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STOCKHOLM/BRUSSELS, Feb 6 (Reuters) - EU lawmakers hope to agree on draft artificial intelligence rules next month, with the aim of clinching a deal with EU countries by the end of the year, one of the legislators steering the AI Act said. The European Commission proposed the AI rules in 2021 in an attempt to foster innovation and set a global standard for a technology, used in everything from self-driving cars and chatbots to automated factories, currently led by China and the United States. The proposed legislation has drawn criticism from lawmakers and consumer groups for not fully addressing risks from AI systems, but the companies involved have warned that stricter rules could stifle innovation. Intense debate over how AI should be governed led several experts to predict that the draft legislation might hit a bottleneck and get delayed. EU industry chief Thierry Breton has said new proposed artificial intelligence rules will aim to tackle concerns about the risks around ChatGPT.

☆ Adani rout deepens despite soothing words from India's government and billionaires
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Indranil Mukherjee | Afp | Getty ImagesShares of most Adani Group companies fell further on Monday, continuing to drop as a feud between the conglomerate and short-seller firm Hindenburg deepened. Adani Green Energy , Adani Power and Adani Total Gas fell 5% each. The Sensex is the benchmark index of the BSE — formerly the Bombay Stock Exchange — and the Nifty 50 is the flagship index of the National Stock Exchange of India. Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, speaks during the Forbes CEO Summit in Singapore, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. Adani Power is included on the long-term list, while Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Transmission and Adani Total Gas are on the short-term list.

OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), made it available to the public for free in late November. Breton said the risks posed by ChatGPT underscored the urgent need for AI rules which he proposed last year in a bid to set the global standard for a technology led by China and the United States and used in smartphones, self-driving cars, online shopping and factories. "As showcased by ChatGPT, AI solutions can offer great opportunities for businesses and citizens, but can also pose risks. This is why we need a solid regulatory framework to ensure trustworthy AI based on high-quality data," he told Reuters in written comments. Editing by Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

"As showcased by ChatGPT, AI solutions can offer great opportunities for businesses and citizens, but can also pose risks. Under the EU draft rules, ChatGPT is considered a general purpose AI system which can be used for multiple purposes including high-risk ones such as the selection of candidates for jobs and credit scoring. Breton wants OpenAI to cooperate closely with downstream developers of high-risk AI systems to enable their compliance with the proposed AI Act. Breton said the European Commission is working closely with the EU Council and European Parliament to further clarify the rules in the AI Act for general purpose AI systems. Breton said forthcoming discussions with lawmakers about AI rules would cover these aspects.

☆ Gautam Adani calls off $2.5 billion equity sale as regulatory concerns grow
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Seema Mody | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

(Photo by Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP) (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)On Wednesday, Gautam Adani announced he's scrapping his firm's $2.5 billion equity sale. He withdrew the offering for shares in Adani Enterprises, the flagship of the Indian conglomerate Adani Group, after the stock tanked by nearly 30%. Adani Group has denied the allegations, saying they have "no basis" and stem from an ignorance of Indian law. Adani Enterprises' stock ended higher on Tuesday following news of the fully subscribed $2.5 billion offering. Investors woke up to an ugly picture on Wednesday when Adani Enterprise's stock plunged, falling by as much as 28% and prompting Adani to cancel his equity sale.

☆ Spotify's user growth beats estimates, expects 500 million listeners next quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonSTOCKHOLM, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations for both active users and subscribers, and forecast the number of listeners would reach 500 million next quarter. The number of monthly active users rose to 489 million in the quarter, beating Spotify's guidance and analysts' forecasts of 477.9 million. Premium subscribers, who account for most of the company's revenue, rose 14% to 205 million, topping estimates of 202.3 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Apart from the forecast of half a billion users, Spotify also expects premium subscribers to reach 207 million in the current quarter and revenue of 3.1 billion euros ($3.35 billion). Spotify last year laid out plans to get 1 billion users by 2030 and to reach $100 billion revenue annually.

☆ Black Friday, holiday sales spur demand at South Africa's Shoprite
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 31 (Reuters) - South Africa's biggest supermarket group Shoprite (SHPJ.J) reported a 16.8% jump in half year sales on Tuesday, supported by a record Black Friday and festive season as both cash-strapped shoppers and upmarket consumers went after deals. But the offerings would hurt margins of its South Africa supermarkets business, the company said. The retailer, with over 2,100 stores across Africa, said group sales for the six months ended Jan. 1 jumped to 106.3 billion rand ($6.10 billion). The group's core business, Supermarkets South Africa, which contributes up to 80% to the topline, grew sales by 17.5%, with like-for-like sales growth of 11.1%. Its rest of Africa business grew sales by 17.5% in rand terms.

Apart from the forecast of half a billion users, Spotify also expects premium subscribers to reach 207 million in the current quarter and revenue of 3.1 billion euros ($3.35 billion). Analysts were expecting 202 million subscribers and revenue of 3.05 billion euros. Spotify last year laid out plans to get 1 billion users by 2030 and to reach $100 billion revenue annually. "Spotify will double down on things that worked well and stop doing the things that don't work," he said. In 2023, the company expects revenue to begin to grow faster than operating expenses, which have jumped due to headcount growth and higher advertising costs.

☆ Mobile phone, PC shipments to fall again in 2023, Gartner says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Shipments of personal computers and mobile phones are expected to fall for the second straight year in 2023, with phone shipments slumping to a decade low, IT research firm Gartner said on Tuesday. Mobile phone shipments are projected to fall 4% to 1.34 billion units in 2023, down from 1.40 billion units in 2022, Gartner said. That was close to the 2009 shipments level when Blackberry and Nokia phones were the market leaders as Apple tried to dent their dominance. The mobile phone market peaked in 2015 when shipmentstouched 1.9 billion units. Personal computer shipments are expected to slide 6.8% this year after falling 16% in 2022, the research firm said.

☆ Spotify's user growth beats estimates, expects 500 mln listeners next quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The number of monthly active users rose to 489 million in the quarter, beating Spotify's guidance and analysts' forecasts of 477.9 million. Premium subscribers, who account for most of the company's revenue, rose 14% to 205 million, topping estimates of 202.3 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. The growth was driven by marketing campaigns and as more listeners signed up in countries such as India and Indonesia. Apart from the forecast of half a billion users, Spotify also expects premium subscribers to reach 207 million in the current quarter and revenue of 3.1 billion euros ($3.35 billion). Spotify last year laid out plans to get 1 billion users by 2030 and to reach $100 billion revenue annually.

☆ Most Adani shares continue bloodbath as Asia's richest man loses $28 billion in a month
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Gautam Adani, chairperson of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, at the World Congress of Accountants in Mumbai on Nov. 19, 2022. Founder Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia and once second only to Elon Musk, fell out of the world's top five richest to rank seventh on the Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. Despite small gains seen in Adani Enterprises, other affiliates of the Adani Group continued to plunge. Adani Total Gas and Adani Transmission both dropped by the daily 20% limit, Adani Green Energy fell more than 19%, and Adani Power lost 5%. India's Nifty 50 Index traded 0.6% lower on Monday and hovered at the lowest since mid-October 2022.

In Germany, where SAP is headquartered, the company will cut slightly more than 200 jobs. SAP has also started the process to sell its stake in Qualtrics (XM.O). REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo 1 2Currently, survey-software seller Qualtrics has a market value of $7 billion and SAP has a 71% stake. SAP forecast core operating profit of 8.8-8.9 billion euros at constant currencies for this year. It also expects cloud revenue at constant currencies for 2023 to rise to 15.3-15.7 billion euros, from 12.56 billion euros last year.

☆ Nokia's quarterly profit beats expectations on 'robust' demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Nokia (NOKIA.HE) on Thursday beat quarterly operating profit expectations and forecast higher 2023 sales as the Finnish telecom equipment maker benefited from 5G roll-out in countries such as India. "Looking forward to 2023, while we are mindful of the uncertain economic outlook, demand remains robust," Lundmark said in a statement. Nokia forecast full-year net sales of between 24.9 billion euros and 26.5 billion euros, which implies between 2% and 8% growth in constant currency. Analysts expect 25.5 billion euros. Net sales grew 16% to 7.45 billion euros, beating estimates of 7.11 billion.

☆ Nokia's quarterly profit beats expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Nokia (NOKIA.HE) on Thursday reported quarterly operating profit above market expectations as the Finnish telecom equipment maker benefited from strong demand from phone companies in countries such as India as they roll out 5G and higher patent revenue. Fourth-quarter comparable operating profit rose to 1.15 billion euros ($1.26 billion) from 908 million last year, beating the 924.6 million euro mean forecast of 10 analysts polled by Refinitiv. ($1 = 0.9160 euros)Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Climate and social impact startup OnHand just raised $4 million for its gamified employee app. Check out the 20-slide pitch deck used to secure the cash.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OnHand, a B2B environmental and social impact platform, has just landed $4 million. Check out the 20-slide pitch deck OnHand used to convince investors to back it. A platform that encourages employees cut their environmental footprint and volunteer in the community has just raised $4 million from London venture capital firm 24Haymarket. The Newcastle, UK, company started in the charity space as a location-based, on-demand and consumer-focused volunteering app before pivoting to employee sustainability. As well as calculating emissions reductions for employees, OnHand still offers on-demand charity work.

South Africa has been struggling for years to overhaul its state-power company which is plagued by corruption and mismanagement and reeling under a 400 billion rand ($23.3 billion) debt pile. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Reuters last week he was "sharpening his pencil" to provide details, so far scarce, for taking on between one- and two-thirds of Eskom's debt in his Feb. 22 budget presentation. Eskom's debt pile is not just big, it is also complex. Another 15% is international bonds, held by global asset managers such as PIMCO, BlackRock and Fidelity, according to recent filings. Eskom's international bonds could rally if the government takes on two-thirds of the debt, Wolman said, while limiting that to one third or carrying out the debt transfer over a long period of time could be negative.

☆ Microsoft cloud outage hits users around the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Akriti Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Microsoft Teams app is seen on the smartphone placed on the keyboard in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationJan 25 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Wednesday was hit with a networking outage that took down its cloud platform Azure along with services such as Teams and Outlook, potentially affecting millions of users globally. "We've determined the network connectivity issue is occurring with devices across the Microsoft Wide Area Network (WAN)," Microsoft said. During the outage, users faced problems in exchanging messages, join calls or use any features of Teams application. Among the other services affected were Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, according to the company's status page.

☆ Sweden to upgrade Berzelius supercomputer with Nvidia AI systems
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Sweden will upgrade its Berzelius supercomputer using Nvidia's (NVDA.O) latest artificial intelligence (AI) systems to aid in understanding various diseases such as cancer and make it among the world's fastest AI supercomputers. The system has also developed large language models capable of drafting a speech or answering questions in Swedish, sporting 20 billion parameters, a measure of an artificial network's capacity. Researchers plan to develop a model with 175 billion parameters over time which would also be fluent in Danish and Norwegian, Nvidia said in a blog post. Funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Berzelius supercomputer was unveiled in 2021 at Linköping University featuring 60 of the fastest AI systems from Nvidia. The upgrade will add another 34 systems.

☆ Nvidia CEO says AI will need regulation, social norms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang on Tuesday said that the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence will create powerful tools that require legal regulation and social norms that have yet to be worked out. Huang said engineering standards bodies would need to establish standards for building safe AI systems, similar to how medical bodies set rules for the safe practice of medicine. But he also said laws and social norms would play a key role for AI. What the legal norms (are) for using it have to be developed," Huang said. Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; writing by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nokia signs 5G patent agreement with Samsung
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A view of the logo at the headquarters of the Finnish telecoms company Nokia in Espoo, Finland March 16, 2021. Lehtikuva/Heikki Saukkomaa via REUTERSSTOCKHOLM, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia (NOKIA.HE) on Monday said it has signed a new multi-year agreement to license its 5G patents to Samsung (005930.KS) following the expiry of the previous pact in December. Samsung will make payments to Nokia from Jan. 1, but the companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. Nordic rival Ericsson (ERICb.ST) last year also reached an agreement on 5G patents with Samsung, ending a dispute that hit its quarterly revenue. Nokia's patent portfolio is made of around 20,000 patent families, including over 4,500 patent families declared essential to 5G.

☆ Telia warns of $2 bln impairment in Q4 as interest rates rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

STOCKHOLM, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Swedish telecom operator Telia Company (TELIA.ST) warned on Friday its fourth-quarter results would be hit by non-cash impairment charges due mainly to increased cost of capital. It said the bulk of costs related to goodwill writedowns at its Finland and Norway units, with charges of 9.5 billion crowns and 8.5 billion, respectively, reflecting slowing economies and higher market rates. Shares in Telia, which is in the midst of a years-long cost cutting programme, were down 1.4% in mid-day trade. Analysts before the news of the charge had on average expected Telia to report a fourth-quarter pretax profit of 1.7 billion crowns, according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate. ($1 = 10.2836 Swedish crowns)Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Supantha Mukherjee Editing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ericsson earnings miss as slowing U.S. market hits margins
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It has also announced plans to cut costs by 9 billion crowns ($880 million) by the end of 2023. Ericsson expects a margin fall seen in its Networks business to persist through the first half of 2023 but the effect of cost savings to emerge in the second quarter. The company's fourth-quarter adjusted operating earnings excluding restructuring charges fell to 9.3 billion Swedish crowns ($902 million) from 12.8 billion a year earlier. Net sales rose 21% to 86 billion crowns, beating estimates of 84.2 billion. A settlement of a patent deal with Apple (AAPL.O) last month resulted in revenue of 6 billion crowns, but Ericsson also took 4 billion crowns in charges, including a provision for a potential fine from U.S. regulators and divestments.

☆ Ericsson shares slide as fourth-quarter earnings disappoint
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The company has already announced plans to cut costs by 9 billion crowns ($880 million) by the end of 2023. The company's net sales rose in the fourth quarter, but margins, net income and core earnings fell. The company's fourth-quarter adjusted operating earnings, excluding restructuring charges, fell to 9.3 billion Swedish crowns from 12.8 billion a year earlier. Net sales rose 21% to 86 billion crowns, beating estimates of 84.2 billion. A settlement of a patent deal with Apple (AAPL.O) last month resulted in revenue of 6 billion crowns, but Ericsson also took 4 billion crowns in charges, including a provision for a potential fine from U.S. regulators and divestments.

☆ Comply with EU rules or face ban, Breton tells TikTok CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We will not hesitate to adopt the full scope of sanctions to protect our citizens if audits do not show full compliance," Breton said. TikTok said in response that it was committed to the DSA, and had also outlined its efforts to comply with other EU legislation, such as GDPR data protections rules and a code of practice on disinformation. "The safety of our users is paramount," Caroline Greer, TikTok's director of public policy and government relations, tweeted. It is not acceptable that behind seemingly fun and harmless features, it takes users seconds to access harmful and sometimes even life-threatening content," Breton said. "The DSA includes dissuasive sanctions including a ban in the EU in case of repeated serious breaches threatening the life or safety of people," he said.

☆ Ericsson's provision for U.S. probe hints of smaller fine, shares jump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Ericsson had in 2019 settled bribery allegations with U.S. authorities and agreed to be under review for three years. But it failed to fully disclose results of an internal investigation about potential payments to the Islamic State militant group in Iraq, leading to more regulatory scrutiny. Ericsson's announcement indicates that a resolution is nearer than the market expected, which removes much of the overhang to the investment case, Rosendal said. The Swedish telecom equipment maker said it believes its provision was based on a sufficiently reliable estimate of the financial penalty associated with any potential breach resolution. "The Company's internal investigation and its cooperation with authorities in relation to the allegations in the 2019 Iraq-related internal investigation report remain open and ongoing," Ericsson said.

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