Generative AI’s marketing narrative has caught everyone’s attention, heralding a new era where it reshapes business strategies, particularly in learning and development. This comes at a critical juncture, where acquiring digital skills is beneficial and essential for businesses and their workforce. However, a recent study has highlighted a surprising trend: many Australians seem to underestimate the impact this technology could have on their professional lives.

A collaborative study conducted by RMIT Online and Deloitte Access Economics has shed light on an alarming gap in Australians’ understanding of generative AI’s potential to disrupt existing job roles. This lack of awareness is especially concerning, given the rapid pace of digital transformation across industries.

The skills gap in digital competencies among both employers and employees is becoming increasingly apparent. Employers have noted a particular shortage in digital skills within their organizations, with a significant emphasis on generative AI, machine learning, data science, coding, and cybersecurity. This scarcity has led businesses to offer a considerable premium for these in-demand skills. Meanwhile, employees have acknowledged an even more acute shortage of digital skills, exacerbating fears about future job security in the face of emerging technologies.

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Generative AI in the workplace: Use and relevance

This growing demand for digital skills underscores the urgency with which the Australian economy needs to address these skill shortages. Reports by Deloitte and the Australian Computer Society (ACS) project that an additional 1.3 million digital skills will be required by 2030 to keep pace with AI and data analytics advancements. This necessity is mirrored in the workforce’s sentiment, where most recognize the looming integration of technologies like generative AI into their daily tasks.

Despite the clear trajectory towards a more digitally integrated workplace, nearly half of the employees surveyed admit to having never used generative AI in their current roles, often citing its perceived irrelevance to their work. This viewpoint starkly contrasts with studies indicating that most occupations will eventually interact with these technologies. Employees do recognize the importance of digital literacy for their future success, although they underestimate the value of specific skills like data science and analytics.

The report reiterates the disconnect between employees’ current use of generative AI and their understanding of its relevance, despite widespread indications of its impending impact across various occupations. Furthermore, Deloitte’s research reveals that a mere fraction of Australian businesses feel fully equipped to adopt and utilize AI technologies effectively.

With digital skills in high demand, businesses are prepared to offer premiums for candidates proficient in data and digital competencies. This readiness highlights the critical skill gap in the Australian workforce, further magnified by the advent of AI and other pivotal technologies. RMIT Online’s CEO, Nic Cola, stresses the importance of proactive reskilling and upskilling to navigate the challenges posed by these technological shifts.

Echoing the need for a swift response to the evolving digital landscape, John O’Mahony of Deloitte Access Economics points out the unique advantages of generative AI in enhancing traditional learning and development. Its capability to produce customized content can significantly boost employee learning efficiency and knowledge retention.

Facing the future: The urgent need for strategic workforce development

Despite these insights, many employers have yet to introduce generative AI training within their organizations, underscoring a broader unawareness or hesitancy towards embracing these technologies. This reluctance occurs even as specific industries are poised for rapid and profound changes due to this revolutionary technology, emphasizing the critical need for a strategic approach to workforce development in the face of digital transformation.

Generative AI stands out from prior technological advancements with its ability to process vast amounts of unstructured data, eliminating a significant hurdle for business adoption. Its capability to generate new, multimodal content from straightforward user prompts opens up intelligence use to a wider audience, without requiring a background in computer science.

Currently, a mere 5% of Australian businesses are completely ready to integrate and utilize AI in their workflows. However, a substantial portion of the workforce and student body—32% of employees and 58% of students—already engage with generative AI, pushing its adoption across various sectors.

The main economic advantage of generative AI lies in its ability to enhance productivity by automating mundane and labor-intensive tasks. According to Deloitte’s survey on generative AI, regular users of these tools can save an average of 5.3 hours weekly. Those equipped with the skills to effectively employ the technology are at the forefront of these productivity improvements, with 59% of employees planning to enhance their generative AI skills within the following year.

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Towards a generative AI-ready Australia: Bridging the training gap

However, there’s a noticeable disparity between employees’ enthusiasm to learn about generative AI and businesses’ investment in training and adopting these tools. 78% of companies surveyed have not offered generative AI training, or are unaware of such initiatives within their organizations. Additionally, 17% do not foresee providing training on generative AI at any point.

This gap in training exacerbates potential risks associated with generative AI, such as data breaches, inaccuracies, and copyright issues, with 53% of employees expressing concerns over privacy when using the technology in their roles.

Nevertheless, investment in AI by Australian companies is expected to surge to AU$27.5 billion by 2030, a seven-fold increase. This investment aims to maximize generative AI’s benefits by training employees on tailored models that securely and responsibly incorporate the company’s data. It also seeks to enhance workplace training and experiences through AI, thereby attracting and retaining employees adept in generative AI technologies.

Generative AI’s impact on skill demand varies across roles and industries, depending on how it’s applied. For instance, generative AI could affect 98% of sales tasks but only 3% of finance-related tasks in the retail industry. In cases where generative AI augments tasks rather than fully automating them, employees with basic technical skills, like coding and prompt design, can significantly benefit.

Five key industries—financial services, ICT and media, professional services, education, and wholesale trade—are poised for rapid and transformative changes due to generative AI, representing 26% of the Australian economy or nearly AU$600 billion in economic activity.

Although coding has been a highly sought-after skill in Australia for the past decade, the rise of no-code generative AI tools is making programming skills more accessible to the broader workforce. This shift underscores the growing importance of soft skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication, alongside technical abilities.

Top five in-demand skills for professionals from January to July 2023 (Source – RMIT Online)

Generative AI is also expected to generate new job roles, especially in managing customized AI models, necessitating specialized data skills. The demand for professionals capable of designing AI models, monitoring outputs, and ensuring training data is diverse and balanced is set to rise sharply. Projections from Deloitte and the ACS anticipate a 179% increase in demand for advanced data analytics skills and a 268% surge in high-performance computing skills by 2030.

The post Aussies don’t believe in the generative AI hype? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The United States House of Representatives has taken a decisive step against the popular social media app TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, by passing a crucial bill. This legislation compels ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations within six months or face a nationwide ban.

Legislative moves against TikTok amid 2024 election concerns

The bill’s passage signifies a crucial moment in the ongoing discourse over balancing national security with free expression and innovation rights. It spotlights the intricate motivations behind the proposed ban, the political dynamics involved, and the extensive implications for U.S. tech policy and the landscape of global digital governance.

Central to the initiative to ban TikTok is the escalating concern among U.S. lawmakers regarding the app’s potential exploitation by the Chinese government. According to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, U.S. officials have raised alarms about TikTok’s management being “beholden to the Chinese government,” emphasizing concerns.

The U.S. Department of Justice amplifies these concerns with warnings about the risks posed by ByteDance’s Beijing headquarters to American users’ privacy and data security, in the context of China’s notoriety for surveillance and censorship.

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Reuters has highlighted that the bill’s passage is a clear display of significant bipartisan agreement in an otherwise divided political environment, securing an overwhelming majority with 352 votes for and 65 against. Sponsored by Mike Gallagher, the Republican head of the House’s select committee on China, and Democrat Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the legislation has garnered extensive support across party lines, though it has faced some opposition.

Implementing the ban: Challenges and implications

Arizona Senate candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez highlighted, “There are serious antitrust and privacy questions here, and any national security concerns should be laid out to the public prior to a vote.” This situation underscores the complex interplay of technology, privacy, and national security in legislative processes.

Implementing such a ban presents practical hurdles. Questions linger about whether China would permit the sale of TikTok’s U.S. assets or if such a divestiture could realistically be achieved within the designated timeframe.

Furthermore, the ban would impose restrictions on app stores and web hosting services, potentially transforming the manner—or indeed, the possibility—of TikTok’s access by U.S. users. This strategy echoes actions taken by nations like India and Nepal, which have cited national security reasons for banning TikTok, and mirrors measures by the U.S. and its allies to restrict the app on government-owned devices.

The potential prohibition of TikTok bears significant political weight, especially with the 2024 election on the horizon. TikTok has become a critical platform for engaging younger voters, which has traditionally leaned towards the Democratic Party. The active use of TikTok by the Biden campaign illustrates the app’s pivotal role in connecting with this demographic.

Nonetheless, as House Republicans point out, this proposed ban could signify ‘the most substantial threat to the app since the Trump administration,’ potentially stripping the Democrats of a vital engagement tool.

Senate’s deliberation on TikTok: The road ahead in 2024 and beyond

As this bill heads to the Senate, its future is uncertain. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has indicated that the Senate will deliberate on the legislation, albeit without a definitive schedule. Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, has voiced a preference for “legislation that can withstand judicial scrutiny,” suggesting a thorough and cautious evaluation of the bill’s implications. This sentiment mirrors a broader aspiration among senators to address threats from foreign apps in a comprehensive manner, avoiding piecemeal legislative efforts.

The TikTok debate encapsulates the broader challenges facing digital platform regulation in an era marked by intense global technology competition and digital sovereignty concerns. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s engagements on Capitol Hill, where he cautioned that the bill “could lead to TikTok’s ban in the United States,” underscore the high stakes for the company and its millions of American users. Senator Ron Wyden’s remark that “history teaches us that haste in tech legislation often leads to errors” emphasizes the importance of deliberate and informed policy-making.

TikTok CEO speaks on the ban in the U.S. (Source – X)

This legislative push against TikTok marks a pivotal point in the intersection of technology, politics, and national security. With bipartisan momentum to mitigate perceived threats from foreign-owned applications, the outcome of this endeavor will profoundly affect the future of digital communication, political mobilization, and international relations in the digital epoch. As the Senate contemplates its next steps, the broader discussion on balancing security concerns against the benefits of a globally interconnected digital ecosystem continues to evolve.

The looming decision on TikTok’s fate in the United States is a testament to the complex interplay between constitutional freedoms and cybersecurity imperatives. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s cautious stance on advancing the bill, juxtaposed with President Biden’s readiness to sign it into law, highlights the nuanced deliberations that define the legislative process.

This scenario is reminiscent of previous attempts to regulate TikTok, including an executive order by former President Donald Trump that encountered legal obstacles. Public sentiment on TikTok remains divided, reflecting broader debates on privacy, security, and freedom of expression in the digital age.

In response to the legislative proceedings, TikTok has launched an extensive lobbying campaign, emphasizing the platform’s commitment to data security and its integral role in the lives of millions for personal and business purposes. This includes engaging its vast creator community, though this strategy has faced criticism. The potential hurdles for TikTok extend beyond legislative challenges, encompassing antitrust concerns and the complexities of divesting U.S. operations under the scrutiny of both U.S. and Chinese authorities.

The business community and investors are keenly observing these developments, considering ByteDance’s valuation and the broader implications for the digital market landscape. Should the bill become law, it would signify a pivotal shift in how social media platforms operate within the U.S., potentially redefining the digital space for American users and content creators alike.

The discourse surrounding TikTok’s proposed ban highlights the ongoing tensions between technological innovation and regulatory oversight and signals a potential shift in the digital competitive landscape. A ban could inadvertently benefit competitors like Meta’s Instagram Reels, illustrating the intricate dynamics in the global tech ecosystem. This scenario underlines the wide-ranging consequences of regulatory actions, shaping the future of digital interaction, political discourse, and international tech competition.

The global dimension of TikTok’s regulatory challenges

Beyond the United States, TikTok faces regulatory scrutiny worldwide, emphasizing the global dimension of its challenges.

Italy’s antitrust authority has imposed a fine of 10 million euros (US$10.94 million) on TikTok for not sufficiently monitoring content that could harm minors or vulnerable individuals. TikTok, a subsidiary of the Chinese corporation ByteDance, faces global regulatory scrutiny, alongside other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, to enhance protection for underage users.

The Italian watchdog criticized TikTok for not effectively preventing the distribution of dangerous content, such as videos promoting the ‘French scar’ challenge, and for failing to adhere to its safety assurances. Despite TikTok’s claim of limiting the visibility of such videos to users under 18, Italy’s AGCOM demanded their removal last month, criticizing TikTok for failing to effectively prevent the distribution of dangerous content and for not adhering to its own safety assurances.

In addition to Italy’s actions, TikTok is confronting challenges in the United States, where a proposed bill could ban the app unless ByteDance divests its U.S. operations within six months, reflecting ongoing national security concerns over Chinese technology.

Simultaneously, Canada is examining TikTok’s expansion proposal for national security implications, which might lead to mitigation requests or block the expansion. This scrutiny comes as Canada previously prohibited TikTok on government devices due to privacy and security risks, and its privacy commissioner is investigating the app’s data practices. Despite these challenges, TikTok has expressed its commitment to ensuring the safety and security of its platform for users in Canada.

Canada reviewing TikTok’s expansion plan (Source – Shutterstock)

As we move towards the 2024 election, the future of TikTok is becoming a hot topic amid legislative scrutiny and concerns over national security. With bipartisan worries about data privacy and security front and center, this legislation has kicked off a nuanced debate about the role of digital platforms in the U.S. As this conversation unfolds, it’s set to have significant implications for the digital competitive scene, political dialogue, and how Americans interact with social media as the election gets closer. It’s a complex issue that’s drawing a lot of attention, shaping up to be a key discussion point as we head into the next election cycle.

The post What’s happening with TikTok as 2024 progresses? Is a ban in the U.S. imminent? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

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 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.

IWD 2023: FIVE MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN TECH

Dashveenjit Kaur | 8 March, 2023

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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Aaron Raj | 25 August, 2021

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.

OPENAI INTRODUCES TEXT-TO-VIDEO

Aaron Raj | 19 February, 2024

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.

AI AND DATA ANALYTICS MAY NOT BE AS COMPLICATED AS IT SEEMS

Aaron Raj | 10 November, 2022

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.

Remember the copyright infringement lawsuit The New York Times filed against OpenAI and Microsoft? The Times has accused the companies of using millions of its articles to train AI technologies, which now rival the newspaper as a source of trustworthy information.

But how can one use OpenAI’s AI technology to their own advantage while simultaneously fighting against OpenAI over how its AI technology is being used?

The New York Times Vs. OpenAI

In a significant development, OpenAI, whose AI technology, ChatGPT, is used by The Times to generate content, was reported by Reuters as having requested a federal judge to dismiss parts of the lawsuit. Central to OpenAI’s defense is the allegation that The Times “hacked” its chatbot and other AI systems, producing misleading evidence. This legal move by OpenAI, filed in a Manhattan federal court, claims that The Times manipulated its technology to mirror its content and violated OpenAI’s terms of use through deceptive prompts.

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OpenAI further asserts that The Times took advantage of a flaw in the AI system, which is under active remediation, to feed its articles directly into the chatbot. This resulted in the chatbot regurgitating exact passages, a use case that OpenAI emphasizes is atypical, pointing to a Times article from April 2023 about real-world AI applications for context.

OpenAI’s criticism of The Times is sharp, highlighting that the newspaper’s complaint does not meet its own high journalistic standards. OpenAI’s contention is that the case will reveal that The Times paid someone to manipulate OpenAI’s products deliberately.

Got a headache yet?

The Times‘ lead counsel, Ian Crosby, addressed these accusations in a statement to The Verge. He challenged the hacking allegation, clarifying that the newspaper was simply employing OpenAI’s products to gather evidence of potential copyright infringement. Crosby noted that OpenAI has not contested the claim that it copied The Times’ work without authorization.

OpenAI refrained from identifying the individual purportedly engaged by The Times to tamper with its systems, and stopped short of accusing the newspaper of breaking anti-hacking laws.

OpenAI addresses The New York Times copyright lawsuit. (Source – AI).

The New York Times fights back: defending its use of AI

In its legal strategy, OpenAI aims to dismiss some aspects of The Times’ copyright infringement claim, specifically those related to reproductions dating back more than three years before the lawsuit. OpenAI also wants to negate other accusations, including contributory infringement, failure to remove infringing content, and engaging in unfair competition through misappropriation. The lawsuit filed by The Times encompasses broader allegations, extending to trademark dilution, common law unfair competition, and vicarious copyright infringement.

The situation mirrors OpenAI’s previous legal challenge, where it managed to narrow down a lawsuit involving Sarah Silverman and other authors to a singular claim of direct copyright infringement. As legal battles against AI firms escalate, industry observers like Nilay Patel and Sarah Jeong from The Verge’s Decoder podcast discuss the ramifications of such lawsuits on the burgeoning AI industry.

The Times represents just one among a cohort of copyright owners, including authors, visual artists, and music publishers, challenging tech companies for purportedly misappropriating their creative works in AI training.

Tech companies, for their part, defend their AI systems’ use of copyrighted material as fair use, cautioning that these legal challenges might impede the progress of a potentially multitrillion-dollar industry.

As the legal landscape evolves, courts have yet to conclusively decide whether AI training qualifies as fair use under copyright law. Several infringement claims against generative AI systems have been dismissed, primarily due to insufficient proof that AI-generated content closely resembles copyrighted works.

Tumblr’s owner to collaborate with OpenAI?

In a separate but related development, a report from 404 Media has alleged that Automattic, the owner of Tumblr and WordPress.com, is engaging in advanced discussions with AI firms Midjourney and OpenAI. An anonymous source within Automattic hinted at imminent deals to harness user-generated content as training data for AI, following speculative chatter on Tumblr about a potential Midjourney collaboration that might open new revenue streams for the platform.

404 Media‘s report sheds light on Automattic’s forthcoming update, slated for 28^th of February, introducing a feature that lets users opt out of data sharing with third parties, including AI entities. This update comes amid revelations from internal communications about a comprehensive data extraction that inadvertently included non-public content, encompassing Tumblr’s public posts from 2014 to 2023. Questions linger about the handling and potential sharing of this extensive dataset with Midjourney and OpenAI.

In response to these claims, Automattic released a statement titled “Protecting User Choice.” Following the 404 Media report, this statement vaguely alludes to partnerships with unnamed AI companies. Automattic affirms its default stance of blocking major AI platform crawlers and its commitment to only sharing public content from WordPress.com and Tumblr with entities that adhere to opt-out preferences. The statement underscores Automattic’s collaboration with AI firms that align with community values, including user attribution, opt-out options, and overarching control.

The recent trend of companies forging agreements with AI technology developers for training data, traditionally sourced from publicly accessible online content, underscores a growing legal complexity. High-profile cases include Reddit’s reported US$60 million annual deal with Google and Shutterstock’s collaboration with OpenAI, using its extensive photo library.

But these arrangements have sparked considerable dissent within the creative community, particularly among artists and writers, who express concerns about their work being repurposed for AI training. This has led to a delicate balancing act for companies striving to satisfy their user base while exploring cutting-edge AI technologies, as evidenced by the mixed reactions within communities like DeviantArt.

Details surrounding any potential agreement between Automattic and the AI firms, including financial implications for Automattic, remain under wraps. Automattic, a veteran in web hosting with WordPress.com and WordPress VIP, has faced challenges in devising profitable strategies for Tumblr, which it acquired from Verizon in 2019. Last year, this led to an announcement about scaling back its ambitions for the site, reflecting the ongoing complexities of integrating social media platforms with emerging AI technologies.

The post OpenAI faces New York Times hacking allegations while exploring deals with Tumblr appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.