Arthur Mensch, tall and lean with a flop of unkempt hair, arrived for a speech last month at a sprawling tech hub in Paris wearing jeans and carrying a bicycle helmet. He had an unassuming look for a person European officials are counting on to help propel the region into a high-stakes match with the United States and China over artificial intelligence.

Mr. Mensch, 31, is the chief executive and a founder of Mistral, considered by many to be one of the most promising challengers to OpenAI and Google. You have become the poster child for A.I. in France, Matt Clifford, a British investor, told him onstage.

A lot is riding on Mr. Mensch, whose company has shot into the spotlight just a year after he founded it in Paris with two college friends. As Europe scrambles to get a foothold in the A.I. revolution, the French government has singled out Mistral as its best hope to create a standard-bearer, and has lobbied European Union policymakers to help ensure the firms success.

Artificial intelligence will be built rapidly into the global economy in the coming decade, and policymakers and business leaders in Europe fear that growth and competitiveness will suffer if the region does not keep up. Behind their worries is a conviction that A.I. should not be dominated by tech giants, like Microsoft and Google, that might forge global standards at odds with the culture and politics of other countries. At stake is the bigger question of which artificial intelligence models will wind up influencing the world, and how they should be regulated.

The issue with not having a European champion is that the road map gets set by the United States, said Mr. Mensch, who just 18 months ago was working as an engineer at Googles DeepMind lab in Paris, building A.I. models. His co-founders, Timothe Lacroix and Guillaume Lample, also in their 30s, held similar positions at Meta.

In an interview at Mistrals spartan, whitewashed offices facing the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, Mr. Mensch said it wasnt safe to trust U.S. tech giants to set ground rules for a powerful new technology that would affect millions of lives.

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Europe's A.I. 'Champion' Sets Sights on Tech Giants in U.S. - The New York Times

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

As a listener, you might not care. But as an artist, it can be a tough pill to swallow to know that an algorithm, as opposed to human preference, might be behind your success or failure, Jonah Prousky writes.

Neil Young and Joni Mitchell begrudgingly returned their music to Spotify last month, two years after leaving the platform in protest of its largest podcaster, Joe Rogan.

According to Young, Rogan was using the platform to spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.

They can have Rogan or Young. Not both, wrote Young to his manager at Warner Music Group.

It turns out, Spotify can have both.

And, no matter what you think of Youngs protest (or boycott, or whatever it was), his clash with Spotify is a reminder that tech giants have a funny way of getting what they want and resistance from artists is usually futile.

Many creators have long been frustrated with platforms like Spotify and YouTube due to the algorithms they employ, which in part drive views and streams, and by extension, pay.

Most creators, however, dont have the clout to issue ultimatums, nor the money to leave these platforms.

While some artists on Spotify make a decent living, there is a far, far greater volume of artists literally millions of them who are struggling to make ends meet from their streaming royalties, according to Rolling Stone.

Also, without an established audience of ones own, artists are pretty much beholden to Spotify and YouTube for views.

According to Forbes, Spotify holds a dominant 30.5% of the music streaming market, more than double its nearest competitor, Apple Music, which has a 13.7% share. YouTube is virtually unrivalled.

Who cares, you might say, Spotify is beloved. And, hasnt the company done a lot to democratise music?

Its true, the company cut out a lot of the red tape associated with the legacy music business by giving new artists a direct line (and business model) for reaching listeners.

That ethos is even enshrined in the companys mission statement, which is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it.

The company has done much to advance that mission. Its capable of launching music careers in ways that never would have been possible in decades past. An artists streams and by extension, earnings can skyrocket almost overnight if their songs make it onto one of the platform's most-listened-to playlists.

It can quite literally be the difference between driving Uber and making music on the side and earning $200,000 (187,880) in streaming royalties.

So any attempt to criticise the platform ought to be wary of what its done for some musicians. But, in many ways, the platforms algorithm has homogenised music tastes around a small number of top artists, making it harder for new musicians to gain traction.

Algorithms", wrote Scott Timberg in a column for Salon, "are about driving you closer and closer to what you already know. And instead of taking you toward what you want to listen to, they direct you toward slight variations of what youre already consuming.

What people are already consuming is just a small subset of Spotifys artist base, whose tunes gobble up our collective attention.

In 2013, the top 1% of artists accounted for over three-quarters of all revenue from recorded music sales. In that year 20% of songs on Spotify had never been streamed, wrote Ludovic Hunter-Tilney for the Financial Times.

Maybe thats always been the case, youll wonder. I mean, anyone who's seen The X Factor knows that not every artist is worthy of our attention. But the decision of what and who to listen to used to be a human one.

As a listener, you might not care, especially if you think the algorithm has a good handle on your taste. But as an artist, it can be a tough pill to swallow to know that an algorithm, as opposed to human preference, might be behind your success or failure.

So, say youre a musician or content creator who feels the algorithm has treated you unfavourably. What are you going to do, leave? Boycott?

Well, some are. A growing wave of artists and content creators are leaving Spotify and YouTube, often for platforms like Substack and Patreon, where their earnings arent beholden to the algorithm.

Platforms like Substack and Patreon allow creators to own their audience since earnings on these platforms arent tied to views, rather, audience members pay creators directly and the platforms take a small cut.

Still, that move is really only viable for established artists like Young and Mitchell who have audiences.

So, if youre just starting out as a musician or content creator, you really have no choice but to dig in your heels and hope the algorithm likes your stuff.

Jonah Prousky is a Canadian freelance writer based in London. His work has appeared in several leading publications including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Toronto Star, and Calgary Herald.

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at view@euronews.com to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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Neil Young's Spotify tiff is a reminder that tech giants always win - Euronews

When Spotify announced its largest-ever round of layoffs in December, CEO Daniel Ek hailed a new age of efficiency at the streaming giant. But four months on, it seems he and his executives werent prepared for how tough filling in for 1,500 axed workers would be.

The music streamer enjoyed record quarterly profits of 168 million ($179 million) in the first three months of 2024, enjoying double-digit revenue growth to 3.6 billion ($3.8 billion) in the process.

However, the company failed to hit its guidance on profitability and monthly active user growth.

It didnt seem to put off investors, who sent shares in the group soaring more than 8% in New York after markets opened Tuesday morning.

Still, as he addressed those investors following the latest earnings release, Ek didnt shy away from the obstacles that stopped the streamer from hitting some of its targets this year.

In addition to surprisingly successful 2023 growth to compare against and the impacts of falling marketing spend, Ek blamed operational difficulties linked to staffing for the group missing its earnings target to start the year.

In December, Spotify culled 1,500 jobs, equivalent to 17% of employees, as part of an aggressive efficiency drive as the group strived for profitability.

Staff costs for those employees carried a long tail, as most workers received five-month severance packages when they were let go in December.

At the same time, the footprint left behind by those employees was bigger than Ek and his executives anticipated.

Another significant challenge was the impact of December workforce reduction, Ek said on an investors call following Spotifys Q1 earnings release.

Although theres no question that it was the right strategic decision, it did disrupt our day-to-day operations more than we anticipated.

It took us some time to find our footing, but more than four months into this transition, I think were back on track and I expect to continue improving on our execution throughout the year getting us to an even better place than weve ever been.

Ek didnt elaborate on what aspects of operations were most affected by the layoffs.

Back in December as the platform he founded faced persistent losses and a falling share price, Spotify CEO Ek used a well-trodden path by tech giants to steer the ship around: mass layoffs.

We still have too many people dedicated to supporting work and even doing work around the work, rather than contributing to opportunities with real impact, Ek said in a memo as he announced he would be cutting his workforce by 17%.

Investors initially reacted well to the news, though skeptical voices asked whether the move merely put a sticking plaster over harder-to-solve issues at the group, particularly its low margins thanks to the costs of bumper record deals.

However, it appears to have worked so far. In the four months since the layoff announcements, shares in the group have jumped more than 60%.

Spotify has also recently proved it is able to raise prices in some of its key markets without seeing a flight of listeners to rival services like Apple Music.

In the long run, Spotify and Ek also remain convinced the tough round of layoffs has set Spotify up for long-term profitability.

The apparent collective surprise at how that can affect operations in the short run, though, marks a dash of hubris for the newly bullish streaming group.

Continue reading here:

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek surprised at negative impact of laying off 1500 Spotify employees - Fortune

Artificial intelligence leaders including OpenAI, Meta, and Google have agreed to install child protection safeguards in response to an alarming rise in AI-generated child porn, The Wall Street Journal reported. Organized by the child-safety group Thorn and the ethical tech nonprofit All Tech Is Human, the agreement asks AI labs to avoid training models off data sets that could include explicit images of children and calls for more vigilance in shutting down back doors that allow that content to be generated. For instance, Thorn wants AI platforms and search engines to cut links to services that generate naked photos of kids, which has caused serious privacy problems at middle and high schools this year. Big tech, which famously moves at a breakneck pace, worries that attempts to install sweeping safeguards could hinder innovation or lead to a less useful modelsbut theres a dire need for self-regulation. In a report released Monday, Stanfords Internet Observatory found the volume of AI-generated child porn is on the brink of overwhelming the single organization that monitors crimes against children.

Read more:

Tech Giants Promise to Crack Down on AI-Generated Child Porn - The Daily Beast

AWS-commissioned research by AlphaBeta shows that cloud and cybersecurity skills will be the top two most sought-after digital skills by Japanese employers by 2025. AWS has trained over 400,000 individuals in Japan with cloud skills since 2017, providing them with in-demand cloud skills and best practices to help learners and organisations innovate in the cloud.

For over a decade, AWS has been committed to helping our Japanese customers access the latest cutting-edge technology, build digital solutions on highly resilient and secure cloud infrastructure, and adapt their businesses to maintain an edge in todays complex economic environment, said Tadao Nagasaki, President of AWS in Japan. Our investment into cloud infrastructure generates a ripple effect across the Japanese industries including the public and government sectors. It will help more Japanese organisations with the ability to access and adopt new, emerging and transformational digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. We are committed to and excited about the future of Japans digital economy.

Microsoft has also announced plans to invest in Japan over the next two years, aiming to increase hyperscale cloud computing and AI opportunities.

The company aims to do this by expanding its existing digital skills programmes with the goal of providing AI skills to more than three million people over the next three years. This follows a recent similar commitment to teach millions in India about AI by 2025.

Microsoft also plans to open its first Microsoft Research Asia lab and states it seeks to deepen its cybersecurity collaborations with the government of Japan.

The US$2.9bn commitment is Microsofts largest investment into Japan in the 46 years it has been present in the country. With this financial boost, Microsoft will be able to provide more advanced computing resources in Japan, including the latest graphics processing units (GPUs) to speed up AI workloads.

We are honoured to contribute to Japan and its future with our largest investment to date, technology and knowledge, says Miki Tsusaka, President of Microsoft Japan. In collaboration with our partners, Microsoft Japan is fully committed to supporting the people and organisations of Japan to solve social problems and achieve more.

Google Cloud has announced a US$1bn investment in digital connectivity to Japan, including the expansion of the Pacific Connect initiative and delivery of two new subsea cables, aimed at creating new fibre-optic routes between the continental United States and Japan in support of Googles Japan Digitization Initiative, while improving the reliability and resilience of digital connectivity between the US, Japan, and multiple Pacific Island countries and territories.

Subsea cables can bring economic and productivity gains to the places where they land. For example, in Japan, studies estimate Google network infrastructure investments drove an additional US$400m in GDP in the previous decade. With increased access to digital services, more people can take advantage of skill development and career opportunities, while businesses and public sector organisations can better serve their customers and constituents.

Were excited about the long-term benefits that these latest Pacific initiatives will bring to people, our users, and our customers, wrote Brian Quigley VP of Global Network Infrastructure at Google Cloud in an announcement. Well continue to share more as we continue working with partners to reduce the digital divide across the Pacific.

OpenAI meanwhile recently announced its first office in Asia, together with the release of a GPT-4 custom model optimised for the Japanese language.

The AI startup said it is providing local businesses with early access to a GPT-4 custom model specifically optimised for the Japanese language, offering improved performance in translating and summarising Japanese text and operating up to three times faster than its predecessor.

We are committed to collaborating with the Japanese government, local businesses, and research institutions to develop safe AI tools that serve Japans unique needs and to unlock new opportunities, the company said in an announcement blog. We chose Tokyo as our first Asian office for its global leadership in technology, culture of service, and a community that embraces innovation.

OpenAI says it is working with leading businesses like Daikin, Rakuten, and TOYOTA Connected who are using ChatGPT Enterprise to automate complex business processes, assist in data analysis and optimise internal reporting.

Were excited to be in Japan which has a rich history of people and technology coming together to do more, said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. We believe AI will accelerate work by empowering people to be more creative and productive, while also delivering broad value to current and new industries that have yet to be imagined.

In April Oracle Corporation Japan announced that it plans to invest more than US$8bn over the next 10 years to meet the growing demand for cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan. The investment will grow Oracle Cloud Infrastructures (OCI) footprint across Japan. In addition, to help customers and partners address the digital sovereignty requirements in Japan, Oracle will significantly expand its operations and support engineering teams with Japan-based personnel.

Oracle plans to increase local customer support of its public cloud regions in Tokyo and Osaka and its local operations teams for Oracle Alloy and OCI Dedicated Region. This will enable governments and businesses across Japan to continue to move their mission-critical workloads to the Oracle Cloud and embrace sovereign AI solutions.

We are dedicated to meeting our customers and partners where they are in their cloud journey, said Toshimitsu Misawa, member of the board, corporate executive officer and President of Oracle Corporation Japan. By growing our cloud footprint and providing a team to support sovereign operations in Japan, we are giving our customers and partners the opportunity to innovate with AI and other cloud services while supporting their regulatory and sovereignty requirements.

Read more:

Microsoft, AWS & Oracle: Why Big Tech is Investing in Japan - Technology Magazine

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger focused his sales pitch for Gaudi 3 on enterprise customers, telling them a "third phase" of AI will mean automating complex enterprise tasks.

The Linux Foundation and a host of major tech companies are teaming up to build generative AI platforms for enterprise users.

Intel, Red Hat, VMware, Anyscale, Cloudera, KX, MariaDB Foundation, Qdrant, SAS, and several other companies are partnering on the Open Platform for Enterprise AI (OPEA), a Linux Foundation initiative to develop open-source AI solutions for companies worldwide. While the partners stopped short of saying what exactly they will develop, they promised "the development of open, multi-provider, robust, and composable GenAI systems."

The corporate world is abuzz over AI and its potential. While some companies are building their own AI solutions, others are reliant upon third-party providers. Some of the AI services they need are unique to their businesses, but in many cases, AI services that can predict outcomes, autocomplete spreadsheet formulas, and optimize worker time can be used across industries.

Also: AI business is booming: ChatGPT Enterprise now boasts 600,000+ users

OPEA tries to address the latter use case. Because the companies have committed to building open-source AI products, they would conceivably be able to jump between the various products without compatibility or cross-functional operation issues.

The companies also hope to address the increasing adoption of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions, they said. RAG refers to an AI model's ability to access external data to supplement its understanding of user queries and deliver better results.

A view of how OPEA solutions could work, with help from RAG.

For example, if doctors use an AI model to enhance their practice, externally sourced medical journals could make that AI model -- and their outcomes -- even better. The problem, however, is that RAG pipelines haven't been standardized, creating issues for companies wanting to deploy new AI platforms.

"OPEA intends to address this issue by collaborating with the industry to standardize components, including frameworks, architecture blueprints and reference solutions that showcase performance, interoperability, trustworthiness and enterprise-grade readiness," the companies said in a statement.

Although these companies have committed to building cross-compatible AI tools through OPEA, they're still competitors that have a vested interest in generating revenue from their own products. While enterprises could ultimately benefit from open-source AI tools, the companies will still need to play nicely together if the want to achieve OPEA's goals.

The rest is here:

The Linux Foundation and tech giants partner on open-source generative AI enterprise tools - ZDNet

When Nigerian edtech startup, Flexisaf, decided to cut costs earlier this year, it realized it needed to reduce its spending on technology.

One of the companys biggest costs was the money it paid Google to use its Workspace a collection of Google products including Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Meet, and Docs. Flexisaf had used Google Workspace since 2010, but with 100 employees now, it was becoming too expensive for the small business.

In March, Flexisaf found a solution to its problem in Zoho, an Indian company that offered similar products as Google, but at a fraction of the price. Flexisaf has started the process of migrating to Zoho once that is completed, it will save the company around 8,000,000 naira ($6,960) a year, Saad Shehu, Flexisafs people and talent manager, told Rest of World.

The approach weve taken is to introduce the mail and meeting tools first, and drive adoption of the other features within the coming months, Shehu said.

Zoho, a lesser-known rival of Google and Microsoft in the enterprise software space, has been stepping up in Africa as an affordable alternative to the global giants. The company has hired local staff, introduced payment options in local currencies, and even sponsored a cricket tournament to dig its heels into the market. But even as it has seen some early success, African tech experts say Zoho needs to strengthen its branding and engage with the local tech community to give serious competition to its larger rivals in the future.

There is a tremendous opportunity for digital transformation in African countries, Praval Singh, vice president of marketing and customer experience at Zoho, told Rest of World. A lot of companies are adopting digital, either for the first time or theyre on that path of making their businesses more efficient using technology, he said. Rest of World spoke to seven startups in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa that have ditched Google and switched to Zohos products over the past year or so.

While Zoho launched in India in 1996, it was only in 2019 that it started on-the-ground operations in Africa, with one salesperson each in South Africa and Nigeria. Now, it has about 60 employees across the continent, Zohos regional manager for Africa, Andrew Bourne, told Rest of World. Besides work management tools like the equivalent of Gmail or Google Drive, Zoho sells software for customer relationship management, human resource management, and accounting, among other products.

Globally, Zoho has over 100 million users. Its clients include e-commerce major Amazon, leading carmaker Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Indian airline SpiceJet, and food delivery platform Zomato. Zohos advantage over its bigger rivals is that it does not run ads or sell customers data to third parties, Singh said.

In 2023, Zohos user base in Nigeria grew by 50% year-on-year, while its revenue from South Africa rose by 73%, Bourne said. The company refused to disclose how many users it had in Africa or how much revenue it had made from the continent. A Zoho spokesperson told Rest of World its clients include Kenyan lifestyle app Pesapal, South African fintech Payfast, and events ticketing portal Quicket. The companys combined annual revenue has crossed $1 billion.

But despite its initial success, Zoho doesnt have the same support for the local developer ecosystem as Google does in Africa, according to Prosper Otemuyiwa, a Nigerian software engineer and co-founder of ForLoop, an African nonprofit developer community. They dont have enough goodwill yet, Otemuyiwa said. [Google] has built an ecosystem of tools and support, [and] users are likely going to hesitate before clocking out of [it], just as people would rather pay for an Apple product just to remain within that ecosystem of tools.

In 2021, Zoho started allowing African companies to pay for its software in local currencies. This decision has been a major reason for Zohos success in Africa as it allowed customers and potential clients to avoid regulatory hurdles around dollar spending, Kehinde Ogundare, country director for Nigeria, told Rest of World. We saw the rise in adoption of Zoho technology in Nigeria when we started pricing in local currency and building a local support team.

In comparison, African companies can pay for Google Workspace only in dollars and euros, as verified by Rest of World.

As long as theres a naira equivalent for anything thats coming in dollars, Zoho will win, Adewale Yusuf, co-founder and CEO of edtech startup AltSchool Africa, told Rest of World. They have great products and pricing whats left is to build trust and engage in strong marketing activities to completely shake out the big guys. Yusuf, who has co-founded three startups, said all his companies now use at least one Zoho product.

Google and Microsoft did not respond to Rest of Worlds queries about offering localized solutions in Africa, including adding payment options in local currencies.

Zoho has also been aggressive with its pricing in Africa. Zoho One, a bundle of more than 45 products, sells for just $6.70 per user in Nigeria, compared to $30 in the rest of the world.

Cost is the biggest driver for me, Neto Ikpeme, founder and CEO of Nigerian health-tech startup Wellahealth, told Rest of World. Ikpeme had opted for Zoho over Google when he launched his company in 2016. We know that its difficult enough to access dollars, and if you can, you might want to reserve it for other services that you cant pay for locally, he said. But the low pricing may not be enough for Zoho to dethrone its larger rivals. Users told Rest of World the companys products lack sophistication.

Zoho hasnt done a design upgrade in a while and it is starting to get a little bit stale. They also need to have better mobile apps, said Vijay Anand, an Indian angel investor and founder whose startups use Zoho. When he tested Zohos new Slack-like service, Cliq, Anand was disappointed by the lack of emojis and GIFs. Its the one happy thing the teams have, he said.

ForLoops Otemuyi said Zoho lacks a developer community that can support its products in Africa. Theres no strong community to leverage when you run into a problem, he said. Google has that in abundance and across the continent in terms of developers, startups, and IT professionals generally.

Zoho is partnering with local business communities, incubators, accelerators, and venture capital firms to tackle that challenge, Veerakumar Natarajan, the companys regional manager for East Africa, told Rest of World. In Kenya and South Africa, for instance, it has partnered with startup incubator hubs like J-Hub Africa and Silulo Foundation, respectively, Natarajan said.

Google is a lot bigger than we are in terms of size, Singh said. But our portfolio, with a spread of 55-plus apps, is the most prolific in the industry, owing to our bullish focus on [research and development]. He said some customers might use only Zoho, while others might use it along with Googles products to meet different needs. It takes each of a kind to make a village, said Singh.

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Zoho is the Google Workspace alternative African tech companies are choosing - Rest of World

While the big question everyone wants answered about Reddit these days is whether theres an initial public offering in the works, theres a lot more the industry is wondering about this unique hub for digital conversation.

One of its co-founders, Steve Huffman, returned to run Reddit eight years ago, and in that time has presided over a period of dramatic, if somewhat turbulent, evolution for the platform. He sat down with Variety Intelligence Platform president and chief media analyst Andrew Wallenstein on Jan. 10 at the Variety Entertainment Summit at CES in Las Vegas to discuss how Reddit holds its own for ad dollars against the tech juggernauts that also want to mine the companys intellectual property for AI training purposes.

Andrew Wallenstein: May I be so bold as to ask if well be seeing an IPO anytime soon? Steve Huffman: I cant talk about that topic. I have a PR-proofed sentence: We are working toward building a sustainable business.

Wallenstein: Alright, well, lets talk about that sustainable business, starting with advertising. Look at this chart (see below). Its saturated with the biggest digital players worldwide. How are you able to differentiate what youve got to compete with the Metas and Alphabets of the world? Huffman: First, I think theres a bug on your slide Reddit is misspelled as Other.

Wallenstein: Youre all that gray?! [Joking.] Huffman: Our business is growing nicely. Were outgrowing the market right now, which wed expect to do. Reddit is unique in a number of ways. I think its important to understand that Reddit is not social media. It is communities. Brands can connect the communities of people who love those brands on Reddit in a different way, and so its also a fair amount of what we would call unduplicated reach people who are on Reddit who arent on other platforms.

Wallenstein: You guys were out with some research this week talking about the power of recommendations. Huffman: The nature of Reddit is its a place where people go for recommendations or advice. Sometimes its life advice, but many times its actually products. In fact, a lot of Reddit is people talking about stuff theyre going to buy. Every second, two people ask for a products recommendation on Reddit, and they get, on average, 19 responses. I just went through this: I bought an E ink tablet, so I was deciding which one to buy for notetaking. And Reddit has tons of communities for that stuff. That sort of advice, just from other consumers, is really special and valuable. I ended up with the Supernote, for what its worth.

Wallenstein: This recommendation-centric strategy ... how does that play in this world were in now, in the end-of-the-cookie era? Huffman: On Reddit, we target with first-party data. We see your behavior, and we use that so we dont have to cookie you all over the internet and watch what youre browsing and reading and searching for and all those things. Its just your explicitly expressed interests on Reddit. And so I think the cookie transition the industry is going to go throughpresents some challenges, but the platforms that will do best will be the ones that rely on first-party data, when were one of those.

Wallenstein: The data that is in these Reddit communities is a goldmine, which is great because the tech giants want in on that. But it also is something of a control issue with these Redditors, so how do you navigate the balance there between what you can license to tech giants but also placate the Redditors? Huffman: Yeah, theres a balance there. Were learning how to walk that line and where the line is. Reddit is a valuable source of data for training potentially, and were open to licensing it for people, you know, for that purpose. For non-commercial use, its very straightforward. You can apply to Reddit and just get access to that sort of thing.

For commercial use, wed like to have some sort of arrangement or deal so we're not just subsidizing some of the largest companies on Earth. But for our user point of view, I think, that openness and that commitment, the privacy and making sure users are in control of their own identity thats kind of the bedrock of that. So no matter, you know, whether your data is on Reddit or, for example, on another platform, like a search engine, its all kind of transparent where its going and what its being used for.

Wallenstein: I would imagine, then, that you must be watching the New York Times-versus-OpenAI case with some interest. Is it relevant to the situation at Reddit? Huffman: We are watching that case, of course. Reddit is one of the largest corpuses of human-like authentic human conversation. And its not available for free, you know, to train these models. And so well work through that with all of these companies, right? Whether they want to use Reddit data or not.

But I think many IP holders share our view there, which is you have this IP, whether youre us or The New York Times or another big IP holder, and the intention is never to just give that information away wholesale for free so somebody else can use it for their gain.

I do think the industry will find a balance here over time. I think some people in the space are being more cooperative than others. But were right in the thick of it. I think we all are, and were all taking different approaches.

Originally posted here:

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman Takes on Big Tech for AI and Ad $$ - Variety

Tech giants have been increasingly laying off their employees, reaching a peak in January of last year. With Google now announcing hundreds of job cuts, what is the tech market outlook for 2024?

Google has laid off hundreds of employeesin hardware, voice assistance, and engineeringas it continues to cut costs.

"Throughout second-half of 2023, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, and to align their resources to their biggest product priorities,"a spokesperson for Google told Reuters in a statement.

"Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organisational changes, which include some role eliminations globally," the spokesperson said without specifying the number of affected roles.

Google last year announced plans to make its virtual assistant smarter by adding generativeartificial intelligence (AI) that would be able to assist with tasks such as planning a trip or catching up on emails.

Concerns about the implications and usage of AI for job cuts are not new. A survey of 750 business leaders utilising AI conducted by ResumeBuilder revealed 37% of respondents stated the technology had replaced workers in 2023, while 44% anticipated layoffs in 2024 due to AI efficiency.

Meanwhile, several other tech giants have recently announced significant job cuts.

Amazon.com Inc. is laying off hundreds of employees in content creation divisions, including Prime Video and the live-streaming site, Twitch.

Unity Software Inc., the company behind the technology used in popular mobile games such as Pokemon Go, has also announced a 25% workforce reduction, about 1,800 job cuts.

Layoffs.fyi, a platform monitoring job reductions across the industry, reports the number of tech employees laid off reached its highest point in the first quarter of 2023 and has been consistently decreasing since then.

More than 262,600 employees were last year laid off by 1,186 tech companies, including Spotify and Salesforce, with the peak occurring in January 2023.

However, despite initial concerns, the same data indicates that the job market is now stabilising.

See the rest here:

Google has laid off hundreds of staff. What now for the tech market? - Euronews

The tech industry has been reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions unfortunately ramped up in 2023 and so far, seem to be accelerating in 2024. It can be tough to keep track of these moves, so weve compiled all the major layoffs in one place and will continue to update this story as the situation evolves.

Duolingo cut 10 percent of its contractors, and said that it is instead able to use generative AI to accomplish some of the tasks that its human workers used to perform.

Unity laid off 1,800 people, or a quarter of its workforce. This is in addition to more than 1,110 other layoffs at the company over the past two years.

Humane cut 4 percent of its workforce even before its flagship product, the Ai pin, hit the market.

Amazon-owned Twitch is laying off a sobering 35 percent of its workforce, just over 500 people. In a note to staff, CEO Dan Clancy said "our organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business."

On the same day that Amazon-owned Twitch confirmed it would be laying off 500 workers, Variety reported that Amazon itself would lay off "several hundred" people at Prime Video and MGM Studios.

Meta's layoffs are continuing into 2024. The company has reportedly let go 60 technical program managers at Instagram.

In another round of belt tightening, Google has reportedly laid off hundreds of workers in its Assistant and hardware divisions, among other departments. Alongside the cuts, Google is said to have reorganized its Pixel, Nest and Fitbit divisions, which led to Fitbit's co-founders departing the company.

Discord has reportedly laid off 170 workers, or 17 percent of its workforce. In a memo first reported by The Verge, CEO Jason Citron said the company had hired too many people back in 2020.

Spotify layoffs

Spotify is laying off 17 percent of its workforce, CEO Daniel Ek announced in a pre-holiday press release.

New World Interactive

The developer behind the Insurgency series and Day of Infamy laid off an undisclosed number of employees in December.

Tinybuild

Indie game developer Tinybuild also laid off an undisclosed number of employees, citing cost restructuring.

Codemasters

The EA-owned studio cut some jobs in December. Here, too, it is unclear how many employees lost their jobs.

Tidal

The music streamer announced in December that it is laying off 10 percent of its workforce. This follows an announcement in November from parent company Block Inc. that it would cap its workforce at 12,000 employees.

Etsy

Etsy is laying off 11 percent of its staff, or around 225 employees. The company is also reshuffling its c-suite, with two executives departing in early 2024.

Ubisoft Montreal layoffs

In early November, Ubisoft laid off 98 people from its Montreal office, considered the home of the company's biggest in-house development team. The majority of those who lost their jobs were in business administration and IT. Overall, the company said in its latest quarterly earnings report that it had cut about 1,000 jobs over the last 12 months, including layoffs and not replacing employees who left voluntarily.

Cruise layoffs

Cruise, General Motors' driverless car subsidiary, reportedly told employees in November that it plans to lay off some employees. The news came the same week that GM recalled Cruise's entire fleet of 950 robotaxis following a pedestrian collision. Cruise confirmed in December that the layoffs would include about 900 employees, or 24 percent of its workforce.

Snap layoffs

Snap laid off 20 product managers in a move it claims will enable faster decision making.

Amazon layoffs

Amazon cut 180 jobs from its gaming division, according to several reputable news outlets including Reuters and Bloomberg. The cuts included the entire staff working on Crown, an Amazon-backed Twitch channel. Separately, later in November Amazon laid off several hundred employees working on Alexa. On AI, the company is widely perceived to have fallen behind competitors such as OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT.

ByteDance layoffs

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has reportedly eliminated hundreds of roles across its gaming division. Nuverse, the publisher it acquired back in 2017, was said to be gutted in the process.

Unity layoffs

Unity Software cut 265 jobs, or 3.8 percent of its workforce, as part of a company "reset."

LinkedIn layoffs

In its second round of layoffs this year, LinkedIn said it is letting go around 668 workers from across its engineering, product, talent and finance teams. In May, LinkedIn said it would lay off 716 people and close its job search app in China. Between the two rounds of layoffs, LinkedIn will have cut nearly 1,400 jobs in 2023.

Epic Games laid off 16 percent of its employees, or about 830 employees. In an open letter to employees, CEO Tim Sweeney said the company was spending "way more money" than it earns, and that "we concluded that layoffs are the only way." Previously, the company had attempted to reduce costs by freezing hiring and cutting its marketing spending.

Roku's second round of 2023 layoffs is seeing another 300 people leaving the company, on top of 200 it let go in March and another 200 folks it dismissed in late 2022. Roku is once again looking to reduce costs and, along with lowering its headcount, it's trying to do that by axing shows and movies from its platform, consolidating office space and spending less on outside services.

Google drew attention in July when is contracting partner Accenture laid off 80 Help subcontractors who voted to form the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA the month before. Accenture attributed the move to cost-cutting. While the company said it respected the subcontractors' right to join a union, the former teams accused Google of retaliating against labor organizers.

The creator of Cyberpunk 2077 isn't immune to business challenges. CD Projekt Red warned in July that it would lay off about 100 people over the next several months, or about nine percent of the workforce. Employees will be let go as late as the first quarter of 2024. CEO Adam Kiciski was frank about the reasoning: CDPR was "overstaffed" for a reorganization meant to better handle the game developer's widening product roadmap, which includes new Cyberpunk and Witcher titles.

Spotify followed up its January layoff plans with word in June that it would cut 200 jobs in its podcast unit. The move is part of a more targeted approach to fostering podcasts with optimized resources for creators and shows. The company is also combining its Gimlet and Parcast production teams into a renewed Spotify Studios division.

GrubHub has faced intense pressure from both the economy and competitors like Uber, and that led it to lay off 15 percent of its workforce in June, or roughly 400 staff. This came just weeks after outgoing CEO Adam DeWitt officially left the food delivery service. New chief executive Howard Migdal claims the job cuts will help the company remain "competitive."

Game publishing giant Embracer Group announced plans for layoffs in June as part of a major restructuring effort meant to cut costs. The company didn't say how many of its 17,000 employees would be effected, but expected the overhaul to continue through March. The news came soon after Embracer revealed that it lost a $2 billion deal with an unnamed partner despite a verbal agreement.

Sonos has struggled to turn a profit as of late, and it's cutting costs to get back on track. The company said in June that it would lay off 7 percent of staff, or roughly 130 jobs. It also planned to offload real estate and rethink program spending. CEO Patrick Spence said there were "continued headwinds" that included shrinking sales.

Plex may be many users' go-to app for streaming both local and online media, but that hasn't helped its fortunes. The company laid off roughly 20 percent of employees in June, or 37 people. The cuts affect all areas. Plex is reportedly feeling the blow from an ad market slowdown, and is eager to cut costs and turn a profit.

Shopify's e-commerce platform played an important role at the height of the pandemic, but the Canadian company is scaling back now that the rush is over. In May, the company laid off 20 percent of its workforce and sold its logistics business to Flexport. Founder Tobi Ltke characterized the job cuts as necessary to "pay unshared attention" to Shopify's core mission, and an acknowledgment that the firm needed to be more efficient now that the "stable economic boom times" were over.

Polestar delayed production of its first electric SUV (the Polestar 3) in May, and that had repercussions for its workforce. The Volvo spinoff brand said in May that it would cut 10 percent of its workforce to lower costs as it faced reduced manufacturing expectations and a rough economy. Volvo needed more time for software development and testing that also pushed back the EX90, Polestar said.

SoundCloud followed up last year's extensive layoffs with more this May. The streaming audio service said it would shed 8 percent of its staff in a bid to become profitable in 2023. Billboard sources claim the company hopes to be profitable by the fourth quarter of the year.

Lyft laid off 13 percent of staff in November 2022, but took further steps in April. The ridesharing company said it was laying off 1,072 workers, or about 26 percent of its headcount. It comes just weeks after an executive shuffle that replaced CEO Logan Green with former Amazon exec David Risher, who said the company needed to streamline its business and refocus on drivers and passengers. Green previously said Lyft needed to boost its spending to compete with Uber.

Cloud storage companies aren't immune to the current financial climate. In April, Dropbox said it would lay off 500 employees, or roughly 16 percent of its team. Co-founder Drew Houston pinned the cuts on the combination of a rough economy, a maturing business and the "urgency" to hop on the growing interest in AI. While the company is profitable, its growth is slowing and some investments are "no longer sustainable," Houston said.

Roku shed 200 jobs at the end of 2022, but it wasn't done. The streaming platform creator laid off another 200 employees in March 2023. As before, the company argued that it needed to curb growing expenses and concentrate on those projects that would have the most impact. Roku has been struggling with the one-two combination of a rough economy and the end of a pandemic-fueled boom in streaming video.

If you thought luxury EV makers would be particularly susceptible to economic turmoil, you guessed correctly. Lucid Motors said in March that it would lay off 18 percent of its workforce, or about 1,300 people. The marque is still falling short of production targets, and these cuts reportedly help deal with "evolving business needs and productivity improvements." The cuts are across the board, too, and include both executives as well as contractors.

Meta slashed 11,000 jobs in fall 2022, but it wasn't finished. In March 2023, the company unveiled plans to lay off another 10,000 workers in a further bid to cut costs. The first layoffs affected its recruiting team, but it shrank its technology teams in late April and its business groups in late May. The Facebook owner is hoping to streamline its operations by reducing management layers and asking some leaders to take on work previously reserved for the rank and file. It may take a while before Meta's staff count grows again it doesn't expect to lift a hiring freeze until sometime after it completes its restructuring effort in late 2023.

Rivian conducted layoffs in 2022, but that wasn't enough to help the fledgling EV brand's bottom line. The company laid off another six percent of its employees in February, or about 840 workers. It's still fighting to achieve profitability, and the production shortfall from supply chain issues hasn't helped matters. CEO RJ Scaringe says the job cuts will help Rivian focus on the "highest impact" aspects of its business.

Zoom was a staple of remote work culture at the pandemic's peak, so it's no surprise that the company is cutting back now that people are returning to offices. The video calling firm said in February it was laying off roughly 1,300 employees, or 15 percent of its personnel. As CEO Eric Yuan put it, the company didn't hire "sustainably" as it dealt with its sudden success. The layoffs are reportedly necessary to help survive a difficult economy. The management team is offering more than just apologies, too. Yuan is cutting his salary by 98 percent for the next fiscal year, while all other executives are losing 20 percent of their base salaries as well as their fiscal 2023 bonuses.

Engadget's parent company Yahoo isn't immune to layoffs. The internet brand said in February that it would lay off over 20 percent of its workforce throughout 2023, or more than 1,600 people. Most of those cuts, or about 1,000 positions, took place immediately. CEO Jim Lanzone didn't blame the layoffs on economic conditions, however. He instead pitched it as a restructuring of the advertising technology unit as it shed an unprofitable business in favor of a successful one. Effectively, Yahoo is bowing out of direct competition in with Google and Meta in the ad market.

The pandemic recovery and a grim economy have hit PC makers particularly hard, and Dell is feeling the pain more than most. It laid off five percent of its workforce in early February, or about 6,650 employees, after a brutal fourth quarter where computer shipments plunged an estimated 37 percent. Past cost-cutting efforts weren't enough, Dell said the layoffs and a streamlined organization were reportedly needed to get back on track.

Food delivery services flourished while COVID-19 kept people away from restaurants, and at least some are feeling the sting now that people are willing to dine out again. Deliveroo is laying off about 350 workers, or nine percent of its workforce. "Redeployments" will bring this closer to 300, according to founder Will Shu. The justification is familiar: Deliveroo hired rapidly to handle "unprecedented" pandemic-related growth, according to Shu, but reportedly has to cut costs as it deals with a troublesome economy.

DocuSign may be familiar to many people who've signed documents online, but that hasn't spared it from the impact of a harsh economic climate. The company said in mid-February that it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce. While it didn't disclose how many people that represented, the company had 7,461 employees at the start of 2022. Most of those losing their jobs work in DocuSign's worldwide field organization.

You may not know GitLab, but its DevOps (development and operations) platform underpins work at tech brands like NVIDIA and T-Mobile and shrinking business at its clients is affecting its bottom line. GitLab is laying off seven percent of employees, or roughly 114 people. Company chief Sid Sijbrandij said the problematic economy meant customers were taking a "more conservative approach" to software investment, and that his company's previous attempts to refocus spending weren't enough to counter these challenges.

GoDaddy conducted layoffs early in the pandemic, when it cut over 800 workers for its retail-oriented Social platform. In February this year, however, it took broader action. The web service provider laid off eight percent of its workforce, or more than 500 people, across all divisions. Chief Aman Bhutani claimed other forms of cost-cutting hadn't been enough to help the company navigate an "uncertain" economy, and that this reflected efforts to further integrate acquisitions like Main Street Hub.

Twilio eliminated over 800 jobs in September 2022, but it made deeper cuts as 2023 got started. The cloud communications brand laid off 17 percent of staff, or roughly 1,500 people, in mid-February. Like so many other tech firms, Twillio said that past cost reduction efforts weren't enough to endure an unforgiving environment. It also rationalized the layoffs as necessary for a streamlined organization.

Google's parent company Alphabet has been cutting costs for a while, including shutting down Stadia, but it took those efforts one step further in late January when it said it would lay off 12,000 employees. CEO Sundar Pichai wasn't shy about the reasoning: Alphabet had been hiring for a "different economic reality," and was restructuring to focus on the internet giant's most important businesses. The decision hit the company's Area 120 incubator particularly hard, with the majority of the unit's workers losing their jobs. Sub-brands like Intrinsic (robotics) and Verily (health) also shed significant portions of their workforce in the days before the mass layoffs. Waymo has conducted two rounds of layoffs that shed 209 people, or eight percent of its force.

Amazon had already outlined layoff plans last fall, but expanded those cuts in early January when it said it would eliminate 18,000 jobs, most of them coming from retail and recruiting teams. It added another 9,000 people to the layoffs in March, and in April said over 100 gaming employees were leaving. To no one's surprise, CEO Andy Jassy blamed both an "uncertain economy" and rapid hiring in recent years. Amazon benefited tremendously from the pandemic as people shifted to online shopping, but its growth is slowing as people return to in-person stores.

Coinbase was one of the larger companies impacted by the crypto market's 2022 downturn, and that carried over into the new year. The cryptocurrency exchange laid off 950 people in mid-January, just months after it slashed 1,100 roles. This is one of the steepest proportionate cuts among larger tech brands Coinbase offloaded about a fifth of its staff. Chief Brian Armstrong said his outfit needed the layoffs to shrink operating expenses and survive what he previously described as a "crypto winter," but that also meant canceling some projects that were less likely to succeed.

Layoffs sometimes stem more from corporate strategy shifts than financial hardship, and IBM provided a classic example of this in 2023. The computing pioneer axed 3,900 jobs in late January after offloading both its AI-driven Watson Health business and its infrastructure management division (now Kyndryl) in the fall. Simply put, those employees had nothing to work on as IBM pivoted toward cloud computing.

Microsoft started its second-largest wave of layoffs in company history when it signaled it would cut 10,000 jobs between mid-January and the end of March. Like many other tech heavyweights, it was trimming costs as customers scaled back their spending (particularly on Windows and devices) during the pandemic recovery. The reductions were especially painful for some divisions they reportedly gutted the HoloLens and mixed reality teams, while 343 Industries is believed to be rebooting Halo development after losing dozens of workers. GitHub is cutting 10 percent of its team, or roughly 300 people.

PayPal has been one of the healthier large tech companies, having beaten expectations in its third quarter last year. Still, it hasn't been immune to a tough economy. The online payment firm unveiled plans at the end of January to lay off 2,000 employees, or seven percent of its total worker base. CEO Dan Schulman claimed the downsizing would keep costs in check and help PayPal focus on "core strategic priorities."

Salesforce set the tone for 2023 when it warned it would lay off 8,000 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce, just four days into the new year. While the cloud software brand thrived during the pandemic with rapidly growing revenue, it admitted that it hired too aggressively during the boom and couldn't maintain that staffing level while the economy was in decline.

Business software powerhouse SAP saw a steep 68 percent drop in profit at the end of 2022, and it started 2023 by laying off 2,800 staff to keep its business healthy. Unlike some big names in tech, though, SAP didn't blame excessive pandemic-era hiring for the cutback. Instead, it characterized the initiative as a "targeted restructuring" for a company that still expected accelerating growth in 2023.

Spotify spent aggressively in recent years as it expanded its podcast empire, but it quickly put a stop to that practice as 2023 began. The streaming music service said in late January that it would lay off 6 percent of its workforce (9,800 people worked at Spotify as of the third quarter) alongside a restructuring effort that included the departure of content chief Dawn Ostroff. While there were more Premium subscribers than ever in 2022, the company also suffered steep losses CEO Daniel Ek said he was "too ambitious" investing before the revenue existed to support it.

Amazon isn't the only major online retailer scaling back in 2023. Wayfair said in late January that it would lay off 1,750 team members, or 10 percent of its global headcount. About 1,200 of those were corporate staff cut in a bid to "eliminate management layers" and otherwise help the company become leaner and nimbler. Wayfair had been cutting costs since August 2022 (including 870 positions), but saw the layoffs as helping it reach break-even earnings sooner than expected.

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All the big tech layoffs of 2023 and 2024 - Engadget

2023 surely was an eventful year in tech. To cite just a few key moments, generative AI became mainstream thanks to software like ChatGPT; we had to say goodbye to the iconic blue bird while welcoming Twitter's new name (I know very well the pain of writing 'X, formerly known as Twitter' over the past six months); and big tech companies got fined the most under GDPR's data abuses for a total of more than $3 billion.

Well, on the latter point, data protection regulators' efforts turned out to be not as effective as it was hoped they'd be.

Swiss privacy firm behind popular email and VPN service, Proton reported that only after a week into 2024 the likes of Meta, Google, Apple and Microsoft earned enough to pay off all last year's fines. Let's take a look at what needs to change and, most importantly, what you can do in the meantime to truly protect your privacy.

"Whats clear is that these fines, though they appear to be a huge amount of money, in reality are just a drop in the ocean when it comes to the revenues that the tech giants are making. In other words, they arent a deterrent at all," Jurgita Miseviciute, Head of Public Policy & Government Affairs at Proton, told me.

Researchers at Proton have calculated that Alphabet (Google's parent company) needs only a bit more than a day to pay off its $941 million fines. Amazon and Apple's earnings of just a few hours are then enough to repay their data protection's sanctions of $111.7 and $186.4 million respectively.

While biggest data abuse perpetrator Meta, which got a record $1.3bn fine for its (mis)handling of EU user data in May last year, managed to accumulate all the necessary money in just about five working days.

These findings make it clear that data regulators' fines, as founder and CEO of Proton Andy Yen put it, are "little more than pocket change for these companies" instead of a mean to stop them abusing users' data. Not only that, he said, as "these minuscule fines essentially give the green light to tech giants to run riot in a marketplace skewed in their favor."

It's also quite common that big tech firms might appeal to these sanctions or simply refuse to pay, delaying the repayment for years. Take how Google contested India's fine, for instance, about the Android-related inquiry for abusing its dominant position in the market which started in 2019.

On this point, Yen said: "Its the average consumer that's losing outfacing higher prices, less choice, and no privacy. It has to stop and we need real, tangible change that puts people first, not profits."

According to Miseviciute, there are two main things that must happen for things to really change.

Did you know?

Fully enforced in May 2023, the EU Digital Market Act (DMA) brought new obligations for tech companies to ensure fair competition and protect people's digital rights. A similar bill, so-called Digital Markets, Consumer and Competition Bill (DMCC) is currently passing through the UK Parliament, too.

For starters, she believes that governments have to issue fines with a real financial effect in order to fight back against big monopolies.

"Thats why fines up to even 20% of global revenues for breaches of laws such as the EUs DMA [Digital Market Act] and up to 10% in case of the proposed DMCC [Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers] Bill in the UK are a step in the right direction," she told me.

If heavier sanctions are important, they are not everything. Miseviciute explained that regulators need to combine these with practical measures such as enforced behavioral and structural changes, for example.

Again, she sees the EU quite well-placed to do so due to the new powers gained with the DMA. However, elsewhere there are also some small steps in this direction.

"We hope Googles antitrust trial in the US serves as a catalyst for comprehensive antitrust regulation on the other side of the Atlantic. We also see promising potential regulatory developments in South Korea, Japan, Australia and other major jurisdictions," she told me.

"If you open up the marketplace, and you give innovators like Proton a chance to succeed, youll get solutions that are more private and more secure for consumers."

As we have seen, 2023 was yet another hard year for our online privacy.

The US, for instance, still lacks a federal data protection law with the proposed ADPPA being stalled at the time of writing. Enforced in August last year, India's new privacy law was strongly criticized for favoring government and big tech instead of citizens. Well, where allegedly strong legislations are in place like in the EU, these seem to have not enough teeth just yet.

Commenting on this point, Miseviciute told me: "Until laws like the DMA in the EU and the proposed DMCC in the UK are effectively put into practice we are living in a world where big tech rules the internetand all our privacy is at the mercy of their surveillance capitalism business model."

Did you know?

Two thirds of people in the UK would rather lose their passport than access to their email account. Yet, despite these concerns, most of them lack the necessary knowledge and tools to protect their digital privacy. Big Tech knows that, researchers revealed.

The glimpse of light in this gloomy scenario is that it's ultimately our choice if we want to keep using data-hungry products. Luckily, there are some smaller companies offering privacy-first alternatives you can switch to.

On its part, Proton appear to have been working hard to cut Google out of our digital life. Likewise the popular service, the Swiss-based provider offers an encrypted email service Proton Mail (which even beat the big tech giant by landing with a standalone desktop app in December), secure calendar and its own cloud storage Proton Drive, too.

Proton's product offering also includes one of the best virtual private network apps on the market (Proton VPN) to help you boosting your anonymity while browsing among other things, as well as a password manager tool (Proton Pass) to secure all your login details. Even better as all the provider's services come both with free and paid plans.

However, Proton is just one of the many companies developing privacy-first alternatives to big tech software. Worth a mention there are also encrypted messaging app Signal if you wish to replace WhatsApp with a more secure application and Mullvad browser to make the switch from Safari and Chrome.

Compare today's best overall VPNs

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

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A week into 2024 and Big Tech has earned enough to pay off all 2023 fines - TechRadar

Pictured: Medical professionals use technology in healthcare/iStock,elenabs

2024 will continue to see Big Tech companies enter the artificial intelligence-based drug discovery space, potentially disrupting the biopharma industry. That was the consensus of panelists at a Tuesday session on AI and machine learning held by the Biotech Showcase, co-located with the 42nd J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

The JPM conference got a reminder of Big Techs inroads into AI-based drug discovery with Sundays announcement that Google parent Alphabets digital biotech company Isomorphic Labs signed two large deals worth nearly $3 billion with Eli Lilly and Novartis.

Big Tech is coming for AI and its coming in a big way, said panel moderator Beth Rogozinski, CEO of Oncoustics, who noted that the AI boom has seen the rise of the Magnificent 7, a new grouping of mega-cap tech stocks comprised of the seven largest U.S.-listed companiestech giants Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Tesla.

Last year, the Magnificent 7s combined market value surged almost 75% to a whopping $12 trillion, demonstrating their collective financial power.

Six of the seven have AI and healthcare initiatives, Rogozinski told the panel. Theyre all coming for this industry.

However, Atomwise CEO Abraham Heifets made the case that with Big Tech getting into biopharma there is a mismatch of business models, with the Isomorphic Labs deals looking, in his words, like traditional tech mentality. Heifets contends that its unclear whether the physics of the business will support the risk models in the industry, adding that the influence of small- to mid-size companies focused on AI-based drug discovery should not be underestimated.

Google DeepMinds AlphaFold is the foundation of Isomorphic Labs platform. The problem, according to ArrePath CTO Kurt Thorn, is that its easy for these technologies to have fast followings only to see their market shares wane over time. If you look at AlphaFold, which was a breakthrough when it came out, within two or three years afterwards there were two or three alternatives.

Thorn concluded that its not clear that the market sizes are large enough to amortize a large AI platform for drug discovery across an entire industry.

Rogozinski emphasized that these switching costs are a potential barrier to entry in moving to such drug discovery platforms as Big Tech tries to get companies to transition.

Vivodyne CEO Andrei Georgescu commented that drug discovery and development is a difficult and complex process that is not a function of how big your team is or how many people you have behind the bench. The key to the success of AI in biopharma is in the generation and curation of datasets, according to Georgescu, who said the industry is facing a bottleneck on the complexity of the data and the applicability of the data to the outcomes that we want to confirm.

Providing some levity and perspective to Tuesdays AI session, Moonwalk Biosciences CEO Alex Aravanis told the audience he was late to arrive as a panelist due to an accident on the freeway involving a Tesla self-driving vehicle. So, clearly, they need more data, Aravanis said.

Marc Cikes, managing director of the Debiopharm Innovation Fund, told BioSpace that while he has been heartened to see the rise of AI and machine learning usage in biopharma, the forecast remains murky in 2024.

The impact of AI for drug discovery is still largely unknown, Cikes said. The public market valuation of the few AI-drug discovery companies is significantly down versus their peak price, and a large chunk of the high-value deals announced between native AI companies and large pharmas are essentially based on future milestone payments which may never materialize.

Greg Slabodkin is the News Editor at BioSpace. You can reach him atgreg.slabodkin@biospace.com. Follow him onLinkedIn.

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JPM2024: Big Tech Poised to Disrupt Biopharma with AI-Based Drug Discovery - BioSpace

AI Takes Center Stage at Davos 2024: Indias Tech Giants Ready for the Spotlight

As the world continues to grapple with the multifaceted challenges of the 21st century, the World Economic Forums Open Forum in Davos, slated for January 15-19, 2024, is set to play a critical role in shaping the dialogue. Promising an enriching exchange of ideas, the forum is expected to host over 2,700 leaders from 130 countries, including the likes of French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, the spotlight this year will be firmly on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its burgeoning influence across sectors.

Under the theme of Rebuilding Trust, Davos 2024 is poised to witness a silicon showdown with AI at the heart of discussions and presentations. The global platform, known for enabling world leaders, business executives, and thinkers to collaborate on pressing international issues, will delve into the hyper-growth of AI, its ethical implications, and the potential dangers of AI-driven misinformation and disinformation. As the world continues to reel under the impact of the war in Gaza and Ukraine, along with economic worries and debt crises, the focus on AI underscores the technologys importance in shaping future economic and social policies.

Adding a significant dimension to the event are Indias major technology companies such as Qualcomm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCL Technologies, and Wipro. These tech behemoths are expected to play prominent roles at the forum, showcasing their AI capabilities, innovations, and contributions to the global tech landscape. In what could potentially be a game-changer, these companies are poised to steal the spotlight at the forum, underscoring Indias growing prowess in the global tech arena.

With a record number of business representatives from Latin America and Asia, the 54th annual meeting reflects global economic trends of reshifting and rebalancing. The presence of civil society groups and guests from the science and culture world is a testament to the forums inclusive character and its commitment to fostering a holistic and comprehensive debate on key issues. As AI continues to redefine boundaries and blur the lines between technology and humanity, its role at the World Economic Forum 2024 is not just symbolic, but a realization of the technologys integral role in our future.

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AI's Spotlight at Davos 2024: India's Tech Giants on the Rise - BNN Breaking

LAS VEGAS (AP) Chef-like robots, AI-powered appliances and other high-tech kitchen gadgets are holding out the promise that humans dont need to cook or mix drinks for themselves anymore.

There was plenty new in the food and beverage world at CES 2024, the multi-day trade event put on by the Consumer Technology Association. Displays included cocktail-mixing and ice cream-making machines akin to a Keurig, and a robot barista whose movements are meant to mimic a human making a vanilla latte.

Heres some of the newest tech thats transforming the way meals are prepped, cooked and delivered:

GE Appliances is looking to change the way you smoke food with its new $1,000 indoor smoker.

Around the size of a toaster oven or microwave, the GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker can fit a full brisket cut in half, 40 chicken wings or three racks of ribs. It still uses wood pellets to achieve a smokey flavor, but its technology traps the smoke inside, making it perfect for people who live in urban environments, like high-rise apartments, said Whitney Welch, a spokesperson for GE Appliances.

Using generative AI technology, Brisk Its new smart grill, the NeoSear, aims to make the art of barbecuing foolproof.

You can ask the grill all kinds of questions to create the perfect recipe: What seasoning should I add to make my chicken skewers spicy? How do I sear a medium-rare steak?

Once youve nailed down a recipe and prepped the food, Brisk Its InnoGrill AI 2.0 technology will command the grill to cook it.

Its everyones smart grill, said CEO Christopher Huang. It doesnt matter if youre a skilled enthusiast, if youre busy, young or old.

The grill is not yet available but will cost around $2,000, Huang said.

Freezing your own ice cream at home takes hours, but with tech startup ColdSnaps no-clean ice cream machine, your frozen treat is ready in two minutes.

Think of it as a Keurig for ice cream: Choose from flavors like salted caramel and coffee, then put the pod in the machine and it will dispense your cold treat in minutes after scanning the pods QR code.

ColdSnap can also whip up frozen lattes, boozy ice cream treats and protein shakes.

Tech startup Chef AI is unveiling what it calls a real one-touch air fryer.

Unlike the air fryer you might have on your kitchen counter right now, Chef AIs iteration of the popular appliance doesnt require any tinkering with settings. Just place the food in the air fryer, press Start, and it uses artificial intelligence to detect what type of food it is cooking, says the companys CEO, Dean Khormaei.

He said the air fryer would turn even the worst cooks into chefs.

Chef AI will be available in the U.S. in September for $250.

Whats the secret to a perfect dirty martini? Dont worry about it Bartesians cocktail-mixing appliance takes the guesswork out of bartending.

Bartesians latest iteration, the Premier, can hold up to four different types of spirits. It retails for $369 and will be available later this year.

Use a small touch screen on the appliance to pick from 60 recipes, drop a cocktail capsule into the machine, and in seconds you have a premium cocktail over ice.

If you fancy a homemade beer instead, iGulus new automated brewing machine lets you make your own beer a pale ale, an amber lager or a wheat beer. Just pour a pre-mixed recipe into the machines keg, add water and scan the sticker that comes with the beer mix. In nine to 13 days, youll have a gallon of DIY beer.

Artly Coffees barista bot mimics the way a human behind the counter of your favorite coffee shop might prepare your usual order.

What were really trying to do is preserve the craft of fine coffee, said Alec Roig, a hardware developer for the Seattle-based tech startup that now is operating at 10 locations across the Pacific Northwest and in New York City.

Roig said the companys resident barista, who is behind all of Artlys coffee recipes, was hooked up with motion sensors that recorded his movements as he prepared each recipe, from packing the coffee grounds into the filter to frothing the milk and pouring latte art.

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At CES 2024, tech companies are transforming the kitchen with AI and robots that do the cooking - DC News Now | Washington, DC

Chinas internet giants from Alibaba Group Holding to Tencent Holdings slashed external investments last year amid an economic slowdown, regulatory headwinds and geopolitical tensions, according to data compiled by a Chinese consultancy.

Total investment deals made by Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu plunged by nearly 40 per cent to 102 in 2023, with Tencent known for its expansive holdings in Chinas internet sector seeing the largest reduction in deals, data from ITJuzi showed.

The social media and video gaming titan struck 39 investment contracts with 37 companies last year, a sharp decline from the 95 and 299 deals it made in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Web search and artificial intelligence (AI) firm Baidu participated in 24 investment deals last year, down from 52 in 2021. E-commerce giant Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, took part in 39 deals, a fall from 91 in 2021, according to ITJuzi.

2021 was a watershed year for Chinese internet firms, as Beijing kicked off a campaign to rein in the disorderly expansion of capital. Amid a series of regulatory tightening moves, the countrys internet champions - whose market sizes were once on a par with their American counterparts - have virtually stopped expanding.

Tencents investments last year were mainly related to corporate services, healthcare and video games. Advanced manufacturing firms were Alibabas top picks, with eight related deals being struck by the Hangzhou-based company and its affiliates during the year.

Alibaba, which is grappling with anaemic consumer spending at home, made four investment deals in the e-commerce sector, three of them outside China.

AI was another investment favourite among Chinese tech giants last year, as they raced to build and promote their local rivals to OpenAIs ChatGPT.

Tencent and Alibaba each backed seven and four AI start-ups developing large language models (LLMs), the technology which underpins chatbots like ChatGPT, which can understand complex questions and give humanlike responses.

Last year, Alibabas in-house research facility Damo Academy also launched a research laboratory to recruit more than a hundred postdoctoral candidates to work on cutting-edge areas, including AI and semiconductors.

Other major Chinese tech companies made even fewer investments.

TikTok owner ByteDance struck five external investment deals last year, while online shopping platform operator JD.com made just two.

Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi emerged as the top investor by number of investments, with 82 deals made during the year.

In that same month, Xiaomi invested in three start-ups in the vehicle and transport industry, according to ITJuzi.

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Chinas Big Tech firms cut external investments further in 2023 - South China Morning Post

Amazon Discounts Apple AirTags; UK PM Impersonated on Social Media; Tech Giants Make Waves at CES 2024

In a notable move, Amazon is currently offering a substantial deal on a four-pack of Apple AirTags, marking a 10 percent discount on the original price of $99. This offer is fortified by an additional $10 coupon, which further slashes the price down to a mere $79. These AirTags, slightly larger than a quarter, are designed with precision, aiding Apple device owners in keeping track of their possessions effortlessly.

These Bluetooth trackers, a product of Apples innovation, operate in coordination with Apples Find My network, providing location information rapidly and efficiently. They do not require charging, boasting a life span of about a year before the battery necessitates replacing. Capable of tracking up to 32 items, AirTags carry an IP67 rating, ensuring robust resistance against water and dust.

In a startling revelation, a communications firm recently uncovered 143 different ads impersonating the UK Prime Minister on social media in the previous month. This raises serious questions about the security measures in place on these platforms.

The tech landscape continues to evolve, with the new Vision Pro headset requiring a Face ID scan to ensure a precise band fit. Pre-orders for this tech marvel commence on January 19. Meanwhile, the focus at CES 2024 saw giants like Nvidia, LG, Sony, and Samsung making significant announcements, reshaping the technological future.

Adding to the tech narrative, Microsoft momentarily overtook Apple as the most valuable company, sparking a wave of discussions about their investments and advancements in AI. This event also shed light on the implications of the declining iPhone demand in China.

On the international front, a historic decision unfolded in Victoria as Robert Farquharson, convicted of murdering his three young sons in 2005, was stripped of the right to his childrens gravesite. Concurrently, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat made a statement on national television regarding President Volodymyr Zelenskyys claim about the destruction of 26 Russian helicopters and 12 planes.

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Amazon Discounts Apple AirTags; UK PM Impersonated on Social Media; Tech Giants Make Waves at CES 2024 - BNN Breaking

The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a lobby group representing major tech companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, and X, expressed concerns about a proposed plan by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The CFPBs proposal seeks equal oversight of digital wallet and payment app providers, including tech giants, to ensure consumer protections similar to traditional payment methods.

The CCIAs head of regulatory policy, Krisztian Katona, cautioned against the potential negative impact of the proposal, suggesting that overly broad or burdensome digital regulations could impede innovation and harm new startups in the industry.

The lobby group emphasized that extensive supervision like the one imposed on banks might not be the most effective approach.

In the comment letter addressed to the CFPB, the CCIA pointed out a perceived flaw in the proposal, stating that it failed to identify the specific consumer risks it intended to address.

The letter argued against viewing non-bank digital providers and banks as direct competitors, emphasizing the markets reality, where their collaborations often benefit consumers through complementary services.

The Financial Technology Association, representing members such as PayPal and Block Inc., echoed similar concerns in a separate comment letter released on the same day. They argued that existing regulations were adequate, urging the CFPB to suspend the rulemaking process.

The association, which includes companies like Venmo and Cash App, also believed that unnecessary regulations could stifle innovation and hinder the industrys growth.

The adoption of digital payment systems has continued to increase, given the advantage they offer users over traditional methods.

Notably, digital payments offer high convenience and security, adding to their user-friendly features and benefitting businesses and consumers.

Due to this support, there is a projected 26.93% compound growth in their adoption between 2021 and 2025.

This rise gives birth to a significant trend in the competitive industry, resulting in a consolidation period where large tech companies surpass regional and community banks in terms of trust associated with digital payments.

The IMF acknowledges the significance of digital payments in reshaping the industry and encourages more collaborations and competition between big tech companies and regular financial institutions.

Besides that, digital wallets have proven helpful in streamlining payment processes and bringing existing systems together, whether online portals for internet-based operations or contactless terminals for face-to-face transactions.

This ease of integration enhances accessibility and convenience for customers and businesses, contributing significantly to the widespread adoption of digital wallets.

In addition to these benefits, the cost-effectiveness of digital wallets compared to traditional payment methods makes them an attractive option for businesses aiming to reduce transaction costs.

This affordability further incentivizes their adoption across various industries, positioning digital wallets as indispensable tools for most tech organizations.

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Tech Giants Refuse U.S. Consumer Security to Oversee Digital Wallets - The Tech Report

Tech Giants Amazon and Cloudflare Under Fire for Controversial Employee Terminations

Two tech industry employees, one from Amazon and another from Cloudflare, have recently made headlines after their controversial firings, which they shared on social media platforms, began to trend. They have sparked debates on employment policies, termination procedures, and the role of social media in employee relations.

Kendall, a seven-year veteran at Amazon, turned to TikTok to express his dissatisfaction with the companys employment practices. Known to his 35,800 followers as thatamazonguyy, Kendall humorously advised people to refrain from ordering heavy items like Fiji water or dog food. He argued that the task of picking such heavy orders was unreasonable, causing waves of reactions from his viewers. The video, posted four weeks before Kendalls termination, was received with mixed reactions. While many found humor in his light-hearted complaints, some, particularly senior citizens, took offense.

Acknowledging the unintended offense, Kendall apologized, clarifying that his intentions were neither harmful nor discriminatory. Despite his public apology, Amazon decided to terminate his employment, also making him ineligible for rehire. Although the tech giant has not issued an official statement, Kendalls story continues to fuel discussions over the physical demands on Amazon workers.

Simultaneously, another employee termination was stirring controversy in the tech sector. Brittany Pietsch, a mid-market account executive at Cloudflare, recorded her own firing on a Zoom call and shared the video on social media. Her confrontational questioning of HR representatives and her visible frustration with their vague responses resonated with many viewers. The video quickly went viral, sparking debates about the companys handling of the situation and the legality of recording such calls.

Cloudflare CEO, Matthew Prince, commented on the incident, admitting that the companys approach to firing employees wasnt always perfect. Pietsch further explained on LinkedIn that her manager was left in the dark about her dismissal, expressing his shock upon discovering the news. She also stated that despite being among the top performers on her team, she was let go due to not meeting company expectations based on 2023 performance evaluations.

As the dust settles on these two high-profile firings, they serve as reminders of the precarious balance between employer expectations, employee rights, and the power of social media in shaping public opinion.

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Tech Giants Amazon and Cloudflare Under Fire for Controversial Employee Terminations - BNN Breaking

If there is one thing Asian can lay claim to as pioneers, it would be the superapp a single portal on our mobile phones giving us access to a wide range of virtual products and services.

Chinas WeChat inevitably comes to mind when we talk about superapps, and its said to inspired Elon Musks desire to build something similar, starting with Twitter.

Elsewhere in Asia, SingaporesGrab, IndonesiasGojekand South Koreas Kakao are also hard at work, trying to style themselves into a superapp equivalent for their respective markets.

Without a doubt, superapps clearly represent the next frontier in app development. So, what exactly is their appeal? And should we be wary about using them?

WeChat is long considered the titan of superapp that helps facilitate life online for millions of Chinese residents, bundling together social media, e-commerce, and digital payments.

However, the reasons behind its runaway success have more to do with the lack of alternatives in China.

In a society where WhatsApp, Twitter and Google are blocked, WeChat was in a unique position to monopolise the market simply by being one of the few communication options available.

While WeChats growth into a superapp is partly accidental, its success has paved the way for a demand for superapps elsewhere as consumers and businesses start seeing its value.

For users, superapps represent unparalleled convenience. Instead of jumping from app to app, the ability to make a restaurant reservation, pay for dinner and hail a ride home with one app inexplicably draws people into using it.

As for businesses hoping to stand out in a crowded landscape of apps, morphing into a superapp is the perfect solution to scale the business and dominate the market.

Grab clearly saw the superapp as a strategy for growth. Within a decade, it has spread its tentacles and evolved from a ride-hailing app into a conglomerate that offers deliveries, logistics and financial services.

By offering a myriad of services through its app, Grab managed to maintain a grip on our attention and make itself an indispensable part of daily living to over 180 million users.

Meanwhile, Gojek, another superapp that started as a call centre to connect users to ride-share services, has expanded to become one of the most valuable companies in Indonesia.

By leveraging its army of ride-share drivers as mobile bank tellers, Gojek was able to expand its customer base bybringing financial servicesto areas lacking access to banking infrastructure.

For businesses, the ultimate goal of creating a superapp is simple to keep customers happy and disincentivise them from interacting with other apps.

And hopefully, unyielding loyalty can be forged once the process of using a particular app becomes a habit.

Superapps are now a mainstay in our lives. In fact, it would be unheard of to find a phone in Singapore that does not have the Grab app.

However, should we be concerned about giving big tech so much insight and control into our habits?

According toDavid Shrier, a professor of AI and innovation at Imperial College Business School in London, superapps will know a lot about us, especially our payment habits. And herein lies the problem.

The disadvantage (with superapps) is we create a market power concentration. Suddenly, these companies are able to decide which goods and services you get to see because it controls the window you look through. And oligopolies tend to raise prices.

Besides trapping users within a content fortress, revolving ones life around an app can be problematic. Namely, what happens when the app breaks down?

When South Korean superapp Kakao had a nationwide outage, chaos ensued as daily life screeched to a halt for millions of users. As a result, Kakaos CEO was forced to resign, and a class-action lawsuit was brought against the company.

Lastly, the fact that one single app can access an unprecedented amount of customer data is troubling.

Not only do we have no way of knowing what is being done with our data, but there is also the risk of hackers stealing our information for nefarious activities.

Singtel,Carousellandmany othershave all been hit by data breaches. Even with sophisticated cyber defences, it is only a matter of time before we get hit by another cyberattack.

Sadly, there is none. Now that superapps are so integrated with our lives, quitting them will result in a cold turkey of convenience.

As we callously surrender our data and allow big tech firms to exert so much influence on our lives, ignorance is bliss when it comes to using superapps.

After all, it is only a matter of time before another superapp gets hit by a glitch, resulting in massive upheaval and social suicide.

Featured Image Credit: CNBC

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Why tech giants in Asia are propelling the rise of superapps

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Russia stands to lose its biggest tech company, which would throw a wrench in President Putin's plans to foster Russian-grown alternatives for Western technology.

Yandex, often referred to as Russia's Google, is the country's largest internet business best known for its search browser and ride-hailing apps. But its Dutch-based parent company, Yandex N.V., wants out of Russia because of the potential negative impact the Ukrainian invasion could have on its business, according to a report by The New York Times.

The exit of Russia's biggest tech company would deliver a blow to Putin, who has made a concerted effort to produce Russian technology and goods as sanctions cut access to Western suppliers.

Yandex N.V. said Friday that its board had "commenced a strategic process to review options to restructure the group's ownership and governance in light of the current geopolitical environment."

These options, Yandex said, included developing some of its international divisions "independently from Russia" and divesting "ownership and control of all other businesses in the Yandex Group." The company added: "This process is at a preliminary stage."

The Bell, a Russian media group, had earlier reported that Yandex N.V. would move its new businesses and most promising technologies including self-driving cars, machine learning, and cloud-computing services outside of Russia, the Times reported, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter. Those businesses would need access to Western markets, experts, and technology, all of which is unviable while the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages on and Western sanctions remain in place.

However, the decision to move Yandex's fledgling technology businesses might not be up to its parent company. The firm will have to get the Kremlin's approval to transfer Russian-registered tech licenses outside of the country, The Times reported. Plus, Yandex's shareholders would have to approve the broader restructuring plan.

Yandex's business, once hailed as a rare Russian business success story, has struggled since the invasion of Ukraine. The tech giant's story is not unlike those found in the Silicon Valley. Yandex employed more than 18,000 people, it was worth more than $31 billion, and is often referred to as the "Google of Russia." It even had offices in downtown Palo Alto, California, at one point.

But since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, thousands of Yandex employees have left Russia, and the price of the company's New York-listed shares lost more than $20 billion in value almost immediately after the war, before Nasdaq suspended trading in its shares. Meanwhile, Yandex's Moscow-listed shares dropped 62% in the past year.

Yandex's misfortune mirrors other Russian tech companies, which have struggled in the face of Western sanctions and the exodus of tens of thousands of Russian IT workers, according to an Al Jazeera report. It's something even Putin can't deny, admitting that the Russian IT sector will experience "colossal" difficulties as the US and 37 other countries restrict Russia's access to technologies, like semiconductors and telecommunications equipment, via export controls.

Untangling Russia's reliance on the global economy has been an uphill battle for the country, even before the Ukranian invasion and its sanctions.

In 2015, the Kremlin tried to stop all government bodies from using foreign software, but by 2019 only 10% of state-used software was Russian made. Russia's not just dependent on foreign tech, either. More than half, or 65% of Russian businesses relied on imports for their manufacturing, according to a 2021 note from Russia's central bank. From cars to office paper, most companies involve foreign providers some place in the supply chain.

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Russian Tech Giant Wants Out of the Country As Ukraine War Rages on