A Swiss foundation has launched a $500 million programme to support AI platforms in Africa, focusing on agriculture and finance. This aligns with the African Union's recent AI strategy to drive digital development on the continent.
ChatGPT experienced an outage affecting thousands of users. OpenAI is working to restore service. Separately, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris is launching MONIIFY, a digital business newsroom targeting young audiences in emerging markets. It will focus on tech, AI, finance and energy industries, offering daily updates and investment insights across various media formats.
Yandex, a leading Russian AI company, plans to invest in Indonesia's AI ecosystem and expand its search engine there. This comes as Indonesia attracts investments from global tech firms like Nvidia and Microsoft, while Russia faces Western technology restrictions due to the Ukraine conflict. The investment details were not disclosed.
The global Multimodal Learning market is set to grow from £1.2 billion in 2024 to £3.5 billion by 2032, with a 14% annual growth rate. This technology combines multiple input types to improve learning and AI applications. The market covers various learning types and applications across industries. North America and Asia-Pacific currently lead, with Asia-Pacific and Europe expected to grow fastest.
A Tony Blair Institute report projects AI could displace 1-3 million UK private sector jobs over two decades, with annual displacement peaking at 60,000-275,000. AI may boost GDP by 1% in five years, rising to 6% by 2035. Administrative, secretarial, sales, customer service, banking, and finance jobs face the highest risk. The impact will likely focus on cognitive tasks. These projections depend on AI development, investment, and government policies.
Two AI startups, Anysphere and Mercor, are in funding talks at £1.6 billion+ valuations each. Anysphere developed a code generation assistant, while Mercor provides staffing for AI companies. Both have received investor term sheets.
A phishing campaign is impersonating OpenAI, claiming ChatGPT subscription payments were declined and urging recipients to update payment details via a link. While this attack is unsophisticated, future AI-driven attempts may be more advanced. Experts recommend strengthening cybersecurity measures and providing employee training to combat such threats.
ChatGPT visits rose 116% year-over-year to 3.7 billion in October 2023. Other AI tools like NotebookLM, Microsoft CoPilot, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's Gemini also saw significant growth. Business leaders are increasingly familiar with generative AI, with 72% using it weekly. Average budgets for generative AI more than doubled to £8.2 million. Many firms are expanding AI teams, with some appointing Chief AI Officers. Concerns about accuracy, privacy, and integration remain.
Saudi Arabia plans to invest up to $100 billion in 'Project Transcendence', an AI initiative to develop a technological hub in the kingdom. The project will focus on data centres, startups, and infrastructure to support AI development, as well as talent recruitment and encouraging tech investment. This effort aims to compete with the UAE as a regional technology centre.
ChatGPT has shown ability to write Excel VBA macros and complex formulas from plain-English instructions. This is significant as these functions are crucial yet challenging in many industries. While accurate for simple tasks, complex instructions may need verification. This capability could save time for users struggling with Excel functions.
Six security vulnerabilities were found in Ollama, an open-source AI framework for local deployment of large language models. These could enable attacks including denial-of-service, model poisoning, and theft. Four have been fixed in recent versions, but two remain unpatched. With nearly 10,000 internet-facing instances, about 25% are vulnerable. Maintainers suggest using a proxy or firewall to filter exposed endpoints.
Companies across sectors are heavily investing in conversational AI powered by large language models, with some firms projected to spend tens of millions annually. A comprehensive list of 50 companies' AI usage, models, and expenditure has been compiled.
Chinese tech company iFLYTEK has completed the first phase of its AI Headquarters Campus in Hefei. The 200-acre site will house 15,000 staff upon completion. The campus features sustainable design, public spaces, and modern architecture, blending work and recreational areas. It showcases a futuristic image while prioritising ecological and human-centric experiences.
AI agents, acting as autonomous digital employees, are predicted to significantly impact businesses by 2025. Developed by major tech companies, these agents can perform complex tasks, potentially reducing costs and improving efficiency. Companies should prepare to integrate AI agents soon to stay competitive.
Microsoft and Andreessen Horowitz jointly published an AI policy statement advocating for a market-based approach to regulation. It opposes proactive measures, argues for unrestricted AI access to data, and calls for government investment in digital literacy. Critics argue the statement misrepresents impacts on smaller companies and avoids meaningful industry regulation.
A study using ChatGPT analysed investor sentiment in the gold futures market. The research found a strong correlation between positive sentiment and increased gold futures returns, especially during economic crises. A 1% increase in positive sentiment led to a 0.143% rise in average returns. The study demonstrated AI's effectiveness for market trend analysis and its potential for streamlining research in various fields.
G42's Inception, an AI research lab from the Persian Gulf, is expanding to the Global South. With substantial resources, it could rival OpenAI outside the US.
