Japanese tech giants NTT Communications and SoftBank are developing AI-driven systems to support call centre employees dealing with abusive customers. NTT Communications has designed a support system that monitors interactions, providing operators with appropriate real-time responses. During a recent demonstration, the system suggested a response to a customer complaint, which was then confirmed as effective.
The technology aims to reduce the psychological stress faced by call centre staff, who often struggle to remain composed when confronted with aggressive callers. By providing quick and accurate responses, the system may also help calm upset customers, according to NTT Communications.
Meanwhile, SoftBank is working on an AI system that modifies the tone of customer voices during interactions, aiming to ease tensions. The company plans to launch this service by fiscal year 2025. These developments address the growing issue of ‘kasu-hara,’ or customer harassment, in Japan, where verbal abuse and demands for excessive apologies have led to mental health issues and job resignations among workers in service industries.
Google is enhancing its Shopping tab with AI, building on its previous integration of generative AI into Search in 2023. The company announced it will use AI technology to help users find products that match their specific needs. The update includes a new, personalised feed of shoppable products, offering a scrollable, TikTok-inspired design.
When users search for a product, an AI-generated brief will provide personalised tips and considerations based on their query. For example, if someone searches for a “men’s winter jacket for Seattle,” the AI might recommend prioritising water resistance for the rainy climate and suggest insulation types suitable for the milder temperatures.
Google’s AI will recommend relevant products, offering brief descriptions to explain why each item is a suitable choice. Users can browse categories like “Synthetic insulated winter jackets for Seattle” and use filters to refine their search based on specific sizes or local availability.
The personalised shopping feed will showcase products and videos tailored to user preferences, featuring items like Chelsea boots alongside YouTube Shorts with shopping tips. Google is positioning itself to compete with TikTok, which has gained traction in e-commerce. These new features will roll out in the US in the coming weeks, as Google combines its Shopping Graph with advanced Gemini models to enhance the user experience.
Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, is set to invest €7.5 billion ($8.2 billion) in developing data centres in Aragon, Spain, further establishing the region as a key cloud computing hub in Europe. This investment follows similar moves by tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, who are also investing heavily in data centre projects in the area.
The US private equity firm will concentrate on building facilities with cooling systems and cable connections, which will be leased to companies for server installations. The Aragon regional government has indicated that 19 data centre projects are currently pending approval.
In recent announcements, Microsoft revealed plans for a €6.69 billion investment in Aragon, while Amazon’s AWS intends to invest €15.7 billion in its own data centres. Notably, Amazon has committed to powering its facilities with renewable energy, leveraging Aragon’s significant wind power resources.
On Monday, Britain announced a major investment of £6.3 billion ($8.2 billion) by US companies ServiceNow, CyrusOne, CloudHQ, and CoreWeave in UK data centre technology. This announcement aligns with the UK government’s broader economic plans, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts the International Investment Summit in London, gathering hundreds of global business leaders.
At the summit, the government is set to unveil an additional £50 billion ($65 billion) in new investments aimed at stimulating growth in sectors like AI, life sciences, and infrastructure. Starmer, emphasising the importance of private sector involvement, aims to create a stable environment that fosters economic expansion, aligning with his Labour Party’s commitment to boosting the economy.
The event will also feature discussions between ministers and business leaders on capitalising on opportunities in emerging industries, including health tech, clean energy, and creative sectors.
Swedish telecom company Ericsson has secured a new multi-billion dollar deal to supply 5G equipment to India‘s Bharti Airtel, according to sources. This follows a $3.6 billion contract last month with Vodafone Idea, shared with Nokia and Samsung, highlighting Ericsson’s expanding presence in India’s growing 5G market.
Ericsson’s shares rose nearly 9% on Tuesday after the company reported third-quarter earnings that exceeded analyst expectations, driven by strong demand in North America. Adjusted earnings reached 7.327 billion Swedish crowns ($0.7 billion), up from 3.9 billion crowns a year earlier, while net sales fell 4% year-on-year to 61.8 billion crowns, still surpassing forecasts. The North American market showed over 50% year-on-year growth, offsetting declines in northeast and southeast Asia.
CEO Börje Ekholm noted signs of market stabilisation, attributing demand for 5G largely to growth in mobile internet consumption. He highlighted that the rapid rollout of 5G in India has inflated sales but remains optimistic about growth opportunities despite challenges in China. With improved gross margins and positive outlook comments, analysts are forecasting upgrades to Ericsson’s earnings before interest and tax for 2024 and 2025. The results signal a recovery for Ericsson, which has faced slowing demand for its 5G equipment and previously announced layoffs to cut costs.
Orro is enhancing its operational technology (OT) capabilities with the launch of its new division, Orro Critical Infrastructure, aimed at serving Australia and New Zealand. That initiative represents a significant advancement in Orro’s commitment to providing innovative solutions tailored to meet the growing demands of the industrial sector.
The division will offer a comprehensive suite of specialised services, including network infrastructure, cybersecurity, distributed cloud systems, and private LTE wireless networks. A key component of this initiative is establishing a new Security Operations Centre (SOC) designed explicitly for OT customers, providing real-time protection against potential cyberattacks and ensuring robust cybersecurity measures.
Additionally, Orro will focus on operational excellence by integrating best practices from IT and OT disciplines to effectively manage the complexities of OT production environments. The company will assess and stabilise existing critical infrastructure assets, working closely with industry regulators and clients to implement key transformations.
These expanded capabilities are expected to benefit customers across various sectors, including energy, transport and logistics, healthcare, retail, and state government entities, fostering innovation and resilience in critical infrastructure management.
OpenAI‘s head of media partnerships, Varun Shetty, recently stated that the company does not intend to share advertising revenue from its SearchGPT product with publishers. During his address at the Twipe Digital Growth Summit in Brussels, Shetty highlighted OpenAI’s belief that it can provide value to publishers by driving significant traffic from new audiences rather than offering financial compensation. He also acknowledged the importance of a mutually beneficial relationship and indicated that OpenAI is exploring ways to ensure publishers find enough value to remain included in SearchGPT results.
Varun Shetty compared OpenAI’s approach to that of Google’s AI Overviews, which have been criticised for diminishing publishers’ visibility in search results. In contrast, the AI-powered search engine Perplexity has established revenue-sharing agreements with multiple publishers, and Microsoft has announced plans to pay publishers for content featured by its productivity assistant, Copilot. Currently, in an experimental phase, SearchGPT aims to provide answers in natural language while clearly indicating sources. OpenAI intends to integrate SearchGPT into its flagship ChatGPT product by the end of the year.
Shetty stressed the need to balance user experience with publisher needs, noting that while users seek answers, they also want to verify information. He assured publishers they could opt out of SearchGPT results if desired, and any publisher wanting to participate only needs to permit OpenAI’s search bot on their site. He emphasised that SearchGPT has the potential to drive significant traffic without complicating the decision-making regarding content training.
In addition to discussing SearchGPT, Shetty expressed how OpenAI could assist the news industry, noting that while audiences are not interested in AI-generated news, AI can help streamline journalistic tasks, such as story recommendations and multimedia management. He also hinted at advancements in the next GPT model, which will enable more complex user requests, enhancing its usefulness for various applications.
Google has signed the first-ever corporate agreement to source electricity from small modular reactors (SMRs) to power its AI operations. Partnering with Kairos Power, the tech giant plans to bring its first SMR online by 2030, with further installations expected by 2035. The innovative approach aims to ensure a reliable, around-the-clock supply of clean energy, addressing the growing energy demands triggered by the expansion of AI technology.
The agreement outlines Google’s commitment to purchasing 500 megawatts of power from six to seven SMRs, though details regarding the plants’ financial terms and locations remain undisclosed. The power output from these SMRs is significantly smaller than traditional nuclear reactors, but Google’s strategic investment signals a push toward long-term sustainability.
The tech industry’s focus on nuclear energy has gained momentum this year, with companies like Amazon and Microsoft entering similar agreements. According to Goldman Sachs, the demand for data centres in the US is expected to triple between 2023 and 2030. The surge in energy consumption has prompted technology companies to explore alternative energy sources, including nuclear, wind, and solar, to meet future needs.
Kairos Power must navigate regulatory hurdles, including securing permits from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and local agencies, which could take several years. However, the company achieved a key milestone last year by obtaining a construction permit to build a demonstration reactor in Tennessee, signalling progress toward deploying SMRs.
Despite the enthusiasm for SMRs, critics point to potential challenges, including high costs and the production of long-lasting nuclear waste. However, Google’s decision to commit to an order book framework with Kairos rather than purchasing individual reactors represents a strategic investment to accelerate the development of SMRs while ensuring cost-effectiveness and timely project delivery.
USAID announced a groundbreaking $5 million funding initiative aimed at fostering a new public-private partnership involving the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Armenia, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). That collaboration seeks to leverage the strengths of the private sector to address global challenges, particularly in the realm of digital transformation.
Moreover, the partnership is specifically designed to enhance the resilience of Armenian institutions, thereby ensuring they are better equipped to serve citizens and maintain continuity during disruptions. Furthermore, this initiative aligns with Armenia’s recently adopted Cloud First Policy (CFP), which focuses on innovating public services through cloud technology and represents a significant step toward modernising the country’s technological infrastructure. Through strategic consultations with AWS leadership, the Armenian government aims to improve data safety, cost-efficiency, and overall resilience in its service delivery.
The implementation of the Continuity of Government IT (CGIT) solution on AWS will be crucial for protecting Armenia’s digital assets during disruptions. Specifically, this cloud-based solution will help the government align its continuity goals with technology paths that support its digital transformation objectives.
Additionally, this collaboration has the potential to create a replicable public-private model that other regions can adopt. By amplifying this approach, governments can not only enhance cyber resilience but also leverage cloud computing to accelerate sustainable development goals, ultimately contributing to a more robust global technological landscape.
Numeric, an AI-driven accounting software company co-founded by Parker Gilbert in 2020, is gaining traction for automating the tedious and error-prone process of month-end and quarter-end financial closings. Frustrated with manual accounting work at a startup, Gilbert developed the software to streamline and accelerate the process by using AI to analyse and reconcile data from various accounting systems. Companies like Brex, OpenAI, and Plaid now rely on Numeric for their accounting needs.
In the past year, Numeric’s revenue has grown fourfold, reaching single-digit millions. This growth has attracted significant investor attention, leading to a $28 million Series A funding round led by Menlo Ventures, just five months after raising $10 million in seed funding. The round also saw participation from new investors like IVP and Socii, alongside previous backers such as Founders Fund and Long Journey.
Numeric’s software uses AI to perform flux analysis, identifying changes in financial line items and explaining discrepancies, which saves accountants time and improves accuracy. Although AI currently supports analysis and commentary rather than final calculations, Gilbert expects future versions of the software to expand these capabilities. Menlo Ventures’ Croom Beatty, who led the Series A round, highlighted Numeric’s ability to address complex accounting workflows, setting it apart in a market dominated by established players like BlackLine and FloQast.
