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<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to push the boundaries of what was once thought impossible. Its remarkable prediction capabilities have captured widespread attention. From predicting stock market trends to diagnosing diseases, the technology has demonstrated an uncanny ability to analyse vast amounts of data and make accurate forecasts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Now, new research conducted by a team of researchers from Denmark and Sweden suggests that artificial intelligence may be able to predict a person's political views based on their appearance, posing potential privacy concerns.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Study findings</strong></h2>

<p>The study found that the AI model accurately predicted the political affiliations of people in around 61 per cent of cases.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As per the research published in the journal Nature, variations in facial expressions were linked to political views. The model concluded that, due to their smiles, "both male and female right-wing composites appeared happier than their left-wing counterparts",&nbsp;while liberal candidates displayed more neutral expressions.</p>

<p>Women who exhibited a facial expression of contempt — neutral eyes and one corner of the lips lifted — were associated with more liberal politics by the model.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/previously-undocumented-effect-of-ivf-uncovered-helps-1-in-5-women-conceive-naturally-second-time-around-606828">Previously undocumented effect of IVF uncovered; helps 1-in-5 women conceive naturally second time around</a></strong></p>

<p>The researchers also observed a correlation between a candidate's level of attractiveness and their political ideology.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As per Business Insider, women deemed attractive by their beauty scores were predicted to have conservative views, although there was no similar correlation found between men's attractiveness and right-wing leanings.</p>

<p>"Politicians on the right have been found to be more attractive than those on the&nbsp;left," states the study.</p>

<h2><strong>What data set was used?</strong></h2>

<p>The study aimed to demonstrate the privacy threat resulting from the combination of deep learning techniques and easily accessible photographs. For this purpose, the researchers used a dataset of 3,233 images of Danish political candidates and employed facial recognition and predictive analytics to assess facial expressions and attractiveness scores.</p>

<h2><strong>How is this ability a threat?</strong></h2>

<p>The findings raise concerns about how AI can perpetuate stereotypes and biases. AI models trained on preconceived notions of beauty standards and gender can reinforce existing stereotypes, potentially leading to biased outcomes in various domains, including hiring decisions.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/explained-lab-grown-human-embryos-ethical-conundrums-and-emerging-frontiers-606451">Explained | Lab-grown human embryos: Ethical conundrums and emerging frontiers</a></strong></p>

<p>"Facial photographs are commonly available to potential employers, and those involved in hiring decisions self-declare a willingness to discriminate based on ideology. Members of the public may thus be aided by recognising what elements of their photographs could affect their chances of employment," write the researchers.&nbsp;The study's results also shed light on the implications of advanced technologies, such as AI, in reinforcing perceptions about specific demographics.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>

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Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to push the boundaries of what was once thought impossible. Its remarkable prediction capabilities have captured widespread attention.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to push the boundaries of what was once thought impossible. Its remarkable prediction capabilities have captured widespread attention. From predicting stock market trends to diagnosing diseases, the technology has demonstrated an uncanny ability to analyse vast amounts of data and make accurate forecasts. Now, new research conducted by a team of researchers from Denmark and Sweden suggests that artificial intelligence may be able to predict a person's political views based on their appearance, posing potential privacy concerns. Study findings The study found that the AI model accurately predicted the political affiliations of people in around 61 per cent of cases. As per the research published in the journal Nature, variations in facial expressions were linked to political views. The model concluded that, due to their smiles, "both male and female right-wing composites appeared happier than their left-wing counterparts", while liberal candidates displayed more neutral expressions. Women who exhibited a facial expression of contempt — neutral eyes and one corner of the lips lifted — were associated with more liberal politics by the model. Also read | Previously undocumented effect of IVF uncovered; helps 1-in-5 women conceive naturally second time around The researchers also observed a correlation between a candidate's level of attractiveness and their political ideology. As per Business Insider, women deemed attractive by their beauty scores were predicted to have conservative views, although there was no similar correlation found between men's attractiveness and right-wing leanings. "Politicians on the right have been found to be more attractive than those on the left," states the study. What data set was used? The study aimed to demonstrate the privacy threat resulting from the combination of deep learning techniques and easily accessible photographs. For this purpose, the researchers used a dataset of 3,233 images of Danish political candidates and employed facial recognition and predictive analytics to assess facial expressions and attractiveness scores. How is this ability a threat? The findings raise concerns about how AI can perpetuate stereotypes and biases. AI models trained on preconceived notions of beauty standards and gender can reinforce existing stereotypes, potentially leading to biased outcomes in various domains, including hiring decisions. Also read | Explained | Lab-grown human embryos: Ethical conundrums and emerging frontiers "Facial photographs are commonly available to potential employers, and those involved in hiring decisions self-declare a willingness to discriminate based on ideology. Members of the public may thus be aided by recognising what elements of their photographs could affect their chances of employment," write the researchers. The study's results also shed light on the implications of advanced technologies, such as AI, in reinforcing perceptions about specific demographics. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Research suggests AI can predict political views based on facial analysis, raising privacy concerns

<p>Elon Musk is eager to bring his Starlink satellite broadband to India, but the world's richest man faces strong resistance from Mukesh Ambani, Asia's wealthiest, who runs Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Following a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US&nbsp;on Tuesday, Musk said he was keen to launch Starlink in India which "can be incredibly helpful" in remote villages that have no internet or lack high-speed services.&nbsp;</p>

<p>What he didn't talk about is how Starlink is at odds with Ambani's Reliance over the government's distribution of satellite broadband spectrum, setting the stage for a battle between two of the world's richest men for satellite services in the world's most populous nation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Starlink is lobbying India to not auction the spectrum but just assign licences in line with a global trend, saying it is a natural resource that should be shared by companies. An auction may impose geographical restrictions that will raise costs, it said in company letters made public by the Indian government this month.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Reliance disagrees and has called for an auction in a public submission to the government, saying foreign satellite service providers could offer voice and data services and compete with traditional telecom players, and so there must be an auction to achieve a level playing field.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In signs of deepening rivalry, an industry source with direct knowledge said Reliance will continue nudging the Indian government to auction satellite spectrum, and not agree to the demands of foreign companies.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The stakes are high for Musk. His push comes after a 2021 attempt to launch Starlink in India ran afoul of local regulators for taking bookings without a license, and just as he is in talks with India to set up a Tesla factory.&nbsp;</p>

<p>For Ambani, keeping foreign competition at bay in satellite broadband will be another shot in the arm - his Reliance Jio already has 439 million telecom users, making it the market leader, and 8 million wired broadband connections, a 25% market share.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Starlink's view on auctions is shared by Amazon's satellite internet initiative, Project Kuiper, and the British government-backed OneWeb.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Amazon declined comment. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, OneWeb and Starlink parent SpaceX, did not respond. Asked for comment, Reliance referred Reuters to its own and Starlink's government submissions.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>AUCTION VS LICENSING&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>Of the 64 responses from companies, industry groups and others to India's public consultation on satellite spectrum, 48 favoured licensing, 12 voted for an auction, with the rest neutral, according to India's Koan Advisory.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A second industry source said Reliance believes opening the floodgates to established foreign players like Starlink without an auction will allow them "runaway success" just like Amazon, which will hurt Indian firms and create an uneven playing field.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ambani's Reliance Retail has locked horns with Amazon, but lags the U.S. rival in market share in the e-commerce space.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Deloitte says India's satellite broadband service market will grow 36% a year to reach $1.9 billion by 2030.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Starlink says it is already authorised in 84 administrations around the world and has 1.5 million active users of its low-latency broadband services. Amazon plans to launch its first set of satellites in 2024.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Foreign satellite internet firms are concerned an auction by India will raise the likelihood of other nations following suit, increasing costs and investments, said one of the sources, an Indian adviser to a foreign company.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If India decides on holding an auction, OneWeb will find it difficult to do business in the country, said an industry source. Starlink is waiting for clarity on India's spectrum allocation before firming up its commercial strategy, another source said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Tim Farrar, an analyst at US-based consultancy TMF Associates, said it would set a "bad precedent" for Starlink to pay a substantial auction amount in India when it is obtaining low-cost licenses in many other countries.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"I'd expect Starlink to make high-profile free offers elsewhere in order to try and demonstrate what India could be missing out on," he said.</p>

<p><strong>WATCH WION LIVE HERE</strong></p>

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Elon Musk is eager to bring his Starlink satellite broadband to India, but the world's richest man faces strong resistance from Mukesh Ambani, Asia's wealthiest, who runs Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio.

Elon Musk is eager to bring his Starlink satellite broadband to India, but the world's richest man faces strong resistance from Mukesh Ambani, Asia's wealthiest, who runs Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio. Following a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US on Tuesday, Musk said he was keen to launch Starlink in India which "can be incredibly helpful" in remote villages that have no internet or lack high-speed services. What he didn't talk about is how Starlink is at odds with Ambani's Reliance over the government's distribution of satellite broadband spectrum, setting the stage for a battle between two of the world's richest men for satellite services in the world's most populous nation. Starlink is lobbying India to not auction the spectrum but just assign licences in line with a global trend, saying it is a natural resource that should be shared by companies. An auction may impose geographical restrictions that will raise costs, it said in company letters made public by the Indian government this month. Reliance disagrees and has called for an auction in a public submission to the government, saying foreign satellite service providers could offer voice and data services and compete with traditional telecom players, and so there must be an auction to achieve a level playing field. In signs of deepening rivalry, an industry source with direct knowledge said Reliance will continue nudging the Indian government to auction satellite spectrum, and not agree to the demands of foreign companies. The stakes are high for Musk. His push comes after a 2021 attempt to launch Starlink in India ran afoul of local regulators for taking bookings without a license, and just as he is in talks with India to set up a Tesla factory. For Ambani, keeping foreign competition at bay in satellite broadband will be another shot in the arm - his Reliance Jio already has 439 million telecom users, making it the market leader, and 8 million wired broadband connections, a 25% market share. Starlink's view on auctions is shared by Amazon's satellite internet initiative, Project Kuiper, and the British government-backed OneWeb. Amazon declined comment. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, OneWeb and Starlink parent SpaceX, did not respond. Asked for comment, Reliance referred Reuters to its own and Starlink's government submissions. AUCTION VS LICENSING Of the 64 responses from companies, industry groups and others to India's public consultation on satellite spectrum, 48 favoured licensing, 12 voted for an auction, with the rest neutral, according to India's Koan Advisory. A second industry source said Reliance believes opening the floodgates to established foreign players like Starlink without an auction will allow them "runaway success" just like Amazon, which will hurt Indian firms and create an uneven playing field. Ambani's Reliance Retail has locked horns with Amazon, but lags the U.S. rival in market share in the e-commerce space. Deloitte says India's satellite broadband service market will grow 36% a year to reach $1.9 billion by 2030. Starlink says it is already authorised in 84 administrations around the world and has 1.5 million active users of its low-latency broadband services. Amazon plans to launch its first set of satellites in 2024. Foreign satellite internet firms are concerned an auction by India will raise the likelihood of other nations following suit, increasing costs and investments, said one of the sources, an Indian adviser to a foreign company. If India decides on holding an auction, OneWeb will find it difficult to do business in the country, said an industry source. Starlink is waiting for clarity on India's spectrum allocation before firming up its commercial strategy, another source said. Tim Farrar, an analyst at US-based consultancy TMF Associates, said it would set a "bad precedent" for Starlink to pay a substantial auction amount in India when it is obtaining low-cost licenses in many other countries. "I'd expect Starlink to make high-profile free offers elsewhere in order to try and demonstrate what India could be missing out on," he said. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Elon Musk keen to launch Starlink satellite broadband to India

<p>Microsoft on Thursday announced its roadmap for building its own quantum supercomputer, using the topological qubits the company’s researchers have been working on for quite a few years now.</p>

<p>There are still plenty of intermediary milestones to be reached, but Krysta Svore, Microsoft’s Vice President&nbsp;of advanced quantum development, told Techcrunch portal&nbsp;that the company believes that it will take fewer than 10 years to build a quantum supercomputer using the qubits that will be able to perform a reliable one million quantum operations per second.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/google-unveils-quantum-computer-breakthrough-critics-say-wait-a-qubit-257805">Google unveils quantum computer breakthrough; critics say wait a qubit</a></strong></p>

<p>This is reportedly a new measurement Microsoft is introducing as the overall industry aims to move beyond the current era of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computing.</p>

<p>"We think about our roadmap and the time to the quantum supercomputer in terms of years rather than decades," Svore was quoted as saying by Techcrunch.</p>

<h2><strong>Microsoft's earlier breakthrough with Majorana-based qubits</strong></h2>

<p>In 2022, Microsoft announced a major breakthrough when its team first highlighted its ability to create Majorana-based qubits.</p>

<p>Majorana qubits have the advantage of being very stable&nbsp;compared to traditional techniques but are technologically deemed extremely difficult to create.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/explainer-what-is-quantum-technology-that-us-is-looking-to-develop-476545">Explainer: What is quantum technology that US is looking to develop?</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>Microsoft made an early bet on this technology and now, a year after first announcing this milestone, the team is publishing a new peer-reviewed paper in the American Physical Society’s Physical Review, Techcrunch report added.</p>

<p><strong>Also watch |&nbsp;Google claims quantum supremacy</strong></p>

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<p>To get to this point, Microsoft showed results from more devices and far more data than a year ago when it first announced this work.</p>

<h2><strong>Microsoft's Azure Quantum Elements</strong></h2>

<p>In addition to sharing its roadmap, Microsoft on Thursday&nbsp;also announced Azure Quantum Elements, its platform for accelerating scientific discovery by combining high-performance computing, AI and quantum, as well as Copilot for Azure Quantum.</p>

<p>This is a specially trained AI model that can help scientists (and students) generate quantum-related calculations and simulations.</p>

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Microsoft on Thursday announced its roadmap for building its own quantum supercomputer, using the topological qubits the company’s researchers have been working on for quite a few years now.

Microsoft on Thursday announced its roadmap for building its own quantum supercomputer, using the topological qubits the company’s researchers have been working on for quite a few years now. There are still plenty of intermediary milestones to be reached, but Krysta Svore, Microsoft’s Vice President of advanced quantum development, told Techcrunch portal that the company believes that it will take fewer than 10 years to build a quantum supercomputer using the qubits that will be able to perform a reliable one million quantum operations per second. Also read | Google unveils quantum computer breakthrough; critics say wait a qubit This is reportedly a new measurement Microsoft is introducing as the overall industry aims to move beyond the current era of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computing. "We think about our roadmap and the time to the quantum supercomputer in terms of years rather than decades," Svore was quoted as saying by Techcrunch. Microsoft's earlier breakthrough with Majorana-based qubits In 2022, Microsoft announced a major breakthrough when its team first highlighted its ability to create Majorana-based qubits. Majorana qubits have the advantage of being very stable compared to traditional techniques but are technologically deemed extremely difficult to create. Also read | Explainer: What is quantum technology that US is looking to develop? Microsoft made an early bet on this technology and now, a year after first announcing this milestone, the team is publishing a new peer-reviewed paper in the American Physical Society’s Physical Review, Techcrunch report added. Also watch | Google claims quantum supremacy × To get to this point, Microsoft showed results from more devices and far more data than a year ago when it first announced this work. Microsoft's Azure Quantum Elements In addition to sharing its roadmap, Microsoft on Thursday also announced Azure Quantum Elements, its platform for accelerating scientific discovery by combining high-performance computing, AI and quantum, as well as Copilot for Azure Quantum. This is a specially trained AI model that can help scientists (and students) generate quantum-related calculations and simulations. WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Microsoft closer than ever to making quantum supercomputer

<p>Outage tracking website Downdetector.com was on Thursday flooded with thousand of users reporting that Alphabet Inc's YouTube and YouTube TV were down.</p>

<p>As per the website, there were more than 13,000 incidents of users reporting issues with YouTube as of 12 am (00:00 GMT on Friday), and over 3,000 reports for YouTube TV.</p>

<p>One user&nbsp;on the outage detector website reported that "All tv streaming services I use run fine except u tube tv which constantly keeps buffering." Another&nbsp;user comments that&nbsp;"YouTube TV down Summerville SC". It is also "down in&nbsp;Allentown, PA".The services are also down in&nbsp;Charlotte,&nbsp;Philadelphia, Buffalo NY,&nbsp;Harrisburg PA.<br />
<br />
YouTube did not respond to requests for comment on the cause of the outage or its resolution, reported&nbsp;Reuters.</p>

<p>Downdetector says it tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform.<br />
<br />
<br />
<em>(More to follow)</em></p>

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Outage tracking website Downdetector.com was on Thursday flooded with thousand of users reporting that Alphabet Inc's YouTube and YouTube TV were down. As per the website, there were more than 13,000 incidents of users reporting issues with YouTube as of 12 am (00:00 GMT on Friday), and over 3,000 reports for YouTube TV.

Outage tracking website Downdetector.com was on Thursday flooded with thousand of users reporting that Alphabet Inc's YouTube and YouTube TV were down. As per the website, there were more than 13,000 incidents of users reporting issues with YouTube as of 12 am (00:00 GMT on Friday), and over 3,000 reports for YouTube TV. One user on the outage detector website reported that "All tv streaming services I use run fine except u tube tv which constantly keeps buffering." Another user comments that "YouTube TV down Summerville SC". It is also "down in Allentown, PA".The services are also down in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Buffalo NY, Harrisburg PA. YouTube did not respond to requests for comment on the cause of the outage or its resolution, reported Reuters. Downdetector says it tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. (More to follow) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

YouTube, YouTube TV down for thousands of users: Report

<p>Data of more than 1,00,000 users of ChatGPT were leaked online, with India and Pakistan topping the list.</p>

<p>A new report by Group-IB, a cybersecurity leader based in Singapore, has found that as many as 1,01,134 stealer-infected devices with saved ChatGPT credentials are being sold in the dark web between June 2022 and May 2023.</p>

<p>Last month alone, they claimed to have found more than 26,800 ChatGPT credentials, a peak since Group-IB began tracking the data.</p>

<p>The Threat Intelligence Unit of the Group-IB has revealed that India (12,632), Pakistan (9,217), and Brazil (6,531) were among the top countries where users were impacted by the cyberattack.</p>

<p>The report further mentions that most of these credentials were traded in the Asia-Pacific region.</p>

<h2><strong>Raccoon malware</strong></h2>

<p>The researchers from the cyber firm said that the stolen ChatGPT credentials were accessed due to the popular Raccoon malware.</p>

<p>Just like the basic malware, Raccoon steals users’ info from their computers after they download the software, which is often disguised as an app or file that the user actually wants.</p>

<p>Raccoon is known to be easily available and regarded as one of the dependable malware as it maintains a healthy subscriber base, making it a popular choice among hackers.</p>

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<p>"Many enterprises are integrating ChatGPT into their operational flow," said Group-IB's Head of Threat Intelligence Dmitry Shestakov in a statement.</p>

<p>"Employees enter classified correspondences or use the bot to optimize proprietary code. Given that ChatGPT’s standard configuration retains all conversations, this could inadvertently offer a trove of sensitive intelligence to threat actors if they obtain account credentials."</p>

<p>Moreover, the hackers who have access to their ChatGPT accounts can also access their other accounts with the help of the malware if the users reuse the same password for multiple platforms.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/research-suggests-ai-can-predict-political-views-based-on-facial-analysis-raising-privacy-concerns-607232">Research suggests AI can predict political views based on facial analysis, raising privacy concerns</a></p>

<p>And, if the target is paying for ChatGPT's premium plan, ChatGPT Plus, they may also be unwittingly paying for others to use the paid-for service as well.</p>

<h2><strong>Potential dangers of ChatGPT hack</strong></h2>

<p>Several experts have raised potential security concerns specifically relating to having a ChatGPT account compromised by hackers.</p>

<p>Many companies, including Google, have warned their employees not to store sensitive information in ChatGPT because that data could be used to train the AI language models.</p>

<p>ChatGPT has a feature that can save a user’s chat history. This was made possible after its creator OpenAI released a feature a few months ago.</p>

<p>And the fact that companies had to warn&nbsp;their warn employees does lend credence to the fact that it might have happened before.</p>

<p><strong>WATCH WION LIVE HERE</strong></p>

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Data of more than 1,00,000 users of ChatGPT were leaked online, with India and Pakistan topping the list. A new report by Group-IB, a cybersecurity leader based in Singapore, has found that as many as 1,01,134 stealer-infected devices with saved ChatGPT credentials are being sold in the dark web between June 2022 and May 2023.

Data of more than 1,00,000 users of ChatGPT were leaked online, with India and Pakistan topping the list. A new report by Group-IB, a cybersecurity leader based in Singapore, has found that as many as 1,01,134 stealer-infected devices with saved ChatGPT credentials are being sold in the dark web between June 2022 and May 2023. Last month alone, they claimed to have found more than 26,800 ChatGPT credentials, a peak since Group-IB began tracking the data. The Threat Intelligence Unit of the Group-IB has revealed that India (12,632), Pakistan (9,217), and Brazil (6,531) were among the top countries where users were impacted by the cyberattack. The report further mentions that most of these credentials were traded in the Asia-Pacific region. Raccoon malware The researchers from the cyber firm said that the stolen ChatGPT credentials were accessed due to the popular Raccoon malware. Just like the basic malware, Raccoon steals users’ info from their computers after they download the software, which is often disguised as an app or file that the user actually wants. Raccoon is known to be easily available and regarded as one of the dependable malware as it maintains a healthy subscriber base, making it a popular choice among hackers. "Many enterprises are integrating ChatGPT into their operational flow," said Group-IB's Head of Threat Intelligence Dmitry Shestakov in a statement. "Employees enter classified correspondences or use the bot to optimize proprietary code. Given that ChatGPT’s standard configuration retains all conversations, this could inadvertently offer a trove of sensitive intelligence to threat actors if they obtain account credentials." Moreover, the hackers who have access to their ChatGPT accounts can also access their other accounts with the help of the malware if the users reuse the same password for multiple platforms. Also read | Research suggests AI can predict political views based on facial analysis, raising privacy concerns And, if the target is paying for ChatGPT's premium plan, ChatGPT Plus, they may also be unwittingly paying for others to use the paid-for service as well. Potential dangers of ChatGPT hack Several experts have raised potential security concerns specifically relating to having a ChatGPT account compromised by hackers. Many companies, including Google, have warned their employees not to store sensitive information in ChatGPT because that data could be used to train the AI language models. ChatGPT has a feature that can save a user’s chat history. This was made possible after its creator OpenAI released a feature a few months ago. And the fact that companies had to warn their warn employees does lend credence to the fact that it might have happened before. WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Over 100,000 hacked ChatGPT accounts sold on dark web, India, Pak top the list

<p>Taking a leaf out of Apple’s playbook, the US tech giant Google is also banking on India to diversify its supply chain away from China. According to a report by Bloomberg, Google is scouting for suppliers in India to assemble its Pixel smartphones in the country.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The California-based company is believed to have already started conversations with India’s homegrown companies like Lava International Limited and Dixon Technologies India Ltd. Google is also in talks with Foxconn Technology Group’s Indian unit Bharat FIH to set up a wide supplier base in India.</p>

<p>WION tried to reach out to Lava International Limited for its comment on the Bloomberg report, but its representatives didn’t respond.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Meeting between Indian IT minister and Google CEO</strong></h2>

<p>The development comes after Google CEO Sundar Pichai and India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw met last month at the company’s headquarters in the US and held discussions regarding the ‘Make in India’ programme.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Google’s top executives were in India earlier this month for partnership talks. Ana Corrales, operating chief of its consumer hardware arm, and Maggie Wei, a senior director of global sustaining product operations, were among the top Google executives who visited India.</p>

<h2><strong>India a key market for Google</strong></h2>

<p>India represents a significant market for Google's services; however, the company has largely shied away from taking the dominance of cheaper Chinese phones head-on. By establishing local assembly facilities, Google aims to boost Pixel sales.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Watch:&nbsp;Google invests $36 million in Indian space startup</strong></p>

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<p>If this smartphone endeavour proves successful, Google may consider shifting the production of other hardware products like speakers to India as well, according to media reports.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Google to expand production beyond China, Vietnam</strong></h2>

<p>According to Counterpoint Research, Google manufactured approximately nine (9) million Pixel smartphones last year. Now, this development highlights Google's intention to expand its production beyond China and Vietnam, as discussions in India revolve around this matter.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Pixel is renowned for its advanced features, and Google utilises its flagship hardware product to demonstrate the capabilities of its optimised Android operating system and apps.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/google-layoffs-late-night-email-terminates-453-employees-in-india-562943"><strong>Also read:&nbsp;Google layoffs: Late-night email terminates 453 employees in India</strong></a></p>

<p>India’s Prime Minister Modi is visiting the United States this week, and during his trip, his delegation is expected to engage in discussions covering various topics, including the elimination of trade barriers related to technology between the two countries. This will further pave the way for companies from both nations to co-operate in the sector of advanced technology.</p>

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Taking a leaf out of Apple’s playbook, the US tech giant Google is also banking on India to diversify its supply chain away from China. According to a report by Bloomberg, Google is scouting for suppliers in India to assemble its Pixel smartphones in the country.

Taking a leaf out of Apple’s playbook, the US tech giant Google is also banking on India to diversify its supply chain away from China. According to a report by Bloomberg, Google is scouting for suppliers in India to assemble its Pixel smartphones in the country. The California-based company is believed to have already started conversations with India’s homegrown companies like Lava International Limited and Dixon Technologies India Ltd. Google is also in talks with Foxconn Technology Group’s Indian unit Bharat FIH to set up a wide supplier base in India. WION tried to reach out to Lava International Limited for its comment on the Bloomberg report, but its representatives didn’t respond. Meeting between Indian IT minister and Google CEO The development comes after Google CEO Sundar Pichai and India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw met last month at the company’s headquarters in the US and held discussions regarding the ‘Make in India’ programme. Google’s top executives were in India earlier this month for partnership talks. Ana Corrales, operating chief of its consumer hardware arm, and Maggie Wei, a senior director of global sustaining product operations, were among the top Google executives who visited India. India a key market for Google India represents a significant market for Google's services; however, the company has largely shied away from taking the dominance of cheaper Chinese phones head-on. By establishing local assembly facilities, Google aims to boost Pixel sales. Watch: Google invests $36 million in Indian space startup × If this smartphone endeavour proves successful, Google may consider shifting the production of other hardware products like speakers to India as well, according to media reports. Google to expand production beyond China, Vietnam According to Counterpoint Research, Google manufactured approximately nine (9) million Pixel smartphones last year. Now, this development highlights Google's intention to expand its production beyond China and Vietnam, as discussions in India revolve around this matter. The Pixel is renowned for its advanced features, and Google utilises its flagship hardware product to demonstrate the capabilities of its optimised Android operating system and apps. Also read: Google layoffs: Late-night email terminates 453 employees in India India’s Prime Minister Modi is visiting the United States this week, and during his trip, his delegation is expected to engage in discussions covering various topics, including the elimination of trade barriers related to technology between the two countries. This will further pave the way for companies from both nations to co-operate in the sector of advanced technology. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

After Apple, Google to shift some smartphone production to India, diversify its supply chain away from China

<p>Mobile manufacturers selling smartphones in the European Union may soon be forced to tweak their designs to allow users to replace rechargeable batteries. The EU has recently passed new regulations which cover the design, production, and recycling of all rechargeable batteries sold within the EU.</p>

<p>According to new guidelines, every battery intended to be used in electric vehicles, light means of transport and rechargeable industrial batteries (above 2kWh) must carry a compulsory carbon footprint declaration, label, and digital passport. Also, devices such as smartphones, cameras and tablets must have batteries easily replaceable by ordinary users.</p>

<h2><strong>Law goes into effect in 2027</strong></h2>

<p>Currently, rechargeable batteries are sealed away by manufacturers and require special supervision and care by experts to safely access and replace them. Hence, the new regulations will force the sellers to rethink their design and hardware. According to media reports, the law is expected to go into effect in 2027; however, the deadline could be delayed if insisted by phone makers.</p>

<p><strong>Watch:&nbsp;EU pushing to break Google's monopoly</strong></p>

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<p>Apple, along with other smartphone manufacturers, will need to address the issue of accessing the battery inside future iPhones due to the new regulations. The EU has already compelled Apple to switch from the Lightning port to a USB-C port on iPhones, and the upcoming iPhone 15 is expected to be the first to incorporate this change.</p>

<h2><strong>Regulation to collect material from old batteries</strong></h2>

<p>The new regulations set by the EU include stringent targets for waste collection and material recovery from old batteries. These targets will gradually increase between now and 2031. By 2031, the goal is to achieve 61 per cent waste collection and recover 95 per cent of materials from old portable batteries. Additionally, there will be requirements for minimum levels of recycled content in new batteries, but this will be implemented "eight years after the entry into force of the regulation."</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/eu-orders-google-to-break-up-ad-tech-practices-for-abusing-its-dominant-position-604489"><strong>Read more:&nbsp;EU orders Google to break up ad tech model for ‘abusing its dominant position’</strong></a></p>

<p>The European Parliament is also considering the phase-out of non-rechargeable portable batteries and plans to assess their viability by December 31, 2030.</p>

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Mobile manufacturers selling smartphones in the European Union may soon be forced to tweak their designs to allow users to replace rechargeable batteries. The EU has recently passed new regulations which cover the design, production, and recycling of all rechargeable batteries sold within the EU.

Mobile manufacturers selling smartphones in the European Union may soon be forced to tweak their designs to allow users to replace rechargeable batteries. The EU has recently passed new regulations which cover the design, production, and recycling of all rechargeable batteries sold within the EU. According to new guidelines, every battery intended to be used in electric vehicles, light means of transport and rechargeable industrial batteries (above 2kWh) must carry a compulsory carbon footprint declaration, label, and digital passport. Also, devices such as smartphones, cameras and tablets must have batteries easily replaceable by ordinary users. Law goes into effect in 2027 Currently, rechargeable batteries are sealed away by manufacturers and require special supervision and care by experts to safely access and replace them. Hence, the new regulations will force the sellers to rethink their design and hardware. According to media reports, the law is expected to go into effect in 2027; however, the deadline could be delayed if insisted by phone makers. Watch: EU pushing to break Google's monopoly × Apple, along with other smartphone manufacturers, will need to address the issue of accessing the battery inside future iPhones due to the new regulations. The EU has already compelled Apple to switch from the Lightning port to a USB-C port on iPhones, and the upcoming iPhone 15 is expected to be the first to incorporate this change. Regulation to collect material from old batteries The new regulations set by the EU include stringent targets for waste collection and material recovery from old batteries. These targets will gradually increase between now and 2031. By 2031, the goal is to achieve 61 per cent waste collection and recover 95 per cent of materials from old portable batteries. Additionally, there will be requirements for minimum levels of recycled content in new batteries, but this will be implemented "eight years after the entry into force of the regulation." Read more: EU orders Google to break up ad tech model for ‘abusing its dominant position’ The European Parliament is also considering the phase-out of non-rechargeable portable batteries and plans to assess their viability by December 31, 2030. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

EU to force smartphone manufacturers to provide user-replaceable batteries by 2027

<p>Now say goodbye to WhatsApp spam calls, as the Meta-owned instant messaging app has rolled out a new feature that will let users silence nuisance callers.</p>

<p>CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced that the new feature is available on both Android and iOS platforms.</p>

<p>According to the official WhatsApp blog, the update will be rolled out as part of Android 2.23.12.77 and iOS 23.12.71 compatible updates.</p>

<p>Though the new feature won’t completely nullify the amount of spam calls one receives, it will reduce unwanted disturbance from strangers by preventing the phone from ringing.</p>

<p>The update has added a new option named “Silence unknown calls.”</p>

<p>“Silence Unknown Callers is designed to give you more privacy and control of your incoming calls. It helps to automatically screen out spam, scams and calls from unknown people for increased protection. These calls will not ring on your phone, but will be visible in your Call list, in case it turns out to be someone important,” it said in the blog post.</p>

<h2><strong>Step-by-step guide</strong></h2>

<p>Users who want to enable the feature on Android can tap on the three-dot menu and tap on&nbsp;Settings&gt;Privacy&gt;Calls and toggle the Silence unknown callers&nbsp;option on the app.</p>

<p>For iPhone, the owners have to tap on the gear icon on WhatsApp to open the settings menu, then tap on Privacy&gt;Calls and toggle the Silence Unknown Callers option.</p>

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<p>It comes after WhatsApp recently announced backend changes the app has incorporated to sort out the spam issue.</p>

<p>Moreover, the app has introduced a new ‘Privacy Checkup’ feature within the Privacy section so that everyone knows about the options of protection on the messaging platform.</p>

<p>It offers a step-by-step guide to know how you can leverage the existing WhatsApp privacy and security features to your advantage. Using this feature, users can decide who will be able to contact, edit personal details, make chats more private, and add an extra layer of protection to their accounts.</p>

<p>“Protecting the privacy of your messages remains the driving force behind what we’re building at WhatsApp.”</p>

<p>“While end-to-end encryption is the foundation to ensure your calls and messages are secure, we continue to add more layers of privacy on top including the recently launched Chat Lock to protect sensitive chats behind a password, Disappearing Messages that vanish, screenshot blocking for View Once, and the ability to keep your online presence private,” it added.</p>

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Now say goodbye to WhatsApp spam calls, as the Meta-owned instant messaging app has rolled out a new feature that will let users silence nuisance callers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced that the new feature is available on both Android and iOS platforms.

Now say goodbye to WhatsApp spam calls, as the Meta-owned instant messaging app has rolled out a new feature that will let users silence nuisance callers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced that the new feature is available on both Android and iOS platforms. According to the official WhatsApp blog, the update will be rolled out as part of Android 2.23.12.77 and iOS 23.12.71 compatible updates. Though the new feature won’t completely nullify the amount of spam calls one receives, it will reduce unwanted disturbance from strangers by preventing the phone from ringing. The update has added a new option named “Silence unknown calls.” “Silence Unknown Callers is designed to give you more privacy and control of your incoming calls. It helps to automatically screen out spam, scams and calls from unknown people for increased protection. These calls will not ring on your phone, but will be visible in your Call list, in case it turns out to be someone important,” it said in the blog post. Step-by-step guide Users who want to enable the feature on Android can tap on the three-dot menu and tap on Settings>Privacy>Calls and toggle the Silence unknown callers option on the app. For iPhone, the owners have to tap on the gear icon on WhatsApp to open the settings menu, then tap on Privacy>Calls and toggle the Silence Unknown Callers option. It comes after WhatsApp recently announced backend changes the app has incorporated to sort out the spam issue. Moreover, the app has introduced a new ‘Privacy Checkup’ feature within the Privacy section so that everyone knows about the options of protection on the messaging platform. It offers a step-by-step guide to know how you can leverage the existing WhatsApp privacy and security features to your advantage. Using this feature, users can decide who will be able to contact, edit personal details, make chats more private, and add an extra layer of protection to their accounts. “Protecting the privacy of your messages remains the driving force behind what we’re building at WhatsApp.” “While end-to-end encryption is the foundation to ensure your calls and messages are secure, we continue to add more layers of privacy on top including the recently launched Chat Lock to protect sensitive chats behind a password, Disappearing Messages that vanish, screenshot blocking for View Once, and the ability to keep your online presence private,” it added. WATCH WION LIVE HERE

WhatsApp rolls out new feature to deal with spam calls

<p>It is no secret that a company’s trademark plays a vital role in driving its business. Be it Mcdonald's, Starbucks or Windows, their logos or names are so ingrained into people’s consciousness that they need little to no introduction. And one among them is Apple.</p>

<p>The Cupertino-based tech firm’s half-bitten apple is one of the most iconic logos. Since the time of its conception (1977), Apple (the firm) has been selling its electronic products with the same trademark.</p>

<p>But now it is seeking more.</p>

<h2><strong>Apple’s arm-twisting techniques?</strong></h2>

<p>According to reports, Apple is looking to trademark the full apple fruit. It has sued a 111-year-old farmer's organisation called Fruit Union Suisse which has been using apple (fruit) as its official emblem.</p>

<p>The Fruit Union Suisse uses a logo featuring a red apple with a white Swiss cross superimposed on it.</p>

<p>The organisation’s director, Jimmy Mariéthoz, said they are baffled by the tech firm’s approach.</p>

<h2><strong>Apple Vision Pro: Why it's not worth the hype</strong></h2>

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<p>“We have a hard time understanding this because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple,” Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariéthoz told Wired UK news outlet.</p>

<p>&nbsp;“Their objective here is really to own the rights to an actual apple, which, for us, is something that is really almost universal … that should be free for everyone to use.”</p>

<h2><strong>Battle since 2017</strong></h2>

<p>Since 2017, the US-based tech firm has been trying to secure Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the fruit in Switzerland and has launched similar applications in several other countries, Wired UK report.</p>

<p>At that time, Apple sought IP rights for a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety known as the Granny Smith—the generic green apple.</p>

<p>It wanted to use the logo mostly on electronic, digital, and audiovisual consumer goods and hardware.</p>

<p>Years later in 2022, the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property awarded a partial win to Apple, saying that the company could have the rights to only some of the submitted categories.</p>

<p>Now, Apple is appealing to win the rest of the rights.</p>

<h2><strong>Not the first time</strong></h2>

<p>This is not the first time that Apple has fought to appropriate the apple trademark. In 2010, the trillion-dollar company got a small Swiss grocers’ cooperative to enter into an out-of-court agreement declaring it would&nbsp;never add a bite mark&nbsp;to its logo—a bright red apple inside a shopping caddy.</p>

<p>In 2020, Apple went after Prepear, a meal-preparing start-up, for using a pear-looking logo. Apple argued that Prepear's pear logo was similar to the iPhone maker's half-bitten apple logo. Eventually, the start-up had to slightly modify the logo.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>

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It is no secret that a company’s trademark plays a vital role in driving its business. Be it Mcdonald's, Starbucks or Windows, their logos or names are so ingrained into people’s consciousness that they need little to no introduction.

It is no secret that a company’s trademark plays a vital role in driving its business. Be it Mcdonald's, Starbucks or Windows, their logos or names are so ingrained into people’s consciousness that they need little to no introduction. And one among them is Apple. The Cupertino-based tech firm’s half-bitten apple is one of the most iconic logos. Since the time of its conception (1977), Apple (the firm) has been selling its electronic products with the same trademark. But now it is seeking more. Apple’s arm-twisting techniques? According to reports, Apple is looking to trademark the full apple fruit. It has sued a 111-year-old farmer's organisation called Fruit Union Suisse which has been using apple (fruit) as its official emblem. The Fruit Union Suisse uses a logo featuring a red apple with a white Swiss cross superimposed on it. The organisation’s director, Jimmy Mariéthoz, said they are baffled by the tech firm’s approach. Apple Vision Pro: Why it's not worth the hype “We have a hard time understanding this because it’s not like they’re trying to protect their bitten apple,” Fruit Union Suisse director Jimmy Mariéthoz told Wired UK news outlet. “Their objective here is really to own the rights to an actual apple, which, for us, is something that is really almost universal … that should be free for everyone to use.” Battle since 2017 Since 2017, the US-based tech firm has been trying to secure Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the fruit in Switzerland and has launched similar applications in several other countries, Wired UK report. At that time, Apple sought IP rights for a realistic, black-and-white depiction of an apple variety known as the Granny Smith—the generic green apple. It wanted to use the logo mostly on electronic, digital, and audiovisual consumer goods and hardware. Years later in 2022, the Swiss Institute of Intellectual Property awarded a partial win to Apple, saying that the company could have the rights to only some of the submitted categories. Now, Apple is appealing to win the rest of the rights. Not the first time This is not the first time that Apple has fought to appropriate the apple trademark. In 2010, the trillion-dollar company got a small Swiss grocers’ cooperative to enter into an out-of-court agreement declaring it would never add a bite mark to its logo—a bright red apple inside a shopping caddy. In 2020, Apple went after Prepear, a meal-preparing start-up, for using a pear-looking logo. Apple argued that Prepear's pear logo was similar to the iPhone maker's half-bitten apple logo. Eventually, the start-up had to slightly modify the logo. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Apple now wants to trademark whole fruit as it takes on 111-year-old Swiss firm

<p>Amid piling consumers' grievances related to internet speed, the Government of India is mulling over a proposal to make it compulsory for mobile phone makers to disclose their devices' upload and download speed capacities to the users, as stated by people aware about the matter.<br />
<br />
Since the internet speed's quality depends on both the device specifications and the network, the step is aimed at ensuring that users are well aware of smartphones and other devices like laptops and tablets and are making an informed decision during the purchase of the product.</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |</strong><a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/they-are-out-of-their-minds-inventor-of-mobile-phone-isnt-as-happy-seeing-people-use-it-577210">&nbsp;'They are out of their minds': Inventor of mobile phone isn't as happy seeing people use it</a></p>

<p>Currently, the matter is being handled by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) under the Department of Telecommunications. A stakeholders’ consultation will be carried out by TEC before any final directions are issued by the government on the matter, as per the government officials.<br />
<br />
“There are phones ranging between '6,000-200,000' in the country. While mostly people buy phones looking at the camera, battery, built etc, we also want the companies to give an idea about the maximum data speeds that the devices would support. The plan is to make handset data speeds as one of the performance indicators,” stated a government official, adding that they are considering the rules as per international standards like 3GPP.<br />
<br />
“We just want a declaration from the handset makers. This would not increase the cost significantly for such companies,” another official stated.</p>

<h2><strong>Cost of making mobile phones to rise?</strong></h2>

<p>As per current standards, the device makers need to comply and give information on the basis of parameters like battery safety, radiated emissions, Indian language support, mobile emergency support, etc.<br />
<br />
“Data communication performance of handsets seems to be an interesting move if mandated by the government as the same will benefit consumers with regard to choice of phones,” stated Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at Techarc.</p>

<p><strong>WATCH |&nbsp;The Evolution of Mobile Phones: How Mobile phones have changed in 50 years?</strong></p>

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<p>Kawoosa added that if declaration on data speeds capacity is made compulsory, it will lead to an increase in cost borne by the mobile phone companies if they demanded a testing certification for that.<br />
<br />
As per experts, the smartphone's performance, including its data speed, depends on the processors which are used in the mobile phones. Data communication capacity is better in the premium handsets.<br />
<br />
“The direction on data speeds capacity in phones when finalised, will help advanced users who want to have this kind of information. The requirement should be seen more from a compliance point of view,” stated Prachir Singh, senior research analyst at Counterpoint.</p>

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Amid piling consumers' grievances related to internet speed, the Government of India is mulling over a proposal to make it compulsory for mobile phone makers to disclose their devices' upload and download speed capacities to the users, as stated by people aware about the matter.

Amid piling consumers' grievances related to internet speed, the Government of India is mulling over a proposal to make it compulsory for mobile phone makers to disclose their devices' upload and download speed capacities to the users, as stated by people aware about the matter. Since the internet speed's quality depends on both the device specifications and the network, the step is aimed at ensuring that users are well aware of smartphones and other devices like laptops and tablets and are making an informed decision during the purchase of the product. ALSO READ | 'They are out of their minds': Inventor of mobile phone isn't as happy seeing people use it Currently, the matter is being handled by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) under the Department of Telecommunications. A stakeholders’ consultation will be carried out by TEC before any final directions are issued by the government on the matter, as per the government officials. “There are phones ranging between '6,000-200,000' in the country. While mostly people buy phones looking at the camera, battery, built etc, we also want the companies to give an idea about the maximum data speeds that the devices would support. The plan is to make handset data speeds as one of the performance indicators,” stated a government official, adding that they are considering the rules as per international standards like 3GPP. “We just want a declaration from the handset makers. This would not increase the cost significantly for such companies,” another official stated. Cost of making mobile phones to rise? As per current standards, the device makers need to comply and give information on the basis of parameters like battery safety, radiated emissions, Indian language support, mobile emergency support, etc. “Data communication performance of handsets seems to be an interesting move if mandated by the government as the same will benefit consumers with regard to choice of phones,” stated Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at Techarc. WATCH | The Evolution of Mobile Phones: How Mobile phones have changed in 50 years? Kawoosa added that if declaration on data speeds capacity is made compulsory, it will lead to an increase in cost borne by the mobile phone companies if they demanded a testing certification for that. As per experts, the smartphone's performance, including its data speed, depends on the processors which are used in the mobile phones. Data communication capacity is better in the premium handsets. “The direction on data speeds capacity in phones when finalised, will help advanced users who want to have this kind of information. The requirement should be seen more from a compliance point of view,” stated Prachir Singh, senior research analyst at Counterpoint. You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here. WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Mobile phone makers to compulsorily disclose internet data capacity? Here's what Indian govt plans

<p>The hackers behind the recent attack on Microsoft are suspected to have Russian links, reported The Guardian, citing experts. The news report said that it is unlikely that the hackers are an Islamic group with links in Sudan as it is being claimed by them. The hacking attacks that took place in early June caused outages of some of Microsoft's services.</p>

<p>Anonymous Sudan, a group of hackers, has claimed responsibility for denial-of-service attacks on Australian companies. The companies include those from the aviation, healthcare and education sectors. The name of the group suggests that it is from Sudan. The group claimed that it was targetting Australian companies because of clothes worn at the Melbourne fashion festival with the words 'God walks with me' in Arabic.</p>

<p><strong>Watch | AI: Microsoft's ticket to prosperity | World DNA</strong></p>

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<p>The Guardian reported that cybersecurity firm CyberCX released a report on Monday that said that Anonymous Sudan is unlikely to be an authentic hacktivist organisation. The firm said that it is likely that it has links with the Russian state.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Means used an indication of origin</strong></h2>

<p>The firm said that the organisation used paid infrastructure in the attack. The operation to direct huge amounts of traffic to a service would need tens of thousands of dollars and hence it was unlikely that Anonymous Sudan was a loose collective.&nbsp;</p>

<p>CyberCX said that Anonymous Sudan was part of the pro-Russia hacker group Killnet.</p>

<p>Alastair MacGibbon, CyberCX’s chief strategy officer, told Guardian Australia that Anonymous Sudan's operations may be aimed at driving "division in society" and disrupting the West.</p>

<p>“It really stems from the Russian government's proclivities to drive division in society,” he said as quoted by The Guardian.</p>

<p>“They don’t really care about the issue … anti-racism, pro-environment or whatever – [they] just get into whatever it is that matters to [harm] targets. In this case, the West.”</p>

<p>MacGibbon said that there have been more and more instances of Russia-linked entities have been carrying out attacks against Australia in the recent past.</p>

<p>“There has to be a link to other forms of monetisation, potentially a state or some form of direction coming from the state that says ‘go and cause fear, uncertainty and doubt’,” he said.</p>

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The hackers behind the recent attack on Microsoft are suspected to have Russian links, reported The Guardian, citing experts. The news report said that it is unlikely that the hackers are an Islamic group with links in Sudan as it is being claimed by them.

The hackers behind the recent attack on Microsoft are suspected to have Russian links, reported The Guardian, citing experts. The news report said that it is unlikely that the hackers are an Islamic group with links in Sudan as it is being claimed by them. The hacking attacks that took place in early June caused outages of some of Microsoft's services. Anonymous Sudan, a group of hackers, has claimed responsibility for denial-of-service attacks on Australian companies. The companies include those from the aviation, healthcare and education sectors. The name of the group suggests that it is from Sudan. The group claimed that it was targetting Australian companies because of clothes worn at the Melbourne fashion festival with the words 'God walks with me' in Arabic. Watch | AI: Microsoft's ticket to prosperity | World DNA × The Guardian reported that cybersecurity firm CyberCX released a report on Monday that said that Anonymous Sudan is unlikely to be an authentic hacktivist organisation. The firm said that it is likely that it has links with the Russian state. Means used an indication of origin The firm said that the organisation used paid infrastructure in the attack. The operation to direct huge amounts of traffic to a service would need tens of thousands of dollars and hence it was unlikely that Anonymous Sudan was a loose collective. CyberCX said that Anonymous Sudan was part of the pro-Russia hacker group Killnet. Alastair MacGibbon, CyberCX’s chief strategy officer, told Guardian Australia that Anonymous Sudan's operations may be aimed at driving "division in society" and disrupting the West. “It really stems from the Russian government's proclivities to drive division in society,” he said as quoted by The Guardian. “They don’t really care about the issue … anti-racism, pro-environment or whatever – [they] just get into whatever it is that matters to [harm] targets. In this case, the West.” MacGibbon said that there have been more and more instances of Russia-linked entities have been carrying out attacks against Australia in the recent past. “There has to be a link to other forms of monetisation, potentially a state or some form of direction coming from the state that says ‘go and cause fear, uncertainty and doubt’,” he said. You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

Hackers who caused Microsoft outage have Russian links: Report

<p>The workings of Afghanistan's Taliban government have been reportedly curtailed due to ban on WhatsApp accounts operated by hardline operators as part of the US sanctions.</p>

<p>Such bans or temporarily deactivation of WhatsApp accounts of Taliban officials&nbsp;have become widespread in recent months, New York Times reported.</p>

<h2><strong>What does it mean?</strong></h2>

<p>These interruptions highlight&nbsp;the consequences of international sanctions on Afghanistan's isolated Taliban government.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/nearly-80-afghan-school-girls-poisoned-in-taliban-ruled-afghanistan-600753">Nearly 80 Afghan school girls poisoned in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan</a></strong></p>

<p>The United States, as part of sanctions imposed on Taliban&nbsp;criminalises any form of support for the Taliban. The impact of this has been deemed selective over the years.</p>

<h2><strong>How the ban takes place?</strong></h2>

<p>WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, scans group names, descriptions and group profile photos on the messaging app to identify users among the Taliban and blocks their accounts, according to a Meta spokesman quoted by New York Times.</p>

<h2><strong>What does it mean?</strong></h2>

<p>The ban has affected the Taliban men&nbsp;who relied on WhatsApp’s voice message feature, with which they could send messages and listen to the verbal instructions from their commanders with the press of a button.</p>

<p><strong>Also watch |&nbsp;US, UK and UN criticise the Taliban's ban on Afghan women from universities</strong></p>

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<p>The Taliban’s reliance on WhatsApp became more far-reaching as smartphone use proliferated and high-speed internet networks improved across Afghanistan by the end of US withdrawal from the nation.</p>

<p>As the Taliban consolidated control and settled into governance,&nbsp;WhatsApp central to their official communications.</p>

<h2><strong>How WhatsApp has become the medium for Taliban's functioning?</strong></h2>

<p>Taliban's government departments use WhatsApp groups to disseminate information among all organs of the government.</p>

<p>Officials rely on WhatsApp groups to distribute statements to journalists and transmit official communiqués between ministries. Security forces also plan and coordinate raids on Islamic State cells by communicating through WhatsApp.</p>

<p>Overall, since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the popularity and accessibility of WhatsApp among the group’s ranks has grown rapidly. Former Taliban fighters began using their smartphones around the clock, no longer afraid that Western forces could use the signal to track or target them in drone strikes as was the case when the US was still stationed there.&nbsp;</p>

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The workings of Afghanistan's Taliban government have been reportedly curtailed due to ban on WhatsApp accounts operated by hardline operators as part of the US sanctions.

The workings of Afghanistan's Taliban government have been reportedly curtailed due to ban on WhatsApp accounts operated by hardline operators as part of the US sanctions. Such bans or temporarily deactivation of WhatsApp accounts of Taliban officials have become widespread in recent months, New York Times reported. What does it mean? These interruptions highlight the consequences of international sanctions on Afghanistan's isolated Taliban government. Also read | Nearly 80 Afghan school girls poisoned in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan The United States, as part of sanctions imposed on Taliban criminalises any form of support for the Taliban. The impact of this has been deemed selective over the years. How the ban takes place? WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, scans group names, descriptions and group profile photos on the messaging app to identify users among the Taliban and blocks their accounts, according to a Meta spokesman quoted by New York Times. What does it mean? The ban has affected the Taliban men who relied on WhatsApp’s voice message feature, with which they could send messages and listen to the verbal instructions from their commanders with the press of a button. Also watch | US, UK and UN criticise the Taliban's ban on Afghan women from universities × The Taliban’s reliance on WhatsApp became more far-reaching as smartphone use proliferated and high-speed internet networks improved across Afghanistan by the end of US withdrawal from the nation. As the Taliban consolidated control and settled into governance, WhatsApp central to their official communications. How WhatsApp has become the medium for Taliban's functioning? Taliban's government departments use WhatsApp groups to disseminate information among all organs of the government. Officials rely on WhatsApp groups to distribute statements to journalists and transmit official communiqués between ministries. Security forces also plan and coordinate raids on Islamic State cells by communicating through WhatsApp. Overall, since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the popularity and accessibility of WhatsApp among the group’s ranks has grown rapidly. Former Taliban fighters began using their smartphones around the clock, no longer afraid that Western forces could use the signal to track or target them in drone strikes as was the case when the US was still stationed there. WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Selective WhatsApp ban on hardliners hits Taliban's functioning in Afghanistan

<p>Microsoft confirmed that the disruptions experienced by certain services earlier this month were caused by cyberattacks. However, the company stated that it found no indication of any customer data being accessed or compromised. The company said that it detected increased traffic surges against specific services, resulting in temporary availability issues starting in early June 2023.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“Beginning in early June 2023, Microsoft identified surges in traffic against some services that temporarily impacted availability,” according to a blog post by Microsoft.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/putin-says-ukraine-signed-peace-treaty-with-russia-in-spring-of-2022-then-threw-it-into-garbage-of-history-605673">Putin says Ukraine signed peace treaty with Russia in spring of 2022, then threw it into 'garbage of history'</a></p>

<p>Upon recognising the threat, Microsoft initiated an investigation and began monitoring the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) activity carried out by a threat actor referred to as Storm-1359.</p>

<h2><strong>Responsibility for the attack</strong></h2>

<p>As of now, Microsoft has not provided any information regarding the identification of the responsible party for the attack. Reuters attempted to seek clarification from Microsoft but did not receive an immediate response.</p>

<h2><strong>Understanding DDoS attacks</strong></h2>

<p>DDoS attacks operate by directing large volumes of internet traffic towards targeted servers. The intention behind these attacks is to overwhelm the servers and render them offline.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-schoolgirls-poisoning-state-sanctioned-committee-tries-to-downplay-poisoning-attacks-says-report-605671">Iran schoolgirls poisoning: State-sanctioned committee tries to downplay poisoning attacks, says report</a></p>

<p>While DDoS attacks are relatively unsophisticated in nature, they can still cause significant disruptions.</p>

<h2><strong>Impact on Microsoft's 365 software suite</strong></h2>

<p>On June 5, Microsoft's 365 software suite, which includes applications like Teams and Outlook, experienced a downtime of over two hours for thousands of users.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A minor recurrence of the disruption was observed the following morning. This incident marked the fourth outage faced by Microsoft within a year.</p>

<p>A group known as Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for the cyberattacks on Microsoft's servers, as stated on their Telegram social media channel, reported AP news agency. While some security researchers suspect the group to have Russian origins, no definitive detail is available.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Watch | Russia's latest space agency mission: Raising a militia for the war in Ukraine?</strong></p>

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<p>According to Microsoft, the cyberattack was made for causing disruption and gaining publicity and likely employed rented cloud infrastructure and virtual private networks (VPNs) to launch the attacks with the use of botnets of zombie computers around the world.</p>

<p>Jake Williams, a prominent cybersecurity researcher and former National Security Agency offensive hacker, said, “We really have no way to measure the impact if Microsoft doesn’t provide that info,” reported AP news agency.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“We know some resources were inaccessible for some, but not others. This often happens with DDoS of globally distributed systems,” Williams added.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Williams also noted that Microsoft's reluctance to provide a precise measure of customer impact suggests the magnitude of the attacks might be substantial.</p>

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Microsoft confirmed that the disruptions experienced by certain services earlier this month were caused by cyberattacks. However, the company stated that it found no indication of any customer data being accessed or compromised.

Microsoft confirmed that the disruptions experienced by certain services earlier this month were caused by cyberattacks. However, the company stated that it found no indication of any customer data being accessed or compromised. The company said that it detected increased traffic surges against specific services, resulting in temporary availability issues starting in early June 2023. “Beginning in early June 2023, Microsoft identified surges in traffic against some services that temporarily impacted availability,” according to a blog post by Microsoft. Also Read | Putin says Ukraine signed peace treaty with Russia in spring of 2022, then threw it into 'garbage of history' Upon recognising the threat, Microsoft initiated an investigation and began monitoring the Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) activity carried out by a threat actor referred to as Storm-1359. Responsibility for the attack As of now, Microsoft has not provided any information regarding the identification of the responsible party for the attack. Reuters attempted to seek clarification from Microsoft but did not receive an immediate response. Understanding DDoS attacks DDoS attacks operate by directing large volumes of internet traffic towards targeted servers. The intention behind these attacks is to overwhelm the servers and render them offline. Also Read | Iran schoolgirls poisoning: State-sanctioned committee tries to downplay poisoning attacks, says report While DDoS attacks are relatively unsophisticated in nature, they can still cause significant disruptions. Impact on Microsoft's 365 software suite On June 5, Microsoft's 365 software suite, which includes applications like Teams and Outlook, experienced a downtime of over two hours for thousands of users. A minor recurrence of the disruption was observed the following morning. This incident marked the fourth outage faced by Microsoft within a year. A group known as Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for the cyberattacks on Microsoft's servers, as stated on their Telegram social media channel, reported AP news agency. While some security researchers suspect the group to have Russian origins, no definitive detail is available. Watch | Russia's latest space agency mission: Raising a militia for the war in Ukraine? × According to Microsoft, the cyberattack was made for causing disruption and gaining publicity and likely employed rented cloud infrastructure and virtual private networks (VPNs) to launch the attacks with the use of botnets of zombie computers around the world. Jake Williams, a prominent cybersecurity researcher and former National Security Agency offensive hacker, said, “We really have no way to measure the impact if Microsoft doesn’t provide that info,” reported AP news agency. “We know some resources were inaccessible for some, but not others. This often happens with DDoS of globally distributed systems,” Williams added. Williams also noted that Microsoft's reluctance to provide a precise measure of customer impact suggests the magnitude of the attacks might be substantial. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here. ×

Microsoft outages in early June due to cyberattacks

<p><meta name="uuid" content="uuidEZAMNLuRukK0" /><meta charset="utf-8" /></p>

<p>Social media giant Twitter said on Saturday (June 17) that it discovered shadowbans buried deep under the Twitter code. The code shadow banned accounts and prevented them from trending. In a series of tweets, Twitter said, "The Twitter team continuex to find shadowbans buried deep in the Twitter code. Just last week they found a measure that stopped accounts assigned a low 'Reputation score' from trending." Twitter added the shadowban also applied to Elon Musk's account and prevented his tweets from trending.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Engineers at Twitter didn't know this code existed until it was discovered last week.</p>

<h2><strong>Elon Musk confirms the development</strong></h2>

<p>Confirming the development, Musk said that no one at Twitter knew that this code existed. "True. So many skeletons in the closet. No one at the company knew this code existed," he tweeted on Saturday.</p>

<p>In a later tweet, Twitter said, "Elon confirms that the team are still finding shadowban functions buried deep in the Twitter code."</p>

<p>Further details are awaited.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Twitter video app for smart TVs is 'coming': Musk</h2>

<p>Saturday's news comes as Elon Musk announced on Saturday that a Twitter video app for smart TVs is in the social media company's plans. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, this move would be in line with the company's new plans to focus on growing video content on the platform.</p>

<p>The announcement comes two days after Twitter's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Linda Yaccarino and Musk laid out Twitter's plans to focus on video, creator, and commerce partnerships to revitalise the social media company's business beyond digital advertising.</p>

<p>Reuters reported one slide of this presentation said that vertical video accounted for more than 10% of time spent on Twitter. On June 15, Yaccarino said the social media giant is in early conversations with political and entertainment figures, payments services and news and media publishers on potential partnerships, a source told the news agency.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Yaccarino told investors that ad spending in several advertiser categories is now up at least 40% year-over-year, including health, consumer packaged goods and financial services, the source added.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

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Social media giant Twitter said on Saturday (June 17) that it discovered shadowbans buried deep under the Twitter code. The code shadow banned accounts and prevented them from trending.

Social media giant Twitter said on Saturday (June 17) that it discovered shadowbans buried deep under the Twitter code. The code shadow banned accounts and prevented them from trending. In a series of tweets, Twitter said, "The Twitter team continuex to find shadowbans buried deep in the Twitter code. Just last week they found a measure that stopped accounts assigned a low 'Reputation score' from trending." Twitter added the shadowban also applied to Elon Musk's account and prevented his tweets from trending. Engineers at Twitter didn't know this code existed until it was discovered last week. Elon Musk confirms the development Confirming the development, Musk said that no one at Twitter knew that this code existed. "True. So many skeletons in the closet. No one at the company knew this code existed," he tweeted on Saturday. In a later tweet, Twitter said, "Elon confirms that the team are still finding shadowban functions buried deep in the Twitter code." Further details are awaited. Twitter video app for smart TVs is 'coming': Musk Saturday's news comes as Elon Musk announced on Saturday that a Twitter video app for smart TVs is in the social media company's plans. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, this move would be in line with the company's new plans to focus on growing video content on the platform. The announcement comes two days after Twitter's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Linda Yaccarino and Musk laid out Twitter's plans to focus on video, creator, and commerce partnerships to revitalise the social media company's business beyond digital advertising. Reuters reported one slide of this presentation said that vertical video accounted for more than 10% of time spent on Twitter. On June 15, Yaccarino said the social media giant is in early conversations with political and entertainment figures, payments services and news and media publishers on potential partnerships, a source told the news agency. Yaccarino told investors that ad spending in several advertiser categories is now up at least 40% year-over-year, including health, consumer packaged goods and financial services, the source added. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Twitter discovers deeply buried code that shadowbans accounts. Musk reacts

<p>Several experts have raised alarm over the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment globally as there are concerns that it will directly affect job opportunities.&nbsp;But Yann LeCun, who has been termed as one of the three AI 'godfathers', said that it won't take over the world or permanently destroy jobs.&nbsp;</p>

<p>LeCun, the chief scientist for Meta, spoke at the Viva Tech conference on Wednesday, where he said that generative AI, trained on large language models, are not very intelligent, because they are solely coached on language.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"Those systems are still very limited, they don’t have any understanding of the underlying reality of the real world, because they are purely &nbsp;trained on text, a massive amount of text," he said, further adding, "Most of the human knowledge has nothing to do with language … so that part of the human experience is not captured by AI."&nbsp;</p>

<p>He also mentioned that AI could now pass the Bar in the United States, an examination required for someone to become an attorney.&nbsp;However, he noted that an AI can't load a dishwasher, a task that can be learned in "10 minutes" even by a 10-year-old.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He concluded that "what it tells you we are missing something really big … to reach not just human-level intelligence, but even dog intelligence".&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/ai-can-destroy-humanity-in-5-to-10-years-top-us-ceos-sound-alarm-605141">Top US CEOs sound alarm, say AI can destroy humanity in 5 to 10 years</a>&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>Meta's AI chief said the company is working on training AI on video.&nbsp;His remarks came as Meta announced its latest AI project, called image-based Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He said we have "no idea how to reproduce this capacity with machines today. Until we can do this, we are not going to have human-level intelligence, we are not going to have dog-level or cat-level [intelligence]."&nbsp;</p>

<p>What he said suggested that generative AI, the technology behind ChatGPT, was already at a dead end, instead of promising new artificial intelligence resembling human rationality.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He added, "Generative models are past, we will abandon them in favour of joint embedding predictive architecture," LeCun said, touting the Meta project he will lead.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"My prediction is that in a few years, generative large language models will not be used any more, we will have a better thing to replace them," he added.</p>

<p><strong>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/mercedes-drivers-may-soon-have-chatgpt-in-their-cars-605096">AI on the road: Mercedes drivers may soon have ChatGPT in their cars</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p><strong>Watch:&nbsp;Canada's Justin Trudeau slams Google and Meta of using 'bullying tactics'&nbsp;</strong></p>

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<h2><strong>Here's what Zuckerberg said&nbsp;</strong></h2>

<p>In a Facebook post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the JEPA tool was open source, meaning it would be available to researchers to tinker with. He said the aim was to develop AI that "more closely reflects how people understand the world".</p>

<p>"We need models that perceive the world and make predictions. This research is another step in that direction," Zuckerberg added.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;&nbsp;</em></p>

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Several experts have raised alarm over the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment globally as there are concerns that it will directly affect job opportunities.

Several experts have raised alarm over the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on employment globally as there are concerns that it will directly affect job opportunities. But Yann LeCun, who has been termed as one of the three AI 'godfathers', said that it won't take over the world or permanently destroy jobs. LeCun, the chief scientist for Meta, spoke at the Viva Tech conference on Wednesday, where he said that generative AI, trained on large language models, are not very intelligent, because they are solely coached on language. "Those systems are still very limited, they don’t have any understanding of the underlying reality of the real world, because they are purely trained on text, a massive amount of text," he said, further adding, "Most of the human knowledge has nothing to do with language … so that part of the human experience is not captured by AI." He also mentioned that AI could now pass the Bar in the United States, an examination required for someone to become an attorney. However, he noted that an AI can't load a dishwasher, a task that can be learned in "10 minutes" even by a 10-year-old. He concluded that "what it tells you we are missing something really big … to reach not just human-level intelligence, but even dog intelligence". Also read: Top US CEOs sound alarm, say AI can destroy humanity in 5 to 10 years Meta's AI chief said the company is working on training AI on video. His remarks came as Meta announced its latest AI project, called image-based Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture. He said we have "no idea how to reproduce this capacity with machines today. Until we can do this, we are not going to have human-level intelligence, we are not going to have dog-level or cat-level [intelligence]." What he said suggested that generative AI, the technology behind ChatGPT, was already at a dead end, instead of promising new artificial intelligence resembling human rationality. He added, "Generative models are past, we will abandon them in favour of joint embedding predictive architecture," LeCun said, touting the Meta project he will lead. "My prediction is that in a few years, generative large language models will not be used any more, we will have a better thing to replace them," he added. Also read: AI on the road: Mercedes drivers may soon have ChatGPT in their cars Watch: Canada's Justin Trudeau slams Google and Meta of using 'bullying tactics' × Here's what Zuckerberg said In a Facebook post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the JEPA tool was open source, meaning it would be available to researchers to tinker with. He said the aim was to develop AI that "more closely reflects how people understand the world". "We need models that perceive the world and make predictions. This research is another step in that direction," Zuckerberg added. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Artificial intelligence won't take over world or permanently destroy jobs, says one of 'godfathers' of AI

<p>Elon Musk&nbsp;announced in France on Friday that his brain-chip startup, Neuralink, is expected to equip the first human being with neural implants "this year".</p>

<p>Speaking at the VivaTech event in Paris, Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, stated that Neuralink plans to conduct a webcasted implantation procedure.</p>

<p><b>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/elon-musks-neuralink-cleared-for-human-test-of-brain-implants-596576">Elon Musk's Neuralink cleared for human test of brain implants</a></b></p>

<p>Musk, however, did not provide specific details regarding the number of patients or the duration of the trial.</p>

<p>Last month, Neuralink received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its initial human clinical trial in what was described as a&nbsp;significant milestone for the company.</p>

<h2><strong>Neuralink's animal experiments controversy</strong></h2>

<p>Neuralink is also currently under investigation in the United States for its handling of animal experiments.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Former Neuralink employees have previously&nbsp;revealed that the company rushed and mishandled surgeries on monkeys, pigs, and sheep, resulting in unnecessary animal deaths. Musk allegedly pressured staff to obtain FDA approval, and the animal experiments were intended to support the company's application for human trials.</p>

<p><strong>Also watch |&nbsp;Gravitas: Musk's Neuralink gets green light to conduct human trials</strong></p>

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<p>Experts have noted that even if Neuralink demonstrates the safety of its device in humans, it could take several years, possibly more than a decade, to obtain commercial use clearance.</p>

<p>Furthermore, the company faces competition from other neurotech firms that have already implanted their devices in humans.</p>

<p>Musk has previously missed deadlines when making public announcements about Neuralink.</p>

<h2><strong>Safety concerns over Neuralink's implants</strong></h2>

<p>Since 2019, Musk predicted human trials would begin on at least four occasions, multiple reports stated.</p>

<p>Neuralink, founded in 2016, initially sought FDA approval in early 2022 but was rejected due to numerous safety concerns.&nbsp;</p>

<p>These concerns included the lithium battery of the device, the potential migration of implant wires within the brain, and the challenge of extracting the device safely without damaging brain tissue.</p>

<h2><strong>Neuralink's valuation soars</strong></h2>

<p>Despite these controversies, Neuralink's valuation has soared in recent months.</p>

<p>After being valued at nearly $2 billion in a private fundraising round two years ago, the company's worth has now reached approximately $5 billion based on privately executed stock trades.</p>

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Elon Musk announced in France on Friday that his brain-chip startup, Neuralink, is expected to equip the first human being with neural implants "this year". Speaking at the VivaTech event in Paris, Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, stated that Neuralink plans to conduct a webcasted implantation procedure.

Elon Musk announced in France on Friday that his brain-chip startup, Neuralink, is expected to equip the first human being with neural implants "this year". Speaking at the VivaTech event in Paris, Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, stated that Neuralink plans to conduct a webcasted implantation procedure. Also read | Elon Musk's Neuralink cleared for human test of brain implants Musk, however, did not provide specific details regarding the number of patients or the duration of the trial. Last month, Neuralink received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its initial human clinical trial in what was described as a significant milestone for the company. Neuralink's animal experiments controversy Neuralink is also currently under investigation in the United States for its handling of animal experiments. Former Neuralink employees have previously revealed that the company rushed and mishandled surgeries on monkeys, pigs, and sheep, resulting in unnecessary animal deaths. Musk allegedly pressured staff to obtain FDA approval, and the animal experiments were intended to support the company's application for human trials. Also watch | Gravitas: Musk's Neuralink gets green light to conduct human trials × Experts have noted that even if Neuralink demonstrates the safety of its device in humans, it could take several years, possibly more than a decade, to obtain commercial use clearance. Furthermore, the company faces competition from other neurotech firms that have already implanted their devices in humans. Musk has previously missed deadlines when making public announcements about Neuralink. Safety concerns over Neuralink's implants Since 2019, Musk predicted human trials would begin on at least four occasions, multiple reports stated. Neuralink, founded in 2016, initially sought FDA approval in early 2022 but was rejected due to numerous safety concerns. These concerns included the lithium battery of the device, the potential migration of implant wires within the brain, and the challenge of extracting the device safely without damaging brain tissue. Neuralink's valuation soars Despite these controversies, Neuralink's valuation has soared in recent months. After being valued at nearly $2 billion in a private fundraising round two years ago, the company's worth has now reached approximately $5 billion based on privately executed stock trades. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Elon Musk to webcast Neuralink's first brain chip implantation in a human this year

<p>The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has caused both excitement and consternation among tech enthusiasts and businessmen. Though one can’t deny the merits of AI, there are still, concerns about the profound impacts it may have on humans.</p>

<p>This notion was recently expressed by top CEOs in the United States who said that the AI could pose an existential threat to humanity in the next 5 to 10 years.</p>

<p>In a poll conducted during the Yale CEO Summit this week, 42 per cent of the top business honchos have said that AI can wipe out humanity.</p>

<p>The responses came from 119 CEOs from a cross-section of business, including Walmart CEO Doug McMillion, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincy, the leaders of IT companies like Xerox and Zoom as well as CEOs from pharmaceutical, media and manufacturing, CNN reported.</p>

<h2><strong>‘It's pretty dark and alarming’</strong></h2>

<p>“It’s pretty dark and alarming,” Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld told CNN, while talking about the findings.</p>

<p>Sonnenfeld’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute found that business leaders displayed a sharp divide over just how dangerous AI is to civilisation.</p>

<p>The findings stated that 34 per cent of CEOs said AI could potentially destroy humanity in 10 years, while 8 per cent said that it could happen in five years. A majority of 58 per cent, surveyed said that they are “not worried” about it.</p>

<p>In a separate question, around 42 per cent of the CEOs surveyed said that potential catastrophe of AI is overstated, while 58 per cent said it is not overstated, the Yale findings revealed.</p>

<h2><strong>AI: Microsoft's ticket to prosperity | World DNA</strong></h2>

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<h2><strong>Extinction risk</strong></h2>

<p>The development comes a few weeks after dozens of tech leaders, academics and some celebrities sounded alarm over the potential “extinction” risk from AI.</p>

<p>In a statement signed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman—the creator of GPT—Geoffrey Hinton, called the “godfather of AI” and top executives from Google and Microsoft, called for society to take steps to guard against the dangers of AI.</p>

<p>"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war," a group of scientists and tech industry leaders said in a&nbsp;statement&nbsp;that was posted on the Center for AI Safety's website.</p>

<p>This came after a separate statement in March and now signed by more than 30,000 people, where tech executives and researchers called for a six-month pause on training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, the latest version of the ChatGPT chatbot.</p>

<p>"Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources," the letter warned.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has caused both excitement and consternation among tech enthusiasts and businessmen. Though one can’t deny the merits of AI, there are still, concerns about the profound impacts it may have on humans.

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has caused both excitement and consternation among tech enthusiasts and businessmen. Though one can’t deny the merits of AI, there are still, concerns about the profound impacts it may have on humans. This notion was recently expressed by top CEOs in the United States who said that the AI could pose an existential threat to humanity in the next 5 to 10 years. In a poll conducted during the Yale CEO Summit this week, 42 per cent of the top business honchos have said that AI can wipe out humanity. The responses came from 119 CEOs from a cross-section of business, including Walmart CEO Doug McMillion, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincy, the leaders of IT companies like Xerox and Zoom as well as CEOs from pharmaceutical, media and manufacturing, CNN reported. ‘It's pretty dark and alarming’ “It’s pretty dark and alarming,” Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld told CNN, while talking about the findings. Sonnenfeld’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute found that business leaders displayed a sharp divide over just how dangerous AI is to civilisation. The findings stated that 34 per cent of CEOs said AI could potentially destroy humanity in 10 years, while 8 per cent said that it could happen in five years. A majority of 58 per cent, surveyed said that they are “not worried” about it. In a separate question, around 42 per cent of the CEOs surveyed said that potential catastrophe of AI is overstated, while 58 per cent said it is not overstated, the Yale findings revealed. AI: Microsoft's ticket to prosperity | World DNA Extinction risk The development comes a few weeks after dozens of tech leaders, academics and some celebrities sounded alarm over the potential “extinction” risk from AI. In a statement signed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman—the creator of GPT—Geoffrey Hinton, called the “godfather of AI” and top executives from Google and Microsoft, called for society to take steps to guard against the dangers of AI. "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war," a group of scientists and tech industry leaders said in a statement that was posted on the Center for AI Safety's website. This came after a separate statement in March and now signed by more than 30,000 people, where tech executives and researchers called for a six-month pause on training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, the latest version of the ChatGPT chatbot. "Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources," the letter warned. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Top US CEOs sound alarm, say AI can destroy humanity in 5 to 10 years

<p>A Google-backed firm has claimed that hackers supported by China are behind a vast cyber espionage campaign targeting government agencies across the world that are of particular interest to the government in&nbsp; Beijing.</p>

<p>Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm, has said that these hackers have breached computer firewalls of hundreds of organisations, and have stolen "emails of prominent employees dealing in matters of interest to the Chinese government".</p>

<h2><strong>The loophole</strong></h2>

<p>The attacks involved using a loophole in a popular email security system, Barracuda software, and sending messages with malicious code, according to the report.</p>

<p>The cyber espionage activity was detected in May, and is believed to have started as early as October of last year.</p>

<p>"This is the broadest cyber espionage campaign known to be conducted by a China-nexus threat actor since the mass exploitation of Microsoft Exchange in early 2021," said Mandiant chief technology officer Charles Carmakal in its blog post.</p>

<h2><strong>AI: Microsoft's ticket to prosperity | World DNA</strong></h2>

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<p>Mandiant said it has “high confidence" that the group, referred to as UNC4841, was exploiting a software vulnerability in Barracuda Networks' Email Security Gateway and was engaged in "espionage activity in support of the People's Republic of China."</p>

<p>The report said the activity began as early as October 2022.</p>

<p>On June 6, Barracuda announced that some of its email security appliances had been hacked, giving hackers a backdoor into compromised networks. The hack is said to be so severe that the California company recommended fully replacing the appliances.</p>

<h2><strong>16 nations targeted </strong></h2>

<p>They have targeted at least 16 different countries, striking organisations in the public and private sectors worldwide, the report said.</p>

<p>Of those organisations, 55 per cent were from the Americas, 22 per cent from Asia Pacific and 24 per cent from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and they included foreign ministries in Southeast Asia.</p>

<p>Among the victims included research organisations and foreign trade missions based in Hong Kong and Taiwan—which are of high policy importance to the Chinese government—Mandiant said in its findings.</p>

<p>The majority of the impact in America may partially reflect the geography of Barracuda’s customer base, Mandiant said.</p>

<p>Barracuda released containment and remediation patches but the hacking group altered their malware to try to maintain access, Mandiant said.</p>

<p>“The group then countered with high frequency operations targeting a number of victims located in at least 16 different countries,” it said.</p>

<p>Earlier this year, Microsoft said state-backed Chinese hackers have been targeting US critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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A Google-backed firm has claimed that hackers supported by China are behind a vast cyber espionage campaign targeting government agencies across the world that are of particular interest to the government in Beijing.

A Google-backed firm has claimed that hackers supported by China are behind a vast cyber espionage campaign targeting government agencies across the world that are of particular interest to the government in Beijing. Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm, has said that these hackers have breached computer firewalls of hundreds of organisations, and have stolen "emails of prominent employees dealing in matters of interest to the Chinese government". The loophole The attacks involved using a loophole in a popular email security system, Barracuda software, and sending messages with malicious code, according to the report. The cyber espionage activity was detected in May, and is believed to have started as early as October of last year. "This is the broadest cyber espionage campaign known to be conducted by a China-nexus threat actor since the mass exploitation of Microsoft Exchange in early 2021," said Mandiant chief technology officer Charles Carmakal in its blog post. AI: Microsoft's ticket to prosperity | World DNA Mandiant said it has “high confidence" that the group, referred to as UNC4841, was exploiting a software vulnerability in Barracuda Networks' Email Security Gateway and was engaged in "espionage activity in support of the People's Republic of China." The report said the activity began as early as October 2022. On June 6, Barracuda announced that some of its email security appliances had been hacked, giving hackers a backdoor into compromised networks. The hack is said to be so severe that the California company recommended fully replacing the appliances. 16 nations targeted They have targeted at least 16 different countries, striking organisations in the public and private sectors worldwide, the report said. Of those organisations, 55 per cent were from the Americas, 22 per cent from Asia Pacific and 24 per cent from Europe, the Middle East and Africa and they included foreign ministries in Southeast Asia. Among the victims included research organisations and foreign trade missions based in Hong Kong and Taiwan—which are of high policy importance to the Chinese government—Mandiant said in its findings. The majority of the impact in America may partially reflect the geography of Barracuda’s customer base, Mandiant said. Barracuda released containment and remediation patches but the hacking group altered their malware to try to maintain access, Mandiant said. “The group then countered with high frequency operations targeting a number of victims located in at least 16 different countries,” it said. Earlier this year, Microsoft said state-backed Chinese hackers have been targeting US critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Google-backed firm says Chinese spies launched major cyberattack targeting 16 countries

<p>Artificial Intelligence (AI) is slowly creeping into our lives and now it will into the cars of some Mercedes owners as well. Mercedes-Benz on Thursday (June 15) said that drivers of some of their luxury vehicles would be able to power their cars with ChatGPT. A test programme is starting on June 16.</p>

<p>The company said that ChatGPT is compatible with about 900,000 vehicles which have 'MBUX' systems. The users will be able to download ChatGPT over the air after the opt-in via the Mercedes app or by voice command. During the three-month test, Mercedes will see how drivers use the technology.</p>

<p>The automaker has said ChatGPT will make its car system's answers sound more natural. The improvement would enable drivers to ask for destination information. It will also allow them to address queries such as what to cook for dinner.</p>

<p><strong>Watch | Self-driving race: Mercedes takes the lead | World DNA</strong></p>

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<p>Mercedes cars are already receptive to a range of voice commands such as turning on seat heaters.</p>

<h2><strong>Moolah for Microsoft</strong></h2>

<p>The ChatGPT deal spells business for Microsoft, which is providing a version of the popular chatbot through its cloud.</p>

<p>Rival Amazon.com has long worked to install its voice aide Alexa in more cars, and now Microsoft has an answer through its investment in ChatGPT's creator, OpenAI.</p>

<p>Mercedes said in a press release that the drivers not only will be able to give commands with phrase "Hey Mercedes," but even a conversation with the car would be possible.</p>

<p>Microsoft said in a separate blog post that current integrations which are known as plug-ins could one day let drivers even make restaurant reservations, book movie tickets and carry out more tasks from behind the steering wheel.</p>

<p>The test programme's findings will enable Mercedes to design future plans about adding artificial intelligence to other countries and in other languages, said the company. The company added that the voice data is stored anonymised and analysed in the Mercedes cloud.</p>

<p>Rival General Motors said in March it was exploring uses for ChatGPT in vehicles as part of its broader collaboration with Microsoft.</p>

<p>ChatGPT is the blockbuster generative AI that was open for public use last year. The AI gives human-like, nuanced responses when asked questions or given verbal tasks. ChatGPT also has the ability to generate code. Its launch started a fierce global debate about AI and humanity's future. ChatGPT's release started a frenzy in global tech circles to develop more generative AIs.</p>

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is slowly creeping into our lives and now it will into the cars of some Mercedes owners as well. Mercedes-Benz on Thursday (June 15) said that drivers of some of their luxury vehicles would be able to power their cars with ChatGPT.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is slowly creeping into our lives and now it will into the cars of some Mercedes owners as well. Mercedes-Benz on Thursday (June 15) said that drivers of some of their luxury vehicles would be able to power their cars with ChatGPT. A test programme is starting on June 16. The company said that ChatGPT is compatible with about 900,000 vehicles which have 'MBUX' systems. The users will be able to download ChatGPT over the air after the opt-in via the Mercedes app or by voice command. During the three-month test, Mercedes will see how drivers use the technology. The automaker has said ChatGPT will make its car system's answers sound more natural. The improvement would enable drivers to ask for destination information. It will also allow them to address queries such as what to cook for dinner. Watch | Self-driving race: Mercedes takes the lead | World DNA × Mercedes cars are already receptive to a range of voice commands such as turning on seat heaters. Moolah for Microsoft The ChatGPT deal spells business for Microsoft, which is providing a version of the popular chatbot through its cloud. Rival Amazon.com has long worked to install its voice aide Alexa in more cars, and now Microsoft has an answer through its investment in ChatGPT's creator, OpenAI. Mercedes said in a press release that the drivers not only will be able to give commands with phrase "Hey Mercedes," but even a conversation with the car would be possible. Microsoft said in a separate blog post that current integrations which are known as plug-ins could one day let drivers even make restaurant reservations, book movie tickets and carry out more tasks from behind the steering wheel. The test programme's findings will enable Mercedes to design future plans about adding artificial intelligence to other countries and in other languages, said the company. The company added that the voice data is stored anonymised and analysed in the Mercedes cloud. Rival General Motors said in March it was exploring uses for ChatGPT in vehicles as part of its broader collaboration with Microsoft. ChatGPT is the blockbuster generative AI that was open for public use last year. The AI gives human-like, nuanced responses when asked questions or given verbal tasks. ChatGPT also has the ability to generate code. Its launch started a fierce global debate about AI and humanity's future. ChatGPT's release started a frenzy in global tech circles to develop more generative AIs. You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

AI on the road: Mercedes drivers may soon have ChatGPT in their cars

<p dir="ltr">Alan Turing, a pioneer in computing, predicted in 1950 that computers would successfully simulate human intellect within a few decades, an achievement known as passing the Turing Test. Hop-skip to 2022, when a Google&nbsp;software engineer said his interactions with the company’s AI-powered chatbot had convinced him that it had become “sentient.” Then came ChatGPT,&nbsp;an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI that very year, which according to analysis by data firm Similarweb reached 100 million users just two months after being launched.&nbsp;Whichever way we cut it,&nbsp;artificial intelligence (AI) has once again become the hottest buzzword in the tech world.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Can explosion of data be the reason behind AI’s latest buzz?</strong></h2>

<p>Data is multiplying at an unprecedented rate. We double the world's data every two years at the current rate at which humanity is producing it, and this rate is anticipated to only accelerate going forward. A Forbes report says that data will double every 12 hours by 2025, which means that between the time we wake up and&nbsp;go to sleep, humanity will either be twice as smart or half as smart.</p>

<p>“AI has been around for the last 40 years, but the latest buzz around it can be attributed to the algorithms invented in 2012,” Dr Srinivas Padmanabhuni, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, testAIng.com, an Indian AI startup which performs security testing, ethics testing and bug finding for <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/can-artificial-intelligence-become-a-deterrent-to-photojournalists-anmestys-ai-generated-images-draw-flak-588401">AI</a> models told WION.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Dr Padmanabhuni says the newer algorithms have been able to work on all kinds of data including text, image and audio, in addition to conventional data which was purely mathematical and in tabular formats.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“With the advent of the newer version of AI, also known as Deep Learning, we can see an expansion of data to images, text and audio. The moment that happened, the application of AI suddenly exploded. Because of the expansion of the ability of analysis to image, text and audio, we’re seeing this new found interest in AI application,” explains Dr Padmanabhuni.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>AI in Indian academia&nbsp;</strong></h2>

<p>Author Rajiv Malhotra in his book, <em>Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power,&nbsp;</em>explains how China's ascent to dominance in the 21st&nbsp;century must be contrasted with Britain's rise to power in the 1800s. China wants to overtake the world through an AI revolution, much as how Britain did during the Industrial revolution.</p>

<p>Dr Balaraman Ravindran, Head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science &amp; Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI) at IIT Madras, explains the two criteria used to gauge success in the realm of AI in India. First, in terms of academic research and innovation, and second, in terms of the quantity and performance of AI startups in the country.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>“With regards to AI research, India is still middling. We are not among the top few countries in the world in terms of research output. Even though&nbsp;publicly reported stats from different&nbsp;sources would say otherwise,&nbsp;these figures should be critically examined,” Dr Ravindran&nbsp;told WION.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"Only a small number of Indian AI researchers are well-known outside of India, according to the number of people who cite their work. Despite this, the AI community as a whole has grown tremendously in the past few years," he adds.</p>

<p>As per statistics from the International Data Corporation (IDC), China is expected to more than double its investment in AI to nearly $27 billion by 2026.</p>

<p>“China recognised a while back that the&nbsp;impact was coming from top-notch AI conferences and started incentivising people to publish in these conferences,” explains Dr Ravindran.&nbsp;</p>

<p>China’s state-funded AI research is also growing steadily.</p>

<p>“China is giving significant incentives to companies to spend on fundamental research. The scale is unimaginably large in China,” he adds.</p>

<p>A total of 48.6 billion real-time transactions were made in India in 2021, more than three times as many as its closest rival, China ($18 billion), and nearly seven times as many as the combined real-time payments volume of the world's top five economies—the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany ($7.5 billion transactions).</p>

<p>India is uniquely positioned with a great digital ecosystem in place. Additionally, India released an <a href="https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2019-01/NationalStrategy-for-AI-Discussion-Paper.pdf">AI strategy document</a> in 2018 that most countries don’t have.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Despite this, Dr Ravindran explains, the gap between the private and public sector is growing with the former taking lead, as they are not waiting for the government to release data. They are collecting the required data themselves.</p>

<h2><strong>Is India more AI positive, what does it mean for its growth?</strong></h2>

<p>When it comes to trusting artificial intelligence, India tops the list of countries. According to a&nbsp;<a data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" href="https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/au/pdf/2021/trust-in-ai-multiple-countries.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">KPMG survey</a>, developing countries like India, Brazil, China, and South Africa are more accepting of AI, with India having a 75 per cent acceptance rate.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>The study says more than half of the respondents from these countries expressed strong trust and acceptance of artificial intelligence technologies.</p>

<p>Additionally, it demonstrated the increased use of AI in emerging markets, particularly in the BRICS countries. However, when it came to the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace, China came on the top with 75 per cent, followed by India at 66 per cent and Brazil at 50 per cent.</p>

<p>With the&nbsp;inception of AI, experts have stressed on the importance of it in key professional fields, such as ed-tech and e-commerce.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Many ed-tech companies have developed new ways to tailor education for Indian students, but AI continues to be the most efficient approach, as its key impact in the Indian education space&nbsp;is going to be in personalised and adaptive,&nbsp;as per Devesh Mishra, Chief Technology Officer, Physicswallah, an Indian educational technology startup that became a unicorn in June 2022 after raising a $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion, who spoke to WION.</p>

<p>Mishra emphasised that a student-teacher&nbsp;relationship cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence, since, as he believes, "online and offline education go hand-in-hand."</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/ai-to-defeat-cancer-doctors-create-ai-tool-that-can-detect-disease-587653">AI to defeat cancer? Doctors create AI tool that can detect disease</a></p>

<p>Aside from the education sector, trade and commerce is another significant area where India anticipates AI to show promise.</p>

<p>The India Brand Equity Foundation predicts that by 2025, the country's e-commerce market will be worth $111.40 billion.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Therefore, a strong AI response or data accumulation strategy is necessary for smooth customer relations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>According to N Sekar, Chief Technology Officer, Quinbay, an e-commerce AI startup, artificial intelligence&nbsp;is required to create a more customised user experience, collect&nbsp;customer behaviour data and trends,&nbsp;which will ultimately increase productivity.</p>

<p><strong>ALSO WATCH |&nbsp;Scientists can now use AI to convert brain scans into words</strong></p>

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<p>Sekar emphasised the decline in fraudulent activities as well, noting that several e-commerce platforms are using this data to reduce such occurrences.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“By analysing the behaviour or data of fraudulent sellers and customers (example receiving a stone instead of a phone) platforms can take action on such people. All that is decreased because of the extensive use of AI or machine learning capabilities,” Sekar told WION</p>

<h2><strong>Can AI take away our jobs?</strong></h2>

<p>As per a&nbsp;<a data-auth="NotApplicable" data-safelink="true" href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/dont-fear-ai-it-will-lead-to-long-term-job-growth/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">World Economic Forum (WEF) report</a>, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will result in the creation of 97 million new jobs by 2025. In the meantime, Chatbots are all the rage, and there is growing concern that an AI capable of responding to cues and&nbsp;questions&nbsp;in a manner that is remarkably human and in a short amount of time would be bad for the job market as a whole.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Dr Padmanabhuni thinks reinvention is the key. “We are living in an era where technology is changing every five years. So, we need to relearn in order to stay relevant. It is not a matter of job displacement, but a matter of reorientation.”</p>

<p dir="ltr">Additionally, Dr Ravindran thinks&nbsp;AI is very much a productivity tool and it cannot replace humans at this point.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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Alan Turing, a pioneer in computing, predicted in 1950 that computers would successfully simulate human intellect within a few decades, an achievement known as passing the Turing Test.

Alan Turing, a pioneer in computing, predicted in 1950 that computers would successfully simulate human intellect within a few decades, an achievement known as passing the Turing Test. Hop-skip to 2022, when a Google software engineer said his interactions with the company’s AI-powered chatbot had convinced him that it had become “sentient.” Then came ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI that very year, which according to analysis by data firm Similarweb reached 100 million users just two months after being launched. Whichever way we cut it, artificial intelligence (AI) has once again become the hottest buzzword in the tech world. Can explosion of data be the reason behind AI’s latest buzz? Data is multiplying at an unprecedented rate. We double the world's data every two years at the current rate at which humanity is producing it, and this rate is anticipated to only accelerate going forward. A Forbes report says that data will double every 12 hours by 2025, which means that between the time we wake up and go to sleep, humanity will either be twice as smart or half as smart. “AI has been around for the last 40 years, but the latest buzz around it can be attributed to the algorithms invented in 2012,” Dr Srinivas Padmanabhuni, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, testAIng.com, an Indian AI startup which performs security testing, ethics testing and bug finding for AI models told WION. Dr Padmanabhuni says the newer algorithms have been able to work on all kinds of data including text, image and audio, in addition to conventional data which was purely mathematical and in tabular formats. “With the advent of the newer version of AI, also known as Deep Learning, we can see an expansion of data to images, text and audio. The moment that happened, the application of AI suddenly exploded. Because of the expansion of the ability of analysis to image, text and audio, we’re seeing this new found interest in AI application,” explains Dr Padmanabhuni. AI in Indian academia Author Rajiv Malhotra in his book, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power, explains how China's ascent to dominance in the 21st century must be contrasted with Britain's rise to power in the 1800s. China wants to overtake the world through an AI revolution, much as how Britain did during the Industrial revolution. Dr Balaraman Ravindran, Head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI) at IIT Madras, explains the two criteria used to gauge success in the realm of AI in India. First, in terms of academic research and innovation, and second, in terms of the quantity and performance of AI startups in the country. “With regards to AI research, India is still middling. We are not among the top few countries in the world in terms of research output. Even though publicly reported stats from different sources would say otherwise, these figures should be critically examined,” Dr Ravindran told WION. "Only a small number of Indian AI researchers are well-known outside of India, according to the number of people who cite their work. Despite this, the AI community as a whole has grown tremendously in the past few years," he adds. As per statistics from the International Data Corporation (IDC), China is expected to more than double its investment in AI to nearly $27 billion by 2026. “China recognised a while back that the impact was coming from top-notch AI conferences and started incentivising people to publish in these conferences,” explains Dr Ravindran. China’s state-funded AI research is also growing steadily. “China is giving significant incentives to companies to spend on fundamental research. The scale is unimaginably large in China,” he adds. A total of 48.6 billion real-time transactions were made in India in 2021, more than three times as many as its closest rival, China ($18 billion), and nearly seven times as many as the combined real-time payments volume of the world's top five economies—the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Germany ($7.5 billion transactions). India is uniquely positioned with a great digital ecosystem in place. Additionally, India released an AI strategy document in 2018 that most countries don’t have. Despite this, Dr Ravindran explains, the gap between the private and public sector is growing with the former taking lead, as they are not waiting for the government to release data. They are collecting the required data themselves. Is India more AI positive, what does it mean for its growth? When it comes to trusting artificial intelligence, India tops the list of countries. According to a KPMG survey, developing countries like India, Brazil, China, and South Africa are more accepting of AI, with India having a 75 per cent acceptance rate. × The study says more than half of the respondents from these countries expressed strong trust and acceptance of artificial intelligence technologies. Additionally, it demonstrated the increased use of AI in emerging markets, particularly in the BRICS countries. However, when it came to the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace, China came on the top with 75 per cent, followed by India at 66 per cent and Brazil at 50 per cent. With the inception of AI, experts have stressed on the importance of it in key professional fields, such as ed-tech and e-commerce. Many ed-tech companies have developed new ways to tailor education for Indian students, but AI continues to be the most efficient approach, as its key impact in the Indian education space is going to be in personalised and adaptive, as per Devesh Mishra, Chief Technology Officer, Physicswallah, an Indian educational technology startup that became a unicorn in June 2022 after raising a $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion, who spoke to WION. Mishra emphasised that a student-teacher relationship cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence, since, as he believes, "online and offline education go hand-in-hand." ALSO READ | AI to defeat cancer? Doctors create AI tool that can detect disease Aside from the education sector, trade and commerce is another significant area where India anticipates AI to show promise. The India Brand Equity Foundation predicts that by 2025, the country's e-commerce market will be worth $111.40 billion. Therefore, a strong AI response or data accumulation strategy is necessary for smooth customer relations. According to N Sekar, Chief Technology Officer, Quinbay, an e-commerce AI startup, artificial intelligence is required to create a more customised user experience, collect customer behaviour data and trends, which will ultimately increase productivity. ALSO WATCH | Scientists can now use AI to convert brain scans into words Sekar emphasised the decline in fraudulent activities as well, noting that several e-commerce platforms are using this data to reduce such occurrences. “By analysing the behaviour or data of fraudulent sellers and customers (example receiving a stone instead of a phone) platforms can take action on such people. All that is decreased because of the extensive use of AI or machine learning capabilities,” Sekar told WION Can AI take away our jobs? As per a World Economic Forum (WEF) report, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will result in the creation of 97 million new jobs by 2025. In the meantime, Chatbots are all the rage, and there is growing concern that an AI capable of responding to cues and questions in a manner that is remarkably human and in a short amount of time would be bad for the job market as a whole. Dr Padmanabhuni thinks reinvention is the key. “We are living in an era where technology is changing every five years. So, we need to relearn in order to stay relevant. It is not a matter of job displacement, but a matter of reorientation.” Additionally, Dr Ravindran thinks AI is very much a productivity tool and it cannot replace humans at this point. WATCH WION LIVE HERE:

Data Lab | India and AI: Are we ahead of the curve?

<p>The European Union’s antitrust regulators have targeted Google’s highly successful advertising technology model and asked the United States-based tech giant to address its concerns over anti-competitive practices, on Wednesday (June 14). Additionally, the European Commission has also threatened the company with its harshest regulatory penalty to date.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>What did the EU say about Google’s practices?</strong></h2>

<p>The 27-nation bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust regulators have set out charges against Google two years after opening an investigation into the tech giant’s behaviour over favouring its own advertising services. In line with this, the EU on Wednesday said Google has “abused its dominant positions” over ad tech to crush the competition.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The announcement was made by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, on Wednesday, who called for Google to sell part of its ad tech business citing the investigation she believes that a behavioural remedy would not be effective at stopping the tech giant’s supposed anti-competitive practices.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/eus-new-antitrust-charges-to-strike-googles-most-successful-ads-model-603673">EU’s new antitrust charges to strike Google’s most successful ads model</a></strong></p>

<p>The commission said its preliminary view after the investigation is that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services” would satisfy the concerns it holds about the company’s advertising practices.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“Of course, I know this is a strong statement but it is a reflection of the nature of the markets, how they function and also why a behavioural commitment seemed to be out of the question,” said Vestager, at a press conference.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In line with this, the EU antitrust chief also suggested that “Google could divest its sell-side tools, DFP and AdX. By doing so, we would put an end to the conflicts of interest.” The move could have far-reaching implications for the tech giant, potentially resulting in significant fines and regulatory action.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/eu-launches-antitrust-probe-against-google-over-online-ads-393180">EU launches antitrust probe against Google over online ads</a></strong></p>

<p>The Commission has also said Google’s favouring of its own online services is detrimental to those of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers.</p>

<h2><strong>What’s at stake for Google?</strong></h2>

<p>The stakes are high for Google as its ad tech business accounted for 79 per cent of its total revenue last year. Meanwhile, the fine against the company is reported to be as much as 10 per cent of Google’s annual global turnover.</p>

<p>It is also worth noting that Google, according to research firm Insider Intelligence, is the world’s dominant digital advertising platform with a 28 per cent market share of global ad revenue. Last year, Google’s total advertising revenue amounted to $224.5 billion, reported Reuters.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/google-european-union-to-develop-ai-pact-ahead-of-new-artificial-intelligence-rules-says-eu-industry-chief-596140">Google, European Union to develop AI pact ahead of new Artificial Intelligence rules, says EU industry chief</a></strong></p>

<p>Meanwhile, the EU will continue to investigate the tech giant’s introduction of a privacy sandbox set of tools which reportedly block third-party cookies on its Chrome browser and its plan to stop making the advertising identifier available to third parties on Android smartphones, said Vestager.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This also comes as the EU has recently expanded its crackdown on big tech companies including Facebook parent company Meta and Google with fines amounting to billions of dollars.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>How has Google responded to these accusations</strong>?</h2>

<p>In response to these charges, Google has said that it disagrees with the commission and will respond accordingly. In a statement, Dan Taylor, Google’s vice president of global ads, said “The Commission’s investigation focuses on a narrow aspect of our advertising business and is not new. We disagree with the EC’s view.”</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/facebook-parent-company-meta-to-face-more-than-800mn-fine-by-eu-over-data-transfer-to-us-reports-594857">Explained | EU fines Facebook parent company Meta record $1.3 billion over data transfer to US</a></strong></p>

<h2><strong>EU vs Google: An ongoing saga</strong></h2>

<p>Earlier, the EU launched an investigation against Google back in 2021, which aimed at examining whether Google obstructed rivals’ access to user data for online advertising and if it unfairly ring-fenced data for its own use.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This also comes as Google is actively contesting antitrust fines imposed by the EU in court, including a landmark penalty of 4.34 billion euros ($4.7bn) for its management of the Android mobile operating system, which it is currently challenging in the highest court within the EU.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em><br />
<br />
&nbsp;</p>

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The European Union’s antitrust regulators have targeted Google’s highly successful advertising technology model and asked the United States-based tech giant to address its concerns over anti-competitive practices, on Wednesday (June 14).

The European Union’s antitrust regulators have targeted Google’s highly successful advertising technology model and asked the United States-based tech giant to address its concerns over anti-competitive practices, on Wednesday (June 14). Additionally, the European Commission has also threatened the company with its harshest regulatory penalty to date. What did the EU say about Google’s practices? The 27-nation bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust regulators have set out charges against Google two years after opening an investigation into the tech giant’s behaviour over favouring its own advertising services. In line with this, the EU on Wednesday said Google has “abused its dominant positions” over ad tech to crush the competition. The announcement was made by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, on Wednesday, who called for Google to sell part of its ad tech business citing the investigation she believes that a behavioural remedy would not be effective at stopping the tech giant’s supposed anti-competitive practices. ALSO READ | EU’s new antitrust charges to strike Google’s most successful ads model The commission said its preliminary view after the investigation is that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services” would satisfy the concerns it holds about the company’s advertising practices. “Of course, I know this is a strong statement but it is a reflection of the nature of the markets, how they function and also why a behavioural commitment seemed to be out of the question,” said Vestager, at a press conference. In line with this, the EU antitrust chief also suggested that “Google could divest its sell-side tools, DFP and AdX. By doing so, we would put an end to the conflicts of interest.” The move could have far-reaching implications for the tech giant, potentially resulting in significant fines and regulatory action. ALSO READ | EU launches antitrust probe against Google over online ads The Commission has also said Google’s favouring of its own online services is detrimental to those of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers. What’s at stake for Google? The stakes are high for Google as its ad tech business accounted for 79 per cent of its total revenue last year. Meanwhile, the fine against the company is reported to be as much as 10 per cent of Google’s annual global turnover. It is also worth noting that Google, according to research firm Insider Intelligence, is the world’s dominant digital advertising platform with a 28 per cent market share of global ad revenue. Last year, Google’s total advertising revenue amounted to $224.5 billion, reported Reuters. ALSO READ | Google, European Union to develop AI pact ahead of new Artificial Intelligence rules, says EU industry chief Meanwhile, the EU will continue to investigate the tech giant’s introduction of a privacy sandbox set of tools which reportedly block third-party cookies on its Chrome browser and its plan to stop making the advertising identifier available to third parties on Android smartphones, said Vestager. This also comes as the EU has recently expanded its crackdown on big tech companies including Facebook parent company Meta and Google with fines amounting to billions of dollars. How has Google responded to these accusations? In response to these charges, Google has said that it disagrees with the commission and will respond accordingly. In a statement, Dan Taylor, Google’s vice president of global ads, said “The Commission’s investigation focuses on a narrow aspect of our advertising business and is not new. We disagree with the EC’s view.” ALSO READ | Explained | EU fines Facebook parent company Meta record $1.3 billion over data transfer to US EU vs Google: An ongoing saga Earlier, the EU launched an investigation against Google back in 2021, which aimed at examining whether Google obstructed rivals’ access to user data for online advertising and if it unfairly ring-fenced data for its own use. This also comes as Google is actively contesting antitrust fines imposed by the EU in court, including a landmark penalty of 4.34 billion euros ($4.7bn) for its management of the Android mobile operating system, which it is currently challenging in the highest court within the EU. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

EU orders Google to break up ad tech model for ‘abusing its dominant position’

<p>TikTok's parent company ByteDance said it would invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next few years to expand its market. The development comes amid a global scrutiny of the company over data security.</p>

<h2><strong>Why Southeast Asia is important for ByteDance?</strong></h2>

<p>Southeast Asia is a region with a collective population of 630 million. About half of them are&nbsp;under the age of 30, the target age of Bytedance-owned TikTok.</p>

<p>Southeast Asia is also one of TikTok's biggest markets in terms of user numbers, generating more than 325 million visitors to the app every month.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, the Shenzen-headquartered platform continues to struggle to translate its large user base into a major e-commerce revenue source. It faces fierce competition from Sea's Shopee, Alibaba's Lazada and GoTo's Tokopedia.</p>

<p><strong>Also watch&nbsp;|&nbsp;55% people rely on TikTok and Snapchat for news, report finds</strong></p>

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<p>"We are going to invest billions of dollars in Indonesia and Southeast Asia over the next few years," TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said at a forum it organised in Jakarta to highlight the social and economic impact of the app in the region.</p>

<p>The platform, however, did not provide how will it spend the money. It said that it would invest in training, advertising and supporting small vendors looking to join its e-commerce platform TikTok Shop.</p>

<h2><strong>TikTok's quest to get e-commerce right in Southeast Asia</strong></h2>

<p>Chew said content on its platform was becoming more diversified as it adds more users and expands beyond advertising into e-commerce, allowing consumers to purchase goods through links on the app during live streaming.</p>

<p>TikTok has 8,000 employees in Southeast Asia, and two&nbsp;million small vendors selling their wares on its platform in Indonesia, the region's biggest economy, he added.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/tiktok-mulls-over-separation-from-parent-company-bytedance-572290">TikTok mulls separation from parent company ByteDance if US officials don’t approve proposal</a></strong></p>

<p>According to data from consultancy Momentum Works, e-commerce transactions across Southeast Asia&nbsp;reached nearly $100 billion last year, with Indonesia accounting for $52 billion.</p>

<p>TikTok facilitated $4.4 billion of transactions across Southeast Asia last year, up from $600 million in 2021, but it still trailed far behind Shopee's $48 billion of regional merchandise sales in 2022, Momentum Works.</p>

<h2><strong>Data security concerns and app bans</strong></h2>

<p>The investment plan comes as the company continues to&nbsp;face major scrutiny from governments and regulators worldwide because of concerns that the Chinese Communist Party could use the app to harvest user data to advance its interests.</p>

<p>Countries including Britain and New Zealand have banned the app on government phones. India, in 2020, banned the application citing data security concerns.</p>

<p>TikTok has&nbsp;denied that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government and has said the company would not do so if asked, Reuters has reported in the past.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The app has not faced major bans on government devices in Southeast Asia. But it remains under scrutiny over its content.</p>

<p>Indonesia presented one of its first major global policy challenges in 2018 after authorities briefly banned TikTok for posts they said contained "pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy".</p>

<p>In Vietnam, regulators said it would probe TikTok's operations in the country because "toxic" content on the platform poses a threat to its "youth, culture and tradition".</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>

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TikTok's parent company ByteDance said it would invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next few years to expand its market. The development comes amid a global scrutiny of the company over data security.

TikTok's parent company ByteDance said it would invest billions of dollars in Southeast Asia over the next few years to expand its market. The development comes amid a global scrutiny of the company over data security. Why Southeast Asia is important for ByteDance? Southeast Asia is a region with a collective population of 630 million. About half of them are under the age of 30, the target age of Bytedance-owned TikTok. Southeast Asia is also one of TikTok's biggest markets in terms of user numbers, generating more than 325 million visitors to the app every month. Meanwhile, the Shenzen-headquartered platform continues to struggle to translate its large user base into a major e-commerce revenue source. It faces fierce competition from Sea's Shopee, Alibaba's Lazada and GoTo's Tokopedia. Also watch | 55% people rely on TikTok and Snapchat for news, report finds × "We are going to invest billions of dollars in Indonesia and Southeast Asia over the next few years," TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said at a forum it organised in Jakarta to highlight the social and economic impact of the app in the region. The platform, however, did not provide how will it spend the money. It said that it would invest in training, advertising and supporting small vendors looking to join its e-commerce platform TikTok Shop. TikTok's quest to get e-commerce right in Southeast Asia Chew said content on its platform was becoming more diversified as it adds more users and expands beyond advertising into e-commerce, allowing consumers to purchase goods through links on the app during live streaming. TikTok has 8,000 employees in Southeast Asia, and two million small vendors selling their wares on its platform in Indonesia, the region's biggest economy, he added. Also read | TikTok mulls separation from parent company ByteDance if US officials don’t approve proposal According to data from consultancy Momentum Works, e-commerce transactions across Southeast Asia reached nearly $100 billion last year, with Indonesia accounting for $52 billion. TikTok facilitated $4.4 billion of transactions across Southeast Asia last year, up from $600 million in 2021, but it still trailed far behind Shopee's $48 billion of regional merchandise sales in 2022, Momentum Works. Data security concerns and app bans The investment plan comes as the company continues to face major scrutiny from governments and regulators worldwide because of concerns that the Chinese Communist Party could use the app to harvest user data to advance its interests. Countries including Britain and New Zealand have banned the app on government phones. India, in 2020, banned the application citing data security concerns. TikTok has denied that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government and has said the company would not do so if asked, Reuters has reported in the past. The app has not faced major bans on government devices in Southeast Asia. But it remains under scrutiny over its content. Indonesia presented one of its first major global policy challenges in 2018 after authorities briefly banned TikTok for posts they said contained "pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy". In Vietnam, regulators said it would probe TikTok's operations in the country because "toxic" content on the platform poses a threat to its "youth, culture and tradition". (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Tiktok shifts focus to Southeast Asia amid global scrutiny over data security concerns

<p>Music streaming giant Spotify was fined 58 million kronor (USD 5.4 million) on Tuesday (June 13) for not properly informing users how their data was being used, said Swedish authorities. Spotify is planning to appeal the decision.</p>

<p>Sweden's authority for privacy protection (IMY) said that it reviewed "how Spotify handles customers' right of access to their personal data."</p>

<p>"As a result of the shortcomings identified, IMY is imposing a fine of 58 million kronor on the company," the authority said.</p>

<p>The regulator said that under the European data protection act GDPR, it was the users' right to know what data a company has about them and how that data was being used. It said that Spotify did present the data it had when a user requested it but the company was not sufficiently specific about how that data was being used.</p>

<p>"Since the information provided by Spotify has been unclear, it has been difficult for individuals to understand how their personal data is processed and to check whether the processing of their personal data is lawful," IMY said.</p>

<p>The regulator also said that the "shortcomings discovered are considered, overall, to be of low severity," motivating the size of the fine by Spotify's user count and revenue.</p>

<p>Spotify, the streaming giant, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In April this year, Spotify announced that it had crossed the mark of 500 million monthly active users. It said that there were 210 million paying subscribers.</p>

<h2><strong>Spotify rejects IMY findings</strong></h2>

<p>Spotify told AFP in an emailed statement that it "offers all users comprehensive information about how personal data is processed".</p>

<p>IMY "found only minor areas of our process they believe need improvement. However, we don't agree with the decision and plan to file an appeal," Spotify said.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/jimins-set-me-free-pt2-is-the-biggest-korean-soloist-debut-on-spotify-global-574464">Jimin's 'Set Me Free Pt.2' is the biggest Korean soloist debut on Spotify Global</a></strong></p>

<p>AFP also reported a statement by a privacy activist group Noyb, which said that the fine was slapped against Spotify following a complaint and subsequent litigation from the group. The group said that while it welcomed the decision it lamented the tardiness of the authorities.</p>

<p>"The case took more than four years and we had to litigate the IMY to get a decision. The Swedish authority definitely has to speed up its procedures," Stefano Rossetti, a privacy lawyer at Noyb, was quoted saying in the statement.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>

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Music streaming giant Spotify was fined 58 million kronor (USD 5.4 million) on Tuesday (June 13) for not properly informing users how their data was being used, said Swedish authorities.

Music streaming giant Spotify was fined 58 million kronor (USD 5.4 million) on Tuesday (June 13) for not properly informing users how their data was being used, said Swedish authorities. Spotify is planning to appeal the decision. Sweden's authority for privacy protection (IMY) said that it reviewed "how Spotify handles customers' right of access to their personal data." "As a result of the shortcomings identified, IMY is imposing a fine of 58 million kronor on the company," the authority said. The regulator said that under the European data protection act GDPR, it was the users' right to know what data a company has about them and how that data was being used. It said that Spotify did present the data it had when a user requested it but the company was not sufficiently specific about how that data was being used. "Since the information provided by Spotify has been unclear, it has been difficult for individuals to understand how their personal data is processed and to check whether the processing of their personal data is lawful," IMY said. The regulator also said that the "shortcomings discovered are considered, overall, to be of low severity," motivating the size of the fine by Spotify's user count and revenue. Spotify, the streaming giant, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In April this year, Spotify announced that it had crossed the mark of 500 million monthly active users. It said that there were 210 million paying subscribers. Spotify rejects IMY findings Spotify told AFP in an emailed statement that it "offers all users comprehensive information about how personal data is processed". IMY "found only minor areas of our process they believe need improvement. However, we don't agree with the decision and plan to file an appeal," Spotify said. Also Read | Jimin's 'Set Me Free Pt.2' is the biggest Korean soloist debut on Spotify Global AFP also reported a statement by a privacy activist group Noyb, which said that the fine was slapped against Spotify following a complaint and subsequent litigation from the group. The group said that while it welcomed the decision it lamented the tardiness of the authorities. "The case took more than four years and we had to litigate the IMY to get a decision. The Swedish authority definitely has to speed up its procedures," Stefano Rossetti, a privacy lawyer at Noyb, was quoted saying in the statement. (With inputs from agencies) You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here. WATCH WION LIVE HERE ×

Spotify fined $5million for breach of data rules in Sweden

<p data-testid="paragraph-0">&nbsp;Amazon.com&nbsp;said cloud services offered by its unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), were restored after a big disruption on Tuesday affected websites of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Boston Globe among others.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-1">Several hours after Downdetector.com started showing reports of outages, Amazon said, "the issue has been resolved and all AWS Services are operating normally."</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-2">Tuesday's impact stretching from transportation to financial services businesses underscores adoption of Amazon's younger Lambda service and the degree to which many of its cloud offerings are crucial to companies in the internet age.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-3">According to research in the past year from the cloud company Datadog, more than half of organizations operating in the cloud use Lambda or rival services, known as "serverless" technology.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-4">Outage reports on Downdetector fell to less than 700 after having crossed 12,000 earlier in the day.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-5">The disruption appeared smaller in time and breadth than one the company suffered in 2017 of its data-hosting service known as Amazon S3, representing the bread and butter of its cloud business.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-6">The outage appeared to extend to AWS's own web page describing disruptions in its operations, which at one point failed to load on Tuesday, Reuters witnesses saw.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-7">"We quickly narrowed down the root cause to be an issue with a subsystem responsible for capacity management for AWS Lambda, which caused errors directly for customers and indirectly through the use by other AWS services," Amazon said.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-8">AWS Lambda is a service that lets customers run computer programs without having to manage any underlying servers.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-9">The outage also affected services at the U.S. securities regulator's EDGAR system, Southwest Airlines, the Verge and AP for Students.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-10">Twitter users expressed their frustration with the outage, with one user saying "I don't know, Alexa won't tell me because #AWS and her services are down!"</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-11">Delta Air Lines&nbsp;also said its website was facing problems, but did not say if it was related to the AWS outage. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-12">United Airlines&nbsp;said that its operations were minimally affected, adding "we're out of impact."</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-13">Other Amazon services like Amazon Music and Alexa were also impacted, according to Downdetector.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-14">Amazon had its last&nbsp;major outage&nbsp;in December 2021, when disruptions to its cloud services temporarily knocked out streaming platforms Netflix and Disney+, Robinhood, and Amazon's e-commerce website ahead of Christmas.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-15">Shares of Amazon were largely flat in after-market trading on Tuesday.</p>

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Amazon.com said cloud services offered by its unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), were restored after a big disruption on Tuesday affected websites of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Boston Globe among others.

Amazon.com said cloud services offered by its unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS), were restored after a big disruption on Tuesday affected websites of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Boston Globe among others. Several hours after Downdetector.com started showing reports of outages, Amazon said, "the issue has been resolved and all AWS Services are operating normally." Tuesday's impact stretching from transportation to financial services businesses underscores adoption of Amazon's younger Lambda service and the degree to which many of its cloud offerings are crucial to companies in the internet age. According to research in the past year from the cloud company Datadog, more than half of organizations operating in the cloud use Lambda or rival services, known as "serverless" technology. Outage reports on Downdetector fell to less than 700 after having crossed 12,000 earlier in the day. The disruption appeared smaller in time and breadth than one the company suffered in 2017 of its data-hosting service known as Amazon S3, representing the bread and butter of its cloud business. The outage appeared to extend to AWS's own web page describing disruptions in its operations, which at one point failed to load on Tuesday, Reuters witnesses saw. "We quickly narrowed down the root cause to be an issue with a subsystem responsible for capacity management for AWS Lambda, which caused errors directly for customers and indirectly through the use by other AWS services," Amazon said. AWS Lambda is a service that lets customers run computer programs without having to manage any underlying servers. The outage also affected services at the U.S. securities regulator's EDGAR system, Southwest Airlines, the Verge and AP for Students. Twitter users expressed their frustration with the outage, with one user saying "I don't know, Alexa won't tell me because #AWS and her services are down!" Delta Air Lines also said its website was facing problems, but did not say if it was related to the AWS outage. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. United Airlines said that its operations were minimally affected, adding "we're out of impact." Other Amazon services like Amazon Music and Alexa were also impacted, according to Downdetector. Amazon had its last major outage in December 2021, when disruptions to its cloud services temporarily knocked out streaming platforms Netflix and Disney+, Robinhood, and Amazon's e-commerce website ahead of Christmas. Shares of Amazon were largely flat in after-market trading on Tuesday. WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Amazon cloud services back up after big outage hits thousands of users

<p>As we all battle scorching heat in the month of June, buying an air conditioner seems like a great idea. But, it is important to keep certain things in mind before purchasing an AC so that your electricity bill does not wreck your budget. As a consumer, one should make an informed decision while buying an air conditioner that consumes less electricity. Today, we will discuss a few crucial factors to pick the most pocket-friendly AC. These hacks can help you reduce your bill and also keep cool in the summer.</p>

<h2><strong>Understanding star ratings:</strong></h2>

<p>While purchasing electronic appliances for your home such as ACs, refrigerators, or washing machines, we need to be mindful of the star ratings given to the product. These products are given between one and five stars as per their energy efficiency. It is a common misconception that fewer stars mean less power consumption. On the contrary, electronic products with fewer stars tend to consume more power.</p>

<h2><strong>Reduce power consumption:</strong></h2>

<p>For understanding an air conditioner's power consumption one needs to understand that an AC with two stars uses more power than a product with five stars. While a one-star air conditioner may look like a good option at the beginning, the electricity bill will make it extremely expensive in the long run. On the other hand, buying a five-star air conditioner &nbsp;will be more expensive initially. But it will consume less energy and result in major long-term savings.</p>

<h2><strong>Benefits of buying a five-star air conditioner:</strong></h2>

<p>The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has stated that a five-star air conditioner can save around 20 to 22 percent electricity as compared to a one-star AC. Let us understand this through an example. If a one-star AC consumes 200 units of electricity every month, a five-star AC will use only 160 units. This can result in great savings.</p>

<p>If you choose your AC correctly, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of efficient cooling while keeping your monthly electricity bill on the lower side. It is crucial to keep into account long-term savings as opposed to the initial cost of the product.</p>


As we all battle scorching heat in the month of June, buying an air conditioner seems like a great idea. But, it is important to keep certain things in mind before purchasing an AC so that your electricity bill does not wreck your budget.

As we all battle scorching heat in the month of June, buying an air conditioner seems like a great idea. But, it is important to keep certain things in mind before purchasing an AC so that your electricity bill does not wreck your budget. As a consumer, one should make an informed decision while buying an air conditioner that consumes less electricity. Today, we will discuss a few crucial factors to pick the most pocket-friendly AC. These hacks can help you reduce your bill and also keep cool in the summer. Understanding star ratings: While purchasing electronic appliances for your home such as ACs, refrigerators, or washing machines, we need to be mindful of the star ratings given to the product. These products are given between one and five stars as per their energy efficiency. It is a common misconception that fewer stars mean less power consumption. On the contrary, electronic products with fewer stars tend to consume more power. Reduce power consumption: For understanding an air conditioner's power consumption one needs to understand that an AC with two stars uses more power than a product with five stars. While a one-star air conditioner may look like a good option at the beginning, the electricity bill will make it extremely expensive in the long run. On the other hand, buying a five-star air conditioner will be more expensive initially. But it will consume less energy and result in major long-term savings. Benefits of buying a five-star air conditioner: The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has stated that a five-star air conditioner can save around 20 to 22 percent electricity as compared to a one-star AC. Let us understand this through an example. If a one-star AC consumes 200 units of electricity every month, a five-star AC will use only 160 units. This can result in great savings. If you choose your AC correctly, you will be able to enjoy the benefits of efficient cooling while keeping your monthly electricity bill on the lower side. It is crucial to keep into account long-term savings as opposed to the initial cost of the product.

How to reduce your electricity bill in summer months

<p><meta name="uuid" content="uuidKf1mQF1h0MaH" /><meta charset="utf-8" />Twitter's new boss Linda Yaccarino has unveiled her plans for "Twitter 2.0" after taking over the social media giant from Elon Musk. In a series of tweets late Monday (June 12), Yaccarino said that Twitter is on a mission to become the world's most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication. "That's not an empty promise. That's OUR reality," Yaccarino said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"When you start by wrapping your arms around this powerful vision, literally everything is possible. You have to genuinely believe—and work hard for that belief," she tweeted.</p>

<p>Yaccarino also said that Twitter has the opportunity to reach across aisles, create new partnerships, celebrate new voices, and build something together that can change the world.</p>

<h2><strong>'Success of Twitter 2.0 our responsibility'</strong></h2>

<p>Yaccarino mentioned in her Twitter thread that the success of Twitter 2.0 is all of "our responsibility," adding, "We need to think big. We need to transform. We need to do it all together."</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Twitter is on a mission to become the world’s most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication. That's not an empty promise.<br />
<br />
That’s OUR reality.</p>
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) <a href="https://twitter.com/lindayacc/status/1668300598528339968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<p>"Our first principles are questioning our assumptions and building something new from the ground up. It’s rare to have the chance to put a new future into the hands of every person, partner, and creator on the planet. That’s exactly why I’m here – with all of YOU," she said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Yaccarino also echoed her predecessor Elon Musk's goal that Twitter must transform the global town square.&nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Twitter refusing to pay its Google Cloud bills</strong></h2>

<p>Yaccarino's tweets come just days after Platformer reported that Twitter refused to pay its Google Cloud bills as its contract comes up for renewal this month. Before Musk took over Twitter last year, the social media giant signed a multi-year contract with Google related to fighting spam and protecting accounts, among other things, the Platformer report said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>However, it did not provide any details on how the conflict between the companies could hinder Twitter's trust and safety teams.</p>

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Twitter's new boss Linda Yaccarino has unveiled her plans for "Twitter 2.0" after taking over the social media giant from Elon Musk. In a series of tweets late Monday (June 12), Yaccarino said that Twitter is on a mission to become the world's most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication.

Twitter's new boss Linda Yaccarino has unveiled her plans for "Twitter 2.0" after taking over the social media giant from Elon Musk. In a series of tweets late Monday (June 12), Yaccarino said that Twitter is on a mission to become the world's most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication. "That's not an empty promise. That's OUR reality," Yaccarino said. "When you start by wrapping your arms around this powerful vision, literally everything is possible. You have to genuinely believe—and work hard for that belief," she tweeted. Yaccarino also said that Twitter has the opportunity to reach across aisles, create new partnerships, celebrate new voices, and build something together that can change the world. 'Success of Twitter 2.0 our responsibility' Yaccarino mentioned in her Twitter thread that the success of Twitter 2.0 is all of "our responsibility," adding, "We need to think big. We need to transform. We need to do it all together." Twitter is on a mission to become the world’s most accurate real-time information source and a global town square for communication. That's not an empty promise. That’s OUR reality. — Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) June 12, 2023 × "Our first principles are questioning our assumptions and building something new from the ground up. It’s rare to have the chance to put a new future into the hands of every person, partner, and creator on the planet. That’s exactly why I’m here – with all of YOU," she said. Yaccarino also echoed her predecessor Elon Musk's goal that Twitter must transform the global town square. Twitter refusing to pay its Google Cloud bills Yaccarino's tweets come just days after Platformer reported that Twitter refused to pay its Google Cloud bills as its contract comes up for renewal this month. Before Musk took over Twitter last year, the social media giant signed a multi-year contract with Google related to fighting spam and protecting accounts, among other things, the Platformer report said. However, it did not provide any details on how the conflict between the companies could hinder Twitter's trust and safety teams. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

New Twitter boss Linda Yaccarino unveils plans for Twitter 2.0. Details here

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