‘Godfather of AI’ quits Google over concerns with rapid advances in tech May 2, 2023 A British scientist dubbed the “Godfather of AI” has quit his role at Google due to concerns about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), such as its potentially ability to spread misinformation and overhaul the jobs market. Geoffrey Hinton — who joined Google a decade ago to build on what was then the foundation of [...]
Alibaba founder Jack Ma ditches tech for teaching May 2, 2023 Alibaba founder Jack Ma has taken up a university teaching position, in a shift away from his sprawling tech businesses and one of the first public roles he has assumed after almost three years of keeping a low profile. Ma joined Tokyo college, run by the University of Tokyo, as a visiting professor on Monday, [...]
Musk: Media publishers can start charging for one-off articles shared on Twitter May 1, 2023 Twitter will roll out a new feature allowing media publishers to charge users on a per-article basis, the company’s chief executive Elon Musk said on Saturday. Musk said this would allow users who did not want to sign up for monthly subscriptions to pay a higher per article price to read one article. In a [...]
SoftBank’s Arm files to list shares in US as London blow confirmed May 1, 2023 SoftBank-owned chip design firm Arm has filed for a US listing in a move which cements its decision to thwart London markets for the US and paves the way for one of the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) of the year. SoftBank confirmed on Monday that Arm had submitted a draft registration statement to the [...]
Wikipedia won’t comply with Online Safety Bill if passed, its charity warns April 28, 2023 Wikipedia will not comply with aspects of the Online Safety Bill if passed, the website’s charity has warned. The bill — currently sitting in the House of Lords — will compel social media platforms and tech companies to police and remove hateful content. It will also require platforms to keep adult content out of reach [...]
Analysis: Big tech beats forecasts – but they’re not out of the woods yet April 28, 2023 Meta, Microsoft, and Google’s parent, Alphabet, Amazon all showed signs of resilience this week after a bruising period for the tech sector. After many US tech firms laid off thousands of staff in response to low growth and inflationary pressures, each of these leading tech giants reported quarterly revenues and profits that beat analyst estimates, [...]
Amazon share price tanks after software giant announces fall in cloud spend April 28, 2023 The brakes appeared to be coming on to Amazon’s cloud growth spending as the tech giant said it was looking to cut costs. The news overshadowed the company’s quarterly sales, and an announcement that its profits that topped expectations. Amazon’s value rose $125bn (£100bn) but remarks by its chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky, drove the [...]
Vodafone appoints Margherita Della Valle as new chief executive April 27, 2023 Vodafone has appointed interim chief executive Margherita Della Valle to the top role permanently, the company announced on Thursday. Vodafone’s chair, Jean-François van Boxmeer, said Della Valle was selected after a “rigorous internal and external search.” “Over the last few months as interim group chief executive, the board and I have been impressed with her [...]
Facebook owner Meta touts AI might as digital ads boost outlook April 27, 2023 Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that AI was helping the company boost traffic to Facebook and Instagram and earn more in ad sales, as it forecast quarterly revenue well above analyst expectations. Meta shares surged 12 per cent in after hours trading, adding over $50bn (£40.06bn) to its market value and continuing a rally [...]
Game Over? CMA block of Activision deal to set the tone for other regulators April 26, 2023 The UK competition regulator today blocked Microsoft’s $70bn bid for the video game publisher, Activision Blizzard, citing concerns over competition in a fledgling cloud market. The move by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to scupper the deal — Microsoft’s largest acquisition — comes as a blow to the tech giant, which has already announced [...]