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☆ DocuSign chief says company wants to stay public after reports of private equity takeover interest
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The DocuSign website is seen on a laptop in Dobbs Ferry, New York, April 1, 2021. Contract management platform DocuSign is committed to remaining a public company and is working to convince investors of its artificial intelligence potential, CEO Allan Thygesen told CNBC, after reports suggested the firm had been the target of takeover interest from private equity suitors. "We're focused on building a great, independent public company," Thygesen told CNBC in an interview earlier this week at a partner event the company held in London. "I joined DocuSign as a public company, it's a very exciting time right now, so that's our plan." Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman were unavailable for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Persons: Allan Thygesen, We're, Thygesen, DocuSign, Bain, Friedman Organizations: CNBC, Bain Capital, Hellman, Reuters, Bloomberg Locations: Dobbs Ferry , New York, London, DocuSign

☆ DeepL, a European rival to Google Translate, rides AI hype to a $2 billion valuation
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Launched in 2017 by founder and CEO Jaroslaw "Jarek" Kutylowski, DeepL is a competitor to Google Translate. At $2 billion, DeepL is now worth double what it was in its previous round in January 2023, when it raised $100 million from investors at a $1 billion valuation. ICONIQ Growth and Teachers' Venture Growth came on board as new investors, while existing investors IVP, Atomico and WiL also participated. "We're really expanding our product toward being able to support these bigger enterprise customers," Kutylowski said. The company has ramped up its focus on selling into enterprise over the past few years and now counts customers including Zendesk, Nikkei, Coursera and Deutsche Bahn.

Persons: Kutylowski, Jaroslaw, WiL, PARIS —, I'm, DeepL Organizations: CNBC, Google, Venture, PARIS, Zendesk, Nikkei, Coursera, Deutsche Bahn Locations: Atomico, Swiss, U.S, Asia

☆ Autos giant Peugeot is trialing driverless tech — with a twist — for Amazon-style deliveries
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Peugeot e-3008 electric car on display during a presentation at the Stellantis car factory in Sochaux, France. PARIS, France — French car giant Peugeot told CNBC this week that it's partnering with Vay, a German mobility startup, to integrate so-called "teledriving" tech — an alternative to autonomous cars — into its vehicles. The deal will see the two companies assess the use of Vay's teledriving tech on "last-mile delivery" vans and smaller logistics vehicles, with a focus on business-to-business (B2B) customers. The first pilot test drives of Vay's technology with Peugeot vehicles are expected to take place this year. Peugeot is looking to include the tech in its E-3008 electric SUVs and some electric vans.

Persons: Vay, Justin Spratt, Spratt Organizations: Peugeot, CNBC, Amazon Locations: Sochaux, France, PARIS

☆ Tech giants pledge AI safety commitments — including a ‘kill switch’ if they can’t mitigate risks
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A slew of major tech companies including Microsoft , Amazon , and OpenAI, on Tuesday agreed to a landmark international agreement on artificial intelligence safety at the Seoul AI Safety Summit. The agreement will see companies from countries including the U.S., China, Canada, the U.K., France, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, make voluntary commitments to ensure the safe development of their most advanced AI models. In those sorts of extreme circumstances, companies say they will implement a "kill switch" that would see them cease development of their AI models if they can't guarantee mitigation of these risks. "It's a world first to have so many leading AI companies from so many different parts of the globe all agreeing to the same commitments on AI safety," Rishi Sunak, the U.K.'s prime minister, said in a statement Tuesday. "These commitments ensure the world's leading AI companies will provide transparency and accountability on their plans to develop safe AI," he added.

Persons: Rishi Sunak Organizations: Microsoft, Seoul AI Safety, United Arab Locations: Seoul, U.S, China, Canada, France, South Korea, United Arab Emirates

☆ World’s first major law for artificial intelligence gets final EU green light
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

European Union member states on Tuesday agreed the world's first major law for regulating artificial intelligence, as institutions around the world race to introduce curbs for the technology. The EU Council said that it reached final approval for the AI Act — a ground-breaking piece of regulation that aims to introduce the first comprehensive set of rules for artificial intelligence. "The adoption of the AI act is a significant milestone for the European Union," Mathieu Michel, Belgium's secretary of state for digitization said in a Tuesday statement. The AI Act applies a risk-based approach to artificial intelligence, meaning that different applications of the technology are treated differently, depending on the threats they pose to society. High-risk AI systems cover autonomous vehicles or medical devices, which are evaluated on the risks they pose to the health, safety, and fundamental rights of citizens.

Persons: Mathieu Michel, Michel Organizations: EU, European Union Locations: Europe

☆ Britain expands AI safety institute to San Francisco amid scrutiny over regulatory shortcomings
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The government on Monday announced it would open a U.S. counterpart to its AI safety summit, a state-backed body focused on testing advanced AI systems to ensure they're safe, in San Francisco this summer. The U.S. iteration of the AI Safety Institute will aim to recruit a team of technical staff headed up by a research director. In a statement, U.K. Technology Minister Michelle Donelan said the AI Safety Summit's U.S. rollout "represents British leadership in AI in action." The AI Safety Institute was established in November 2023 during the AI Safety Summit, a global event held in England's Bletchley Park, the home of World War II code breakers, that sought to boost cross-border cooperation on AI safety. The government said that, since the AI Safety Institute was established in November, it's made progress in evaluating frontier AI models from some of the industry's leading players.

Persons: Ian Hogarth, Michelle Donelan, it's, Anthropic Organizations: LONDON, Monday, AI, Technology, Safety, U.S, Microsoft, AI Safety, Institute, Seoul, European Union Locations: San Francisco, California, United States, U.S, London, British, Bay, OpenAI, England's Bletchley, South Korea, Bletchley Park, Seoul, Britain, European

☆ $9 billion travel tech firm Navan on track to hit profitability this year and 'not far' from IPO, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Asked about when Navan would choose to go public, the firm's CEO and co-founder Ariel Cohen said the company is close to reaching that milestone. "We can see the signals," he said, adding that Navan has been adjusting its leadership structure and making changes to its board in a signal of maturity. Last month saw Navan announce the return of Rich Liu, formerly Navan's chief revenue officer and "an expert on scaling companies from seed to IPO and beyond," to the business as CEO of Navan Travel, the company's travel division. While Cohen wouldn't commit to a date for Navan's eventual IPO, he said the business was "not far" from being ready for a stock market listing. The company is on track to become cash-flow positive and achieve profitability for the first time this year, he said.

Persons: Ariel Cohen, Rich Liu, Amy Butte, Cohen, Cohen wouldn't, he's Organizations: Navan, CNBC, Navan Travel, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Navan, U.S

☆ Microsoft's Mistral partnership avoids merger probe by British regulators
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority cleared Microsoft's AI partnership with Mistral of regulatory concerns after previously inviting views on whether the arrangement qualified as a merger. Now, the regulator says it's no longer looking into Microsoft's investment in Mistral. It has given no update on its inquiries into the Amazon-Inflection deal and into Microsoft's hiring of employees from Inflection. Microsoft previously denied its deals with OpenAI and Mistral and hiring of employees from Inflection constituted mergers. Amazon has also said that its partnership with Anthropic represents a limited corporate investment, not a merger.

Persons: OpenAI Organizations: Markets, Mistral, CMA, Enterprise, CNBC, Microsoft, U.S, Anthropic Locations: French, U.S, Mistral

☆ Meta slapped with child safety probe under sweeping EU tech law
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. Facebook parent company Meta on Thursday was hit with a major investigation from the European Union into alleged breaches of the bloc's strict online content law over child safety risks. The Commission added that it is concerned about age verifications on Meta's platforms, as well as privacy risks linked to the company's recommendation algorithms. "This is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing details of our work with the European Commission." The EU said it will carry out an in-depth investigation into Meta's child protection measures "as a matter of priority."

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Thierry Breton Organizations: Dirksen, Facebook, Meta, European Union, European Commission, CNBC Locations: Washington ,

☆ Sony-backed computing startup heads for rare IPO in sidelined London stock market
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

British computing startup Raspberry Pi on Wednesday said it plans to list in London, in a rare win for the U.K. stock market. Raspberry Pi, which makes tiny single-board computers, is considering an initial public offering on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The IPO is a win for the London stock market, which has been struggling to attract high-growth tech companies. A slew of major U.K. tech firms have chosen New York over London for their listings over the last year. Upton established Raspberry Pi in 2012 to make computing more accessible to young people, gaining traction among hobbyists and teachers in the early days.

Persons: Ocado, Eben Upton . Raspberry Pi, Upton, Raspberry Organizations: London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Sunday Telegraph, Sky News, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Sony, amortization Locations: London, New York, British

☆ Fintech firm Klarna says 90% of its employees are using generative AI daily
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Swedish financial technology company Klarna said Tuesday that nearly 9 out of 10 employees in its 5,000-strong workforce are now using generative artificial intelligence tools in their daily work. Klarna, which lets individuals split their purchases into interest-free, monthly installments, said over 87% of its employees are using generative AI tools, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and its own internal AI assistant. The biggest users of generative AI in the company are those in non-technical groups, such as communications (92.6%), marketing (87.9%) and legal (86.4%), Klarna said. At those rates, Klarna is seeing much higher adoption of generative AI within the company than in the broader corporate world. Klarna has its own internal AI assistant, called Kiki.

Persons: Klarna, OpenAI's, Kiki Organizations: Deloitte

☆ Sony reports 7% drop in annual profit as PlayStation 5 sales miss trimmed target
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The company also narrowly missed its forecast for unit sales of its flagship PlayStation 5 gaming console for the full year. Here's how Sony did in the March quarter versus LSEG consensus estimates:Revenue: 3.5 trillion yen ($22.4 billion) versus 2.89 trillion yen expected. Operating profit: 229.4 billion yen versus 236.81 billion yen expected. Sony's operating profit for the full year, though, came in at 1.2 trillion yen, down 7% year-over-year. That's slightly lower than the revised 21 million unit target that Sony gave investors in February.

Organizations: Sony, PlayStation

☆ Uber to acquire Foodpanda's Taiwan business for $950 million, creating a potential monopoly
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

(Photo by Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Uber Technologies will acquire the Taiwan business of Delivery Hero -owned Foodpanda for $950 million in cash, as Foodpanda focuses on other markets. In a separate agreement, Delivery Hero will sell $300 million in newly issued ordinary shares to Uber. Taiwan's food delivery market is dominated by Foodpanda and Uber Eats. Delivery Hero said in February it had ended talks to sell its Foodpanda business in selected Southeast Asian markets. Östberg told CNBC the same month that the firm was "happy" to hold on to its Foodpanda business in Southeast Asia "forever."

Persons: Walid Berrazeg, Niklas Östberg, Pierre, Dimitri Gore, Uber, Foodpanda, Östberg, – CNBC's Ryan Browne, Dylan Butts Organizations: Getty, Technologies, Coty, Foodpanda, CNBC Locations: TAIPEI, TAIWAN, Taipei, Taiwan, Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia

☆ Early Facebook investor Accel raises $650 million fund to back European and Israeli startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

AccelVenture capital firm Accel said Tuesday it's raised $650 million for its eighth fund targeted at investing in European and Israeli early-stage startups, in a sign the venture capital market may be showing signs of a recovery. "The environment has dramatically changed since then," Nelis told CNBC. Climate-focused VC firm World Fund closed a 300 million euro fund in March. "We're lucky that with DeepMind here in London and with Fair [Facebook AI Research] in Paris, there's at least two big centers that have great AI expertise," Nelis told CNBC. "My expectation is Europe is going to generate some really interesting AI application companies," Nelis told CNBC.

Persons: Harry Nelis, Sonali de Rycker, Andrei Brasoveanu, Luca Bocchio, Philippe Botteri, it's, Nelis, UiPath, Russia's, Wise, Magnus Grimeland, Grimeland, there's, Victor Riparbelli, Synthesia, Riparbelli Organizations: Accel, Accel Venture, Spotify, CNBC, Skype, U.S, Nvidia Locations: Europe, Israel, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, New York, U.S, London, Paris, Synthesia

☆ Amazon-backed Anthropic launches its Claude AI chatbot across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup backed by Amazon , said Monday it's launching its generative AI assistant Claude in Europe on Tuesday. A paid subscription-based version of Anthropic's Claude assistant, called Claude Pro, will be available to users who want access to all its models, including Claude 3 Opus, Anthropic's most advanced offering. Anthropic is also launching its business-focused Claude Team subscription-based plans, which cost 28 euros ($30) a month before value-added tax (VAT). The AI Act seeks to, among other things, identify and apply rules in accordance with the levels of risk AI poses, dividing categories of risk into low, medium, high and unacceptable. Anthropic said its Claude assistant is highly fluent in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other European languages.

Persons: Claude, Anthropic's Claude, Claude Pro, We've, Dario Amodei, Anthropic Organizations: Amazon, Claude Team, European Union Parliament Locations: Europe, Anthropic

☆ Microsoft and Amazon to invest $5.6 billion into France as Macron courts tech giants
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft said in a statement Monday that it's committing 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) toward expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure in France, in addition to funding AI skilling and support for France's technology industry. The announcement was made during the "Choose France" summit, a gathering dedicated to encouraging foreign investment in France. Amazon, meanwhile, made a commitment of its own to invest 1.2 billion euros in France. Collectively, the commitments from Microsoft and Amazon to France amount to $5.6 billion of funding. In total, France reportedly bagged a record 15 billion euros of investment commitments from foreign companies at an annual "Choose France" summit on Monday.

Persons: it's, ”, Brad Smith, “, —, Frederic Duval, Duval, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Redmond Organizations: Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, FAIR, Mistral Locations: Athens, Greece, France, French, Mulhouse, Amazon's, Paris, Washington, Mistral

☆ Freetrade, Britain's answer to Robinhood, says its CEO is stepping down
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

s LONDON — The boss of U.K. stock trading service Freetrade is stepping down and leaving the company with immediate effect, the company told CNBC exclusively Monday. Dodds remains the largest individual shareholder in Freetrade, owning a roughly 12% stake, according to company filings. Freetrade is default alive and ready to take on the incumbent platforms in the UK with self-sustaining growth," Dodds said. Dodds added: "I'm very happy to say Viktor will be stepping up to take over the helm as CEO. Nebehaj, Freetrade's incoming CEO, applauded Dodds' eight-year run as CEO and said that "it's natural that different stages of a company's growth require different leaders."

Persons: Adam Dodds, Davide Fioranell, Viktor Nebehaj, Nebehaj, Dodds, he'll, Rafael Henrique, " Dodds, Viktor, Perry Blacher, Freetrade, it's Organizations: CNBC, GameStop Locations: Freetrade, U.S

Police confront environmental activists in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory electric car factory near Gruenheide, Germany, May 10, 2024. Climate protesters angry about Tesla's plans to expand its Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory in Germany tried to break into the plant on Friday, according to a statement from local police. "Multiple unauthorized people are trying to enter the ground of the Tesla factory," Brandenburg police said via X Friday. "The situation is dynamic," a Brandenburg police spokesperson told CNBC Friday, adding that there have been multiple roadblocks in the area due to the demonstrations. A Tesla spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Persons: Tesla Organizations: Brandenburg, CNBC Locations: Gruenheide, Germany, Berlin, Brandenburg

☆ Chip designer Arm's shares plunge 8% after disappointing revenue guidance
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of British chip designer Arm fell 8.22% in premarket trading on Thursday, as disappointing revenue guidance clouded a positive sales quarter driven by demand for artificial intelligence applications. Arm reported fourth-quarter revenue of $928 million Wednesday, marking a 47% year-over-year rise. Arm's royalty revenues, meanwhile, grew 37% year-over-year to $514 million, with the company citing increasing penetration of its recently introduced Armv9-based chips. For the 2025 fiscal year, Arm expects revenue to come in between $3.8 billion and $4.1 billion. Analysts were expecting full-year 2025 revenue of $4 billion.

Persons: Arm

☆ Generative AI's disinformation threat is 'overblown,' top cyber expert says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In APAC alone, there was a surge in deepfakes by 1530% from 2022 to 2023, according to a Sumsub report. But one top expert is going against the grain, suggesting instead that the threat deep fakes pose to democracy may be "overblown." However, new generative AI tools do "threaten to make the generation of fake content easier," he added. In any case, it is unlikely that the generation of content is limiting attackers," Lee said. Experts have previously told CNBC that they expect AI-generated disinformation to be a key risk in upcoming elections around the world.

Persons: Martin Lee, Lee Organizations: Cisco's, CNBC Locations: deepfakes

☆ Big Tech is eating as much data as it can to win in AI — but it's not 'winner takes all,' CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Matt Calkins, CEO and co-founder of Appian, said that though internet giants like Microsoft , Amazon , and Google are spending billions on the tech, ensuring success in AI is "not just about money." "AI is not a place where money makes more money," Calkins told CNBC in an interview at its London bureau on Tuesday. Microsoft has struck a similar deal with Mistral, taking a 15 million euro ($16 million) stake in the French AI firm. Separately, Amazon has invested a whopping $4 billion into U.S. AI firm Anthropic, which is behind the Claude AI system. "The best AI will be the AI you put your data into, not whoever bought the biggest stack," he said.

Persons: Matt Calkins, Appian, Calkins, Sam Altman, Altman, Claude, you've, —, Sundar Pichai Organizations: Microsoft, Google, CNBC, Mistral, Amazon, OpenAI, Anthropic, British Locations: London, OpenAI, Redmond, Washington, French, Anthropic, Europe

☆ British neobank Monzo boosts funding round to $610 million to crack U.S. market, launch pensions
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

MonzoBritish neobank Monzo said Wednesday that it's raised another $190 million, lifting the total it's raised so far this year to $610 million. Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC also participated in Monzo's latest fundraise, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC. The total $610 million round marks the single-biggest funding round for a European fintech in the past year, according to Dealroom data. "What I like about how we're approaching this is, at the heart of it, it's not just words," Anil told CNBC in an exclusive interview Tuesday. European expansion is also on the cards, Anil said, although he didn't commit to a date for when this will happen.

Persons: Anil, Monzo, it's, GIC, we've, Monzo's, Revolut Organizations: CNBC, Hedosophia, Barclays, NatWest, BlackRock, JPMorgan, Citibank Locations: U.S, Berlin

☆ EU seeks information from X on content moderation amid first major probe under new tech rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The European Union is seeking information from social media platform X about cuts to its content moderation resources as part of its first major investigation into the company under its tough new laws governing online content. X reduced linguistic coverage within the EU from 11 languages to seven, the Commission said, again citing X's transparency report. X, which was formerly known as Twitter, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. X must provide information requested by the EU on its content moderation resources and generative AI requested by May 17, the Commission said. Remaining answers to questions from the Commission must be provided no later than May 27, the agency said.

Persons: it's Organizations: European, European Commission, Digital Services, Twitter, CNBC, EU Locations: EU

☆ Self-driving startup Wayve just raised $1 billion from Nvidia, SoftBank, Microsoft and more
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Alex Kendall, 29, is the co-founder and CEO of autonomous driving startup Wayve. British startup Wayve on Tuesday said it had raised $1.05 billion in an investment round led by Japan's SoftBank to accelerate the growth of its self-driving car technology. The Series C funding round included new investor U.S. chipmaker Nvidia and existing investor, software giant Microsoft , which is a major backer of AI firms. Founded in 2017, Wayve is one of a multitude of startups looking to enable autonomous driving — technology that enables cars to effectively drive without humans at the helm. Unlike Tesla , which manufactures its own cars, Wayve licenses its self-driving technology to other firms, including retailers and automakers.

Persons: Alex Kendall, Japan's SoftBank, Wayve Organizations: Nvidia, Microsoft, Cambridge, Tesla

☆ Don't rate Tesla's Full Self Driving too highly, tech investor says: 'By no means autonomous driving'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

News of electric car giant Tesla's progress toward rolling out its advanced driver-assistance feature in China isn't as groundbreaking as investors are treating it, according to a top tech investor. Mark Hawtin, GAM Investment Management's investment director focused on investing in disruptive growth and technology stocks, told CNBC' "Squawk Box Europe" Thursday that such expectations were misleading — not least because Tesla's Full Self Driving service doesn't offer full autonomous driving. "We should say what they're doing — everyone's talking about this full self-driving capability," Hawtin told CNBC. On Monday, shares of Tesla rose sharply, notching their best day since March 2021, after it passed a significant milestone toward the launch of FSD in China. This raised expectations that Tesla's FSD would soon be available in China.

Persons: Mark Hawtin, Hawtin, Tesla, Elon Musk Organizations: Investment, CNBC Locations: China, U.S, China . Local, FSD

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