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☆ Twitter cannot hide from EU rules after exit from code, EU's Breton says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, May 26 (Reuters) - Twitter cannot run away from its obligations even after quitting a voluntary EU code of practice to tackle disinformation, EU industry chief Thierry Breton warned the company late on Friday. Companies which signed up to the code are required to provide regular progress reports with data on how much advertising revenue they had averted from disinformation actors. "Twitter leaves EU voluntary code of practice against disinformation. You can run but you can't hide," Breton said in a tweet. Twitter, which no longer has a public relations department, responded to an emailed request for comment with a poop emoji.

☆ North Dakota's Republican governor set to launch US presidential bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Burgum, who is serving his second term as the sparsely populated state's top official, is expected to launch his campaign with an announcement on June 7 in Fargo, the person said. Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted on May 9-15 showed Trump is backed by 49% of Republicans, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a distant second place at 19%. They were followed by former Vice President Mike Pence with 5% and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on 4%, the poll showed. He also signed into law the largest income tax cut in state history. Reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, and Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Explainer: Why are Nvidia's shares soaring and what is its role in the AI boom?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FROM GAMING TO AI: NVIDIA'S FOCUS SHIFTNvidia, known for its chips used in videogames, pivoted to the data center market over the last few years. WHY IS GENERATIVE AI A HOT TOPIC? Viral chatbot ChatGPT has made generative AI a buzzword this year. More recently, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) released details on its new AI chip to try to challenge Nvidia's market share. Nvidia's main competitors include Advanced Micro Devices and AI chips made in-house by companies such as Amazon.com, Google and Meta Platforms.

Persons: Nvidia, ChatGPT, Goldman Sachs, Elon Musk, Chavi Mehta, Sriraj Kalluvila, David Gaffen Organizations: Nvidia, NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, Handout, REUTERS, Microsoft Corp, Inc, Google, Devices, Intel, Tesla, Financial Times, WHO, Thomson Locations: U.S, Santa Clara , California, Bengaluru

The European Union is at the forefront of drafting new AI rules that could set the global benchmark to address privacy and safety concerns that have arisen with the rapid advances in the generative AI technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT. "If it's about protecting personal data, they apply data protection laws, if it's a threat to safety of people, there are regulations that have not been specifically defined for AI, but they are still applicable." Data protection authorities in France and Spain also launched in April probes into OpenAI's compliance with privacy laws. 'THINKING CREATIVELY'French data regulator CNIL has started "thinking creatively" about how existing laws might apply to AI, according to Bertrand Pailhes, its technology lead. "We are looking at the full range of effects, although our focus remains on data protection and privacy," he told Reuters.

The private plaintiffs sued Microsoft in California federal court in December to enjoin the deal, which they called harmful to competition. Corley pushed back on the gamers' allegation that Microsoft would limit availability of the game. A lawyer for the gamers said on Monday they will press on with their challenge to the deal despite losing this preliminary round. Corley dismissed the gamers' first lawsuit in March, ruling that plaintiffs had not offered adequate factual support for claims that the deal would violate U.S. antitrust law. The case is DeMartini v. Microsoft Corp, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

☆ Bill Gates says top AI agent will replace search, shopping sites
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAN FRANCISCO, May 22 (Reuters) - Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) co-founder, on Monday said the technology race to win is the development of the top artificially intelligent agent, poised to disrupt search-engine, productivity and online shopping sites. "You’ll never go to a search site again," he said. Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Gates said Inflection AI, co-founded by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, impressed him. "Whoever wins the personal agent, that’s a big thing," Gates said.

Garante is among the most proactive of the 31 national data protection authorities which oversee Europe's data privacy regime known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The agency was the first to ban AI chatbot company Replika, to impose fines on facial recognition software maker Clearview AI, and to restrict TikTok in Europe. "We are looking for three AI advisers because we are aware AI tools are evolving very quickly and we need experts with tech background to help us in our data protection activity," Ghiglia said. "We explored ChatGPT and realised it was not compliant with EU data privacy rules." "That's why we decided to act swiftly with ChatGPT", Ghiglia said.

☆ Samsung not planning to replace Google with Bing in phones - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft shares were down about 1%. Samsung has suspended an internal review that explored replacing Google with Bing on its web-browsing app, which comes pre-installed on the company's smartphones, according to the report. Google, Samsung and Microsoft did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Google earns an estimated $3 billion in annual revenue from the Samsung contract, according to an April 16 report by the New York Times. Samsung considering a potential shift to Bing was first reported last month and had weighed on Alphabet's shares at the time.

☆ Analysis: US debt ceiling deal could stall safety flight fueling megacap rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( David Randall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Their rally has been responsible for all of the 8.3% year-to-date gain in the S&P 500 (.SPX) through Wednesday's close, a Deutsche Bank report showed. A recent survey of global fund managers from BofA Global Research showed that 71% believe a deal to raise the debt ceiling will be reached before the X-date. Excitement over artificial intelligence, which has boosted some megacap names this year, is another factor that could support the category. At the same time, the debt ceiling has been only one of of several worries weighing on the market. Paul Christopher, head of global market strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, expects lawmakers will reach an agreement to extend the debt ceiling through September.

☆ Twitter alleges "unauthorized" data usage by Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc has alleged that Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) violated an agreement over using the social media company's data, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday. Twitter owner Elon Musk's lawyer leveled accusations of "unauthorized" usage of Twitter's data by Microsoft, including sharing data with government agencies without permission in some cases. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company on Thursday heard from a law firm representing Twitter with some questions about its previous use of the free Twitter APIs. Twitter's accusations come at a time when Elon Musk is at odds with Microsoft over its artificial intelligence platform. Musk said in April he will launch AI platform "TruthGPT" to challenge the offerings from Microsoft and Google.

President Joe Biden and McCarthy reiterated their aim to strike a deal soon on Wednesday to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt ceiling and agreed to talk as soon as Sunday. Growth stocks led gains, with Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) rising between 1% and 4.4%. Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI.N) gained 9.6% after the beauty and skincare firm raised its annual profit forecast. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.07-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.04-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded 22 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 68 new highs and 50 new lows.

☆ Amazon's cloud unit to invest $13 billion in India by 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The latest investment will be used to build its cloud infrastructure in India and it will support over 100,000 full-time jobs annually, AWS said. AWS' total planned investment in India adds up to about $16.4 billion by 2030, the company said in a statement. The cloud platform offers more than 200 services, including storage, robotics and artificial intelligence. The country is currently in the process of drafting a cloud and data center policy to oversee the sector. A host of global companies, including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google are ramping up cloud investments in India, betting on the rising digital consumption in one of the fastest-growing markets.

With the introduction of new AI features, corporate finance teams will have improved oversight, Ramp CEO Eric Glyman told Reuters. For instance, companies will be able to better detect unusual employee spending in real time, said Ramp investor Logan Bartlett of Redpoint Ventures. The new features also include an accounting co-pilot that makes doing manual tasks much faster. Generative AI has the ability to synthesize large amounts of data and interact using humanlike language. Ramp partnered with OpenAI, the AI behind the chatbot sensation ChatGPT, to build the AI enhancements.

☆ Ampere Computing launches its custom chips aimed at cloud computing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Ampere Computing on Thursday released a new family of data center chips with technology it has custom-designed for cloud computing companies. Founded by former Intel Corp (INTC.O) president Renee James, Ampere has focused on courting cloud companies that buy thousands of chips at a time and in turn rent them out. Unlike Intel, Ampere uses a computing architecture from SoftBank Group Corp-owned (9984.T) Arm Ltd, which is also an investor in Ampere. The new Ampere chips will have as many as 192 of those cores where Intel chips tend to have only a few dozen. We are ever hopeful that the market will open and that it will open for growth companies," James said.

☆ Virgin Orbit enters $17 million 'stalking horse' bid to sell aircraft assets
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 16 (Reuters) - Bankrupt satellite launch company Virgin Orbit said on Tuesday it entered into a "stalking horse" agreement with Stratolaunch to sell mainly its aircraft assets, including the "Cosmic Girl" carrier aircraft, for $17 million in cash. A stalking horse bid is used as a starting bid or minimally accepted offer that other interested bidders must surpass if they want to buy the asset or company. In a court filing, Virgin Orbit said the bid does not prevent going concern bidders from making bids for all its assets, including the ones Stratolaunch is bidding for. The company said the bankruptcy marketing process has also generated considerable interest in its assets other than carrier aircraft. Virgin Orbit, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April after the company struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed satellite launch in January.

☆ Wall St mixed, Treasury yields climb on mixed data; debt ceiling talks take center stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Stephen Culp | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Disappointing results from Home Depot (HD.N), the largest U.S. home improvement chain, combined with weaker-than-expected retail sales data suggested consumer spending is losing some momentum as restrictive monetary policy dampens demand. However, a core measure of retail sales suggested the American consumer continues to bolster the economy. European shares ended lower as downbeat earnings and the U.S. retail sales data stoked worries about softer consumer spending. U.S. Treasury yields continued to rise on the heels of the retail sales data, suggesting that the Federal Reserve's efforts to toss cold water on the economy in order to rein in inflation has yet to take full effect. The dollar index rose 0.14%, with the euro down 0.04% to $1.0868.

[1/4] OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testifies before a Senate Judiciary Privacy, Technology & the Law Subcommittee hearing titled 'Oversight of A.I. Some critics fear the technology will exacerbate societal harms, among them prejudice and misinformation, while others warn AI could end humanity itself. Globally, this is exploding," said Senator Cory Booker, one of many lawmakers with questions about how best to regulate AI. The White House has convened top technology CEOs including Altman to address AI. An OpenAI staffer recently proposed the creation of a U.S. licensing agency for AI, which could be called the Office for AI Safety and Infrastructure Security, or OASIS, Reuters has reported.

The Commerce Department reported retail sales rose 0.4% in April, at half the pace against an expected increase of 0.8%. "The retail sales data has been positive in several months, but it's still weak," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. You are probably seeing the end of the decline in retail sales, but it's not going to be a smooth ride from here." Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) component Home Depot (HD.N) shed 1.4%, hitting its lowest level in over six months after the company lowered its annual sales forecast. Shares of Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) jumped 2.4%, rising the most on the S&P 500, after Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) on Monday disclosed it has begun investing in the consumer lender.

☆ Asian hedge funds piled to China education, U.S. AI shares in Q1
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Summer Zhen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Investors poured money into private tutoring leaders, including New Oriental and TAL Education (TAL.N), that have come through a near two-year crackdown in China on after-school education. Greenwoods also built a new position in TAL Education by acquiring 2.2 million shares. The fund run by ex-Alibaba CTO John Wu bought 2.1 million more shares to boost its stake in the tutoring giant. Share prices of both New Oriental and TAL collapsed over 90% from its peak after Beijing’s ban on K-12 private tutoring. The price of two stocks have doubled from the low point in October after China dropped its strict controls against COVID-19.

In his first appearance before a congressional panel, CEO Sam Altman is set to advocate licensing or registration requirements for AI with certain capabilities, his written testimony shows. That way, the U.S. can hold companies to safety standards, for instance testing systems before their release and publishing the results. "Regulation of AI is essential," Altman said in the prepared remarks which were seen by Reuters. An OpenAI staffer recently proposed the creation of a U.S. licensing agency for AI, which could be called the Office for AI Safety and Infrastructure Security, or OASIS, Reuters has reported. She is expected to urge Congress to focus regulation on areas with the potential to do the greatest societal harm.

The Commerce Department reported retail sales rose 0.4% in April, at half the pace against an expected increase of 0.8%. "The retail sales data has been positive in several months, but it's still weak," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. You are probably seeing the end of the decline in retail sales, but it's not going to be a smooth ride from here." The S&P 500 retail index (.SPXRT) lost 0.6%. Shares of Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) jumped 5.4%, rising the most on the S&P 500, after Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) on Monday disclosed it has begun investing in the consumer lender.

☆ OpenAI readies new open-source AI model - The Information
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - OpenAI is preparing to release a new open-source language model to the public, The Information reported on Monday, citing a person with knowledge of the plan. OpenAI's ChatGPT, known for producing prose or poetry on command, has gained widespread attention in Silicon Valley as investors see generative AI as the next big growth area for tech companies. Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is now rushing to join competitors Microsoft and Google in releasing generative AI products capable of creating human-like writing, art and other content. OpenAI is unlikely to release a model that is competitive with GPT, the report said. Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Microsoft wins EU antitrust approval for Activision deal vetoed by UK
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard's games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. Microsoft has in recent months signed licensing deals with Nvidia (NVDA.O), Nintendo (7974.T), Ukraine's Boosteroid and Japan's Ubitus to bring Activision games to their platforms should the deal go through. "The European Commission has required Microsoft to license popular Activision Blizzard games automatically to competing cloud gaming services. CLOUD GAMING MARKET GROWTHVestager said the Commission had a different view from UK regulators of how the game streaming market, which accounted for just 1% of the total market last year, would develop. "Microsoft and Activision’s lawyers will also use the decision to provide greater ballast to their appeal of the CMA's decision."

Interviews with a U.S. senator, congressional staffers, AI companies and interest groups show there are a number of options under discussion. Some proposals focus on AI that may put people's lives or livelihoods at risk, like in medicine and finance. Other possibilities include rules to ensure AI isn't used to discriminate or violate someone's civil rights. Another debate is whether to regulate the developer of AI or the company that uses it to interact with consumers. GOVERNMENT MICROMANAGEMENTThe risk-based approach means AI used to diagnose cancer, for example, would be scrutinized by the Food and Drug Administration, while AI for entertainment would not be regulated.

☆ Intel, Boston Consulting Group team to sell AI to corporate customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 10 (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Boston Consulting Group on Wednesday said they are working together to sell generative artificial intelligence tools to big businesses. Google owner Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) are revamping their search engines with AI technology to provide answers to questions rather than lists of links. Previously, BCG employees conducted a keyword search and had to click through each document to see whether it contained what they were looking for. With the new system, the AI system can answer employees' questions using the archive or summarize entire documents. Intel built the supercomputer and software so that BCG did not have to share its data with Intel.

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