Categories
India News Social Media Tech Lite

Centre sets deepfake crackdown in motion

Social media companies, NASSCOM, and AI professors actively participated in the discussions, indicating a united front against the growing threat…reports Asian Lite News

In response to the escalating menace of deepfake technology, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology and Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw, spearheaded a meeting with key stakeholders, including social media platforms, government officials, and cybersecurity experts.

Minister Vaishnaw said, “We need to take very urgent steps as far as possible either legal, regulatory or technological. We need to take all kinds of steps. We had a detailed meeting with all the social media platforms today. Everybody has accepted the seriousness of this threat. Deepfake has emerged as a huge social threat today. We had long and very candid discussions”.

The high-level discussions, marked by urgency, centred around formulating a comprehensive strategy to combat the challenges posed by deepfake content.

Vaishnaw said, “We’ve to focus on four aspects-detection, prevention, reporting mechanism of deep fake and awareness needs to be increased. New regulations will be brought and in the coming weeks, efforts will be made to complete the drafting of regulations”.

During the meeting, Minister Vaishnaw emphasized the need for immediate action and revealed a consensus among all stakeholders.

He also mentioned that the next meeting on the issue of ‘Deepfake’ will be held in the first week of December.

Focusing on four pillars- Detection, Prevention, Strengthening the Mechanism and Awareness.

The minister underscored the gravity of the deepfake threat, stating, “Deepfake has emerged as a new threat in society. We need to take immediate steps.”

Acknowledging the collaborative effort required, he disclosed that regulations addressing these concerns would be drafted promptly.

Vaishnaw said, “Deep fake has emerged as a new threat in the society. We need to take immediate steps. Today a meeting was held with social media platforms. We’ve to focus on four aspects-detection, prevention, and reporting mechanism of deep fake and awareness needs to be increased. New regulations will be brought and in the coming weeks, efforts will be made to complete the drafting of regulations. Social media companies, NASSCOM, and professors working on Artificial intelligence (AI) were also present in today’s meeting.”

The minister also highlighted the key aspects to be addressed in combating deepfake technology, including detection, prevention, reporting mechanisms, and the imperative to raise awareness.

“We have all agreed that within the next about 10 days, we will come up with clear actionable items…All the companies, all the platforms, and the entire industry understood that this is not free speech. They understood that this is something which is really harmful for the society. They understood the need for much heavier regulation on this. So we agree that we will start drafting the regulation today. We’ll start drafting the regulations today itself. And within a very short time frame, we will have a new set of regulations for deep fake” the Minister said.

Social media companies, NASSCOM, and AI professors actively participated in the discussions, indicating a united front against the growing threat.

Looking ahead, Minister Vaishnaw announced the initiation of drafting regulations, and a follow-up meeting on deepfake concerns is scheduled for the first week of December.

The proactive stance taken by the government underscores the gravity of the deepfake issue and the commitment to safeguarding against its detrimental impacts. (ANI)

ALSO READ-

Categories
Tech Lite Technology USA

Amazon’s ‘AI Ready’ initiative to skill 2 mn people in GenAI by 2025

These courses augment more than 80 free and low-cost AI and generative AI courses and resources provided through AWS…reports Asian Lite News

Amazon on Thursday launched the ‘AI Ready’ initiative to provide free generative AI skill training to two million people by 2025.

To support professionals in the workplace, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is announcing eight new, free AI and generative AI courses which are open to anyone and aligned to in-demand jobs.

These courses augment more than 80 free and low-cost AI and generative AI courses and resources provided through AWS.

Amazon also launched AWS Generative AI Scholarship and collaboration with Code.org to help underrepresented and underserved students gain access to next-generation tech education.

Through the AWS Generative AI Scholarship, AWS will provide Udacity scholarships, valued at more than $12 million, to more than 50,000 high school and university students from underserved and underrepresented communities globally.

A new AWS study found strong demand for AI talent and the potential for workers with AI skills to earn up to 47 per cent more in salaries.

“Looking ahead, AI will only become more integral to the way business is done, with 93 per cent of businesses expecting they will be using AI solutions across their organization in the next five years,” the study noted.

Amazon’s new AI Ready commitment is in addition to AWS’s commitment to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to provide free cloud computing skills training to 29 million people by 2025, which has already trained more than 21 million people.

ALSO READ-Amazon Trims Workforce in India

Categories
Business India News Tech Lite

India’s Smartwatch Shipments Up 21%, Fire-Boltt Leads

The growth in Q3 was driven by high inventory build-up for the festive season sales in October….reports Asian Lite News

India’s smartwatch shipments grew 21 per cent (year-on-year) in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023 (July-September), with Fire-Boltt leading the market, a new report showed on Thursday.

According to Counterpoint Research, the market share of domestic manufacturing reached the highest ever at 82 per cent, compared to just 4 per cent a year ago.

The growth in Q3 was driven by high inventory build-up for the festive season sales in October.

“In this quarter, we saw features like larger screens and OLED displays further trickling down to the lower price bands. As a result, in the Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 price band, the contribution of >1.9-inch smartwatches stood at 21 per cent, while over half of the devices were available with OLED displays,” said Senior Research Analyst Anshika Jain.

Fire-Boltt led the market with a 28 per cent share and sported the widest portfolio. It also had the lowest ASP (average selling price) among the top three players, the report said.

Moreover, Noise captured the second spot with a 24 per cent share, boAt secured the third spot with a 16 per cent share, and Fastrack, a sub-brand of Titan, captured the fourth spot with an eight per cent market share.

beatXP entered the top five for the first time after registering 4X (quarter-on-quarter) growth in Q3 2023.

According to the report, Apple shipments declined by 52 per cent as its new series became available in late September and without a refresh to the Watch SE 2022.

The brand, however, remained the market leader in the >Rs 20,000 retail price band.

“Due to continuous push towards budget offerings, India’s smartwatch ASP (average selling price) declined by 41 per cent (year-on-year) to reach its lowest-ever level. As a result, over three-fifths of the market now comes under the <Rs 2,000 price band,” said Research Analyst Harshit Rastogi.

ALSO READ: Reliance’s $2.4Bn Bengal Plan

Categories
Business Tech Lite Technology

‘Al Is Only A Means, Not An End’

Nadella said that the pace of innovation that they have driven has been remarkable, especially during a time of so much “continued hardship and uncertainty in the world”….reports Asian Lite News

As Sam Altman returned to OpenAI after the five-day intense drama, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has said that technology, including Al, is only a tool.

In an internal memo to employees ahead of Thanksgiving holiday, Nadella said that the pace of innovation that they have driven has been remarkable, especially during a time of so much “continued hardship and uncertainty in the world”.

“But technology, including Al, is only a tool. It’s a means, not an end. And, ultimately, our end is our mission to empower people and organisations all over the planet — one individual, one community, one country at a time,” he told employees.

“At the end of the day, the greatest privilege of my job is working with people who are driven by mission. There is no better example of this than these past 5 days, when I saw people across the company remaining focused on our mission and serving our customers and partners, stepping up to help in every way possible,” Nadella added.

Microsoft Chief Technology Office (CTO) and EVP of AI, Kevin Scott, also addressed employees about the OpenAI turmoil, reports The Verge.

“The events of the past few days have been uncertain for our colleagues at OpenAl, and of intense interest to many others. Throughout, nothing has changed or wavered about our resolve and focus to deliver the world’s best Al technology platforms and products to our customers and partners,” Scott said in a separate memo to employees.

“We will continue to support our colleagues at OpenAl and the phenomenal work they’ve been doing alongside us in service of that mission. As we have for these past 4+ years, we look forward to continuing our work with Sam and his team,” he added.

Scott said that despite the potential of the past few days to distract us, both Microsoft and OpenAl scientists and engineers have been working with undiminished urgency.

On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that Altman and president and co-founder Greg Brockman are returning to the company with a new board in place.

Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, during an event in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday, June 9, 2023. OpenAI is focused on building a better, faster and cheaper model of its generative AI ChatGPT product, Altman has said previously. The product made AI a buzzword and kicked off a global race among tech companies to build their own versions of the chatbot technology. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Altman’s Exit Sparks Intrigue at OpenAI

A secret AI project named ‘Q’ (pronounced Q-Star) at OpenAI that could threaten humanity may have been the reason behind Sam Altman’s ouster as CEO from the ChatGPT-developing company.

According to reports, several staff researchers sent the OpenAI board a letter warning that a powerful AI breakthrough could threaten humanity.

The letter and AI algorithm was a catalyst that caused the board to oust Altman, according to a Reuters report, citing sources.

The previously unknown letter was one of the factors “among a longer list of grievances by the board that led to Altman’s firing”.

The researchers who wrote the letter did not comment, neither did OpenAI.

The ChatGPT maker made progress on ‘Q-Star’ project which could be a breakthrough in the search for superintelligence, also known as artificial general intelligence (AGI).

According to reports, OpenAI’s senior executive Mira Murati told employees the letter “precipitated the board’s actions” to fire Altman last week.

However, an OpenAI spokesperson said that “Murati told employees what the media reports were about but she did not comment on the accuracy of the information”.

A person familiar with the matter told The Verge that the board never received a letter about such a breakthrough. Sam Altman on Wednesday said he is returning to the ChatGPT developing company with a new board and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s support.

OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman also shared a picture with his team on X after he and Altman returned to OpenAI.

ALSO READ: Reliance’s $2.4Bn Bengal Plan

Categories
Business India News Tech Lite

UST to Double Workforce

The 1,18,000-square-feet facility, with the provision of more expansion in the future, will accommodate over 2,000 UST employees…reports Asian Lite News

Digital transformation solutions company UST on Wednesday opened a new office here, saying it will double the headcount from 2,000 to 4,000 in the city in the next 2-3 years.

The 1,18,000-square-feet facility, with the provision of more expansion in the future, will accommodate over 2,000 UST employees and act as a centre for innovative research and development in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and IoT.

“This expansion will enable us to tap into the rich local talent pool as we strengthen our capabilities across various strategic domains and technologies,” said Alexander Varghese, Chief Operating Officer, UST.

The new facility will be home to cutting-edge research initiatives in several dynamic sectors, including telecom, Hitech, retail, and insurance, and the fourth Development centre in India with innovation labs.

UST’s presence in Hyderabad has expanded rapidly since beginning operations in 2018 with just 250 employees.

The company also has software delivery and development centres in Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Pune, Coimbatore, Hosur, and Delhi-NCR.

The new facility was inaugurated by Jayesh Ranjan, State Principal Secretary of Industries & Commerce (I&C) and IT, in the presence of Krishna Sudheendra, UST CEO and others.

A team of skilled engineers and researchers will be based out of the new office’s engineering lab.

Over the next two years the site will transition to a global capability centre to meet demand in the healthcare, pharmaceuticals, telecom, manufacturing, retail, and insurance sectors, said the company.

ALSO READ: Nokia, Airtel Team Up for Next-Gen Network

Categories
Business India News Tech Lite

Salesforce India to Expand Footprint

Salesforce announced an expansion of its Bengaluru office presence….reports Asian Lite News

Enterprise software major Salesforce’s India operations saw total revenue rise over 50 per cent to over Rs 6,000.3 crore in FY23, from the previous fiscal year, the company said.

Salesforce also announced an expansion of its Bengaluru office presence. Earlier this year, the company announced the expansion of its flagship Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Hyderabad.

“At the forefront of the AI revolution, we are also brilliantly positioned to deepen India’s reputation as a global tech leader. Salesforce is committed to investing in the region, unlocking local opportunities and, in turn, helping to transform businesses globally,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya, CEO and Chairperson, Salesforce India.

“I’ve no doubt that we will continue to deliver here. I look forward to the next phase of our exciting journey,” she added.

Salesforce has 10,000 employees in India, across sites in Hyderabad and Bengaluru as well as Mumbai, Gurugram, Pune, and Jaipur.

The company plans to expand its office presence in Bengaluru and continues to hire in India for roles across technology and product, sales, business support and customer success.

Leading Indian businesses such as TVS Motor, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, are turning to Salesforce to help them create digital strategies that will increase productivity and drive efficiency.

Salesforce’s growth in India is also supported by an extensive ecosystem of established strategic partners, startups and over 2 million Salesforce developers.

“India is a key market for Salesforce. We are fully focused on supporting India’s economic growth through our role as a trusted digital advisor to businesses up and down the country,” said Bhattacharya.

This year, Salesforce has also made grants of $1.1 million to five NGOs across India.

ALSO READ: Altman Resumes Leadership at OpenAI

Categories
Business Tech Lite World News

Altman Resumes Leadership at OpenAI

OpenAI said that it has reached an agreement in principle for Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO …reports Asian Lite News

In what looks like the final twist in the OpenAI saga, Sam Altman on Wednesday said he is returning to the ChatGPT developing company with a new board and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s support.

In a post on X, Altman said he loves OpenAI and everything he has done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together.

“When I decided to join Microsoft on Sunday evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team,” he posted.

“With the new board and with Nadella’s support, I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI, and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft,” he mentioned.

OpenAI said that it has reached an agreement in principle for Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.

Nadella said they are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board.

“We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance. Sam, Greg, and I have talked and agreed they have a key role to play along with the OAI leadership team in ensuring OAI continues to thrive and build on its mission,” Nadella posted on X.

“We look forward to building on our strong partnership and delivering the value of this next generation of AI to our customers and partners,” he added.

Nadella had announced that Altman and OpenAI co-founder and former president Greg Brockman will join the company to run its advanced AI research team.

ALSO READ: Nadella Welcomes Altman and Brockman to Microsoft

Categories
Business Tech Lite Technology

Nokia, Airtel Team Up for Next-Gen Network

Under the agreement, Airtel will utilise Nokia’s ‘1830 PSS-x OTN’ switches in its National Long-Distance Network connecting major cities across India….reports Asian Lite News

Nokia on Tuesday announced it has entered into an agreement with Bharti Airtel to deploy a next-generation optical transport network (OTN) that will provide additional capacity, higher reliability and lower cost, enabling superior services for Airtel’s customers.

Under the agreement, Airtel will utilise Nokia’s ‘1830 PSS-x OTN’ switches in its National Long-Distance Network connecting major cities across India.

“As a world leader in OTN, our technology will help Airtel to increase the capacity and features of Bharti’s optical transport network to meet growing bandwidth demand driven by the enterprise and hyperscaler segments. It will also provide the service level performance to meet the strict SLAs from Airtel customers,” Chandan Kumar, Head of Optical Network Business Centre for Nokia India, said in a statement.

The increased capacity will enable Airtel to potentially deliver faster and more reliable broadband services and be ready for new use cases, Nokia said.

According to the company, its OTN solution enables Bharti Airtel to seamlessly upgrade its legacy transport switching infrastructure across its pan-Indian network footprint to meet new transport network traffic demands while improving both the performance and reliability of its network.

Nokia noted that the launch of 5G networks and the push for broadband connectivity across India is increasing demands for Communications Service Providers (CSPs), including augmentation of backhaul transport for denser 5G mobile networks, wholesale connectivity for new segments like smart grids, data centre interconnect (DCI) and other business services.

To address this exponential growth in traffic demand, transport networks need to be upgraded to increase overall transport capacity and bandwidth efficiency using high-capacity OTN switching and utilising additional spectrum, including the L-band wavelengths of the fibre, it added.

ALSO READ: Nadella Welcomes Altman and Brockman to Microsoft

Categories
Business Tech Lite Technology

Indian Gen Z Leads in AI Learning: Report

According to the global professional networking platform LinkedIn, Gen Z is spending 1.3 times more time than Gen X and 2.4 times more time than Baby Boomers….reports Asian Lite News

Gen Z professionals in India are more interested in acquiring Artificial Intelligence (AI) skills than their older counterparts, spending 73 per cent more time than other generations to learn the skill, a new report said on Tuesday.

According to the global professional networking platform LinkedIn, Gen Z is spending 1.3 times more time than Gen X and 2.4 times more time than Baby Boomers.

“Upskilling is no longer just an option, it’s imperative, with a renewed focus on cultivating vital human skills like leadership and problem-solving to harness AI’s full potential,” said Ashutosh Gupta, Country Manager, LinkedIn India.

The report also revealed that global AI conversations shot up by a solid 70 per cent from December 2022 to September 2023.

In India, preferred skills among learners vary across generations: While Gen Z is learning digital skills like Programming Languages, Cloud Computing, and Data Analysis, Millennials and Gen X are investing in soft skills like Leadership and Management, Personal Effectiveness, and Personal Development.

With AI taking over routine tasks, professionals have the opportunity to focus on other types of meaningful and creative work requiring soft skills that only people have.

The report showed that across APAC, tech professionals who have developed one or more soft skills — in addition to hard skills — get promoted over 13 per cent faster than employees who only have hard skills.

In India, the most demanded soft skills by AI and AI-related job postings include communication, analytical skills, and sales.

As developments in generative AI offer a massive opportunity to break down barriers across cultures, geographies and industries, it’s widening the scope for hybrid work settings.

Organisations are already responding to the demand for flexibility, with hybrid job posts in India up from 13.2 per cent in August 2022 to 20.1 per cent in August 2023, the report noted.

ALSO READ: OpenAI Staff Threaten Mass Exodus

Categories
-Top News Tech Lite

Starship Launch Pad in ‘Great Condition’ After Successful Test Flight

The launch of Starship has also again triggered an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the booster explosion…reports Asian Lite News

The recent test flight of SpaceX’s Starship did not damage the launch pad, said CEO Elon Musk.

The Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster and made it through stage separation on Saturday evening.

The booster, however, experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after stage separation while Starship’s engines fired for several minutes on its way to space, SpaceX said.

During the first test flight in April, the integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket blew apart the launchpad shortly after the launch. It spewed debris up to 20 acres outside the area that federal regulators initially expected.

To prevent this, one of the “several upgrades” that SpaceX did was to install a water-spewing steel plate beneath the pad. Musk said the plate prevented damage to the Starship launch pad so that no additional changes are needed to it before the next launch.

“Just inspected the Starship launch pad and it is in great condition! No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch,” Musk said in a post on X.

The launch of Starship has also again triggered an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the booster explosion.

“A mishap occurred during the @SpaceX Starship OFT-2 launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18. The anomaly resulted in a loss of the vehicle. No injuries or public property damage have been reported,” the aviation regulator posted on X.

“The FAA will oversee the @SpaceX-led mishap investigation to ensure SpaceX complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements,” the agency added.

Meanwhile, the billionaire also said that the next flight of Starship is likely before Christmas.

“Starship Flight 3 hardware should be ready to fly in three to four weeks. There are three ships in final production in the high bay (as can be seen from the highway),” Musk said.

Starship is the tallest rocket ever assembled. The fully-integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket stands 394 feet tall, and is about 30 feet in diameter.

SpaceX aims to use Starship as a fully reusable transportation system to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.

ALSO READ-Apple, Disney Halt Ads On X After Musk’s ‘Antisemitic’ Post