Digital cooperation

Microsoft deal signals pay-per-use path for AI access to People Inc. content

People Inc. has joined Microsoft’s publisher content marketplace in a pay-per-use deal that compensates media for AI access. Copilot will be the first buyer, while People Inc. continues to block most AI crawlers via Cloudflare to force paid licensing.

People Inc., formerly Dotdash Meredith, said Microsoft’s marketplace lets AI firms pay ‘à la carte’ for specific content. The agreement differs from its earlier OpenAI pact, which the company described as more ‘all-you-can-eat’, but the priority remains ‘respected and paid for’ use.

Executives disclosed a sharp fall in Google search referrals: from 54% of traffic two years ago to 24% last quarter, citing AI Overviews. Leadership argues that crawler identification and paid access should become the norm as AI sits between publishers and audiences.

Blocking non-paying bots has ‘brought almost everyone to the table’, People Inc. said, signalling more licences to come. Such an approach by Microsoft is framed as a model for compensating rights-holders while enabling AI tools to use high-quality, authorised material.

IAC reported People Inc. digital revenue up 9% to $269m, with performance marketing and licensing up 38% and 24% respectively. The publisher also acquired Feedfeed, expanding its food vertical reach while pursuing additional AI content partnerships.

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Microsoft invests $15 billion in AI growth across the UAE

Microsoft will invest $15.2 billion in the UAE by 2029 to expand AI infrastructure, develop talent, and build trust across the region. The investment encompasses a $1.5 billion stake in G42, significant AI and cloud data centre spending, and local operating costs to bolster the UAE’s digital economy.

The company is deploying advanced NVIDIA GPUs to power AI applications, including OpenAI models, Anthropic, and Microsoft’s own services. With 59.4 percent of the UAE population using generative AI, the country leads global per capita AI adoption.

Microsoft is also nurturing AI talent through initiatives like the Global Engineering Development Centre, AI for Good Lab, and skilling programmes for students, teachers, and government employees.

Trust is a core component of Microsoft’s strategy. The company, together with G42 and MBZUAI, founded the Responsible AI Future Foundation to promote ethical AI standards across the Middle East and the Global South.

An Intergovernmental Assurance Agreement with the US and UAE governments ensures compliance with cybersecurity, export controls, data protection, and responsible AI practices.

Through technology investment, talent development, and building international trust, Microsoft aims to strengthen the UAE’s position as a global AI hub while fostering long-term economic growth and collaboration between the UAE and the United States.

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EU invests €2.9 billion to drive net-zero industrial transformation

The European Commission has approved €2.9 billion in funding for 61 large-scale net-zero technology projects, marking one of the EU’s most significant investments in clean innovation to date.

Financed through revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System, the initiative aims to accelerate Europe’s path towards climate neutrality by 2050.

The selected projects cover 19 industrial sectors across 18 Member States and target areas such as renewable energy, energy storage, zero-emission mobility, and industrial carbon management.

Collectively, they are expected to cut more than 220 million tonnes of CO₂ over the next decade, reinforcing Europe’s global leadership in sustainable technologies instead of relying on imports.

Funded under the Innovation Fund, which draws on an estimated €40 billion in ETS revenues, the initiative highlights the EU’s industrial readiness for decarbonisation. The latest call attracted 359 applications requesting €21.7 billion in support, underscoring the rapid growth of the continent’s cleantech sector.

Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra described the announcement as proof that the EU is turning its climate ambitions into industrial reality, creating green jobs and strengthening economic resilience. The next round of Innovation Fund calls will open in December 2025.

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Microsoft launches Agentic Launchpad to support AI start-ups

Microsoft, in collaboration with NVIDIA and WeTransact, has launched the Agentic Launchpad to drive AI innovation across the UK and Ireland. Built on Microsoft’s $30 billion investment in UK AI infrastructure, the initiative aims to help start-ups and scale-ups develop intelligent, next-generation AI platforms.

The programme provides participants with access to cutting-edge technologies, expert guidance, and global go-to-market support. Companies benefit from technical sessions, co-innovation opportunities, and marketing support to ensure their products reach the marketplace quickly.

Selected participants will also gain exposure through Microsoft and partner communications, networking events, and industry summits.

Agentic Launchpad is open to UK-based software companies developing agentic applications, autonomous systems, or generative AI platforms. Applicants should highlight their vision and technical strengths; submissions are open from 4 November to 28.

Microsoft and NVIDIA highlight the programme’s potential to foster innovation and leadership in the emerging era of agentic AI, offering training, infrastructure, and expert networks to accelerate development and performance.

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EU invests €107 million in RAISE for AI in science

The European Commission has unveiled RAISE, a new virtual institute designed to unite Europe’s AI research and accelerate scientific breakthroughs.

The launch, announced in Copenhagen, marks a flagship moment in the EU’s strategy to strengthen its leadership in science and technology through collective action.

Funded with €107 million under Horizon Europe, RAISE will bring together Europe’s best resources in data, computing power, and research talent.

An initiative that will help scientists apply AI to pressing challenges such as cancer treatment, climate change, and natural disaster prediction, while promoting innovation that serves humanity instead of commercial interests alone.

RAISE will work with the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking to secure access to AI Gigafactories and will dedicate €75 million to train and attract global researchers through Networks of Excellence.

The Commission also plans to double Horizon Europe’s annual AI investments to more than €3 billion, ensuring that the EU remains a global leader in scientific AI.

A project that reflects the EU’s ambition to achieve technological sovereignty and create an inclusive AI ecosystem. As RAISE grows in phases towards 2034, it will strengthen cooperation among Member States, academia, and industry, setting a benchmark for responsible and innovative AI in science.

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Member States cooperate on next-generation European digital platforms

The European Commission has approved the creation of the Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (DC-EDIC), designed to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. The new body unites France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy as founding members.

DC-EDIC aims to build open, interoperable and sovereign digital systems, reducing reliance on imported technologies. Its work will focus on shared data infrastructure, connected public administration and collaborative digital tools to support both governments and businesses.

The Paris-based consortium will coordinate funding access, offer legal and technical guidance, and support the scaling of open-source digital solutions across Europe. Future projects will include a one-stop shop for resources, an expertise hub and a Digital Commons Forum.

All jointly developed software will be released under free, open-source licences, ensuring transparency and reuse whilst being GDPR compliant. The official launch is expected in December 2025, with the first annual State of the Digital Commons report planned for 2027.

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Salesforce’s Agentforce helps organisations deliver 24/7 support

Organisations across public and private sectors are using Salesforce’s Agentforce to engage people whenever and wherever they need support.

From local governments to hospitals and education platforms, AI systems are transforming how services are delivered and accessed.

In the city of Kyle, Texas, an Agentforce-driven 311 app enables residents to report issues such as potholes or water leaks. The city plans to make the system voice-enabled, reducing traditional call volumes while maintaining a steady flow of service requests and faster responses.

At Pearson, AI enables students to access their online learning platforms instantly, regardless of their time zone. The company stated that the technology fosters loyalty by providing immediate assistance, rather than requiring users to wait for human support.

Meanwhile, UChicago Medicine utilises AI to streamline patient interactions, from prescription refills to scheduling, while ambient listening tools enable doctors to focus entirely on patients rather than typing notes.

Salesforce said Agentforce empowers organisations to save resources while enhancing trust, accessibility, and service quality. By meeting people on their own terms, AI enables more responsive and human-centred interactions across various industries.

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AWS becomes key partner in OpenAI’s $38 billion AI growth plan 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OpenAI have entered a $38 billion, multi-year partnership that will see OpenAI run and scale its AI workloads on AWS infrastructure. The seven-year deal grants OpenAI access to vast NVIDIA GPU clusters and the capacity to scale to millions of CPUs.

The collaboration aims to meet the growing global demand for computing power driven by rapid advances in generative AI.

OpenAI will immediately begin using AWS compute resources, with all capacity expected to be fully deployed by the end of 2026. The infrastructure will optimise AI performance by clustering NVIDIA GB200 and GB300 GPUs via Amazon EC2 UltraServers for low-latency, large-scale processing.

These clusters will support tasks such as training new models and serving inference for ChatGPT.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the partnership would help scale frontier AI securely and reliably, describing it as a foundation for ‘bringing advanced AI to everyone.’ AWS CEO Matt Garman noted that AWS’s computing power and reliability make it uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s growing workloads.

The move strengthens an already active collaboration between the two firms. Earlier this year, OpenAI’s models became available on Amazon Bedrock, enabling AWS clients such as Peloton, Thomson Reuters, and Comscore to adopt advanced AI tools.

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Facebook update lets admins make private groups public safely

Meta has introduced a new Facebook update allowing group administrators to change their private groups to public while keeping members’ privacy protected. The company said the feature gives admins more flexibility to grow their communities without exposing existing private content.

All posts, comments, and reactions shared before the change will remain visible only to previous members, admins, and moderators. The member list will also stay private. Once converted, any new posts will be visible to everyone, including non-Facebook users, which helps discussions reach a broader audience.

Admins have three days to review and cancel the conversion before it becomes permanent. Members will be notified when a group changes its status, and a globe icon will appear when posting in public groups as a reminder of visibility settings.

Groups can be switched back to private at any time, restoring member-only access.

Meta said the feature supports community growth and deeper engagement while maintaining privacy safeguards. Group admins can also utilise anonymous or nickname-based participation options, providing users with greater control over their engagement in public discussions.

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Enterprise AI gains traction at Mercedes-Benz with Celonis platform

Mercedes-Benz reported faster decisions and better on-time delivery at Celosphere 2025. Using Celonis within MO360, it unifies production and logistics data, extending visibility across every order, part, and process.

Order-to-delivery operations use AI copilots to forecast timelines, optimise sequencing, and cut delays. After-sales teams surface bottlenecks in service parts logistics and speed customer responses. Quality management utilises anomaly detection to identify deviations early, preventing them from impacting production output.

Executives say complete data transparency enables teams to act faster and with greater precision across production and supply chains. The approach helps anticipate change and react to market shifts. Hundreds of active users are expanding adoption as data-driven practices scale across the company.

Celonis positions process intelligence as the backbone that makes enterprise AI valuable. Integrated process data and business context create a live operational twin. The goal is moving from visibility to action, unlocking value through targeted fixes and intelligent automation.

Conference sessions highlighted broader momentum for process intelligence and AI in industry. Leaders discussed governance, standards, and measurable outcomes from digital platforms. Mercedes-Benz framed its results as proof that structured data and AI can lift performance at a global scale.

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