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[1/2] A response by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, is seen on its website in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. The EU and its member states have dispatched officials for talks on governing the use of AI with at least 10 Asian countries including India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines, they said. Officials from Singapore and the Philippines expressed concern that moving overly hasty regulation might stifle AI innovation. Seoul will continue discussing AI regulation with the EU but is more interested in what the G7 is doing, a South Korean official said following a meeting with Breton. The EU is planning to use the upcoming G20 meetings to further push for global collaboration on AI, notably with 2023 president India, van Huffelen told Reuters.

Persons: Florence, Alexandra van Huffelen, van Huffelen, Thierry Breton, Breton, Fanny Potkin, Sam Nussey, Supantha Mukherjee, Joyce Lee, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: REUTERS, European, EU, Reuters, Officials, General Data, European Union, South Korean, Thomson Locations: Florence Lo, SINGAPORE, TOKYO, STOCKHOLM, Asia, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Canada, Turkey, Israel, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, United States, Hiroshima, Seoul

[1/2] A response by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, is seen on its website in this illustration picture taken February 9, 2023. The EU and its member states have dispatched officials for talks on governing the use of AI with at least 10 Asian countries including India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines, they said. The officials asked not be named as the discussions, whose extent has not been previously reported, remained confidential. Officials from Singapore and the Philippines expressed concern that moving overly hasty regulation might stifle AI innovation. Seoul will continue discussing AI regulation with the EU but is more interested in what the G7 is doing, a South Korean official said following a meeting with Breton.

☆ Uber rival Bolt names new CFO in preparation for IPO
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, July 6 (Reuters) - Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt named Mikko Salovaara as its chief financial officer ahead of the company's preparation for an initial public offering. The company, a rival of Uber (UBER.N), was valued at over $8 billion when it raised 628 million euros from investors in January last year. Chief Executive Officer Markus Villig told Reuters in May that Bolt expects to become profitable in the next 12 months and be ready for an IPO in 2025. Salovaara, who will join the company later this month, was earlier the CFO of fintech firm Revolut. Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Mikko Salovaara, Uber, Markus Villig, Bolt, Supantha Mukherjee, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Reuters, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Salovaara, Stockholm

☆ A $12 phone is opening doors for rural India to get on the internet
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

All that could change with a new $12 phone from Reliance Jio this week. India is already the world's second-largest smartphone market and is likely to add 300 million new internet users, making it the fastest country to provide internet services to those who remain unconnected, Mishra said. "However, screen size can limit the experience a bit, but still good for first-time internet users." Reliance Jio has rolled out 5G services in 406 cities in India. Additionally, Singh highlighted that Reliance Jio hopes first-time internet users who purchase the Jio Bharat will eventually upgrade to more advanced phones down the road.

Persons: Mukherjee, Akash Ambani, Jio Bharat, Varun Mishra, Mishra, Navkendar Singh, Singh, Jio, Bharat, There's, Nikhil Batra, Batra, Research's Mishra Organizations: International Data Corporation, Afp, Getty, Reliance, Reliance Industries, Counterpoint Research, CNBC, Vodafone, Aditya Birla Group, Vodafone Group —, BSNL, IDC, Nurphoto, Macquarie Research, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, Macquarie, Jio, Airtel Locations: India, Jio, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bihar, Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh

☆ Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award: Powerful images show challenges and hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Editor’s Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. CNN —A windswept Arctic fox, a murmuration of birds facing a snowstorm in the Himalayas, and a man and a boy in a flooded living room are among the images recognized in this year’s Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award. “Photography is a powerful tool for giving a voice to threatened wildlife and biodiversity,” said jury president Sergio Pitamitz in a press release. A photograph of elephants being transported between national parks in Malawi claimed first place in the “Change Makers: Reasons for Hope” category. The winning images are now being exhibited in Monaco on the Promenade du Lavotto, before touring internationally.

Persons: Prince Albert II of, ”, Sergio Pitamitz, Kallol Mukherjee, Jasper Doest, ” Pitamitz, “, ” “ Doest, Marcus Westberg Organizations: CNN, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Wildlife Forensics Academy Locations: Gabon, Africa, Netherlands, Malawi, South Africa, Monaco

☆ Goldman Sachs says rising EV usage to power higher copper demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 6 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs said rising usage of electric vehicles (EV) was a "key pillar of copper's bullish story", forecasting copper demand from the sector to amount to 1 million tonnes (mt) this year, rising to 1.5 mt in 2025. Last year, EV production accounted for about two-thirds of the increase in global copper demand, with EVs likely accounting for about 27% of additional copper consumption over the next decade, the bank said. Goldman said its analysts were optimistic about EVs, anticipating "strong sales in China, driven by lower prices and a high demand for EVs that has been building up over the rest of 2023." Benchmark copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) lost 7.5% in the second quarter of 2023 due to a slow recovery in demand in China and concerns over global economic growth. However, copper usage in EVs could fall in the longer term, with the amount of copper used per EV likely falling to 65 kg per unit by 2030, compared with 73 kg in 2022, the bank said.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Anushree Ashish Mukherjee, David Holmes Organizations: London Metal Exchange, Thomson Locations: EVs, China, Bengaluru

That followed the U.S. decision to impose export restrictions to curb China's access to key technologies used for artificial intelligence (AI). China has been the go-to for companies because it is able to export processed minerals at a lower cost than other countries. In Taiwan, a senior government official said China's restrictions on exports of gallium and germanium marked "a new wave of retaliation" in a "tit-for-tat approach." Some industry watchers believed China's metals restrictions could trigger short-term supply snags and higher prices. But Navitas Semiconductor Corp (NVTS.O), which makes chips that use a substance called gallium nitride, on Wednesday said it expects no adverse effects to its business from China's export controls.

Persons: China's, Stewart Randall, Janet Yellen, Roy Lee, John Strand, Supantha Mukherjee, Hakan Ersen, Ben Blanchard, Brenda Goh, Kanishka Singh, Anne Marie Roantree, David Gaffen, David Gregorio Our Organizations: U.S . Department of Commerce, EV, Sweden's Ericsson, Ericsson, U.S, Treasury, Navitas Semiconductor Corp, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, STOCKHOLM, WASHINGTON, Beijing, U.S, China, United States, Shanghai, Intralink, Netherlands, Australia, Europe, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Korea, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, Taipei, Washington

[1/3] One of Tiger Brands' most popular beverage products, Oros, is seen during production at a manufacturing facility in Germiston, South Africa November 17, 2022. This investment, sometimes at the cost of essential capital expenditure, will eventually be passed onto consumers, making food prices higher for longer, food companies, economists and lobby groups told Reuters. It comes at a time when South Africa is already struggling with acute unemployment, 14-year high interest rates and ballooning inflation and complicates efforts of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to ease interest rate hikes. Poultry producer Astral (ARLJ.J), diversified food producers AVI (AVIJ.J) and RCL Foods (RCLJ.J) have indicated in their recent earnings statements the mitigating measures would eventually translate into higher food prices. The listed food producers have collectively lost almost 15% in their market value since the beginning of the year.

Persons: James Oatway, Derek McKernan, Kobus, Pieter Taljaard, Thomas Funke, Charles Rossouw, Rosle, Cloete, Gertenbach, Tannur Anders, Anait, Promit Mukherjee, David Evans Organizations: Tiger Brands, REUTERS, Reuters, South African Reserve Bank, Reuters Graphics, Premier, RCL, Grain SA, Cane Growers ' Association, Food, Agricultural, Thomson Locations: Germiston, South Africa, JOHANNESBURG, Africa

☆ South Africa nearing end of daily power cuts, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Electricity minister said summer could see no blackoutsCountry's power generation almost meeting demand, he saidWorst scenario of peak winter demand has not materialisedJOHANNESBURG, July 2 (Reuters) - South Africa's electricity minister said on Sunday the country was closer to ending daily power cuts as warmer weather returns towards the end of the year, but declined to give a specific date. South Africa is on course to see its most blackout days in history this year with daily power cuts extending to almost 10 hours a day, affecting businesses and households in an economy already hobbled by high interest rates and inflation. The power cuts, called loadshedding locally, is expected to shave off 2 percentage points from GDP this year, the central bank said last month. The capacity available is plateauing around 29,000 MW, giving enough room to bring the power cuts down to Stage 3, where 3,000 MW are taken off the grid, leading to between two and fours hours of daily power cuts, the minister added. South Africa implements power cuts in stages from one to eight with eight being the highest and translating into over 10 hours of daily power cuts.

Persons: Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, Ramokgopa, Promit Mukherjee, Alison Williams Organizations: Electricity, Thomson Locations: JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

July 1 (Reuters) - Botswana and De Beers Group have agreed a new diamond sales deal in which the African country, the world's No. 1 diamond producer by value, gradually increases the share of rough stones it gets from their joint venture Debswana over the next decade to 50%, the government and the mining company said on Saturday. The Botswana government and De Beers said they had agreed on a 10-year sales deal for Debswana's rough diamond production through to 2033, and on a 25-year Debswana mining licence valid until 2054. The Botswana-De Beers agreement allows the partners to advance the investment required to secure Debswana's position as one of the world's leading gem producers, De Beers said. Botswana, where De Beers has been present for 50 years, is heavily reliant on diamonds, with two-thirds of its foreign currency receipts coming from mining, sales and ancillary activities linked to the precious stone.

Persons: De Beers, Debswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, weren't, Felix Njini, Promit Mukherjee, Nelson Banya, Leslie Adler, David Holmes Organizations: De Beers Group, Okavango, Thomson Locations: Botswana, Debswana, pula, Nairobi, Harare, Nilutpal

STOCKHOLM, June 30 (Reuters) - The proposed EU Artificial Intelligence legislation would jeopardise Europe's competitiveness and technological sovereignty, according to an open letter signed by more than 160 executives at companies ranging from Renault (RENA.PA) to Meta (META.O). EU lawmakers agreed to a set of draft rules this month where systems like ChatGPT would have to disclose AI-generated content, help distinguish so-called deep-fake images from real ones and ensure safeguards against illegal content. Since ChatGPT became popular, several open letters have been issued calling for regulation of AI and raising the "risk of extinction from AI." The third, Yann LeCun, who works at Meta, signed Friday's letter challenging the EU regulations. The letter warned that under the proposed EU rules technologies like generative AI would become heavily regulated and companies developing such systems would face high compliance costs and disproportionate liability risks.

Persons: ChatGPT, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua, Yann LeCun, OpenAI's Altman, Supantha Mukherjee, Jamie Freed Organizations: EU Artificial Intelligence, Renault, EU, Meta, Spanish, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, French, Europe, Stockholm

☆ India's Byju's seeks investors for Aakash Education stake, ET Now reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, June 30 (Reuters) - Embattled Indian edtech startup Byju's is looking for investors to sell a part of its stake in the educational institute Aakash Education Services, television news channel ET Now reported on Friday, citing sources. Byju's holding company, Think and Learn (THIK.NS), is looking to dilute up to 20% of its total 70% equity stake in Aakash Education, sources told ET Now. The company bought Aakash Education for $950 million in 2021. The talks with prospective investors are early and preliminary, the broadcaster reported in a tweet. The reported plans of stake offloading come as a sharp contrast to the edtech's earlier plans of listing Aakash Education through an IPO by mid-2024.

Persons: Byju's, Hritam Mukherjee, Eileen Soreng Organizations: Education Services, Aakash Education, Deloitte, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, Bengaluru

☆ S.Africa tech investor Naspers' profit slumps on lower Tencent contribution
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, June 27 (Reuters) - Technology investor Naspers (NPNJn.J) on Tuesday reported a 78% slump in annual profit, led by a drop in the contribution from China's Tencent (0700.HK) which accounts for the bulk of earnings and revenue for the South African investor. Its headline earnings per share, a profit measure, from continuing operations dropped to 119 U.S. cents for the year ended March 31, from 547 cents posted a year ago. Naspers, which has its global investments housed in Amsterdam-listed Prosus (PRX.AS), , draws over two-thirds of its revenue from Tencent. It posted revenue of $6.8 billion and its losses from ecommerce businesses including classifieds, fintech and food delivery came to $639 million. Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; editing by Edmund Klamann and Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Naspers, China's Tencent, Promit Mukherjee, Edmund Klamann, Jason Neely Organizations: Technology, HK, South, Thomson Locations: JOHANNESBURG, Amsterdam, Tencent

In the face of an unprecedented semiconductor shortage, Europe is offering billions of euros in subsidies to reduce its dependence on Asia. In return, Intel is committing big sums and with Germany already bagging a 30 billion euro investment, Poland decided to crash the party. Poland initially impressed Intel executives with the speed in which it responded to queries and addressed concerns, Intel said. "When we began the process, we hadn't considered Poland," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters. But when Intel announced its European investments in March 2022, Germany was awarded a major factory in Magdeburg while Intel told Poland it would only expand its existing facility in Gdansk.

Persons: chipmaker, hadn't, Pat Gelsinger, Gelsinger, Marcin Fabianowicz, Fabianowicz, Sroda Slaska Adam Ruciński, TSMC, Jakub Mazur, Karol Badohal, Supantha Mukherjee, Matt Scuffham, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: Wroclaw, Intel, Reuters, Polish Investment and Trade Agency, Industrial Development Agency, PepsiCo, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, Thomson Locations: WROCLAW, Poland, STOCKHOLM, Europe, Asia, Germany, U.S, Wroclaw, Polish, Magdeburg, Gdansk, Sroda Slaska, Wrocław, Taiwan, Stockholm

What do you think queer literature specifically has to say with its hybrid forms? Gay: I don’t think you can overlook nonfiction in talking about queer literature. Queer and trans people have, amazingly, taken that demand and subverted it, and that’s why those kinds of stories are so important. Also, Roxane, the point you were making about how some of the greatest truths of queer culture and activism have been done in nonfiction … Oddly enough, queer fiction writers have long hidden behind persona and character to write about queer culture and about themselves. I remember interviewing Galgut once and saying, “Your character Damon” — and he stopped me and said, “No, that’s not a character, that’s me.” I thought to myself, “I’m trying to protect you here,” which is a very quaint protectiveness on my part.

Persons: …, Adrienne Rich, “, ” Lorde, Lorde, ” — Tomi Obaro Soller, Roxane, I’m, we’d, Edmund White, Marcel, Proust, André Gide, Ernest, Hemingway’s, Hemingway, Ed, Gide — White, Willa Cather, Mukherjee, Damon Galgut, Damon, Galgut, Damon ” —, ”, “ I’m

☆ Estonia's Bolt, Starship in food delivery robot deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

STOCKHOLM, June 21 (Reuters) - Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt on Wednesday said it has signed a partnership with robotics firm Starship Technologies aiming to have thousands of robots delivering food across multiple countries, starting this year. With this partnership, Starship will gain access to Bolt's more than 100 million customers in over 45 countries and 500 cities. Bolt expects delivery using robots to ultimately increase its profitability per delivery. Former Skype co-founders launched Starship in 2014 and started testing their self-driving delivery robots in London. Since then its six-wheel robots have been operational in more than 50 service areas for last-mile delivery of food, groceries, and small packages.

Persons: Supantha Mukherjee, Jason Neely Organizations: Technologies, Skype, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Estonia, London, Stockholm

☆ South African bank FirstRand sees bad loan ratio below target range
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JOHANNESBURG, June 21 (Reuters) - FirstRand (FSRJ.J), South Africa's biggest bank by market value, said on Wednesday its non-performing loan ratio would stay below its target range as it maintains its conservative lending stance. South Africa has some of the continent's biggest banks, which have built up a reputation for conservative lending policies. Africa's biggest lender by assets Standard Bank (SBKJ.J) and major local lender Nedbank (NEDJ.J) have said that their bad loans would rise this year. But FirstRand said its credit loss ratio (CLR) for the year would remain below its stated range. Its return on equity - a measure of bank profitability - is expected to remain at the upper end of the stated range of 18% to 22%, FirstRand said.

Persons: FirstRand, Promit Mukherjee, Jane Merriman Organizations: Standard Bank, Thomson Locations: JOHANNESBURG, South Africa

Northvolt, which counts BMW (BMWG.DE) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) among its investors, last year delivered its first battery cells from its gigafactory in Skelleftea in Sweden. In its largest deal in Europe yet, IMCO has invested $400 million in Northvolt through convertible notes, it told Reuters. "Whether it (Northvolt) goes public or stays private, we've done our homework and we are happy with the investment." Matthew Mendes, IMCO's head of infrastructure, said the Northvolt investment was examined jointly by his team and IMCO's public equities managers. IMCO has an investment team of 110 staff, which it plans to grow as it looks for more investments overseas.

Persons: IMCO, we've, Northvolt, Stoyanova, Carlyle, Matthew Mendes, IMCO's, Mendes, Simon Jessop, Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Energy, Canada's Investment Management Corporation of Ontario, BMW, Volkswagen, Reuters, Blackstone, Thomson Locations: Europe, Swedish, Skelleftea, Sweden, Germany, Britain, North America, Ontario, Brookfield

Berlin has agreed subsidies worth nearly 10 billion euros with the U.S. chipmaker, a person familiar with the matter said, more than the 6.8 billion euros it had initially offered Intel to build two leading-edge facilities in the eastern city. "Today's agreement is an important step for Germany as a high-tech production location – and for our resilience," Scholz said after Monday's signing. Globally, semiconductor manufacturing is expected to become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030, expanding from $600 billion in 2021, according to McKinsey. Initially, Intel wanted to invest 17 billion euros in the Magdeburg plant, an amount that has nearly doubled to more than 30 billion. About 7,000 construction jobs will be created in the first expansion, plus around 3,000 high-tech jobs at Intel and tens of thousands of jobs across industry, the U.S. chipmaker said.

Persons: Olaf Scholz, Pat Gelsinger, Scholz, Israel, Dado Ruvic, Robert Hermann, Taiwan's TSMC, Tesla, Robert Habeck, chipmaker, Gelsinger, Maria Martinez, Riham, Christoph Steitz, Rachel More, Jason Neely, Sharon Singleton, Catherine Evans Organizations: Intel, Intel Intel, Germany's, U.S, AMD, Nvidia, Samsung, Union, McKinsey, REUTERS, Germany Trade, Invest, Reuters, Germany, Thomson Locations: Germany, Frankfurt BERLIN, STOCKHOLM, Magdeburg, Europe, Berlin, Saxony, Anhalt, EU, chipmaking, Poland, United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Frankfurt, U.S, Ireland, France, Asia

The deal in Germany would be Intel's third big investment in four days, following a $4.6 billion chip plant in Poland and a $25 billion factory in Israel. Intel plans to invest around 30 billion euros in the Magdeburg plant, the person said. Scholz said on Monday that his government was working on investment projects that would make Germany one of the world's leading locations for semiconductor production. Frankfurt-listed Intel shares were 0.7% lower at 1137 GMT. ($1 = 0.9150 euros)Writing by Christoph Steitz; editing by Rachel More, Jason Neely and Sharon SingletonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Pat Gelsinger, Olaf Scholz, Scholz, Taiwan's TSMC, Tesla, Gelsinger, Christoph Steitz, Rachel More, Jason Neely, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Intel, U.S, AMD, Nvidia, Samsung, EU, Reuters, Germany, Thomson Locations: Germany, Frankfurt BERLIN, STOCKHOLM, Magdeburg, chipmaking, Poland, Israel, United States, Europe, Berlin, South Korea, Taiwan, Frankfurt, Ireland, France, Asia

The facility in Poland will employ 2,000 workers and create several thousand additional jobs during the construction phase and hiring by suppliers, the company said in a statement. "Poland was just a little bit hungrier to win this site," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a news conference. Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Thursday that the German government and Intel were close to an agreement for 9.9 billion euros ($10.83 billion) in subsidies, up from a previously agreed 6.8 billion. The level of any subsidy offered to Intel by Poland was not made public during Friday's announcement. Mateusz Morawiecki, prime minister of Poland, called Intel's factory "the largest greenfield investment in the history of Poland".

Persons: chipmaker, Pat Gelsinger, Gelsinger, Olaf Scholz, Mateusz Morawiecki, Karol Badohal, Supantha Mukherjee, Jason Neely, Conor Humphries Organizations: Intel, Labour, AMD, Nvidia, Samsung, Thomson Locations: Poland, WROCLAW, STOCKHOLM, Wrocław, Europe, U.S, Germany, Ireland, France, Berlin, Wroclaw, Stockholm

☆ China firmly opposes Huawei ban by some EU countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING/STOCKHOLM, June 16 (Reuters) - China firmly opposes some EU countries' ban on Huawei and said the European Commission has no legal basis nor factual evidence to prohibit the Chinese telecom giant, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday. EU industry chief Thierry Breton on Thursday urged more EU countries to join the 10 that have restricted or banned China's Huawei (HWT.UL) and ZTE (000063.SZ) from their 5G telecoms networks, citing risks to the bloc's collective security. Huawei has criticised the move saying this was not based on a verified, transparent, objective and technical assessment of 5G networks. Publicly singling out an individual entity as HRV without legal basis is against principles of free trade, a Huawei spokesperson said. "As an economic operator in the EU, Huawei holds procedural and substantial rights and should be protected under the EU and Member States’ laws as well as their international commitments," the person said.

Persons: Thierry Breton, Supantha Mukherjee, Foo Yun Chee, Andrew Cawthorne, Toby Chopra Organizations: Huawei, European Commission, EU, Telecom, Member, Beijing, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, STOCKHOLM, China, Germany, Europe, Member States, Stockholm, Brussels

In a response to Reuters questions, South Africa's national treasury said it, along with President Cyril Ramaphosa's office, had appointed a consultant that it did not name to find ways to resolve the issue. It would also allow the decommissioning of three power plants, which the government is considering delaying because of the shortages of generation capacity. Rudi Dicks, the head of project management at the South African presidency, said there was a need to "clarify as a matter of urgency" whether the international loans could be accepted. Of the $8.5 billion pledged to South Africa, $3 billion is from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), a leading multilateral investor in developing countries. In a statement it said it remained "committed to supporting South Africa's just transition from coal to clean power".

Persons: Cyril Ramaphosa's, Rudi Dicks, Promit Mukherjee, Carien du Plessis, Olivia Kumwenda, Barbara Lewis Organizations: European Union, Reuters Graphics, Reuters, Partners, Investment Funds, Thomson Locations: JOHANNESBURG, Britain, France, Germany, United States, South Africa, Africa

BRUSSELS/STOCKHOLM, June 14 (Reuters) - EU lawmakers on Wednesday voted for tougher landmark draft artificial intelligence rules that include a ban on the use of the technology in biometric surveillance and for generative AI systems like ChatGPT to disclose AI-generated content. The lawmakers agreed the amendments to the draft legislation proposed by the European Commission which is seeking to set a global standard for the technology used in everything from automated factories to bots and self-driving cars. Microsoft, which has called for AI rules, welcomed the lawmakers' agreement. However, the Computer and Communications Industry Association said the amendments on high-risk AIs were likely to overburden European AI developers with "excessively prescriptive rules" and slow down innovation. The lawmakers will now have to thrash out details with European Union countries before the draft rules become legislation.

Persons: Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Brando Benifei, Thierry Breton, Foo Yun Chee, Bart Meijers, Supantha Mukherjee, Emelia Sithole Organizations: European, Microsoft, Elon, Big Tech, Union, Computer and Communications Industry Association, AIs, The Commission, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, STOCKHOLM, Europe, United States, China, Brussels, Stockholm

☆ From rockets to recruitment, Israel's military refocuses on AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

For the next flare-up, Colonel Eli Birenbaum, chief of the military's operational data and applications unit, has plans to use artificial intelligence aggregation to predict the salvoes. Currently, he said, there are "many hundreds" of personnel dealing broadly with AI-related projects, and who constitute 20% of military technologists. He has government backing, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu increasing the defence budget and pledging to make Israel an AI "powerhouse". During their mandatory service - two years for women, 32 months for men - military technologists earn a monthly $335. For Israel, AI target-acquisition will not spell automated target-destruction, Birenbaum stressed.

Persons: Nir Elias RAMAT, Eli Birenbaum, Birenbaum, Benjamin Netanyahu, Dan Williams, Supantha Mukherjee, Nick Macfie Organizations: IDF, REUTERS, Reuters, Google, Thomson Locations: Ramat Gan, Israel, Gaza, Tel Aviv

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