WARC (July 24)
“Around the world, AI is developing and it is quickly reaching a point where it is speeding up human work to the point of replacing humans. This is a point in time for brands and agencies to really think about the technology and work out what ethical, responsible uses look like.” The rise of virtual influencers in China marks “one of the first instances of true competition between humans and machines for work and will be an important test case for the technology and the labour questions it raises.”
Tags: AI, Brands, China, Competition, Developing, Ethical, Humans, Replacing, Responsible, Technology, Uses, Virtual influencers, Work
Fortune (July 19)
“Over just a few months, ChatGPT went from correctly answering a simple math problem 98% of the time to just 2%.” This doesn’t necessarily show later versions are inferior as they might perform better on other tasks. The study which uncovered this does prove the existence of “wild fluctuations—called drift—in the technology’s ability to perform certain tasks.” Drift may arise from the rather “unpredictable effects of changes in one part of the model on others.”
Tags: 2%, 98%, Changes, ChatGPT, Drift, Fluctuations, Inferior, Model, Problem, Simple math, Study, Tasks, Technology, Unpredictable
Investments and Pensions Europe (May 18)
“We’re now about half way through peak voting season in Europe and North America, which tends to take place between April and June.” Companies are fielding both a high volume and range of proposals. “At Amazon alone, there are 18 shareholder proposals going to vote in 2023, ranging from requests for human rights audits on its technology, through to disclosure around animal welfare issues.”
Tags: Amazon, Animal welfare, Disclosure, Europe, Human rights audits, North America, Peak, Range, Shareholder proposals, Technology, Volume, Voting season
Washington Post (May 11)
The EPA is proposing “the tightest limits ever on power plants’ planet-warming pollution” in order “to meet President Biden’s pledge to halve U.S. emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.” The proposal “would encourage gas- and coal-fired plants nationwide to meet tighter emission-reductions standards by either closing or adopting technology to run cleaner, accelerating one of the fastest transitions underway in energy.”
Tags: Biden, Cleaner, Coal-fired plants, Emission reductions, Emissions, Energy, EPA, Gas, Pledge, Pollution, Technology, Transitions, U.S.
Newsweek (May 11)
“Business leaders are particularly enthralled by AI’s growing capabilities,” but the general public is unsold. “Two-thirds of American adults—across all income and education levels—don’t trust generative AI and believe it presents a threat to humanity.” The urgent challenge must be addressed. “As was the case at the dawn of the nuclear age, we all have a role to play in demanding governance of this new technology. Scientists, along with society more generally, have made it clear that now is the time.”
Tags: AI, Business leaders, Education, Enthralled, General public, Generative, Governance, Growing capabilities, Humanity, Income, Scientists, Society, Technology, Threat, Trust
Forbes (April 8)
“Job cuts are approaching levels not seen since the pandemic began in 2020, as major cuts in the technology and financial industries are starting to show their impact on the economy and soften the labor market.”
Tags: 2020, Economy, Financial industry, Impact, Job cuts, Labor market, Pandemic, Technology
Reuters (February 4)
“The global trade war is taking an unexpected turn. Beijing may ban the export of technology used to make solar panels, an industry which China dominates by controlling at least 75% of its global supply chain. That has repercussions for the West’s drive to create its own green energy industry.” Any such move is more likely “to slow, not halt” the West’s solar push. “Losing access to Chinese solar technology, such as furnaces for melting silicon, would not be an insurmountable problem.”
Tags: Ban, Beijing, China, Export, Furnaces, Global trade war, Green energy, Repercussions, Silicon, Solar panels, Solar technology, Supply chain, Technology, Unexpected, West
Economic Times (January 23)
Big Tech’s “planned rightsizing is… unlikely to make up for the deep correction in 2022 of technology companies’ stock prices. Earnings estimates for the last quarter of 2022 are grim and Big Tech may have to go in for more job cuts to keep market capitalisation aloft. This could be a theme for the industry in 2023.”
Tags: 2022, 2023, Big tech, Deep correction, Earnings, Estimates, Grim, Job cuts, Market-cap, Rightsizing, Stock prices, Technology, Unlikely
Washington Post (December 28)
ChatGPT, which is “is conversant in a way previous chatbots haven’t been,” has captured the imagination and stoked new fears. “Humans today are still in control…. Ultimately, unleashing the full potential of the technology that appears tantalizingly close to our grasp comes down to this: What do we as a species hope to gain from artificial intelligence, and — perhaps more important — what are we willing to give up?”
Tags: AI, Chatbots, ChatGPT, Control, Conversant, Fears, Humans, Potential, Species, Tantalizing, Technology
Market Watch (October 27)
“Amazon and Microsoft prove that cloud growth has hit a plateau and investors are ripping away more than $300 billion in valuation because of it, but the technology will still be at the core of computing for generations ahead.”
Tags: $300 billion, Amazon, Cloud growth, Computing, Core, Generations, Investors, Microsoft, Plateau, Technology, Valuation
