Microsoft is gearing up to unveil a range of hardware and software updates for consumer devices at an event on Monday, taking place at its Redmond, Washington campus. Among the anticipated reveals are new iterations of its Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop, powered by Qualcomm chips built on Arm Holdings’ architecture. This move signifies a big shift from Intel’s longstanding dominance in the personal computer market.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips, expected to feature prominently in Microsoft’s new devices, boast a neural processing unit designed to enhance AI-focused applications like Microsoft’s Copilot software. The emphasis on AI acceleration underscores Microsoft’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technological innovation in consumer electronics.
While Microsoft’s product event is not slated for live streaming, it serves as a prelude to its annual developer conference, offering insights to attending journalists and industry analysts. Microsoft’s strategic partnership with OpenAI has positioned it ahead of competitors like Alphabet’s Google in the race to develop consumer-centric AI tools, setting the stage for further advancements in the field.
Why does it matter?
The tech landscape is rapidly evolving, with Apple’s introduction of custom Arm-based chips for Mac computers intensifying pressure on the PC industry. The collaboration of Microsoft with Qualcomm to migrate Windows to Arm’s chip designs reflects a concerted effort to adapt to these changes. With the impending expiration of Qualcomm’s exclusivity on Microsoft Windows devices, competition among chip designers, including Nvidia, is poised to escalate in the pursuit of next-generation PC performance.
Google has revealed plans to inject an additional $1.1 billion into its data centre campus expansion in Finland, emphasising its commitment to bolstering its AI business growth in Europe. The investment aligns with a broader trend of locating data centres in the Nordic region due to factors like the favourable climate, tax incentives, and abundant renewable energy sources.
While some Nordic countries have become more apprehensive about hosting data centres, Finland’s wind power capacity surge has left ample room for expansion. With a staggering 75% increase in wind power capacity in 2022 alone, Finland boasts a surplus of renewable energy, even witnessing negative pricing on windy days. Google secures its renewable energy needs through long-term contracts in Finland, ensuring sustainable operations for its data centres.
Why does it matter?
The exponential rise in AI usage is anticipated to drive a global power consumption surge for data centres. Google’s investment decision in Finland underscores its recognition of this trend, alongside its commitment to sustainability. Notably, Google’s Hamina data centre in Finland already operates with 97% carbon-free energy, with excess heat being redirected to the district heating network, benefiting local communities.
The investment is part of Google’s broader strategy to expand its data centre footprint in Europe, with recent announcements about new data centre constructions in the Netherlands and Belgium. Google’s ambitious sustainability goals aim for net-zero emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030, reflecting its proactive approach towards environmental responsibility and technological advancement.
France is set to host tech executives and political figures this week, including former US Secretary of State John Kerry and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt, at the ‘Viva Technology’ conference. The event, supported by Paris-based luxury giant LVMH, aims to spotlight French innovation in AI and address its implications on elections and climate change. LVMH’s Chairman Bernard Arnault is expected to be a key draw at the conference, which features cutting-edge technology from prestigious brands like Louis Vuitton and Dior.
Over the past 18 months, France has positioned itself as a leader in generative AI, the technology behind tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. President Emmanuel Macron has successfully attracted investments from major American tech companies such as Amazon and Microsoft while also pushing for EU-wide capital market integration to support emerging AI startups. Paris, already a global luxury hub, is leveraging its status to attract more tech investments, with dynamic growth in the tech ecosystem and meaningful investment inflows.
Why does it matter?
In 2023, investors funnelled nearly $8 billion into French tech companies, positioning France behind the UK but ahead of Germany in tech investment. Paris has seen a rapid increase in tech startups, with nearly 3,000 new companies founded in 2023, surpassing other European cities’ growth rates. Notable Paris-based AI startups like Mistral AI and Holistic AI have emerged, founded by former researchers from industry leaders like Google DeepMind. The startup Adaptive ML, founded by ex-Hugging Face employee Julien Launay, quickly raised $20 million with significant backing from French and international investors.
Despite these advancements, European startups still need help raising large amounts of capital due to the EU’s fragmented capital markets. However, investment partners like Index Ventures see growing potential in Europe, emphasising the importance of funding and talent recruitment to build competitive AI companies. The ‘Viva Technology’ conference aims to further establish Paris as a significant player in the global AI landscape.
The UK’s AI safety institute is set to open an office in the US this summer, aiming to enhance international collaboration on AI regulation. The new office in San Francisco will recruit technical staff to support the institute’s efforts in London and strengthen connections with its US counterparts. The new office opening underscores the need for coordinated global efforts to manage AI’s rapid advancements and potential risks. Experts have highlighted the existential threats AI could pose, comparable to nuclear weapons or climate change, making international regulation crucial.
Why does it matter?
This announcement comes just before Seoul’s second global AI safety summit, co-hosted by the British and South Korean governments. The summit will bring together leaders to discuss AI safety, innovation, and inclusion.
The initiative follows significant concerns raised after OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, prompting calls for a development pause due to unpredictable threats. The first AI safety summit at Britain’s Bletchley Park saw world leaders and tech executives, including US Vice President Kamala Harris and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, discuss regulatory approaches.
The summit fostered cooperation despite global tensions, with China signing the ‘Bletchley Declaration’ alongside the US and others. Britain’s technology minister, Michele Donelan, emphasised the importance of international standards on AI safety, which will be a key topic at the upcoming Seoul summit.
South Korea and the UK are set to co-host the second global AI summit in Seoul this week, a response to the rapid advancements in AI since the first summit in November. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will lead a virtual summit on Tuesday, emphasising the urgent need for improved AI regulation amidst growing concerns over the impact of technology on society.
In a joint article, leaders of the UK and South Korea highlighted the necessity for global AI standards to prevent a ‘race to the bottom’. The summit, now called the AI Seoul Summit, will address AI safety, innovation, and inclusion. A recent global AI safety report underlined potential risks such as labour market disruptions, AI-enabled cyber attacks, and the loss of control over AI, stressing that societal and governmental decisions will shape the future of AI.
Why does it matter?
Initially focused on AI safety, the November summit saw prominent figures like Elon Musk and Sam Altman engage in discussions, with China signing the ‘Bletchley Declaration’ on AI risk management alongside the US and others. This week’s events will include a virtual summit on Tuesday and an in-person session on Wednesday featuring key industry players from companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft, Meta, and IBM.
Google’s deployment of AI to condense search results is causing publishers’ concern about potential website traffic declines. The update to Google’s search engine, recently announced, will introduce AI-generated summaries of online queries in the US, with plans to expand globally. The implementation of AI in Google browsers could diminish the significance of links and web pages for over a billion users, potentially reducing audiences for bloggers, news outlets, and other online content creators who rely on Google referrals.
The AI-generated summaries, produced by Google’s Gemini technology, will offer concise insights from various online sources with minimal links. Google claims the change will encourage users to explore a wider range of websites, but critics, including Marketing AI Institute CEO Paul Roetzer, anticipate negative impacts on publishers and advertisers. With little information Google provides about the implications for these stakeholders, uncertainty looms over the future of online visibility and revenue generation.
Jeff Jarvis, a professor at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, suggests that news organisations with credible information could benefit from partnerships with AI giants. However, the advertising industry faces uncertainties, with Semasio CEO Jeff Ragovin warning of potential revenue losses and the need for better-targeted ads amidst the AI-driven search landscape.
Researchers from the Netherlands have developed an AI platform capable of recognising sarcasm. The project was presented at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the Canadian Acoustical Association in Ottawa. Using video clips and text from American sitcoms such as ‘Friends’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ the researchers trained a neural network with the Multimodal Sarcasm Detection Dataset (MUStARD), previously annotated by another research team from the US and Singapore.
After being trained on this data, the AI model successfully detected sarcasm in unlabeled exchanges about 75% of the time. Further improvements using synthetic data have reportedly enhanced this accuracy, though these findings are yet to be published. Notable scenes used for training included moments from ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Friends’ that exemplified sarcastic interactions.
The research team at the University of Groningen aims to advance their sarcasm detection capabilities. By incorporating visual cues such as facial expressions, they aim to refine the AI’s ability to detect sarcasm more accurately. The project could significantly improve AI assistants’ interactions by enabling them to understand negative or hostile tones in human speech.
Why does it matter?
Sarcasm generally takes the form of an ironic remark, often rooted in humour, that is intended to mock or satirise something. When a speaker is being sarcastic, they say something different than what they actually mean, and that’s why it is hard for a large language machine to detect such nuances in someone’s speech.
The project aligns with similar research initiatives, such as those by the US Department of Defense’s DARPA, which developed an AI model for detecting sarcasm in text. The success of these projects is a significant achievement since it underscores the importance of understanding sarcasm in human communication, which could enhance the development of more nuanced and compelling AI systems.
Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, announced that it will discontinue its Workplace app, a platform geared towards work-related communications. The social media platform made this decision as it shifted its focus towards developing AI and metaverse technologies. The Workplace app will be phased out for customers starting in June 2026, although Meta will continue to utilise it internally as a messaging board until August 2025, according to a statement from the company.
A spokesperson for Meta stated that they are discontinuing Workplace to focus on building AI and metaverse technologies that they believe will fundamentally reshape the way they work. Over the next two years, Workplace customers will have the option to transition to Zoom’s Workvivo product, which Meta has designated as its preferred migration partner. Workplace was initially launched in 2016 to cater to businesses, offering features such as multi-company groups and shared spaces to facilitate collaboration among employees from different organizations.
Why does it matter?
The discontinuation of Workplace aligns with Meta’s strategic emphasis on advancing AI and metaverse technologies, which it views as integral to the future of digital communication. The strategic change of business direction has raised concerns about escalating costs that could potentially impact the company’s growth trajectory. Despite the discontinuation of Workplace, Meta has assured customers that billing and payment arrangements will remain unchanged until August of this year. Currently, Workplace offers a core plan priced at $4 per user per month, with additional add-ons available starting from $2 per user per month, with monthly bills calculated based on the number of billable users unless a fixed plan is in place.
TikTok is experimenting with an enhanced search feature, utilising generative AI to provide more comprehensive search results. Dubbed ‘search highlights’, this feature showcases AI-generated snippets at the top of certain search result pages, offering users a glimpse into the full response by clicking through. Initial tests reveal AI-generated responses for queries ranging from recipes to product recommendations, such as ‘best laptops 2024’.
Powered by ChatGPT, TikTok’s AI search results aim to surface relevant content based on user queries. However, the feature has limitations, with not all searches yielding AI-generated answers. Some search queries display results generated by ChatGPT alongside a broader ‘search highlights’ feature.
The birth of the new search tool, backed by AI, reflects TikTok’s ongoing efforts to enhance its in-app search functionality, aligning with users’ habits, particularly among younger demographics. Recognising TikTok’s role as a search destination for recommendations and information, the platform previously experimented with integrating Google Search results and direct links to external websites like Wikipedia and IMDb. By incorporating AI-driven results prominently, TikTok aims to cater to users’ preferences and further solidify its position as a go-to platform for discovering diverse content.
Anthropic, an AI startup backed by tech giants Google and Amazon.com, announced the European release of its generative AI chatbot, Claude, set for Tuesday. The new AI tool places Claude in direct competition with Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT, renowned for its record-breaking 100 million monthly active users just two months post-launch.
While Claude has been accessible online in several countries, this marks its debut availability via the web and iPhones throughout the EU, including non-EU nations like Switzerland and Iceland. Additionally, European businesses can opt for the ‘Claude Team’ plan for €28 ($30.21) per month before value-added tax.
Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, recently entered the corporate AI market fray by launching a business-oriented version of Claude. This business-oriented tool potentially pits Anthropic against its own backers, Amazon and Google, as they vie for a share of the burgeoning AI business spending.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO and co-founder, emphasised Claude’s widespread utility, saying that millions of people worldwide are already using Claude to do things like accelerate scientific processes, enhance customer service or refine their writing. With its European rollout, Anthropic anticipates further innovation and adoption across diverse sectors and businesses.
