmental impact and operational costs and meet sustainability requirements.

Another interesting capability for AI in engineering is in design simulation. AI assists engineers in creating innovative designs. Whether it’s simulating fluid dynamics, stress analysis, or material behavior, AI-driven simulations enhance product performance and reliability.

While AI promises immense benefits, challenges remain. Ensuring data quality, interdisciplinary collaboration, and ethical considerations are crucial. Engineers must stay updated on AI advancements and embrace continuous learning.

Image of Gamuda_s Autonomous Tunnel Boring Machine in Malaysia

AI in engineering and construction in Malaysia

As a developing nation, Malaysia continues to build new infrastructures to meet the demands of the industry. The country is already home to the most number of skyscrapers in the region and does not look to be slowing down in building more.

Apart from that, Malaysia is also actively constructing new rail networks to connect the capital to more cities around the country. While there are several huge construction and engineering companies in Malaysia, Gamuda Berhad has been leveraging technology for some time in its operations.

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Gamuda recently announced expansion plans with Google Cloud to make enterprise-grade generative AI capabilities accessible and useful to every Gamuda employee, empowering them to more efficiently and innovatively deliver engineering, construction, and public infrastructure projects in the region.

“Always a forerunner in technological adoption, generative AI for Gamuda is another step forward in our continuous digital innovation journey to transform a highly traditional industry, which is engineering and construction. Through the Gamuda Innovation Hub, we’re breaking new ground with a digital and data-driven approach for construction while upskilling talent in Google Cloud competencies to set them on new career paths in our industry,” said John Lim Ji Xiong, Group Chief Digital Officer, Gamuda Berhad.

“Google Cloud is our cloud provider of choice because of their vast expertise in planetary-scale data management and cutting-edge AI, coupled with the intuitiveness of their developer platforms and tools. These make it very easy for our workforce to even build their own gen AI tools to address challenges in their work—in a manner that is private and secure.”

In implementing generative AI, Gamuda developed the Gamuda Digital Operating System (GDOS), which is a standard ecosystem of tools for every Gamuda project where enterprise data is consolidated and underpinned by a unified data cloud platform. This includes data from mission-critical systems like Autodesk Construction Cloud and SAP S4/HANA. Notably, this follows the successful migration of Gamuda’s SAP S4/HANA systems from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Google Cloud in 2023, supported by Google Cloud partner Cloudspace.

“Moving all our compute workloads, including SAP S4/HANA to Google Cloud, allowed us to harmonize our compute and data in a single cloud platform, thereby enabling the team to focus on driving value-creating use cases and shifting the focus away from managing infrastructure. Google Cloud’s BigQuery data warehouse and workload-optimized infrastructure delivers cost savings, is easy to use, and helps us derive more value from our data footprint,” explained Lim.

A unified data cloud provides Gamuda’s design, engineering, finance, supply chain, and field operations teams with a holistic, integrated, and real-time view of all project workflows. This enables agile, data-driven decision-making throughout the process of delivering complex, long-term projects in Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, and Taiwan.

To safeguard its enterprise data and core digital systems, Gamuda has implemented Google Cloud’s Security Command Center Premium platform, which is powered by machine learning, for advanced threat detection and prevention, attack path simulation, and upholding regulatory compliance.

Autonomous Tunnel Boring Machine Created by Gemini 2

AI in tunnelling

One initiative that digs deep into the core of Gamuda’s tunneling competencies is the use of Google Cloud’s Gemini models on the Vertex AI platform to build and integrate a generative AI-powered conversational agent into its cloud-based Tunnel Insight platform, with support from CloudMile, a Google Cloud partner,

Powered by Google Cloud, Tunnel Insight ingests, presents, and analyzes sensor data from the world’s first autonomous tunnel boring machines (A-TBMs) developed in-house by Gamuda. Guided by sophisticated algorithms to automate repetitive operational tasks like machine steering, and advance and muck excavation, these A-TBMs are being used for better tunneling in construction projects like the Defu and West Coast Mass Rapid Transit stations and tunnels in Singapore and the Sydney Metro West-Western Tunnelling Package in Australia.

The vast amount of data that is continuously generated by such operations can make it challenging for staff to extract insights at pace for timelier responses to geological changes or maintenance needs. The generative AI-powered conversational agent is therefore being used by staff to quickly extract relevant summaries and instructions from a vast repository of machine documentation to ease the maintenance process, and easily interpret data charts on machine performance in natural language.

Gamuda has also been using Vertex AI Search and Conversation to build generative search and chat applications for its market intelligence, design, and technical teams. These employees can now synthesize thousands of pages of research documentation into crisp summaries within minutes and query data from hundreds of past projects for insights to inform new project tender proposals.

“Google Cloud’s enterprise AI stack has accelerated our gen AI innovation cycles, allowing us to go from concept to impact much faster than we had hoped. With Vertex AI’s out-of-box capabilities, even employees with zero specialist AI knowledge can build, deploy, and gain value from functional generative applications in a matter of weeks. With access to world-class foundation models and easy-to-use APIs, Google Cloud enables Gamuda to lay the groundwork for a marketplace of expertise and insight at our fingertips,” added Lim.

Meanwhile, Patrick Wee, Country Manager, Malaysia, Google Cloud, commented, “Construction has traditionally been a labor- and process-intensive industry with lengthy project cycles, but Gamuda has swiftly transformed this paradigm by embracing digitalization and gen AI at scale on Google Cloud. They’re merging diverse data streams to solve real-world challenges while saving time and costs—and they’re setting a powerful example for enterprises seeking rapid innovation through the convergence of modern infrastructure, data analytics, security, and AI.”

The post AI in Construction and Engineering: Building the Future appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024 is Inspire Inclusion. Over the centuries, women have been challenged to be included in various roles, decision-making processes and such. While the situation has definitely improved, there is still a lot more room for inclusivity especially in roles and industries that are primarily dominated by men.

IWD this year aims to inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion to forge a better world. Simply because when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.

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In the tech industry, inclusivity is still one of the biggest challenges. Generally, most roles in tech are dominated by men. This not just includes developers and data scientists but also the leaders who make the key decisions about tech.

According to a report by The World Bank, women make up less than a third of the world’s workforce in technology-related fields. In the US, women make up 28% of employees in STEM. In major tech companies, such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, the proportion of female staff is 45%, 37%, 34%, 33%, and 29% of their entire workforce, respectively. When it comes to leadership positions, these figures are 29%, 34%, 31%, 28%, and 26%, respectively.

Tech companies realize the need to have more women in the industry and have continued to offer programs and training to increase representation. For example, Microsoft, AWS and Google all offer programs to help train and develop not just the skills of their female employees but also those in the community.

IWD this year aims to inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion to forge a better world. (Image generated by AI).

IWD 2024: successful women in tech

As technology continues to innovate the future of work, roles are being redefined as well. And there have been an increasing number of women who are addressing these challenges and taking them by the horns.

Tech Wire Asia highlights ten women in technology who have not only been phenomenal in their roles but have made a huge mark in the industry and are capable of inspiring inclusion for everyone.

Note that the list is in no particular order.

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD

Lisa Su, an accomplished American business executive and electrical engineer, currently serves as the CEO and chair of AMD. Under her leadership, AMD has made significant strides in the semiconductor industry. Su’s background includes work at IBM and Freescale Semiconductor, where she contributed to semiconductor technologies. She joined AMD in 2012 and has received numerous awards for her leadership. Her remarkable contributions have solidified her position as a respected leader in the tech world, especially in the male-dominated semiconductor industry.

Wendi Whitmore, senior vice president for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks

Wendi Whitmore is the senior vice president for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks. With two decades of experience, she leads a team of elite incident responders and threat researchers. They tackle intricate cyberthreats, from ransomware to state-sponsored espionage. Wendi advises executive leadership teams on security programs and teaches cybersecurity courses. She previously led IBM’s X-Force incident response and threat intelligence teams and is an appointed member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersafety Review Board. A globally recognized cybersecurity leader, Wendi plays a pivotal role in solving major breaches.

Dr Si Hui Tan, chief science officer at Horizon Quantum Computing

Dr. Si-Hui Tan is the chief science officer at Horizon Quantum Computing. With over 18 years of experience in quantum information science, she has been an active researcher in the field. Si-Hui holds a BSc in Physics from Caltech and a PhD in Physics from MIT. She joined Horizon Quantum Computing shortly after its launch, driven by the ambition to make quantum computers a reality for everyone. Si-Hui leads research and development, overseeing daily operations. Her extensive publications include contributions to top physics journals and renowned conference proceedings.

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X

Linda Yaccarino serves as the CEO of X Corp (formerly – and probably forever – Twitter). With a career spanning Turner Entertainment and NBCUniversal, she modernized ad sales strategies and played a key role in launching the Peacock streaming service. Yaccarino’s appointment at X Corp aims to create a trustworthy, accurate, and real-time information source. Despite the scrutiny, she navigates the complexities of social media under the watchful eye of the public and Elon Musk himself.

Safra Catz, Oracle CEO

Safra Catz, the CEO of Oracle Corporation, has been a key figure in the tech industry. With roles including president and chief financial officer, she has steered Oracle’s success. Catz is recognized as one of the most influential businesswomen globally, with an estimated net worth of US$1.6 billion. Her leadership continues to shape the company’s trajectory.

The most successful women in tech continue to push for more inclusivity in the industry. (Image by Shutterstock).

Mira Mutati, OpenAI CTO

Mira Murati has been the chief technology officer (CTO) of OpenAI since 2018. Her remarkable contributions include leading the development of groundbreaking AI technologies such as ChatGPT, DALL-E, and GPT-4. Murati oversees OpenAI’s research, product, and safety teams, pushing the boundaries of machine learning while advocating for responsible and ethical AI use. In November 2023, she briefly served as interim CEO of OpenAI. Her ability to assemble teams with technical expertise and a deep mission appreciation has been instrumental in OpenAI’s success

Raja Teh Maimunah Raja Abdul Aziz, CEO of Aeon Islamic Digital Bank

Inclusion in financial services is key for communities to be fully developed. Digital banks play a strong role in enabling this as they are capable of catering the best products and services to those who are unbanked in rural areas. Raja Teh Maimunah Raja Abdul Aziz is no stranger to the financial industry in the region. Having held several senior roles in various banks in the region, Raja Teh is now the CEO of Aeon’s Islamic Digital Bank in Malaysia. The Islamic Digital Bank is also the first in the country.

Catherine Lian, general manager and technology leader at IBM ASEAN

Catherine Lian has been in the world of tech for several years and is widely recognized in Southeast Asia for her capabilities in helping companies adopt the best technologies available from IBM. In 2023, Lian was honored with the Women in Tech Award for the private sector and NGOs at the prestigious World Innovation, Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) Global Innovation and Tech Excellence Awards. In inspiring inclusion, Lian’s triumph is a testament to the resilient spirit and continuous efforts of women in the tech industry to break barriers and forge a path for increased representation and inclusivity.

Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of Grab

Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder and COO of Grab, is a Malaysian businesswoman. Alongside Anthony Tan, she founded Grab in 2012, creating a mobile app connecting taxi seekers with drivers. Under her leadership, Grab has raised over US$9 billion and expanded across Southeast Asia. Tan’s determination and innovation continue to shape the region’s transportation and technology landscape. While Tan stepped down from operating roles at Grab at the end of 2023, she remains in the company in an advisory role.

Lucy Peng, Co-founder of Alibaba Group

Lucy Peng, a Chinese billionaire businesswoman, co-founded Alibaba Group. Her entrepreneurial spirit shaped Alibaba’s success. She served as a director at Ant Group and held key roles within Alibaba. After a brief stint as CEO of Lazada, Peng is currently the executive chairwoman of Lazada Group where she drives its expansion within Alibaba’s ecosystem. Her journey exemplifies resilience, innovation, and leadership in tech.

“We can only hope.” And, you know, instigate positive changes in the industry’s culture and society on a wider level, to boost inclusivity at every level. That too…

The post IWD 2024: Women in tech appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Ever since OpenAI launched ChatGPT, rivals have been eager to compete. While many have achieved significant milestones in their development, ChatGPT still dominates the market, with most organizations opting for the enterprise versions that cater to their business needs.

Despite this, rival AI chatbot developers around the world, have continued to innovate their products, offering more features that match – or sometimes perform better than – ChatGPT.

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One of OpenAI’s biggest rivals is Anthropic. Founded in 2021 and now a major player in AI, Anthropic is backed by both Amazon and Google. Valued at around US$18 billion, the AI company is hoping to secure more funding as it looks to be a major challenger to OpenAI.

The company recently announced that its three new AI models – called Claude 3 Opus, Sonnet and Haiku – were its most high-performing tools yet and were industry-leading in terms of their ability to “match human intelligence.”

“Opus, our most intelligent model, outperforms its peers on most of the common evaluation benchmarks for AI systems, including undergraduate level expert knowledge (MMLU), graduate-level expert reasoning (GPQA), basic mathematics (GSM8K), and more. It exhibits near-human levels of comprehension and fluency on complex tasks, leading the frontier of general intelligence,” Anthropic announced in a statement.

The company also said that all Claude 3 models show increased capabilities in analysis and forecasting, nuanced content creation, code generation, and conversing in non-English languages like Spanish, Japanese, and French.

The image below shows the performance of Claude 3 when compared with OpenAI and Google Gemini.

A comparison of the Claude 3 models to those of peers on multiple benchmarks. (Source – Anthropic).

“Businesses of all sizes rely on our models to serve their customers, making it imperative for our model outputs to maintain high accuracy at scale. To assess this, we use a large set of complex, factual questions that target known weaknesses in current models.

“We categorize the responses into correct answers, incorrect answers (or hallucinations), and admissions of uncertainty, where the model says it doesn’t know the answer instead of providing incorrect information. Compared to Claude 2.1, Opus demonstrates a twofold improvement in accuracy (or correct answers) on these challenging open-ended questions while also exhibiting reduced levels of incorrect answers,” explained Anthropic.

On concerns about the model’s accuracy and privacy, Anthropic pointed out that it has several dedicated teams that track and mitigate a broad spectrum of risks, ranging from misinformation and CSAM to biological misuse, election interference, and autonomous replication skills.

“We continue to develop methods such as Constitutional AI that improve the safety and transparency of our models and have tuned our models to mitigate against privacy issues that could be raised by new modalities. Addressing biases in increasingly sophisticated models is an ongoing effort and we’ve made strides with this new release. We remain committed to advancing techniques that reduce biases and promote greater neutrality in our models, ensuring they are not skewed towards any particular partisan stance,” the company said.

On concerns about the model’s accuracy and privacy, Anthropic pointed out that it has several dedicated teams that track and mitigate a broad spectrum of risks.

OpenAI: rivals range from ChatGPT to Sora

Another OpenAI product that could soon face challengers is Sora. The text-to-video generator was released recently and has proven to be a hit, given its capabilities to generate videos based on prompts. While most text-to-video generators normally generate content based on a library of footage they have access to, SoraAI actually creates new content based on the prompt.

Given the potential of this tool, there are concerns about how it would impact the livelihoods of graphic artists and designers. However, that may not be the only problem as rivals are now also looking to develop their own version of this concept.

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According to a report by SCMP, a team of researchers is making a fresh push to develop China’s answer to Sora. Professors from China’s Peking University and Shenzhen-based AI company Rabbitpre jointly launched an Open-Sora plan with a page on GitHub, with a mission to “reproduce OpenAI’s video generation model”.

The Open-Sora plan aims to reproduce a “simple and scalable ” version of OpenAI’s video generation model with help from the open source community. OpenAI started a global AI frenzy in late 2023 with the launch of its ChatGPT generative chatbot.

Several other Chinese tech companies have also been developing their own versions of text-to-video AI generators. In January 2024, Tencent AI in January released an open source video generation and editing toolbox called VideoCrafter2, which is capable of generating videos from text.

Apart from Tencent, TikTok owner ByteDance also released the MagicVideo-V2 text-to-video model. According to the project’s GitHub page, it combines a “text-to-image model, video motion generator, reference image embedding module and frame interpolation module into an end-to-end video generation pipeline.”

Among the roster of OpenAI rivals, Alibaba is also getting in on the action. The tech giant’s Damo Vision Intelligence Lab released ModelScope, also a text-to-video generation model. The model however currently only supports English input and video output is limited to two seconds.

The post Competition heats up for OpenAI as rivals raise the bar appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Predictive decisions are always made based on the data and variables that are available. Economies around the world continue to analyze data available to them to predict market outcomes and guide the likes of interest rates, on which those economies depend for their continuation. But the thing about predictions is that they will always remain predictions, rather than certainties. Probabilities can, and do, still go either way.

Technology is now slowly changing this, though. While AI has made a difference to businesses by automating processes, it is also capable of studying data to provide insights. These predictive analytics are the process of using data to forecast future outcomes. By using data analysis, machine learning, AI and statistical models, businesses can find patterns that might accurately predict future behavior.

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The use of data to predict outcomes is at the core of the financial world. Analysts and economists have been using various models and calculations to predict marketbehaviors for decades. While they do hit the mark, most times, the process can be long and tedious.

At the same time, there is also default probability analytics. Default probability is a crucial concept in credit risk analytics. It quantifies the likelihood that a borrower or counterparty will default on their financial obligations within a specified time frame. Expressed as a percentage, it represents the probability of a credit event occurring.

Here’s how it works:

1. Data Collection: Relevant data about borrowers and their credit performance is collected. This includes financial statements, credit bureau reports, loan repayment history, and other relevant factors.
2. Data Pre-processing: The collected data is cleaned and prepared for analysis by removing duplicates, correcting errors, and addressing missing values.
3. Variable Selection: A set of predictive variables (features) is chosen based on their relevance to default prediction. These variables include financial ratios, credit scores, industry indicators, macroeconomic factors, and other relevant information.
4. Model Development: Statistical models are built to estimate the probability of default. These models use historical data and consider financial health, credit history, and economic conditions.

What the risk map looks like. (Source – Kamakura).

SAS and Kamakura

This is where companies like SAS and Kamakura come in. Having acquired the risk management software, SAS now provides an unparalleled suite of integrated risk solutions, particularly concerning asset liability management (ALM) and other essential solutions for the financial services industry. SAS has scaled resources to support Kamakura products, enabling SAS resources and selected specialized partners.

For default probability analytics, Kamakura provides default probability measures for public firms, non-public firms, US banks, and sovereign counterparts which can be used to assess the creditworthiness of an entire credit portfolio or on a single name basis. Inputs to the Kamakura models include company-specific attributes, industry-related measures and relevant macro-economic factors. Independent tests have confirmed that Kamakura default probabilities have the highest-performing predictive power available in the market.

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According to Donald R. Van Deventer, the founder of Kamakura, the software product is Kamakura Risk Manager. It’s an enterprise-wide Risk Management System (KRIS) that integrates market risk, asset liability management, credit risks, transfer, pricing, capital allocation, and many other variables. Van Deventer stated that the alliance with SAS, especially with the SAS Viya platform, makes the hosting of Kamakura Risk Manager (KRM) seamless, and facilitates the integration of KRM with other products.

Specifically, KRIS default probabilities are updated daily for 40,500 firms in 76 countries, for more than 4,900 US banks insured by the FDIC, and for 183 sovereigns. The legacy rating agencies update ratings on only 3-6 corporate families per day. Worldwide, only around 2,650 corporate families have ratings.

The solution works by considering the average percentile wreck of the defaulting observations. Put simply, it’s the universe of default probabilities of the observations that did not default.

“We value every traded corporate bond in the US corporate market every day. So the best way to measure accuracy is not to make up some absolute standard. For the Challenger model, we’ve chosen a rating base valuation model, where every day, we ask the question, what credit spread best fits all the bonds with a triple eight rate or what credit spread fits the bonds with a double A plus, and so on,” explained Van Deventer.

Kamakura’s Implied Rating model provides a most likely legacy rating agency rating for a public firm based on company-specific attributes, Kamakura default probabilities, industry classification and relevant macro-economic factors along with the historical behavior of the legacy rating agencies.

Bonds. (Source – Kamakura).

Default probability analytics: the opportunity in Southeast Asia

Van Deventer was recently in Southeast Asia, speaking to banks and potential customers about the benefits of using this model. In fact, he believes the region has a lot to gain, given the amount of data available.

“People in the region are very smart. People realize how much volatility in the region is coming out of China, both political and economic. And they need to have a tool that can immediately respond if China does something strange. I don’t have the probability for political acts by China or any country although we do have a sovereign risk estimate for China. And the fall probably we see from China is higher than any other country in the region with around 3% annual rate,” he explained.

What this means is that financial services in the region, especially the banks, would be able to use the model to predict their market in the future. By using KRIS, banks will have a very multinational database to bear.

“Blind, stupid, doodah, clueless luck!” – Sure, but imagine if you had the power, and the data, to accurately predict every toin coss of investment or financial provision. Welcome to default probability analytics.

The post How default probability analytics can make a difference  appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Despite Chinese cloud companies investing heavily in AI development, the uptake among Chinese businesses has not been as high as the industry would like it to be. While there could be many reasons for this, Chinese cloud companies are hoping 2024 will see better growth opportunities and more firms taking up their products and services.

Chinese cloud companies like Alibaba Cloud, Huawei and Tencent have each released AI models and products this year. Chinese tech company Baidu as well as several other Chinese companies have also developed and released more AI models.

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According to a report by Canalys released in December 2023, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud and Tencent Cloud are the top three cloud vendors in Mainland China in Q3 2023. The Chinese cloud companies collectively grew 22% to account for a combined 73% share of customer spending. In Q3 2023, cloud revenue generated via channels in the Chinese market accounted for 25% of total revenue, against 23% in the previous quarter.

But the report also stated that the Chinese cloud services market remains conservative, relying heavily on government and state-owned enterprises to drive growth.

“The innate complexity of AI technology presents challenges in terms of adoption and deployment,” Canalys said, “yet simultaneously unlocks opportunities for a broader AI ecosystem.”

Alibaba Cloud has slashed the prices of its cloud services by up to 55%.

Alibaba Cloud slashes pricing

Given the slow adoption of AI among Chinese businesses, Alibaba Cloud has cut the prices of its cloud services by up to 55%. According to a report by Bloomberg, the company will be slashing its prices by as much as 55%. The price reductions are expected to span over 100 products offered by the Chinese cloud provider.

The price cut is one of the most aggressive moves taken by Alibaba. While there have been price cuts announced in the past by other cloud service providers, none have ever reached a cut as high as the Chinese cloud company.

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Alibaba Cloud is probably hoping the price cuts will make its product not only more affordable to Chinese businesses but will also allow them to stay ahead of rivals Tencent and Baidu.

The price slashing is expected to cause a ripple effect in the cloud services industry, which could trigger a price war. Reports by Bloomberg are already indicating that rivals JD.com responded within the same day of Alibaba’s announcement by unveiling its own round of price cuts as well.

Analysts from Bloomberg Intelligence also stated that the price cuts are pretty much a declaration of a cloud price war. Alibaba has struggled over the past year to revamp its vast e-commerce, logistics and cloud empire in the face of fierce competition and geopolitical risks. The company is looking to revive growth after two years of regulatory scrutiny and Covid-era economic turbulence.

It remains to be seen if Huawei, Tencent and other Chinese cloud companies will reduce their prices for their services. However if Alibaba Cloud is capable of doing so and capturing a larger market size in China, the competitors would need to join in or find other ways to boost their customer base.

Has Alibaba Cloud started a price war with other Chinese cloud companies? (Image by Shutterstock).

Chinese cloud companies kick off the global price war?

In 2024, Canalys expects global cloud infrastructure services spending to increase by 20%, compared with 18% in 2023. Currently, the biggest cloud companies in the world are AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

“The integration of generative AI into mainstream software products is accelerating, potentially leading to quicker commercialization of generative AI applications. Google recently introduced its rebranded Gemini large language model into Workspace applications, such as Gmail and Docs. At the same time, Microsoft launched Copilot for Microsoft 365 last November, embedding its generative AI platform into Word, Excel and other office applications,” said Yi Zhang, Analyst at Canalys.

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However, could the price slashes in China have an impact on the global cloud services pricing? Given the weakening currencies in Asia Pacific, businesses in the region could opt for a cloud service provider that is capable of giving them the best value they can get.

Alibaba Cloud has a strong presence in APAC, especially in Southeast Asia. A similar price reduction in the region could trigger a price war not just from Chinese cloud companies but global companies as well.

While AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft remain strong in the region, Chinese cloud companies have a soft spot as well among some businesses. Should the company decide to make a similar move here, businesses will be tempted to pick the cheaper option as well.

For now, though, the price cuts seem to be only in China. Perhaps in the future, if the move seems to be beneficial for the company, they could spread to services outside China as well.

The post Chinese cloud companies in pricing war as Alibaba slashes prices appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

AI plays a crucial role in enhancing data backup and recovery processes for businesses. As the technology evolves, automating backup and recovery processes is a prerogative for most organizations today.

In fact, AI is capable of making backups more efficient. For example, newer backup technologies use AI and machine learning to automate the ongoing task of backing up critical data and software components. These intelligent tools can be trained by IT engineers to follow priorities and requirements for data security and recovery plans.

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When it comes to incident response, AI can offer recommendations for actions an incident response team should consider taking. AI also analyzes large amounts of data faster and more objectively than humans, aiding quick decisions during critical minutes after an incident.

More importantly, AI in incident response is capable of automating recovery tasks, such as reinstalling or reconfiguring network servers. For data recovery, machine learning algorithms automate data classification and retrieval, making it easier to prioritize and recover essential business assets. These speed up recovery processes, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity. It ensures that data backups, incident response, and asset recovery work together efficiently.

Simply put, AI enhances data backup and recovery by automating tasks, improving incident response, and ensuring efficient recovery of both business and technology assets.

Introducing Cohesity Gaia, the first-ever AI-powered conversational search assistant.

An AI search assistant in backup and recovery

For businesses, having a backup solution that uses AI is essential in ensuring they are capable of ensuring business continuity. Given the rising number of ransomware cases, paying the ransom should not be seen as a solution.

Instead, businesses should invest in backup solutions that can give them instant recovery should they ever face any cybersecurity incidents. The data retrieval process in recovery should be also be seamless.

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Given this need, Cohesity has unveiled the industry’s first AI-powered enterprise search assistant that brings retrieval augmented generation (RAG) AI and large language models (LLMs) to high-quality backup data within Cohesity environments. Cohesity Gaia is a conversational AI assistant that enables users to ask questions and receive answers by accessing and analyzing their vast pools of enterprise data.

The AI assistant relies on RAG. RAG is a natural language processing technique that combines the benefits of retrieval-based and generative-based approaches to improve the quality of text generation tasks, such as question-answering, summarization, and conversational AI. RAG models combine the strengths of LLMs with the ability to retrieve information from multiple sources. RAG enables LLMs to generate more knowledgeable, diverse, and relevant responses and offers a more efficient approach to fine-tuning these models.

AI in incident response is capable of automating recovery tasks, such as reinstalling or reconfiguring network servers. (Image generated by AI).

According to a media release by Cohesity, the AI search assistant is capable of transforming data into knowledge when coupled with the Cohesity Data Cloud. It can help accelerate the goals of an organization while keeping data secure and compliant.  Cohesity has announced plans with the three largest public cloud providers to bring their LLM services to Cohesity Gaia.

The underlying architecture of Cohesity Data Cloud manages and secures data with a unique blend of performance, extensibility, and scale. Cohesity Gaia extends the value proposition of Cohesity Data Cloud even further:

• By building a RAG AI solution on Cohesity’s multi-cloud platform, Cohesity will be able to seamlessly provide RAG AI conversational search experiences across cloud and hybrid environments that will allow enterprises to gain deeper insights into their data and make informed decisions in the future, no matter where their stored data resides.
• Cohesity maintains a fully indexed backup of all files, across all workloads, and at all points in time. This robust capability supports the creation of AI-ready indexes for rapid conversational search and responses, providing enterprises with quick and accurate results. Initially, Cohesity will support Microsoft 365 and OneDrive data and will expand to more workloads over time.
• The unique architecture of Cohesity Gaia ensures that all indexed data is immediately available for reading without the need for backups to be reconstructed. This allows the Cohesity Data Cloud to function like a data lake, providing businesses with real-time access to their data for analysis and decision-making.
• The Cohesity Data Cloud employs granular, role-based access controls and zero-trust security principles, ensuring that only authorized users and models have access to the necessary data. This not only protects sensitive information but also helps enterprises maintain compliance with various regulatory requirements.

Cohesity Gaia offers a comprehensive solution that caters to the unique requirements of enterprises. (Image generated by AI).

Addressing LLM challenges in backup and recovery

“The narrative surrounding the ease of deploying advanced machine learning systems like RAG can be misleading. While it’s true that modern frameworks and pre-built models have simplified the process to an extent, they often gloss over the complexities that arise when scaling to enterprise levels,” explained Gregg Staton, office of the CTO – data & AI, Cohesity in a blog post. 

Enterprises looking to utilize LLMs often face several challenges. Developers must first create more copies of data, thereby increasing the threat footprint for an attack. What’s more, the data may be incomplete or dated. Finally, this approach requires additional time and resources and puts an added burden on the system’s performance. Cohesity Gaia overcomes these challenges by integrating AI capabilities within a customer’s backup environment.

Cohesity Gaia helps organizations make better, faster decisions across a myriad of use cases, such as:

• To assess an organization’s level of cyber-resilience.
• To quickly perform financial and compliance audit checks.
• To answer complex legal questions.
• To serve as a knowledge base to train new employees.

“Enterprises are excited to harness the power of generative AI but have faced several challenges gaining insights into secondary data, including backup, archived and vaulted data – because every approach requires re-hydrating the data, and painfully waiting weeks for the data to be available for analytics and insights. Cohesity Gaia dramatically simplifies this process with our patent-pending approach using Retrieval Augmented Generation,” said Sanjay Poonen, CEO and president of Cohesity.

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“With Cohesity Gaia, for the first time in our industry, companies will be able to leverage generative AI to query their data in a virtually seamless way. Our approach delivers rapid, insightful results without the drawbacks of more manual and risky approaches. In short, it turns data into knowledge within seconds and minutes,” added Poonen.

At the core of Cohesity AI technologies is Cohesity Turing, a patent-pending collection of AI capabilities and technologies integrated into Cohesity’s multi-cloud data management and security platform, that provide operational and data insights. The foundation of these AI innovations is the concept of “responsible AI,” with capabilities and frameworks that enable customers to introduce AI to backup data securely and safely at scale. All

Cohesity Turing solutions adhere to these responsible AI principles:

• Transparency: Protect access to the data with role-based access controls. Promote transparency and accountability around access and policies.
• Governance: Ensure the security and privacy of data used by AI models and the workforce—so the right data is exposed only to the right people (and models) with the right privileges.
• Access: Integrate indexed and searchable data securely and easily while ensuring data is immutable and resilient.

“It is important to understand that Cohesity Gaia does not retrieve data like a search engine; it answers questions,” added Statton.

”For example, if you notice a rise in costs in a region, typically, you would search for dozens of invoices, review and compare them, and see if you can discover the reason for the cost increases. It could take hours, days, or weeks to resolve. With Cohesity Gaia, you simply ask, ‘Why have costs increased in the region?’ and Cohesity Gaia will pull the relevant information from your stored data, analyze it, and return an answer to your question. It’s that simple.”

The post Retrieval augmented generative AI in backup and recovery appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Every year, there are two major global tech events whereby tech companies showcase their latest gadgets and accessories. The first one is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which is held at the beginning of the year in the US. Announcements made at this event include new gadgets, household devices and new vehicles.

The second major event is the Mobile World Congress (MWC), held annually in Barcelona, Spain. MWC has become the showcase event for all mobile and networking announcements and breakthroughs with companies announcing innovations and discoveries each year. It’s also an event where major network providers come together to discuss the future of networking and such.

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At MWC 2024, The AI-RAN Alliance, a new collaborative initiative aimed at integrating AI into cellular technology to further advance radio access network (RAN) technology and mobile networks, was launched. Bringing together technology, industry, and academic institutions, the alliance’s founding members include AWS, Arm, DeepSig, Telefonaktiebolaget, Ericsson, Microsoft, Nokia, Northeastern University, Nvidia, Samsung Electronics, SoftBank and T-Mobile.

The group’s mission is to enhance mobile network efficiency, reduce power consumption, and retrofit existing infrastructure, setting the stage for unlocking new economic opportunities for telecommunications companies with AI, facilitated by 5G and 6G.

Apart from the Alliance, Huawei unveiled the 5.5G intelligent core network solution. 2024 is the first year for commercialization of 5.5G, with the 5.5G intelligent core network, as an important part of 5.5G, incorporating service intelligence, network intelligence, and O&M intelligence. 5.5G technology will improve both business value and development potential.

“We’re rapidly approaching an intelligent world,” said Li. “As the demands on networks have increased, 5.5G has become a key step on the path to the intelligent world. 5.5G is expected to enter commercial use in 2024. So, let’s build today’s networks for tomorrow’s applications to advance the intelligent world,” commented  Li Peng, Huawei’s corporate senior vice president and president of ICT sales & service.

Huawei’s president of information and communications technology sales and service Peng Li gives a conference at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP).

The gadgets of MWC 2024

At MWC 2024, AI dominated most of the major innovations announced. Among them include the unveiling of new AI PCs and laptops by Lenovo, Dell and others. Chip companies like Qualcomm and Intel also announced several new innovations and enhancements to their products.

Apart from these, several new gadgets were also unveiled. These gadgets are often just prototypes, but most of them are advanced enough, to break down the barriers of what was once seemingly impossible.

As such, Tech Wire Asia takes a look at five fascinating new gadgets unveiled at MWC 2024.

A model presents a Motorola prototype with an adaptive display used as a bracelet during the Mobile World Congress (MWC). (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP).

Bend it like Motorola

The world has already witnessed the foldable phone making a comeback over the last few years. In fact, the foldable phone market continues to show positive growth with manufacturers predicting higher sales in 2024.

Motorola decided to take another approach to its devices. Motorola is already known for its foldable phones of the late 90s and early 2000s. But despite launching new models, Motorola remains a brand that is nowhere near the success of Apple, Samsung and Chinese manufacturers.

As such, Motorola has made the bold move to introduce the world’s first bendable phone. A concept product, Motorola unveiled the progress of the display technology, which is surely a standout in the smartphone market.

The device is capable of bending into various sizes. This includes being wrapped around the wrist or even a table. According to a report by CNBC, the mechanism that allows the phone to bend was described by the Motorola representative as similar to the way the human spine works.

The transparent laptop

In an era where privacy is essential, having a transparent monitor may not be the ideal choice. In fact, users would surely want a device that would give them the most protection and not allow others to view that screen. With that said, why would anyone make a transparent screen on a laptop?

Amazingly then, the researchers and developers at Lenovo have built a prototype that has that capability. At MWC 2024, Lenovo showcased the prototype, which is equipped with a trackpad and a touch keyboard with a stylus.

In a demonstration, a Lenovo representative showed that the transparent screen is not just like working on a piece of glass. Instead, it is also capable of detecting objects in the background. The video below shows more details about the product.

An app less phone

An app less phone would surely be a basic mobile phone that existed before smartphones. While some of the old-school mobile phones still have a cult user base, the app less phone is actually more than that. Put simply, it’s a smartphone that can function without the need to download multiple apps.

According to a report by Reuters, Deutsche Telekom showcased a futuristic smartphone concept at MWC 2024 that relies on AI rather than apps to handle users’ specific needs.

The German company said the concept, which it is showcasing on its “T-phone” device, will have an app-free user interface developed in collaboration with partners Qualcomm and Brain.

“I can tell you that in 5-10 years from now, nobody will use apps anymore,” said CEO Tim Hoettges in a keynote presentation at MWC 2024.

Examples of what the phone could do include responding to prompts and generating tailored recommendations for travel destinations, buying a product for its owner, or sending pictures and videos to contacts, the company said in a presentation.

Visitors look at Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company Ericsson stand during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecom industry’s biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona on February 27, 2024. (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP).

A 5G bicycle

Orbic, an international leader in sustainable electronic innovation, unveiled the world’s first 5G-enabled eBike equipped with AI object avoidance and collision detection technology. Orbic’s new technology actively monitors the rear surroundings of the eBike and alerts riders to potential hazards, such as oncoming vehicles. The groundbreaking technology establishes a new era in smart transportation, prioritizing rider safety, advanced 5G connectivity, and environmental sustainability.

The 5G eBike, capable of reaching up to 45km/h, incorporates an advanced AI avoidance detection system that leverages a sensor with a 140-degree field of view strategically placed on the rear of the bike. The sensor provides continuous surveillance of the rider’s environment, delivering instant audible and visual alerts to enhance awareness and safety.

The 5G eBike is equipped with a stunning front-facing 64MP camera tailor-made for capturing and livestreaming every adventure, an 8MP camera on the front display perfect for video calls, and a 2MP rear camera for enhanced rider safety, collision avoidance and object detection.

At the heart of the 5G eBike is its high-speed 5G connectivity, ensuring less lag time between user actions and optimizing the speed of communications for a seamless and responsive user experience.

nubia Pad 3D II innovatively integrates 5G technology.

A real 3D experience

While everyone enjoys the 3D experience of movies, wearing 3D goggles can be a tedious affair for some, especially for those already wearing glasses. Fortunately, technology is now letting users enjoy 3D without the need to wear any enhanced eyewear.

At MWC 2024, ZTE launched the world’s first 5G+AI eyewear-free 3D tablet, nubia Pad 3D II, which provides consumers with a truly immersive eyewear-free 3D experience.

Enhanced by an AI processing engine, the second-generation nubia Pad 3D II distinguishes itself with its fully improved 3D display technology, allowing users to enjoy a unique eyewear-free 3D experience anytime, anywhere. Equipped with unique liquid crystal lenses and powered by integrated image processing algorithms, it renders 3D images with enhanced realism and natural vibrancy.

Compared to the first generation, this tablet has achieved an 80% increase in 3D resolution and a 100% boost in 3D brightness, with comprehensive optimization in 3D crosstalk, 3D color, and 3D power efficiency, thereby enhancing users’ 3D visual experience.

The nubia Pad 3D II has also made significant advancements in AI algorithms. Equipped with an AI eye-tracking engine utilizing high-speed visual sensors and eye-detection algorithms, the tablet greatly enhances response speed and enables accurate positioning of users’ eyes in real-time, delivering the 3D image directly for a more natural and realistic 3D display experience. With an 86-degree ultra-wide viewing angle, users can enjoy a flawless 3D experience from almost any direction.

The post Five cool gadgets announced at MWC 2024 appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Spoilers: the LockBit ransomware group is back. Despite several law enforcement agencies coming together to disrupt the ransomware group’s operations, there are now reports that the cybercriminal gang is back in action.

According to a report by Reuters, the ransomware group claims to have restored its servers and be back in business. The cybercriminal gang initially had its services disrupted by a joint operation from international law enforcement agencies which included the FBI, Europol and the UK’s National Crime Agency.

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The operation claimed to have taken over several key assets of the ransomware group, including sites and platforms they use to run their activities. Several members of the ransomware group were also arrested and indicted.

LockBit released a statement stating that law enforcement had hacked their dark web site using a vulnerability in the PHP programming language, which is widely used to build websites and online applications.

“All other servers with backup blogs that did not have PHP installed are unaffected and will continue to give out data stolen from the attacked companies,” said the statement, which was posted in English and Russian on a new version of Lockbit’s dark web site.

A spokesperson for Britain’s National Crime Agency, which led the international effort to seize Lockbit’s operations, told Reuters that the group “remains completely compromised.”

“We recognized LockBit would likely attempt to regroup and rebuild its systems. However, we have gathered a huge amount of intelligence about it and those associated with it, and our work to target and disrupt them continues,” the spokesperson said.

The Guardian reported that the US charged two Russian nationals with deploying LockBit ransomware against companies and groups around the world. Police in Poland also made an arrest, and in Ukraine, police arrested a father and son they said carried out attacks using LockBit’s malicious software.

The ransomware group also posted on its new site that it plans to attack US government sites more often. Its revamped website, launched on Saturday, showed a number of purported hacking victims.

The LockBit ransomware group threatened to launch more cyberattacks on the US.

Preparing for a LockBit ransomware group retaliation

Tech Wire Asia caught up with Christopher Budd, director for Sophos X-Ops on the latest updates. Budd shared his views on the recent takedown of LockBit’s site and the need for businesses to be even more prepared to deal with retaliation from the ransomware group.

“Following word that LockBit’s website may be back up and running, it’s important to note another risk that groups like LockBit pose. Even if a ‘take down’ is 100% effective at nabbing all the members of LockBit, its infrastructure and malware, it won’t stop the malware that’s already in the wild and now outside of that group’s control.

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“New Sophos X-Ops threat intelligence on exploitation attacks of ScreenConnect vulnerabilities highlights this very real threat. Malware in these attacks was built using the LockBit 3 ransomware builder tool that was leaked in 2022, meaning the malware used in these attacks may not have originated with the actual LockBit developers. Because of that leak, there is malware out there being used in attacks that are outside of the control of the LockBit group.

“This underscores another, often overlooked way in which these criminal groups threaten everyone: their offensive capabilities become part of the broader threat environment, subject to no one’s control. You can be threatened and attacked by the malware developed by a group like LockBit without being threatened and attacked by the group directly,” commented Budd.

Sophos X-Ops has been tracking the evolution of LockBit over the past four and a half years. According to an analysis by the Sophos X-Ops Incident Response team, LockBit has been among the top 10 most reported ransomware infections since 2020; with the demise of Conti in early 2022, LockBit vaulted to the top of the charts. It ultimately accounted for one in five of all ransomware infections seen by Sophos’s IR in 2023 – comparable in ubiquity in that data to Conti at its peak.  

A handout picture released by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in London on February 20, 2024 shows a screenshot of the seized cybercrime group ‘LockBit’ site.  (Photo by NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY/AFP).

Meanwhile, Dean Houari, director of security technology and strategy at Akamai, pointed out that ransomware gangs are nimble and a variant of the LockBit gang could fill the void and soon take over with even more damaging tools.

“The most effective security strategy is to prevent attackers from accessing and encrypting the data on critical servers and have a backup in the event they are able to breach an environment. Now is the time for organizations to reassess the state of their security postures. A thorough understanding of attack surfaces, along with strong processes and playbooks to prevent and recover from ransomware attacks are essential,” said Houari.

Houari also explained that implementing a zero-trust architecture starting with software-defined micro-segmentation to prevent lateral movement post-breach is critical.

“Full network visibility to identify indicators of compromise (IoCs) will enable a more offensive posture against ransomware attacks and allow compliance with local cybersecurity regulations,” he added.

The post Is the LockBit ransomware group back? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

With AI making a bigger impact in organizations today, one of the biggest challenges companies face is making sure employees do not feel burdened or worried about the technology replacing them. While there is no denying that some roles will eventually be replaced by AI, most companies want to have their employees working with AI or improving their skills to work on other tasks.

As such, there continues to be a constant debate on the description of roles for employees today. For example, graphic designers are able to save a lot more time by USing AI-generated images to develop new content. But they also need to know how to work with the technology to create images that would match their requirements.

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Other roles that could potentially be impacted by AI are in the customer service industry. While customer-facing roles are still relevant, other roles dealing with customers are increasingly being taken over by AI. Employees in these roles would now need to upskill themselves to work with these technologies in order to remain a valuable asset to their organization.

Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer

According to a report by Gartner, employees who believe that their jobs can be replaced by AI have a 27% lower intent to stay in their organization. At an average organization of 10,000 employees, this decrease in intent to stay costs US$53 million per year in total costs and lost productivity.

The impact of generative AI on jobs and workers will vary greatly depending on labor market dynamics and other demand drivers. This blend of certainty and uncertainty makes it difficult for executive leaders to create solid workforce plans that align with their technology and business investments.

So how can organizations keep employees satisfied with their roles as they implement new technologies at work? And how will the adoption of generative AI change job scopes and descriptions?

To understand more about this, Tech Wire Asia spoke to Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn’s chief product officer. Cohen shared insights on the evolving work landscape, especially the transformative role AI plays in businesses in the Asia Pacific region.

By 2030, we will need 68% different skills than we do now to do the same jobs we have today. (Image generated by AI without a shred of irony).

How will the increased adoption of AI change roles and job scopes at organizations?

AI is going to transform how we work across every field, function and industry. It will also dramatically change our career paths, as more than half of the jobs in the world will be affected by AI in some way. This is especially true for countries like Singapore, India and Indonesia, where around 60% of the jobs will be disrupted or enhanced by AI in the next several years. That’s why employees and employers need to invest in AI literacy – learning new skills and adapting to working with AI. Those who do it will be more successful.

What can businesses do to cope with these changes, especially in ensuring their employees are able to work with the technology and not be made redundant?

AI is changing the way we work, even if we are keeping the same jobs. By 2030, we will need 68% different skills than we do now to do the same jobs we have today. But many people don’t know how to work with AI and use it at work. That’s why businesses need to help their employees learn and grow their skills. They need to close the AI proficiency gap and create a culture of learning that values and encourages the development of both AI and soft skills and encourages people to move within the company. This will make their employees happier and more productive, and their businesses more successful.

In APAC, over a third of businesses (~40%) are already doing this today, and many prioritize learning using online courses, internal training, and hands-on AI tools, and they can see the benefits of it.

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For example, Bunnings, a leading retailer of home improvement and outdoor living products, is one example of a company that is investing in its employees to help them learn new skills, improve their knowledge, and fill the gaps in their capabilities.

It is creating a culture of learning and development by demonstrating and communicating that careers can be built, whether that’s in one role by continuously developing and building skills over time or moving internally. Additionally, they also conduct regular pulse checks with their employees to gauge engagement levels and ensure that opportunities for skill development and career growth are available.

Given the increased impact of AI in the workplace, what skills will no longer be relevant for employees?

AI and automation are changing the skills that employers look for in job candidates with 88% of employers in APAC changing the skills and qualifications they look for in job candidates due to automation and AI. In the next six years, we will also need to change an estimated 68% of our skills to keep up with the new demands. That means we have to re-think our work and how AI can help us do it better. How some tasks like taking notes can be completely automated by AI.

But some tasks, like coding or brainstorming new business ideas, can be amplified with AI. We need to learn how to use AI tools to make our work easier and better, but we also need to focus on the skills that make us human. These are the skills that hiring managers in APAC value the most in the era of AI: problem-solving, communication, critical thinking, and the ability to learn quickly.

Employees using AI at work. (Image generated by AI).

What skills should employees look to learn more to remain relevant in their companies?

The reality is many people don’t know how to maximize the capabilities of AI yet. That means there is a lot of room for improvement and learning. We need to focus on the skills that make us human, like working with others, solving problems, and thinking critically. These are the soft skills that employers want the most; 94% of L&D professionals in APAC recognize the growing significance of human skills, especially communication, which has emerged as the top sought-after soft skill in several countries including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, and Singapore. Other critical soft skills that rank highly in these markets are analytical skills and leadership.

Learning AI skills, like how to understand natural language, can also open up new opportunities and possibilities for us.

What are the biggest challenges employers face when it comes to retaining top talent amid this dynamic landscape?

Retaining the best talent can be hard, with more than 90% of organizations in APAC concerned about employee retention. Fostering professional growth and learning is their number one goal to help them stay engaged and upskill.

Looking at the generation gap in the workforce, especially between Gen Zs, millennials and boomers, should businesses prioritize experience or skills more when it comes to retaining talent and working with emerging technologies?

Jobs are changing fast, and we need to change with them. That means experience alone is not enough. Businesses need to help their employees learn new skills and keep up with the latest technologies. This will make their employees more productive, adaptable, and loyal.

Employers in APAC know this, and they increasingly are looking for candidates showing a growth mindset and a strong ability to learn. They want people who have both soft skills and AI skills. These are the skills that matter the most currently in these markets: problem-solving, communication, critical thinking, AI know-how, and IT & web skills.

Will AI replace humans at work? (Image generated by AI).

Lastly, what is LinkedIn doing to help both employees and employers adapt to new changes at work?

We have always used AI to help our customers find the best matches, whether it’s for jobs, learning, or networking. But now we are taking AI to the next level and we’re bringing it to the forefront. We have the advantage of being part of Microsoft, which gives us access to the latest AI technology. We also have the data from our economic graph, which shows us what’s going on in the world of work. This helps us to help our customers adapt and succeed in the age of AI.

We have been working hard to create amazing AI experiences for our members and customers. We have reimagined all of our products, from recruiting to advertising to sales to learning. We have used LinkedIn’s unique platform and insights from our huge network of one billion professionals, 67 million companies, and 41 million skills. This has created a lot of value for our customers and helped them to focus on the most important and human aspects of their work.

LinkedIn is now using AI to increase the value we bring through our products. This includes making the hiring process easier and faster by using AI to help with writing job descriptions, sending messages, and finding the best candidates. Our AI can understand natural language and help companies express their hiring goals.

For marketers, we have simplified the campaign creation process. We have used AI to help them create and run campaigns with just one click. We have also used AI to optimize their campaigns and target the right audiences. Meanwhile, for sales professionals, we have enhanced Sales Navigator with two new AI features. These are AI-assisted search and Account IQ. These features help them research accounts and find leads more effectively. They help them focus on what matters most: building relationships with buyers and customers.

There are also several other features for premium subscribers, including profile writing suggestions, a new tool that helps you to craft engaging Headline and About sections — which can lead to nearly 2x the number of opportunities.

Lastly, for employees who want skills to adapt to the new era of work, the LinkedIn Learning courses are available for free until May 31, 2024. These courses will help them build the most in-demand skills.

If you upskill to work alongside AI, you might be able to get the doors open. Maybe.

The post How LinkedIn is helping employers and employees with AI at work appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.