Google cracks down on hybrid working – and will track staff attendance June 8, 2023 Google is reportedly cracking down on its hybrid-working policy with the tech giant to begin tracking staff office attendance and including employees’ frequency in the office in performance reviews. Fiona Cicconi, Google’s chief people officer, is said to have written an email to employees on Wednesday, according to reports in CNBC, noting that there is [...]
Sunak to meet Google boss for AI threat talks as regulation debate heats up May 25, 2023 Rishi Sunak and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai will reportedly meet tomorrow for talks on the threat posed by artificial intelligence (AI). The Prime Minister and tech boss will hold a private meeting on Friday, according to Sky News. Downing Street would not confirm the meeting to City A.M. and Google did not immediately respond [...]
Google boss Sundar Pichai warns AI is ‘too important not to regulate’ May 23, 2023 Artificial Intelligence (AI) is too important not to regulate and the US and EU must work together to develop “robust” rules to guide the growth of the powerful new technology, Alphabet’s boss Sundar Pichai said today.
AI doing the work of over 200 people at Octopus, chief executive says May 8, 2023 Octopus Energy customers are more satisfied with AI bots answering their emails than humans, the energy provider’s chief executive revealed on Monday. Writing in the Times newspaper, the energy company’s chief executive, Greg Jackson, said the technology was doing the work of 250 people by answering customer emails and had received a 80 per cent [...]
‘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 [...]
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, [...]
WPP chief says use of AI in advertising is an ‘opportunity’ not a threat April 27, 2023 Contrary to some commentators’ fears, chief of WPP Mark Read has called artificial intelligence a “massive opportunity to optimise creative” work rather than representing a threat. Speaking to the Financial Times, Read revealed the advertising giant has already been using artificial intelligence and automation to “amplify” its creative work for some years. He added that [...]
FTSE 100 close: London ends down ahead of Google and Microsoft results as Primark owner slumps April 25, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 was dragged lower today as investors fretted over the state of a batch of big tech results on Wall Street rolling in over the coming days. The capital’s premier index shed 0.27 per cent to drop to 7,891.13 points, while the domestically-focus mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the [...]
Regulation set to challenge the ‘dominance’ of tech giants Google, Amazon and Facebook April 25, 2023 Plans to toughen up UK regulation of some of the world’s largest tech companies will go before MPs for the first time, with the competition watchdog’s dedicated digital unit set to be given sharper teeth. New laws to regulate big tech firms, such as Google, Amazon and Meta, have been long awaited, with MPs last [...]
Google to change app store rules after UK competition agency flags concerns April 19, 2023 Google said it will allow app developers in the UK to use alternative payment options following an investigation by the UK’s competition regulator. The tech giant said it would present other payment options to Google Play’s billing system for in-app purchases “in a neutral manner” if its commitments are accepted by the UK Competition and [...]