Digital business models Archives | Page 433 of 582

Tech stocks rally after Trump halts tariffs

Global stock markets experienced a significant surge following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 90-day suspension on tariffs for several countries. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index soared over 12%, marking its second-best day ever and the most substantial gain since January 2001.

Leading technology firms saw remarkable recoveries. Apple’s shares jumped over 15%, achieving their best performance since January 1998, after enduring a severe four-day decline that erased nearly $800 million in market value.

Tesla and Nvidia also experienced substantial gains, rising 18% and 22% respectively, while Meta Platforms increased by 15%. Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet each posted gains of around 10%.

Asian markets mirrored this positive trend, with Japan’s benchmark index climbing more than 2,000 points shortly after the Tokyo exchange opened. Investors responded favourably to the tariff relief, anticipating reduced trade tensions and improved economic prospects.

Despite the optimism, concerns remain regarding ongoing trade disputes, particularly with China. While tariffs were paused for several nations, levies on Chinese imports were raised to 125%, potentially impacting companies with significant manufacturing operations in China, such as Apple.

Analysts caution that, despite the current market rally, the long-term implications of these trade policies warrant close monitoring.

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Google pushes AI limits with Ironwood

Google has announced Ironwood, its latest and most advanced AI processor, marking the seventh generation of its custom Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) architecture.

Designed specifically for the growing demands of its Gemini models, particularly those requiring complex simulated reasoning, which Google refers to as ‘thinking’, Ironwood represents a significant leap forward in performance.

Instead of relying solely on software updates, Google is highlighting how hardware like Ironwood plays a central role in boosting AI capabilities, ushering in what it calls the ‘age of inference.’

However, this TPU is not just faster but dramatically more scalable. Ironwood chips will operate in tightly connected clusters of up to 9,216 units, each cooled by liquid and linked through an enhanced Inter-Chip Interconnect.

These chips can also be deployed in smaller 256-chip servers, offering flexibility for cloud developers and researchers.

Instead of offering modest improvements, Ironwood delivers a peak throughput of 4,614 teraflops per chip, alongside 192GB of memory and 7.2 terabits per second of bandwidth, making it vastly superior to its predecessor, Trillium.

Google says this advancement is more than a performance boost, it’s a foundation for building AI agents that can act on a user’s behalf by gathering information and producing outputs proactively.

Rather than functioning as passive tools, AI systems powered by Ironwood are intended to behave more independently, reflecting a growing trend toward what Google calls ‘agentic AI.’

While Google’s comparison to supercomputers like El Capitan may be flawed due to differing hardware standards, there’s no doubt Ironwood is a substantial upgrade. The company claims it is twice as powerful per watt as the v5p TPU, even if the newer Trillium (v6) chip wasn’t included in the comparison.

Regardless, Ironwood is expected to power the next generation of AI breakthroughs, as the company prepares to move beyond its current Gemini 2.5 model.

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Virtual AI agents tested in social good experiment

Nonprofit organisation Sage Future has launched an unusual initiative that puts AI agents to work for philanthropy.

In a recent experiment backed by Open Philanthropy, four AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT-4o and two of Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet models, were tasked with raising money for a charity of their choice. Within a week, they collected $257 for Helen Keller International, which supports global health efforts.

The AI agents were given a virtual workspace where they could browse the internet, send emails, and create documents. They collaborated through group chats and even launched a social media account to promote their campaign.

Though most donations came from human spectators observing the experiment, the exercise revealed the surprising resourcefulness of these AI tools. one Claude model even generated profile pictures using ChatGPT and let viewers vote on their favourite.

Despite occasional missteps, including agents pausing for no reason or becoming distracted by online games, the experiment offered insights into the emerging capabilities of autonomous systems.

Sage’s director, Adam Binksmith, sees this as just the beginning, with future plans to introduce conflicting agent goals, saboteurs, and larger oversight systems to stress-test AI coordination and ethics.

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Brinc drones raises $75M to boost emergency drone tech

Brinc Drones, a Seattle-based startup founded by 25-year-old Blake Resnick, has secured $75 million in fresh funding led by Index Ventures.

Known for its police and public safety drones, Brinc is scaling its presence across emergency services, with the new funds bringing total investment to over $157 million. The round also includes participation from Motorola Solutions, a major player in US security infrastructure.

The company, founded in 2017, is part of a growing wave of American drone startups benefiting from tightened restrictions on Chinese drone manufacturers.

Brinc’s drones are designed for rapid response in hard-to-reach areas and boast unique features, such as the ability to break windows or deliver emergency supplies.

The new partnership with Motorola will enable tighter integration into 911 call centres, allowing AI systems to dispatch drones directly to emergency scenes.

Despite growing competition from other US startups like Flock Safety and Skydio, Brinc remains confident in the market’s potential.

With its enhanced funding and Motorola collaboration, the company is aiming to position itself as a leader in AI-integrated public safety technology while helping shift drone manufacturing back to the US.

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ChatGPT accused of enabling fake document creation

Concerns over digital security have intensified after reports revealed that OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been used to generate fake identification cards.

The incident follows the recent introduction of a popular Ghibli-style feature, which led to a sharp rise in usage and viral image generation across social platforms.

Among the fakes circulating online were forged versions of India’s Aadhaar ID, created with fabricated names, photos, and even QR codes.

While the Ghibli release helped push ChatGPT past 150 million active users, the tool’s advanced capabilities have now drawn criticism.

Some users demonstrated how the AI could replicate Aadhaar and PAN cards with surprising accuracy, even using images of well-known figures like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla’s Elon Musk. The ease with which these near-perfect replicas were produced has raised alarms about identity theft and fraud.

The emergence of AI-generated IDs has reignited calls for clearer AI regulation and transparency. Critics are questioning how AI systems have access to the formatting of official documents, with accusations that sensitive datasets may be feeding model development.

As generative AI continues to evolve, pressure is mounting on both developers and regulators to address the growing risk of misuse.

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Gemini 2.5 Pro boosts Deep Research tool with smarter AI

Google has upgraded its Deep Research tool with the experimental Gemini 2.5 Pro model, promising major improvements in how users access and process complex information.

Deep Research acts as an AI research assistant capable of scanning hundreds of websites, evaluating content, and producing multi-page reports complete with citations and even podcast-style summaries.

Previously powered by Gemini 2.0 Flash, the new iteration significantly enhances reasoning, planning, and reporting capabilities. Human evaluators in Google’s testing preferred Deep Research’s outputs over those generated by OpenAI’s equivalent by a ratio greater than 2 to 1.

Users also noted clearer analytical thinking and better synthesis of information across sources.

The Gemini 2.5 Pro upgrade is available now to Gemini Advanced subscribers across web, Android, and iOS platforms.

For those using the free version, the Gemini 2.0 Flash model remains accessible in over 150 countries, continuing Google’s push to offer powerful research tools to a wide user base.

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DeepSeek highlights the risk of data misuse

The launch of DeepSeek, a Chinese-developed LLM, has reignited long-standing concerns about AI, national security, and industrial espionage.

While issues like data usage and bias remain central to AI discourse, DeepSeek’s origins in China have introduced deeper geopolitical anxieties. Echoing the scrutiny faced by TikTok, the model has raised fears of potential links to the Chinese state and its history of alleged cyber espionage.

With China and the US locked in a high-stakes AI race, every new model is now a strategic asset. DeepSeek’s emergence underscores the need for heightened vigilance around data protection, especially regarding sensitive business information and intellectual property.

Security experts warn that AI models may increasingly be trained using data acquired through dubious or illicit means, such as large-scale scraping or state-sponsored hacks.

The practice of data hoarding further complicates matters, as encrypted data today could be exploited in the future as decryption methods evolve.

Cybersecurity leaders are being urged to adapt to this evolving threat landscape. Beyond basic data visibility and access controls, there is growing emphasis on adopting privacy-enhancing technologies and encryption standards that can withstand future quantum threats.

Businesses must also recognise the strategic value of their data in an era where the lines between innovation, competition, and geopolitics have become dangerously blurred.

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Blockchain app ARK fights to keep human creativity ahead of AI

Nearly 20 years after his AI career scare, screenwriter Ed Bennett-Coles and songwriter Jamie Hartman have developed ARK, a blockchain app designed to safeguard creative work from AI exploitation.

The platform lets artists register ownership of their ideas at every stage, from initial concept to final product, using biometric security and blockchain verification instead of traditional copyright systems.

ARK aims to protect human creativity in an AI-dominated world. ‘It’s about ring-fencing the creative process so artists can still earn a living,’ Hartman told AFP.

The app, backed by Claritas Capital and BMI, uses decentralised blockchain technology instead of centralised systems to give creators full control over their intellectual property.

Launching summer 2025, ARK challenges AI’s ‘growth at all costs’ mentality by emphasising creative journeys over end products.

Bennett-Coles compares AI content to online meat delivery, efficient but soulless, while human artistry resembles a grandfather’s butcher trip, where the experience matters as much as the result.

The duo hopes their solution will inspire industries to modernise copyright protections before AI erodes them completely.

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Microsoft’s Copilot Vision now sees your entire screen to guide you through apps

Microsoft is testing a major upgrade to its Copilot AI that can view your entire screen instead of just working within the Edge browser.

The new Copilot Vision feature helps users navigate apps like Photoshop and Minecraft by analysing what’s on display and offering step-by-step guidance, even highlighting specific tools instead of just giving verbal instructions.

The feature operates more like a shared Teams screen instead of Microsoft’s controversial Recall snapshot system.

Currently limited to US beta testers, Copilot Vision will eventually highlight interface elements directly on users’ screens. It works on standard Windows PCs instead of requiring specialised Copilot+ hardware, with mobile versions coming to iOS and Android.

Alongside visual assistance, Microsoft is adding document search capabilities. Copilot can now find information within files like Word documents and PDFs instead of just searching by filename.

Both updates will roll out fully in the coming weeks, potentially transforming how users interact with both apps and documents on their Windows devices.

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Amazon launches Nova Sonic AI for natural voice interactions

Amazon has unveiled Nova Sonic, a new AI model designed to process and generate human-like speech, positioning it as a rival to OpenAI and Google’s top voice assistants. The company claims it outperforms competitors in speed, accuracy, and cost, and it is reportedly 80% cheaper than GPT-4o.

Already powering Alexa+, Nova Sonic excels in real-time conversation, handling interruptions and noisy environments better than legacy AI assistants.

Unlike older voice models, Nova Sonic can dynamically route requests, fetching live data or triggering external actions when needed. Amazon says it achieves a 4.2% word error rate across multiple languages and responds in just 1.09 seconds, faster than OpenAI’s GPT-4o.

Developers can access it via Bedrock, Amazon’s AI platform, using a new streaming API.

The launch signals Amazon’s push into artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI that mimics human capabilities.

Rohit Prasad, head of Amazon’s AGI division, hinted at future models handling images, video, and sensory data. This follows last week’s preview of Nova Act, an AI for browser tasks, suggesting Amazon is accelerating its AI rollout beyond Alexa.

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