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STOCKHOLM, June 6 (Reuters) - Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has no plans to go public any time soon, Chief Executive Sam Altman said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. OpenAI has so far raised $10 billion from Microsoft (MSFT.O) at a valuation of almost $30 billion as it invests more on building computing capacity. "We did not threaten to leave the EU," Altman said on Tuesday. There's still more clarity we are waiting for on the EU AI Act, but we are very excited to operate in Europe." Many experts have cited a potential threat to jobs being replaced by AI including in sectors such as transport and logistics, office support and administration, production, services and retail.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, Thierry Breton, Margrethe Vestager, Supantha Mukherjee, David Goodman, Emelia Organizations: Microsoft, United Arab Emirates, EU, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, India, South Korea, EU, Europe, Stockholm

STOCKHOLM, June 6 (Reuters) - Swedish startup evroc, which is backed by EQT Ventures and Norrsken VC, plans to raise and invest 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) over the next couple of years to start operating two "hyperscale" data centres. Led by serial entrepreneur Mattias Åström, evroc plans to keep the data within Europe. It has raised a seed round, and plans to build eight hyperscale data centres by 2028, three software development hubs and employ over 3,000 people. It will use a technique called "eco load balancer" which will move data processing between evroc's data centres based on where renewable energy is most readily available and affordable. "When there is sunshine in Spain, we move data processing to Spain; when there's wind in the Netherlands, we move data processing there," Åström said.

Persons: Mattias Åström, Åström, Supantha Mukherjee, Hugh Lawson Organizations: EQT Ventures, Norrsken, Reuters, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Europe, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Northvolt, Stockholm

☆ OpenAI chief executive does not plan to take company public
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

STOCKHOLM, June 6 (Reuters) - Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has no plans to go public any time soon, Chief Executive Sam Altman said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. "When we develop super intelligence, we are likely to make some decisions that most investors would look at very strangely," Altman said. "I don't want to be sued by ... public market, Wall Street etc, so no, not that interested," he replied to a question on whether he will take OpenAI public. OpenAI has so far raised $10 billion from Microsoft (MSFT.O) at a valuation of almost $30 billion as it invests more on building computing capacity. Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, Supantha Mukherjee, David Goodman Organizations: Microsoft, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Abu Dhabi, Stockholm

"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war," more than 350 signatories wrote in a letter published by the nonprofit Center for AI Safety (CAIS). As well as Altman, they included the CEOs of AI firms DeepMind and Anthropic, and executives from Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Google (GOOGL.O). Elon Musk and a group of AI experts and industry executives were the first ones to cite potential risks to society in April. AI pioneer Hinton earlier told Reuters that AI could pose a "more urgent" threat to humanity than climate change. Last week OpenAI CEO Sam Altman referred to EU AI - the first efforts to create a regulation for AI - as over-regulation and threatened to leave Europe.

SummarySummary Companies OpenAI CEO reverses earlier threat to leave EuropeSays had productive week of conversations about regulating AIEU lawmakers were critical about OpenAI's threat regionMay 26 (Reuters) - OpenAI has no plans to leave Europe, CEO Sam Altman said on Friday, reversing a threat made earlier this week to leave the region if it becomes too hard to comply with upcoming laws on artificial intelligence. "We are excited to continue to operate here and of course have no plans to leave," Altman said in a tweet on Friday. His threat of quitting Europe had drawn criticism from EU industry chief Thierry Breton and a host of other lawmakers. He called his tour a "very productive week of conversations in Europe about how to best regulate AI!" OpenAI first clashed with regulators in March, when Italian data regulator Garante shut the app down domestically, accusing OpenAI of flouting European privacy rules.

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.

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 agreement came after the European Union, which participates in the G7, inched closer this month to passing legislation to regulate AI technology, potentially the world's first comprehensive AI law that could form a precedent among the advanced economies. The G7 leaders said they "need to immediately take stock of the opportunities and challenges of generative AI", a subset of the technology popularised by the ChatGPT app. A month later, EU lawmakers urged world leaders to find ways to control AI technologies, saying they were developing faster than expected. The United States so far has taken a cautious approach on governing AI, with President Joe Biden last month saying it remained to be seen whether AI is dangerous. While acknowledging differences on how AI should be regulated, the G7 leaders agreed on Friday to create a ministerial forum dubbed the "Hiroshima AI process" to discuss issues around generative AI, such as copyrights and disinformation, by the end of this year.

TOKYO, May 20 (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations on Saturday called for the development and adoption of international technical standards for trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) as lawmakers of the rich countries focus on the new technology. The agreement came after European Union, which is represented at the G7, inched closer this month to passing legislation to regulate AI technology, potentially the world's first comprehensive AI law. The G7 leaders mentioned generative AI, the subset popularised by the ChatGPT app, saying they "need to immediately take stock of the opportunities and challenges of generative AI." The heads of government agreed on Friday to create a ministerial forum dubbed the "Hiroshima AI process" to discuss issues around generative AI tools, such as intellectual property rights and disinformation, by the end of this year. The summit followed a G7 digital ministers' meeting last month, where the countries - the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada - said they should adopt "risk-based" AI regulation.

[1/2] An advertising board shows a 5G logo at the International Airport in Zaventem, Belgium May 4, 2020. The proposal is part of feedback to the European Commission which launched a consultation into the issue in February. The document, which was reviewed by Reuters and has not been published, was compiled by lobbying groups GSMA and ETNO. Telecom operators have lobbied for years for leading technology companies to contribute to funding 5G and broadband roll-out, saying that they use a huge part of the region's internet traffic. Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google, Apple (AAPL.O), Meta (META.O), Netflix , Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) account for more than half of data internet traffic.

Both plants will start production in 2026, employ thousands of people and supply batteries to European car makers. With Taiwan a focal point in tensions between Washington and Beijing, the company also wanted to secure a base overseas. Volkswagen was expected to announce a battery plant location in Europe late last year but said in March it is awaiting more clarity from Europe on subsidies before making a decision. The plant by Taiwan's ProLogium would be its first overseas car battery factory. A second plant could also be constructed in parallel elsewhere, a Northvolt spokesperson said, including in North America.

☆ Uber rival Bolt seeks to turn profitable next year, IPO in 2025
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

STOCKHOLM, May 8 (Reuters) - Estonian ride-hailing and food delivery startup Bolt expects to turn profitable in the next 12 months and be ready for an initial public offering in 2025, its Chief Executive Officer Markus Villig said in an interview. 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. "We expect to be the first European mobility platform that will be fully profitable over the next 12 months," said Villig, who doesn't have a driving license. Bolt, run by 29-year-old Villig, does not plan to raise external capital through another funding round but will get ready for an IPO instead. It also expects its grocery business to break even or turn profitable in two or three years.

☆ EU tech tsar Vestager sees political agreement on AI law this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TAKASAKI, April 30 (Reuters) - European Union tech regulation chief Margrethe Vestager said on Sunday the bloc will likely reach a political agreement this year that will pave the way for the world's first major artificial intelligence (AI) legislation. This would follow a preliminary deal reached on Thursday on the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act. In an interview with Reuters at a Group of Seven digital ministers' meeting in Takasaki, Japan, Vestager suggested legislative measures for the use of AI tools, such as "labelling obligations for AI-generated images". "There was no reason to hesitate and to wait for the legislation to be passed to accelerate the necessary discussions to provide the changes in all the systems where AI will have an enormous influence," she added, when asked about steps before any agreement takes force. Reporting by Kantaro Komiya in Takasaki, Japan; Additional reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ G7 should adopt 'risk-based' AI regulation, ministers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But such regulation should also "preserve an open and enabling environment" for the development of AI technologies and be based on democratic values, G7 ministers said in a joint statement issued at the end of a two-day meeting in Japan. EU lawmakers on Thursday reached a preliminary agreement on a new draft of its upcoming AI Act, including copyright protection measures for generative AI, following a call for world leaders to convene a summit to control such technology. Vestager, EU's tech regulation chief, said the bloc "will have the political agreement this year" on the AI copyright legislation, such as labelling obligations for AI-generated images or music. Japan, this year's chair of G7, meanwhile, has taken an accommodative approach on AI developers, pledging support for public and industrial adoption of AI. Japan will host the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in late May, where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will discuss AI rules with world leaders.

REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File PhotoLONDON/STOCKHOLM, April 28 (Reuters) - As recently as February, generative AI did not feature prominently in EU lawmakers' plans for regulating generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as ChatGPT. LAST-MINUTE CHANGESSince launching in November, ChatGPT has become the fastest growing app in history, and sparked a flurry of activity from Big Tech competitors and investment in generative AI startups like Anthropic and Midjourney. THE TERMINATORUntil recently, MEPs were still unconvinced that generative AI deserved any special consideration. In February, Tudorache told Reuters that generative AI was "not going to be covered" in-depth. But Tudorache and his colleagues now agree on the need for laws specifically targeting the use of generative AI.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O)-backed OpenAI took ChatGPT offline in Italy last month after the country's data protection authority, also known as Garante, temporarily banned the chatbot and launched a probe over the artificial intelligence application's suspected breach of privacy rules. Last month, Garante said ChatGPT has an "absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data" to "train" the chatbot. Italy was the first western European country to curb ChatGPT, but its rapid development has attracted attention from lawmakers and regulators in several countries. Following Garante's interest in ChatGPT, European Data Protection Board, the body that unites Europe's national privacy watchdogs, set up a task force on the chatbot earlier this month. Garante said it will continue its probe of ChatGPT and will work with the special task force.

☆ EU lawmakers committee reaches deal on artificial intelligence act
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, April 27 (Reuters) - A committee of European Union lawmakers on Thursday reached a preliminary agreement on a European Artificial Intelligence Act, which would pave the way to the first ever regulation of AI. "Against conservative wishes for more surveillance and leftist fantasies of over-regulation, parliament found a solid compromise that would regulate AI proportionately, protect citizens’ rights, as well as foster innovation and boost the economy," said Svenja Hahn, a European Parliament deputy. She said there would be a vote at committee level on May 11 followed by a plenary vote in parliament, probably in June. Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Foo Yun Chee in BrusselsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Members of the European Parliament agreed to push the draft through to the next stage, the trilogue, during which EU lawmakers and member states will thrash out the final details of the bill. Under the proposals, AI tools will be classified according to their perceived risk level: from minimal through to limited, high, and unacceptable. Companies deploying generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT or image generator Midjourney, will also have to disclose any copyrighted material used to develop their systems. Some committee members initially proposed banning copyrighted material being used to train generative AI models altogether, the source said, but this was abandoned in favour of a transparency requirement. The ensuing race among tech companies to bring generative AI products to market concerned some onlookers, with Twitter-owner Elon Musk backing a proposal to halt development of such systems for six months.

☆ Spotify's monthly active users top 500 million, beat estimate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The number of monthly active users rose to 515 million in the first quarter, beating Spotify's guidance and analysts' forecast of 500 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Premium subscribers, who account for most of its revenue, rose 15% to 210 million, topping estimates of 206 million. The company forecast monthly active users of 530 million. Spotify last year laid out plans to get one billion users by 2030 and reach $100 billion in annual revenue. Spotify's current-quarter revenue forecast of 3.2 billion euros also missed expectations of 3.26 billion euros.

☆ Sweden launches research rocket, accidentally hits Norway
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, April 25 (Reuters) - A research rocket launched by Sweden Space Corp (SSC) early on Monday from Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden malfunctioned and landed 15 km (9.32 miles) inside neighbouring Norway. There are routines in place when things go wrong and we inform both Swedish and Norwegian governments, and other actors, he said. In the event of any border violation, those responsible should immediately inform the relevant Norwegian authorities, which included the foreign ministry, through the right channels, the spokesperson said. The ministry had not received a formal notification of the incident from the Swedish authorities, she added. The Norwegian foreign ministry said it was not aware of whether there was any damage to the surroundings, while a SSC spokesperson said the rocket came down far from any settlement.

The logo of German software group SAP is pictured at the headquarters of SAP (Schweiz) AG in Regensdorf, Switzerland January 22, 2021. Revenue from SAP's lucrative cloud business grew 24% year-on-year, broadly in line with consensus. For the year, SAP expects non-IFRS operating profit in the range of 8.6-8.9 billion euros, 200 million euros less than before. Cloud revenue forecast is seen down by 1.3 billion euros to between 14 and 14.4 billion euros. "Underlying guidance is essentially unchanged, although updated to reflect the disposal of Qualtrics," Jefferies analysts wrote in a client note.

☆ Nokia profit misses forecast, expects stronger second half
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

However, it kept its full-year outlook unchanged and said it expects profitability in the second half of the year to be stronger than the first half. First-quarter comparable operating profit fell to 479 million euros ($524.94 million) from 583 million euros last year, missing the 532.4 million euro forecast of analysts polled by Refinitiv. Net sales grew 10% in the quarter to 5.86 billion euros, beating estimates of 5.72 billion euros, Nokia said. Lundmark expects some recovery in the North American market in the second half of the year. Comparable operating margin fell to 8.2% from 10.9%.

The size of subsidies under the EU Chips Act, which aims to tempt the world's top chipmakers to build factories in the bloc and double its share of global output to 20% by 2030, lags the $52 billion CHIPS for America Act. Taiwan accounts for more than 60% of global chip production and concerns are growing about heightened tensions between Taipei and Beijing. But Europe's relatively modest subsidies could put a brake on its ambition, said Richard Windsor of research company Radio Free Mobile. GOOD STARTThe EU Chips Act is a good start given the EU has little choice but to join the subsidy race, but the bloc should play to its chipmaking strengths, said Christopher Cytera, research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis. Catching up on the chips race is more than just building factories and the Chips Act acknowledges this with its focus on developing skilled labour for the future, said Anielle Guedes, senior research analyst at IDC Technologies.

April 17 (Reuters) - EU lawmakers urged world leaders on Monday to hold a summit to find ways to control the development of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT, saying they were developing faster than expected. The 12 MEPs, all working on EU legislation on the technology, called on U.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to convene the meeting, and said AI firms should be more responsible. "We are nevertheless in agreement with the letter's core message: with the rapid evolution of powerful AI, we see the need for significant political action," they added. The letter urged democratic and "non-democratic" countries to reflect on potential systems of governance, and to exercise restraint in their pursuit of very powerful AI. The Biden administration has also been seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for AI systems as questions loom about their impact on national security and education.

☆ OpenAI to propose remedies to Italian ban on ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME/STOCKHOLM, April 6 (Reuters) - OpenAI plans to present measures to Italian authorities on Thursday to remedy concerns that led to a ban of its ChatGPT chatbot in Italy last week, the country's data protection authorities said. The Italian agency, also known as Garante, accused Microsoft Corp-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI of failing to check the age of ChatGPT users and the "absence of any legal basis that justifies the massive collection and storage of personal data" to "train" the chatbot. OpenAI responded by stopping access to Italian users. The agency said it has no intention of putting a brake on the development of AI but reiterated the importance of respecting rules aimed at protecting the personal data of Italian and European citizens. In February, Garante banned AI chatbot company Replika from using the personal data of Italian users, citing risks to minors and emotionally fragile people.

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