Dutch Software Firm Bird to leave Europe Due to Onerous Regulations in AI Era, Says CEO
"We are mostly leaving Europe as it lacks the environment we need to innovate in an AI-first era of technology," CEO Robert Vis told Reuters on Monday.
"We foresee that regulations in Europe will block true innovation in a global economy moving extremely fast to AI," he said in a text message response to Reuters queries.
Bird's operations in future will be mostly split between New York, Singapore and Dubai, he said, Reuters reported.
Vis first announced the move abroad in a LinkedIn post over the weekend.
Bird, formerly known as Message Bird, was founded in Amsterdam in 2011. It is a competitor of US-based Twilio in the market for helping companies manage their communications with consumers across digital mediums such as messaging, email and video apps. It says it has developed an AI-powered platform that automates and streamlines business operations across entire organizations including tech leaders.
Last year the European Union introduced the world's first comprehensive set of rules regulating the use of artificial intelligence, drawing criticism from the United States that European regulations could strangle development of the technology.
Vis said Bird will no longer have a single operational headquarters. In Europe, the company will retain an office in Lithuania and the company's tax base will continue to be the Netherlands for the time being.
Bird reported a 17 million euro ($17.80 million) net profit in 2023 on sales of 555 million euros, according to its most recent filing with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Bolivia set to elect first non-left wing president in two decades
LA PAZ — Bolivia is set to elect a non-left wing president after nearly two decades of near-continuous rule by the incumbent socialist party, according to official preliminary results. Senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira and former president Jorge Quiroga came in first and second place respectively in Sunday's presidential elections. Neither received a high enough share of the vote to secure an outright win, so the vote will go to a run-off between these two candidates, due in October. Paz Pereira, of the Christian Democratic Party, was a surprise vote leader, after opinion polls had suggested Samuel Doria Medina, a businessman, was the frontrunner. The electoral authorities said it can take up to three days to finalise the results. Paz Pereira's campaign focused on redistributing more funds away from central government towards regional entities, and fighting corruption — with his slogan "capitalism for all, not just a few". He has suggested a programme of accessible credit, tax breaks to boost the formal economy, and eliminating import barriers for products that Bolivia doesn't manufacture. Quiroga briefly acted as interim president from 2001-2002 after serving as Vice President to Hugo Banzer, a military dictator until he was later elected. The election of a president from outside the left camp will likely see sharp changes in the Latin American country's foreign policy. In terms of trade, both candidate's capitalist stances could indicate more support for foreign investment in Bolivia's vast lithium reserves — the key ingredient for batteries used in many electric cars, laptops and solar panels. Politically, a change in government could mark closer ties with the US, after two decades of strengthening ties between Bolivia and China, Russia and Iran. A recent US Congress report briefing described US-Bolivia relations as "strained" under the socialist party's governance. The country's turn to the right comes as it is experiencing its worst economic crisis in years, with shortages of fuel, foreign reserves and some food items and high inflation and debt. Opinion polls ahead of the election suggested that many voters wanted to vote for change, or to punish the incumbent Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party. The current president, Luis Arce, mired in deep unpopularity, decided not to seek re-election. The punishment of the left is not just electoral, but physical in some cases. The candidate for MAS, Eduardo del Castillo, was booed out of the school where he cast his vote. Bolivian media reported that some fellow voters told him to "wait in line like they do for fuel" rather than skip the voting queue. People also threw stones at the highest-polling left-wing candidate, Andrónico Rodríguez, when he went to cast his ballot. Rodríguez was previously a member of MAS before splintering from the party. Authorities in Bolivia also said that an explosive device was set off at the polling station where Rodríguez cast his vote. There were no reports of significant damage or injuries. Rodríguez described it as an "isolated incident" orchestrated by a "small group" to a Bolivian newspaper. The left has not just faced recent unpopularity over the economy. It is also deeply divided. For the first time in about two decades, the former president, Evo Morales, was not on the ballot. Morales ruled the country from 2006-2019 and was barred from running again, despite attempts to challenge legal and constitutional rulings to let him run for a fourth term. He has urged his supporters to null their vote. Rodríguez was once seen as a protégé of Morales, but has since distanced himself from him. The last election in 2019 was disputed and protests erupted. Morales was accused of fraud after auditors found irregularities with the poll and he resigned under pressure from the military. In 2020, Luis Arce — a former finance minister under Morales — took office as president. Morales then announced he would return to politics in Bolivia, and deprived Arce of a majority — turning the pair from allies to rivals. Deep rifts and power struggles have existed in the ruling MAS party ever since. Morales's supporters have held protests and roadblocks against the re-election ban imposed on him, which have at times turned deadly with some emergency responders being killed. Judges ordered an arrest warrant for Morales over an alleged sexual relationship and rape of a 15-year-old girl. He has called the accusations politically-motivated. He has been living and operating from Chapare in Bolivia, protected at times by his supporters. — BBC
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
New wave of African pride rises in the Caribbean
PORT OF SPAIN — Augustine Ogbo works as a doctor, treating patients in clinics across the striking Caribbean island of St Lucia. When he returns to his home in the coastal town of Rodney Bay, he clocks in for his second job — as the owner and solo chef of a Nigerian takeaway. "Egusi soup and fufu, that's more popular... they love jollof rice too," Dr Ogbo says, reeling off a list of his customers' favourite dishes. The 29-year-old hails from Nigeria — population 230 million — but crossed the Atlantic for St Lucia — population 180,000 — to train as a doctor in 2016. He set up his home-based takeaway, named Africana Chops, in 2022, after being incessantly asked by his St Lucian friends for Nigerian fare. The takeaway is now thriving, Dr Ogbo tells the BBC, and not just because his island customers think the food is tasty."They know that we all have the same ancestral origin. So most of the time, they want to get in touch with that," Dr Ogbo explains, adding that interest in African culture has grown "tremendously" since he arrived almost a decade Lucia is not alone in this the Caribbean, the desire to reconnect with the population's African heritage appears to have strengthened over the past few across the Caribbean have been expressing African pride through cultural means, such as food, clothing and travel, while governments and institutions from both sides of the Atlantic have been meeting to forge economic ties.A significant part of the islands' population descended from enslaved West and Central Africans, who were forcibly transported to the Caribbean by European merchants in the 17th and 18th was abolished in much of the Caribbean during the 1800s, while independence from European powers came the following descendants of enslaved people retained some African customs, but largely developed their own standalone cultures, which differ from island to the past, there have been major campaigns to encourage African pride, as Dorbrene O'Marde, who runs the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission, says."It was particularly strong in the 1930s or so, and then again in the 1960s — we saw a major outpouring in sync with the [American] black power movement during that period," he says, talking to the BBC on the island of Antigua.O'Marde believes the Caribbean is witnessing a renewed, more promising version of such "pan-Africanism" (a term used to describe the idea that people of African descent should be unified)."It has widened beyond psychological and cultural themes and we are now talking in broader economic terms, such as stronger transportation links between the Caribbean and Africa," he says."We are in a different phase now of pan-Africanism – one that's not going to wane like before."One thing that separates this wave of African pride from the ones that came before is social Howard, an entertainment and cultural enterprise lecturer at the University of the West Indies, says a "significant" amount of Jamaicans are connecting with Africa through platforms such as TikTok."People are learning more about black history beyond slavery," he tells the BBC from his home in the Jamaican capital, also points to the global rise of Afrobeats, a musical genre from Nigeria and feels that in Jamaica specifically, the popularity of Afrobeats is partly down to a desire to reconnect with the continent."Through the music videos, [Jamaicans] are seeing certain parts of Africa are similar to Jamaica and are developed. We had a concept of Africa as this place where it is backward and it's pure dirt road... the music is changing that."Asked about the view of some Jamaican commenters online — that islanders do not need to reclaim their African heritage as they have an equally valid, hard-won Jamaican heritage of their own — Howard stresses that the two are not distinct."Our whole culture is African, with a little sprinkling of Indian and European and Chinese. But for the most part it is African-derived. It is the most dominant part of our culture," he leaning into their African heritage are not just consuming the culture, but actually getting on flights and exploring the continent tourism authority in Ghana — once a major departure point for enslaved Africans being shipped to the Caribbean — told the BBC there had been a "notable increase" in holidaymakers from the islands in recent Werner Gruner, South Africa's consul to the Bahamas, says that over the past two or three years, his office has seen a rise in local people travelling to South Africa, Ghana and Kenya."I see a lot of interest in safaris and I think people also start to realise that South Africa and other African countries are actually very well developed," Gruner Burkina Faso, an economically struggling country under military rule that is not well known for tourism, is apparently on some people's buckets lists. O'Marde says some of his countrypeople want to visit the country because of the pan-African leanings of its leader, Ibrahim Traoré.Getting to the mother continent from the Caribbean can, however, be complicated, with travellers often forced to fly via this year, in a speech in which she referred to herself as a "daughter of Africa", Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley called for the construction of "air and sea bridges" between Africa and the Caribbean."Let us make these changes, not just for heads of state, but for ordinary people who wish to trade, travel, and forge a shared future," she institutions like the African Union, African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) have been working on the "trade" angle, hosting conferences and setting up memorandums of understanding with their Caribbean says trade between the two regions could jump from around $730m (£540m) to $1.8bn (£1.33bn) by 2028, provided the right conditions are at the moment, Africa and the Caribbean have some of the lowest indicators in the world for transport infrastructure, logistics quality and customs efficiency, according to the World an attempt to reduce trade barriers, the prime minsters of Grenada and the Bahamas this year called for Africa and the Caribbean to launch a shared Prime Minister Philip Davis told delegates at an Afreximbank meeting in Nigeria they should "seriously" consider a single digital currency, while Grenada's Dickon Mitchell said: "Such a move would symbolically and practically affirm our shared identity not just as trading partners, but as members of a truly global Africa".Getting more than 60 countries to coordinate and launch a standard system would be no easy feat, but Mitchell said this must be done if the regions are to "take control of [their] own future".Back in St Lucia, Dr Ogbo says his attempts to bring egusi, fufu and jollof to local people are a small but worthy contribution to the strengthening of relations between Africa and the June, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu signed various cooperation agreements with St Lucia during a state visit and Dr Ogbo sees Africana Chops as an extension of that."I can say I'm working hand-in-hand with the Nigerian government and even the St Lucian government to promote the African culture," he doctor and businessman is now trying to upgrade his food business to a full-fledged restaurant — and he hopes the "cultural exchange" between Africa and the Caribbean also goes from strength to strength."It's awesome!" he says. "I'm really, really excited about that." — BBC
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Australian court fines Qantas $59mln for illegal layoffs
An Australian court fined Qantas Aus$90 million (US$59 million) on Monday for illegally laying off 1,800 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said he wanted the fine to be a 'real deterrence' to firms that might be tempted by the financial rewards of breaching employment law. The penalty concluded a years-long court battle between unions and the carrier. Qantas decided to sack the workers and outsource their jobs in August 2020, a period of lockdowns and border closures when no COVID-19 vaccine existed. Australia's Federal Court subsequently found that Qantas had acted illegally despite its stated 'commercial imperatives' and later dismissed an appeal by the airline. Long-dubbed the 'Spirit of Australia', 104-year-old Qantas has been on a mission to repair its reputation, which has been hit in recent years by the illegal sackings, soaring ticket prices, claims of sloppy service and the selling of seats on already-cancelled flights. Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson took over in 2023, promising to improve customer satisfaction. She replaced Alan Joyce, who stepped down earlier than planned as Qantas endured heavy criticism over its treatment of workers and passengers, despite delivering bumper profits for shareholders. Qantas' fine is to be split into two parts, the court said, with Aus$50 million going to the Transport Workers Union and Aus$40 million being held for future payments to the former workers.
