Tech
Technology Tech

Apple’s Vision Pro headset is utilized by over 50% of the Fortune 100.

Most Fortune 100 firms have embraced Apple’s Vision Pro headset, a mixed-reality spatial computing device, with over half having purchased at least one. During Apple’s first-quarter 2024 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook shared the following facts, pointing to the adoption of Vision Pro as evidence of growing interest in the company’s products.“For example, more than half of the Fortune 100 companies have already bought Apple Vision Pro units and are exploring innovative ways to use it to do things that weren’t possible before.” Early in February 2024, the Vision Pro went on sale in the US for $3,499, including tax.Since then, it doesn’t seem to have had much of an impact on the consumer market, since there are far more affordable options like Meta’s Quest range of VR headsets.However, as Cointelegraph previously revealed, Apple is well-positioned to mainstream the metaverse and establish itself as the standard for industry adoption thanks to the Vision Pro headset and its leadership in the field of spatial computing. The Vision Pro is intended for mixed and augmented reality experiences that combine the real world and digital visuals, in contrast to the majority of headsets that are available, which typically offer virtual reality experiences that involve complete immersion in a digital domain.This is what Apple calls “spatial computing.” Rather than marketing the Vision Pro as a gaming and social tool, the businesses that are embracing it seem to be utilizing it for enterprise tasks relating to the metaverse.Using the headset to assist in training physicians to do surgery in situations where cadavers are not easily accessible is one such instance. Cook also teased an upcoming update during the earnings call, stating that the Fortune 100 adoption is “just the

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Tech Technology

Aptos and Microsoft End Their DeFi Partnership, Howard Brevan, SK Telecom

The company that created the Aptos layer-1 blockchain, Aptos Labs, said that it is working with Brevan Howard, Microsoft, and SK Telecom, a South Korean wireless carrier, to provide institutions with an entry point into decentralized finance.Through this cooperation, Aptos Ascend—a suite of end-to-end institutional solutions—will be made available. These solutions include aid with regulatory requirements, tools for protecting account and transaction privacy, and integrated features for know-your-customer (KYC) checks. This is an attempt by several layer 1s to close the distance between DeFi and big institutions.To try and accelerate this, Avalanche, NEAR, and other organizations have all launched enterprise collaborations.A news release states that the financial suite offering will make use of Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI technologies. According to the announcement, Brevan Howard will be involved in developing possible prospects for institutions to offer digital asset management or products to their clients by using its experience and expertise in the field.The solutions’ implementation will be aided by Boston Consulting Group. “In collaboration with SKT, Brevan Howard and Microsoft, Aptos Ascend will provide the world’s financial institutions, banks, and tech-forward money markets with a performant, compliant, secure, and scalable gateway to decentralized finance on Aptos that will evolve for years to come,” said Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of Aptos Labs. August saw the announcement by the business that Aptos is utilizing Microsoft’s infrastructure to roll out new products that integrate blockchain and artificial intelligence, such as Aptos Assistant, a new chatbot.Former Meta staff members created Aptos Labs.

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Tech Tech Africa Technology

Organization honors tech workers for their innovation and leadership

An independent awards body called The Connected Awards has declared its bold objective of certifying one million tech talents globally in order to honor and celebrate the exceptional accomplishments of tech professionals in innovation and leadership. Founder of The Connected Awards, Qazeem Oladejo, said the initiative “aims at providing tech professionals with a credible and independent platform for evaluation and acknowledgment of their global impact, considering the high demand for such professionals in the tech industry.” He noted that the global reach expansion is a noteworthy achievement in honoring the world’s outstanding technological talent.Recruiters, investors, and partners look for people who stand out among their peers, according to Oladejo, who highlighted the significance of public acknowledgment in today’s digital age.“With our brand, we can inspire the next generations to positively impact the world by acknowledging those who are doing so now,” he said. “Over 150 million professionals are currently working in various tech niches.” Employers, investors, and partners look for people who have extra benefits over their colleagues in today’s digital world.They want to know if you are the best fit and deserving of the opportunity. Through public attestation, professionals are validated as exceptional and gifted, creating opportunities for our winners. “Young professionals need to have a dream, and knowing there is a

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Blockchain Tech Technology

Blockchain and AI: Changing the Definition of Publishing Authorship

Through self-publishing, authors all over the world are now able to share their work with the public without going through the traditional gatekeepers of the publishing industry. But the self-publishing platform Booksie has embraced blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) as the sector attempts to keep up with modernization. Booksie founder and CEO Sol Nasisi discussed

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Technology Tech

Sam Altman encourages Fortune 500 organizations to widely use ChatGPT: Report

A source close to the situation claims that OpenAI, well known for its well-liked generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT, is actively pitching its services to Fortune 500 businesses. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Brad Lightcap, the COO, reportedly met with hundreds of executives from large corporations in San Francisco, New York, and

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Tech Technology

As the metaverse fails to deliver, virtual reality moves forward

In recent years, there has been a lot of excitement surrounding the metaverse, captivating the interest of both investors and fans. The metaverse offers augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). After just three years, the metaverse hasn’t been able to live up to the hype, at least not in the corporate community. The metaverse

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Tech Technology

India protects citizens coerced into Cambodian cyberfraud schemes

The Indian government claimed to be saving its nationals who werecoerced into working in Cambodia after being tricked into fallingfor cybercrime schemes. About 250 Indians have been saved andrepatriated by the Indian embassy in Cambodia, including 75 in theprevious three months, according to a statement released onSaturday by India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokespersonRandhir Jaiswal.

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Crypto Tech Technology

Hackers allegedly steal Bitcoin from Call of Duty cheaters by infecting gamers with malware.

A shadowy group of cybercriminals has allegedly created an information stealer virus that targets players who cheat in Call of Duty, potentially taking some players’ bitcoin (BTC) holdings. This suggests that video game cheaters may have finally met their match.According to malware market informer @vxunderground, the virus has already affected hundreds of thousands of players, and the number is still rising. “It should be noted that some of these accounts are also not cheaters,” @vxunderground added. “Some users impacted utilized gaming software for latency improvement, VPNs, and certain controller boosting software.” After consumers reported making unlawful transactions, “PhantomOverlay,” a distributor of Call of Duty cheat codes, became aware of the suspicious conduct first.Similar attacks to @vxunderground have been confirmed by other cheat providers, such as Elite PVPers, in the last week.In addition to recently obtained credentials, some victims also claim that their Electrum wallets were empty.It’s still unclear how much cryptocurrency was taken in total. Activision Blizzard (ATVI), the company behind Call of Duty, is apparently collaborating with the suppliers of cheat codes to assist the impacted gamers.As of right now, it is anticipated that approximately 3.6 million Battlenet accounts, 561,000 Activision accounts, and 117,000 Elite PVPers accounts have been compromised.In the meantime, PhantomOverlay asserted in a Telegram broadcast message on Wednesday that the quantity of compromised accounts “is inflated.” For years, gaming cheats have been the focus of exploiters.2018 saw the discovery that a purported trick for the wildly popular video game Fortnite was actually malware used to steal login credentials for bitcoin wallets.2019 saw hackers attack Fortnite players once more, preventing them from accessing any data on their computers.

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Tech Technology

Three Decentralized Platforms to Merge AI Tokens and Create AI Alliance.

Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol have agreed to unite their tokens and form a decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) alliance.According to an emailed release on Wednesday, the three intend to form an AI collective to provide a decentralized alternative to existing programs managed by giant technology companies.(FET), the native token of AI-focused Web3 platform Fetch.ai, will be renamed ASI – “artificial superintelligence” – with a total supply of around 2.63 billion tokens and a launch price of $2.82.The native tokens of decentralized AI network SingularityNET (AGIX) and data platform Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) will combine into ASI, both at conversion rates of roughly 0.433 to 1.ASI will have a fully diluted market capitalization of roughly $7.5 billion. The proposed combined entity intends to build an open, decentralized AI infrastructure on a large scale, as opposed to existing systems whose inner workings may be hidden from the public, the businesses claimed. AI has experienced a boom in general attention since the beginning of 2023, thanks to tools like ChatGPT.However, there are concerns that the largest corporations – Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta – will form an oligarchy in the field.That has prompted blockchain and Web3 firms to enter the fray, offering an alternative in which data is more transparent and shared among contributors.

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Tech Technology

Tether launches a recruitment drive to establish an AI unit.

The company behind the biggest stablecoin in the world, Tether, is building an artificial intelligence (AI) unit and is currently hiring to staff it. The company said on Tuesday that the subsidiary will concentrate on creating open-source AI models and working with other businesses to incorporate them into solutions that may solve problems in the

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Tech Technology

Breakups of Google and Apple on the table as global regulators tackle technology.

Big Tech is facing its most serious test in decades, as antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic hammer down on suspected anticompetitive activities that might result in breakup orders for Apple and Alphabet’s Google, a first for the industry. This, in turn, may encourage watchdogs around the world to pile on, as indicated

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Technology Tech

Worldcoin open-sources Orb software and introduces ‘personal custody’.

In a blog post, the Worldcoin Foundation revealed that it has made open-source components of the software that runs its iris-scanning Orbs available to the public.According to the announcement, the fundamental components of the Orb software are available on GitHub under an MIT/Apache 2.0 dual licence.The new open-source components “complement” the hardware that was previously released.The version includes Orb-specific functionality for taking photographs and securely uploading them to the product’s app.Worldcoin stated that its publicly available software and iris recognition repositories represent “significant progress” in ensuring openness for the Orb’s image processing, as well as provable privacy assurances. In addition to releasing more of the software that powers the infamous metallic, eye-scanning Orb, Worldcoin unveiled a new privacy feature called “Personal Custody.”Individual users can now self-custody data given to Worldcoin via a data package signed with the Orb’s private key and encrypted with a user-provided public key before it is delivered to their mobile phone. The developer said this means that users will “always remain in control of their data,” and only the individual can decrypt this biometric data. Worldcoin said. “Once the encrypted data is sent from the Orb to the individual’s World App, no unencrypted copies of this data exist anywhere.” According to the creator, the feature may reduce the amount of times users need to return to an Orb to validate their World ID. This change to Worldcoin comes as the corporation is under review from worldwide regulators over privacy concerns.On March 21, the Kenyan government declined a plea from the US government to lift its suspension of the Worldcoin initiative.The government stated that Worldcoin activities would be prohibited in the country unless assurances of the Kenyan people’s safety and the integrity of financial details were provided.On March 18, Worldcoin stated on its blog that it works “lawfully in all of the locations in which it is available” and is fully compliance with all laws and regulations governing data collection and transfer. However, it faced additional pushback earlier in March.This time, the Spanish Data Protection Agency demanded that Worldcoin stop collecting and processing data locally and halted its activities temporarily.Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the startup that developed the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, co-founded Worldcoin.OpenAI is also under fire for refusing to open-source the code for its AI models.

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Technology Tech

AI-powered game brings ‘Waifus’ to life with plans for AR/VR experiences.

Loneliness is a quiet plague that looms large as a societal concern worth billions of dollars, but it is rarely addressed or even recognized in Asia’s $10 trillion consumer market.As we drift away in our increasingly digitized lives, our desire for friendship, connection, and love grows stronger. However, the current landscape of digital companionship, which is dominated by static, one-way interactions with chatbots, fails to meet this deep-rooted need for genuine connection, highlighting a significant gap and opportunity for innovation in how we interact with technology to fulfill our most human desires. While gamifying personal connection is not a new concept, traditional “Waifu” games — a term used to describe interactive encounters with digital love partners — are time-consuming to create and are typically bound by platform constraints.In contrast, AI Waifu is a future Web3 game with a circular and player-driven economy that can be accessed as a progressive web application from any browser. The game tries to directly address the age-old issue of loneliness by allowing for virtual relationships in a gamified setting. The game depicts a Digital Bangkok in which the player “lives” alongside their Waifu. It will allow users to interact fully in a shared place using all of their senses. Consider a world of Waifus, which includes celebrities and social media influencers such as Irene Zhao, Sydney Sweeney, and Marin Kitagawa. AI Waifu combines elements of Tamagotchi, anime, cryptocurrency, and AI to allow people to experience different stages of their relationship with their Waifu and participate in a dynamic game about love and mystery.While most AI companions provide repetitious content, AI Waifu enhances gamers’ experiences with hyper-personalized modal inputs and outputs. Each Waifu in the game is a visual 3D model that reacts to speech and text with emotions and animations. Each Waifu has a unique personality, thanks to a level system that switches character cards. The game incorporates meta, financial, and flirt skill-based games that are related to the primary loop.Players will be able to flirt with other Waifus to gain love points and make their own Waifus jealous. The game contains NSFW content for people looking for an adult-oriented experience. AI Waifu is being developed by Virtual Protocol, an artificial intelligence-focused protocol with a treasury of over $18 million.The Web3 game has completed its liquidity bootstrapping pool (LBP) event on the Fjord Foundry platform, raising $6.4 million from more than 1,500 participants, making it one of the fairest LBPs ever held on Fjord. Waifu’s in-game coin, WAI, is set to be generated on March 16 at 12 p.m. UTC, with twin liquidity pools on the Ethereum and Blast networks. LBP is a good technique to fairly develop a new token’s liquidity pool and set its market price.AI Waifu employs LBP to ensure a fair launch for WAI, its in-game token, by removing the typical dump pressure found in traditional VCs and presales. The game is set to premiere in the last week of March. The game tries to differentiate itself from other Blast decentralized applications (DApps) with its gamified AI companion experience. The developer’s plan includes virtual reality (VR) and wearable compatibility to fully immerse all human senses. Following its release, the game will focus on bringing digital Waifus to life through augmented reality and VR with Apple’s Vision Pro headset. AI Waifu intends to use well-known IPs, including collaborations with iconic characters and brands such as Genshin Impact, to increase the game’s appeal and replayability through new challenges, modes, and customization choices.AI Waifu is excited for its live premiere on March 25. The launch will also signal the beginning of WAI powering the in-game economy, laying the door for a thriving ecology. Web3 and artificial intelligence emerge as powerful instruments for combating society’s pervasive loneliness.Technologies like AI Waifu, which enable dynamic, individualized relationships that transcend typical digital borders, provide a look into a future in which virtual companionship satisfies our fundamental craving for connection. With Web3’s decentralized ethos providing equitable access and AI’s developing skills enriching connections, the technical revolution is leading to a societal shift aimed at bridging the loneliness gap through innovation and empathy.

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Technology Tech

North Korean hackers used Tornado Cash to launder $12 million from the Heco Bridge hack.

North Korean hackers affiliated with the infamous Lazarus Group have utilized the coin mixing service Tornado Cash to launder $12 million in ether (ETH) during the last 24 hours.According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, Lazarus Group transmitted over 40 transactions to Tornado Cash on March 13 and 14.Elliptic also blamed the Lazarus Group for a $100 million Heco Bridge and HTX attack in November last year. According to a report by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, Lazarus is responsible for attacks totaling more than $3 billion over the last six years.Tornado Cash faced US sanctions in August 2022.This prompted the Lazarus Group to utilize another mixer, Sinbad, to conceal their ill-gotten gains.However, once Sinbad was taken by US officials in November, Lazarus returned to Tornado Cash, according to Elliptic’s blog post.Roman Storm, one of Tornado Cash’s founders, was arrested last year and is currently facing trial on money laundering accusations.Another, Roman Semenov, has been charged but not detained. Despite being sanctioned twice, Tornado Cash continues to operate via decentralized smart contracts that cannot be confiscated or taken down. “The change in behavior and return to the use of Tornado Cash likely reflects the limited number of large-scale mixers now operating, thanks to law enforcement takedowns of services such as Sinbad.io and Blender.io,” Elliptic said.

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Tech Technology

Amid the ongoing OpenAI lawsuit, Elon Musk releases Grok AI as open source.

As a lawsuit against competitor AI chatbot maker OpenAI intensifies, Elon Musk of xAI declared that the company would release the source code for its artificial intelligence (AI) model Grok.Grok will be available for download this week, according to a March 11 X post from Musk. Despite not going into detail about his intentions to make Grok open source, Musk received a lot of good feedback for his move in the comments section of his post.“OpenAI should do the same,” one user retorted.“OpenAI is a lie,” Musk retorted, “if they are ‘open’ that is.” Musk sued OpenAI on February 29th, alleging that the nonprofit company had broken a deal when it was established.He contends that the nonprofit organization’s guiding ideals—advancing open-source artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the good of humanity—are violated by OpenAI’s collaboration with Microsoft.By the end of 2023, Microsoft was said to have invested close to $3 billion in OpenAI.In the case, Musk asks for an injunction to prevent the for-profit use of AGI technology and exhorts OpenAI to revert to its original open-source principles.But in a joint statement released a few days after the lawsuit was filed, OpenAI executives disclosed emails in which Musk seemed to support the company’s move to become a for-profit business. Following his dismissal and rehire in November 2023, OpenAI has rehired CEO Sam Altman as a member of its board since the complaint was filed.The board said at the time that they were unaware of how much the company would become unstable in his absence.In line with his demands in his lawsuit against OpenAI, Musk has decided to make Grok open source in order to further open-source artificial intelligence for the “benefit of humanity.” Similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot, Musk’s startup xAI created the AI chatbot Grok.Grok, on the other hand, can respond to more pressing queries that some other AI systems decline to answer and can obtain real-time information through the X social media platform than ChatGPT.Users need to have an authenticated X account in order to utilize the chatbot.Some comparisons show that while Grok AI, which is based on the Grok-1 large language model, outperforms ChatGPT-3.5, it falls short of OpenAi’s ChatGPT-4 model.

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Tech Technology

Elon Musk claims that Sam Altman and OpenAI violated an agreement.

Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and X, is suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging that their nonprofit agreement was broken. Musk claims that OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft has strayed from its core values of developing open-source artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the good of humanity in a recent filing in the

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Tech Technology

EigenLayer and Ritual collaborate to create DApps powered by AI.

In order to create AI-powered decentralized applications (DApps), community-owned Ritual network and EigenLayer, the largest restaking protocol on Ethereum by total value locked (TVL), have teamed.According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, the cooperation seeks to provide AI capabilities to DApps, including smart agents, AI-powered decentralized financial (DeFI) applications, and autonomous media generation. It also aims to introduce Ethereum-level restaking security on the Ritual network.Crypto-economic, AI-driven coprocessors may drive economic incentives and bring significant new functionality to blockchain networks, claims EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan. Written by Kannan. “Ritual is building the first crypto-economic AI coprocessor to unlock a new generation of AI-enabled smart DApps. We are extremely excited to partner with this innovative team to bring Ethereum staking security to this nascent space and enable EigenLayer stakers and operators to help power a more decentralized, transparent AI ecosystem.” The collaboration coincides with a rise in interest in AI crypto solutions following Vitalik Buterin’s X post on February 18, which revealed the Ethereum co-founder’s enthusiasm for AI-powered smart contract auditing as a means of repairing faulty code.Bugs are identified by Buterin as the Ethereum network’s “biggest technical risk.” Ritual claims that their initial solution, Infernet, would be the first to provide native and affordable access to AI models for smart contracts.Through this integration, new Actively Validated Services (AVS) will be developed to power Ritual’s infrastructure and allow GPU-capable EigenLayer restakers to support decentralized inference, testing, and fine-tuning in its on-chain economy.Ritual was established in 2023 and consists of a network of computing units for hosting, inferring, and optimizing AI models. Additionally, it has an application programming interface, or API, layer that facilitates the accessibility of AI models and security measures that ensure computational integrity.Ritual co-founder Niraj Pant believes that the new integration may make AI-enabled DApps more effective.He penned.

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Tech Technology

A government action on AI deepfakes is petitioned by Andrew Yang and 300 foreign specialists.

In an open letter, more than 300 international experts in the domains of technology, artificial intelligence (AI), digital ethics, and child safety have urged governments to act “immediately” in order to combat deepfakes.The letter, titled “Disrupting the Deepfake Supply Chain” and published on February 21, calls for politicians, governmental, and policymakers to “impose obligations” in the supply chain in order to stop the spread of deepfakes.It lays forth three key strategies, the first of which is to make deepfake child pornography, including with made-up kids, completely illegal. Additionally, it demands that software developers and distributors make sure their media products don’t create harmful deepfakes and face penalties if their measures fall short of standards. Criminal penalties are also sought for anyone who “knowingly creates or facilitates the spread of harmful deepfakes.”A number of prominent thinkers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and China are among the signatories of the letter, which also includes American politician and crypto enthusiast Andrew Yang, cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, and two past presidents of Estonia.Lead author of the letter and AI researcher at the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Andrew Critch, said. “Deepfakes are a huge threat to human society and are already causing growing harm to individuals, communities, and the functioning of democracy.” He said he and his colleagues created the letter so the global public could show support for law-making efforts to stop deepfakes with “immediate action.” The author of Unmasking AI and the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, Joy Buolamwini, stated that the necessity for “biometric rights” has grown “ever more evident.” “While no one is immune

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Tech Tech Africa Technology

Nigerian tech company advocates integrating AI to improve security

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has promoted the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into Nigeria’s security framework as a means of improving the country’s digital efforts and international visibility.The National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) commandant, Alhaji A.S. Adeleke, was represented by deputy commandant D. E. Egbeji, and the agency’s director-general, Kashifu Inuwa, discussed this in a meeting that was shared with Cointelegraph behind closed doors.Inuwa highlighted the different approaches that the IT and security industries use in their work.He emphasized how the IT and security sectors can collaborate to leverage innovations in artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) to advance the security space. Inuwa emphasized that collaboration in the IT and security domains is consistent with the NITDA Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP 2.0) and that the organization is open to forming significant collaborations.This is especially pertinent to the pillar that highlights forming strategic alliances and working together. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), financial institutions, and the NITDA should work together, the NITDA argued in November 2023.The organization focused on utilizing cutting-edge technology, like artificial intelligence and data analytics, to enhance digital payments.Upon further investigation, Inuwa concluded that AI is a global force to be reckoned with.He responded quickly, provided solutions, cleared up any confusion, and stressed their importance in helping to make responsibilities more doable. NISS commandant Adeleke responded to the discussions by saying that the institute was eager to absorb knowledge from NITDA’s experiences.According to Adeleke, the NISS seeks to gather important information for an executive brief intended to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR in the formulation and execution of policies.He stated. “We are here to benefit from your experience and to gather all that we can from the beginning of the course. By the end, we aim to deliver an executive brief to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR that will facilitate policy formulation and implementation.” Through projects such as the establishment of the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) and the National Artificial Intelligence Policy, the NITDA is promoting the growth of AI in Nigeria.Five million naira ($6,444) in funding for forty-five AI-focused firms and researchers were announced by the Nigerian government in October.Part of the recently launched Nigeria Artificial Intelligence Research Scheme, this program aims to make it easier for AI to be widely used to propel economic growth.

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Crypto Tech Technology

The European Commission wants feedback on its recommendations regarding AI disinformation during elections.

To prevent false information from spreading ahead of the forthcoming European elections, the European Commission is requiring tech platforms including as Facebook, X, and TikTok to identify content generated by artificial intelligence (AI). Regarding suggested election security rules for very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs), the commission has opened

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Tech Tech Africa Technology

Kenya is facing criticism over a new robotics and AI law.

Kenyan IT experts have pointed out a number of issues with the 2023 Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Society Bill and have encouraged the country’s government to reject it.Local media reported that the National Assembly’s Communication, Information, and Innovation Committee was informed by robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) stakeholders that they were not involved in any stage of the bill drafting process during a session held to commemorate International Safer Internet Day in 2024.If an entity has not registered their robotics and AI endeavors with the Robotics Society of Kenya (RSK), the bill defines them as unlicensed. If unlicensed firms operating robotic and AI businesses fail to register with the RSK, they may face penalties from the proposed legislation, which may include fines of up to one million Kenyan shillings ($6,269), a potential two-year prison sentence, or both. The RSK is intended to be a regulatory organization whose job it is to monitor and support the growth of the robotics and artificial intelligence industries.It seeks to work with other authorities to set policies and procedures that will guarantee corporate compliance.The RSK will also counsel the government on new developments in robotics and artificial intelligence.During the meeting, Alex Gakuru, the director of the Center for Law in Information Technology and the leader of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kenya, reportedly said that the bill should be withdrawn for further stakeholder consultation. He emphasized that if the bill is enacted in its current form, it will cause a national disaster. Gakuru claims that the law mainly focuses on regulating the robotics industry rather than sufficiently addressing AI-related issues.He warned that if the badly written bill wasn’t changed, it might be challenged in court.Kenya is the fifth-most prepared country in Africa to use AI to provide services to the general people.Kenya’s total score of 40.36% in the 2022 edition of Oxford Insights’ annual Government AI Readiness Index puts it below Egypt, South Africa, Tunisia, and Morocco.Kenya has invested an estimated 13 billion shillings ($81.5 million) in artificial intelligence over the past ten years, significantly less than South Africa’s $1 billion and Nigeria’s $378 million, according to Microsoft’s “Artificial Intelligence in the Middle East and Africa Outlook Report.”

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Tech Technology

US AI safety consortium disclosed with the leading tech companies

The establishment of the AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), which has a long list of members from every sector of the tech industry, was announced by the US Department of Commerce on February 8.The consortium seeks to “unite AI creators and users, academics, government and industry researchers, and civil society organizations” in order to promote an atmosphere that produces artificial intelligence (AI) that is reliable and safe, according to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “The U.S. government has a significant role to play in setting the standards and developing the tools we need to mitigate the risks and harness the immense potential of AI. President Biden directed us to pull every lever to accomplish two key goals: set safety standards and protect our innovation ecosystem.” AISIC will be in charge of creating policies related to risk management, watermarking synthetic content, red-teaming, assessing AI capabilities, safety and security, and other areas. The last is particularly important. The largest names in the business, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, OpenAI, Anthropic, Adobe, Nvidia, GitHub, the Frontier Model Forum, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IMB, and many more, make up the consortium’s more than 200 members.The official statement states that this is “the largest collection of test and evaluation teams established to date” that includes non-profits, state and local governments, and groups from “like-minded nations” that will collaborate on industry standards. This comes after President Biden’s executive order on AI safety, which was issued in late October 2023, founded the United States’ AI Safety Institute (USAISI).According to Raimondo, Biden’s executive order will “ensure” that the United States continues to lead the world in the creation and application of ethical and safe artificial intelligence.Keeping up with AI, according to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, entails

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Tech Technology

Entertainment job losses are an issue highlighted in the Gen AI research.

Film and animation industries would lose more jobs as a result of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) than other industries, predicts consulting firm CVL Economics. According to a January 2024 report by the firm, 75% of survey respondents indicated that Gen AI tools, software, and models had supported the elimination, reduction, or consolidation of jobs

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Tech Technology

After “infusing AI” throughout the tech stack, Microsoft’s income increased by 18%.

The parent companies of Google, Alphabet, and Microsoft, the Big Tech titans, announced their quarterly results on January 30. Among the highlights were advancements in cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). The tech industry’s most talked-about topic last year was artificial intelligence (AI), whose global market is expected to reach $196.6 billion by 2023.With the release of their own sophisticated chatbots in 2023, Microsoft and Google were two of the industry leaders in AI development.At the end of the year, Microsoft’s sales increased, and a big part of it was its AI products.The company’s revenue increased to almost $60 billion in December, up 18% on an annual basis from September to December, according to the article. In the Q4 earnings call Satya Nadella, the chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft, commented on Microsoft’s AI developments saying, “We’ve moved from talking about AI to applying AI at scale. By infusing AI across every layer of our tech stack, we’re winning new customers and helping drive new benefits and productivity

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Crypto Tech Tech Africa

Analysts call for an update of SEC norms, citing licensing barriers for Nigerian exchanges.

Rume Ophi, a Nigerian crypto analyst, believes that the virtual asset services providers (VASP) criteria should be reviewed by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to make it easier for local crypto exchanges to obtain licenses to operate in the nation.In an interview with Cointelegraph, Ophi clarified that local cryptocurrency exchanges should have been given priority when creating the SEC’s current guidelines, which are meant to direct the registration of VASPs but do not support them.Exchanges have to meet the conditions for application processing, pay a registration fee, and pay any other necessary costs in order to receive a VASP license from the SEC. Ophi clarified that many local exchanges are unable to meet the 500 million naira ($556,620) minimum upfront capital requirement. As a result, he predicted that international exchanges will dominate the Nigerian exchange market rather than a stable balance. Nigerian Web3 lawyer Kue Barinor Paul, who backed Ophi’s position, stated in a recent conversation on X that Nigerian crypto exchanges and VASPs would probably need to combine in order to meet the SEC license criteria.According to Paul, the existing system for license registration by the Nigerian SEC has to be revised because it primarily benefits international exchanges. The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission released a 54-page paper titled “New Rules on Issuance, Offering Platforms and Custody of Digital Assets” in May 2022.In addition to providing instructions on how Nigeria’s banks and financial institutions can deal with digital assets, the paper opens doors for bitcoin service providers operating in the nation.Ophi added, “To make sure that the SEC’s licensing requirements are in line with the current realities of the country’s economy, the Nigerian National Assembly needs to get involved.” Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa, has the highest degree of cryptocurrency awareness globally, according to a global poll comprising participants from 15 countries.Out of 154 nations evaluated, Nigeria ranked second in terms of cryptocurrency adoption, according to Chainalysis’ “2023 Cryptocurrency Geography Report.”It was projected that the country’s high level of cryptocurrency acceptance will draw more foreign investment in the space.Ophi, however, blames the low investment rate on the recent lifting of the prohibition on banking institutions handling cryptocurrency exchanges.

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Tech Technology

Big-tech companies like Amazon and IBM are using new tools to drive the generative AI growth.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly popular in the global IT scene throughout the last year or two.This is mostly because of its inventive capacity to transform how organizations and people approach innovation, problem-solving, and decision-making.In reality, as evidenced by its fast growing market size, the efficiency and variety of generative AI applications have led to their acceptance across a wide range of industries, from healthcare to entertainment.The global generative AI industry was estimated to be worth $12.1 billion in 2023, while some forecasts indicate that this amount might increase to $119.7 billion by 2032. Furthermore, generative AI startups raised $2.6 billion through 110 deals in 2022, when the topic had not yet gained widespread attention. By 2023, that amount had nearly doubled to $50 billion, with notable firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection AI securing several billion dollars each.The fact that more and more searches are being made using the term “generative AI” is another obvious sign of growing interest in this field.The graph below shows how interest in the technology increased sharply after the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform, especially in nations like Singapore, China, Hong Kong, India, and Israel. Interest peaked in June. As a result, more businesses are incorporating AI-enabled technologies into their operations as the field of this technology develops and its application range grows.Cointelegraph spoke with Ilan Rakhmanov, the founder and CEO of ChainGPT.org, an AI infrastructure provider for Web3 projects and blockchain companies.“Most well-known brands can now afford to engage with generative AI and use it as a competitive edge. Also, we know what generative AI is capable of, but we still have a limited understanding of how it will evolve in the long-term future as more and more organizations and individuals leverage the technology

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Tech Technology

For startups and SMEs, the EU Commission suggests AI factories.

As part of a package of initiatives to help European startups and SMEs build reliable artificial intelligence (AI) that complies with EU regulations, the European Commission has suggested the establishment of an AI factory, an AI Office, and other AI-related projects.According to a statement posted on the Commission’s blog, European companies would have easier access to specialized AI supercomputers, which will encourage the creation of general-purpose AI models.Accelerating the deployment of AI technology is the goal of this program. This follows the December 2023 agreement on the EU AI Act, the first worldwide comprehensive law regulating the use of potent AI models, such Google’s Bard and Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.The purpose of the legislation is to make it easier for the EU to develop, implement, and adopt trustworthy AI. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed plans to launch a new project in September 2023 to allow forward-thinking European AI firms access to Europe’s supercomputers for the purpose of training their reliable AI models.A reward that provides AI firms with financial support and access to supercomputing facilities is the Large AI Grand Challenge, which the Commission also introduced in November 2023.The Commission stated that AI entrepreneurs and researchers will benefit from the AI Factories, or one-stop shops, which will help with algorithm development, large-scale model testing and validation, and guaranteeing access to specialized AI supercomputers. The Commission has decided to open an AI Office as part of its efforts to support AI entrepreneurs and innovation.This office will oversee the enactment and enforcement of the upcoming AI Act in addition to ensuring the development and coordination of AI policy at the European level. Among the initiatives that have been introduced is an EU AI Start-Up and Innovation Communication initiative that aims to raise an additional €4 billion in total investment between public and private funds until 2027.The Alliance for Language Technologies (ALT) was created by the Commission in cooperation with multiple member states to address the lack of European language data for AI training. It also supports the creation of large language models while maintaining linguistic diversity. Utilizing cutting-edge AI technologies, the second EDIC, called “CitiVERSE,” will create and enhance local digital twins for smart communities.This effort supports cities in simulating and optimizing operations, including traffic management and trash management.

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Tech Technology

The president of the UAE signs a law creating an artificial intelligence council.

The bill that formed the Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technology Council (AIATC) was signed by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates. The government of Abu Dhabi said that the council will be in charge of developing and putting into practice artificial intelligence (AI) policies and strategies that will be used in infrastructure, investments, and research.The council will work with regional and international partners to create plans and research initiatives in addition to policies.This seeks to “improve Abu Dhabi’s standing” in the AI industry.This initiative aligns with the emirate’s endeavors to establish itself as a center for collaborations, investments, and talent within the advanced technology industry.Additionally, the president issued a resolution designating Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the AIATC’s chairman and Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as vice chairman. In an effort to establish the United Arab Emirates as a global hub for budding entrepreneurs, the government has embraced numerous technical innovations.The Emirates Blockchain Strategy, which intends to promote blockchain usage, was unveiled by the nation in 2018.The Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) was founded in March 2022 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, to oversee cryptocurrencies and digital assets.The also intensified its metaverse endeavors in July 2022 with the introduction of the Dubai Metaverse Strategy, with the objective of facilitating over 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030. The nation has made AI technology one of its main areas of attention more recently.The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) began providing commercial licenses at a 90% subsidy for AI and Web3 enterprises on August 15, 2023.According to CEO of the DIFC Innovation Hub, Mohammad Alblooshi, the licenses were granted in an attempt to “attract more global talent and investment to the region.”In addition to offering discounted commercial licenses, the nation created a special free economic zone for Web3 and AI service providers.The Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) emirate unveiled the RAK Digital Assets Oasis (DAO) for Web3, digital assets, and artificial intelligence on October 19, 2023.

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Tech Technology

Amid valuation discussions, Elon Musk denies investing $500 million in xAI.

Elon Musk has refuted the veracity of a report that stated investors gave his artificial intelligence (AI) startup, xAI, $500 million out of a $1 billion target. Musk said, “This is not accurate,” citing a Bloomberg report in response to a user’s message on X (previously Twitter). Bloomberg reported sources stating that xAI is discussing

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Tech Technology

An AI expert from the Vatican describes it as a “absolutely positive” byproduct of human intellect.

As a specialist in artificial intelligence (AI) for the Vatican, Friar Paolo Benanti is a Franciscan friar. He has described the technology as “absolutely positive” as a result of human intelligence and skill, but he has raised ethical questions.As stated by the monk, government laws based on “ethical considerations” should follow the advancement of AI, even though he is a strong proponent of the technology, according to an AP report published on January 18. “I have a deep understanding that there is no neutral technology because any tool could become a weapon.” Benanti holds a degree in moral theology and has experience in engineering.He claims to be passionate about the “ethics of technology” and advises the Pope on the subject; on December 15, the Pope published a 3,400-word letter alerting the world to the perils of technology. In addition, the Vatican AI specialist leads an AI committee that provides advice to the Italian government and is a member of the United Nations Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence. His primary worries regarding the ethical implications of AI have less to do with users of the technology and more to do with the regulation of technology and the “appropriate level of use” within societal contexts. “Today this technology could corrode our social ties, our ability to live together as a species. So there is a need for proper governance – and here the answer is entirely ethical and

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