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Connected AI podcast: Intercom's Karen Church on how AI is a game-changer for customer support

Connected AI podcast: Intercom's Karen Church on how AI is a game-changer for customer support

Business Post14-05-2025

Welcome to the latest episode of the Connected AI Podcast, a fortnightly podcast presented by Charlie Taylor, the Business Post's technology editor, and Elaine Burke, one of our leading contributors.
The Connected AI Podcast, which is brought to you in association with Expleo, aims to cut through the hype and get to the heart of AI for business, with expert guests offering their advice, and the hosts giving their take on big developments in the space.
In the latest episode we're talking to Karen Church, vice president for research and data science at Intercom. Karen talks to us about the tech unicorn's early embrace of Gen AI and how its agent Fin is radically changing customer support for the better
In addition, Charlie and Elaine discuss Open AI's latest travails, new funding for Perplexity, Klarna's roll-back on hiring humans, and trouble for Google's 'cash cow' as AI operators take on search.
The Connected AI Podcast. You won't want to miss it.
Listen here or wherever you usually pick up your podcasts.

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What the Papers Say: O'Leary double windfall; Jamie Dimon says bond market will crack; Trump 50% steel tariff threat
What the Papers Say: O'Leary double windfall; Jamie Dimon says bond market will crack; Trump 50% steel tariff threat

Business Post

time3 days ago

  • Business Post

What the Papers Say: O'Leary double windfall; Jamie Dimon says bond market will crack; Trump 50% steel tariff threat

10 am - Good morning from the Business Post newsroom. Editor Daniel McConnell here with your Saturday morning spin through the stories making the headlines in Ireland and across the world. Michael O'Leary unlocks double Ryanair windfall thanks to share price rise Ryanair's rising share price over the past month has delivered a double windfall to Michael O'Leary, the Irish Independent reports. The high-profile businessman has met a key condition to lock in a shares bonus worth around €128m after Ryanair stock closed above €21 for a 28th straight day on Thursday. As long as O'Leary is still in his job in July 2028, he now has a right to buy 10 million Ryanair shares at €11.12 each – less than half the current value. The rising share price also pays off in the short term for Mr O'Leary, lifting the value of the 44.1 million shares he already owns. That stake has increased in value by €128m since the start of May, as Ryanair shares rose from €20.43 each to €23.34 a share by Friday afternoon. Shares in Hvivo nosedive as it loses key contract and postpones another Shares in Irish clinical trials company Hvivo plummeted more than 47 per cent on Friday after the group told investors of the cancellation of a 'significant' contract and the postponement of another, the Irish Times reports. The company, which is listed in London, informed the market on Friday it had received notification of the cancellation of a 'significant human challenge trial', alongside the postponement of another, as well as the cancellation of a 'smaller study'. The share price closed down just over 46 per cent. Human challenge trials, where products are tested on humans in a controlled environment, make up a significant portion of the group's business. Jamie Dimon warns US bond market will 'crack' under pressure from rising debt Jamie Dimon has warned that the US bond market will 'crack' under the weight of the country's rising debt as he called on Donald Trump's administration to place America on a more sustainable trajectory. The JPMorgan Chase chief executive said on Friday that he had cautioned regulators: 'You are going to see a crack in the bond market.' He added: 'I'm telling you this is going to happen. And you are going to panic. I'm not going to panic. We'll be fine.' The warning from the head of the US's biggest bank about mounting risks for the US bond market — which sets borrowing costs for trillions of dollars in debt globally — underscores how Wall Street is growing increasingly uneasy about rising government debt levels. It comes as Congress is reviewing Trump's 'big, beautiful' budget bill, which if passed is broadly expected to markedly increase the federal deficit. Donald Trump says he will double steel and aluminium tariffs to 50% Donald Trump said he would double tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent in a fresh escalation of his global trade war, the Financial Times reports. The US president unveiled the increased levies as he touted a $15bn partnership between Nippon Steel and US Steel at a rally in Pennsylvania, promising to erect a tariff 'fence' around domestic metals production. 'We're going to bring it from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry,' he told the crowd in West Mifflin. 'Nobody is going to get around that . . . At 25 per cent, they can sort of get over that fence. At 50 per cent they can no longer get over the fence.' The new levies will take effect from June 4, the president wrote in a Truth Social post following the rally. Trump has sought to revitalise America's industrial heartlands by aggressively targeting what he sees as dumping by foreign importers. In March, he slapped 25 per cent levies on steel and aluminium imports in one of the first broadsides of his global trade war. Musk exits Trump administration but claims Doge 'just the beginning' US president Donald Trump praised billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to cut federal spending during a joint press conference in the Oval Office on Friday, as the Tesla chief departs the administration after a chaotic tenure that saw the elimination of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in contracts. Mr Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), disrupted numerous agencies across the federal bureaucracy but ultimately fell far short of the massive savings he had initially promised. A White House official said on Wednesday that Mr Musk would be leaving the administration. "Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform programme in generations," Mr Trump said from behind the Resolute Desk, as Musk stood to his right, wearing a black Doge hat and a t-shirt that read "The Dogefather" in the style of the movie "The Godfather."

An Bord Pleanála raised concerns over use of ChatGPT for inspector's report into Limerick plant
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The Journal

time4 days ago

  • The Journal

An Bord Pleanála raised concerns over use of ChatGPT for inspector's report into Limerick plant

AN BORD PLEANÁLA removed one of its inspectors from deliberations on a controversial expansion of a large steel plant in Limerick following concerns that a report was being written with the help of ChatGPT. A spokesperson for the State body told The Journal that the report was scrapped 'out of an abundance of caution' as its board members felt the use of artificial intelligence (AI) had the potential to 'raise concerns about the integrity of the decision-making process' for the report into Aughinish Alumina, near Foynes on the Shannon Estuary. An Bord Pleanála also 'advised all staff that the use of unapproved technology was strictly prohibited' in the wake of the incident. The file was then re-assigned to a new inspector for fresh consideration, with the second inspector's report sent to a 'newly constituted' board to decide on. This board granted planning permission to expand Aughinish Alumina's waste storage at the site in March. It was the second time the development had come before An Bord Pleanála, with the High Court previously quashing its decision to expand the site following objections by environmental groups. However, the use of AI now forms part of a challenge by Limerick-based environmental group Environmental Trust Ireland in its bid to halt the expansion of the site. The Aughinish Alumina plant near Foynes Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo A spokesperson for An Bord Pleanála told The Journal that it learned that the 'unapproved technology' was used for 'editing and formatting certain aspects' of a report after the employee reported their use of ChatGPT. In a lengthy statement, An Bord Pleanála said the incident 'raised the need to improve the policy' relating to the acceptable use of technology such as artificial intelligence. Access to AI software was also disabled on An Bord Pleanála systems in response to the discovery, the body's spokesperson said. 'The incident reaffirmed the need for bespoke GenAI technology specifically designed for the requirements of An Bord Pleanála,' the spokesperson added, pending the development of a digital strategy with guidelines for use of the advanced AI programmes. The spokesperson said that this work was already underway since the appointment of a new director of digital strategy last year. Major employer with Russian links A major employer in the mid-west, Aughinish Alumina employs 450 people on its 222-hectare site. The plant is owned by Russian metals company Rusal, which was co-founded by Oleg Deripaska. Deripaska, who is still a shareholder in Rusal, is an industrialist who is reported to have had close ties to Russia president Vladimir Putin. Advertisement In 2018, Deripaska was placed on a US sanctions list and the UK government also announced sanctions against the oligarch in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The businessman is well-connected in Russian politics and business, and was pictured earlier this month at the Kremlin in Moscow for a ceremony ahead of World War II commemorations. Rusal co-founder Oleg Deripaska addressing a meeting of the Bank of Russia's financial congress last year. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Aughinish Alumina has been looking to expand its disposal area for bauxite residue – an ore from aluminium, also known as 'red mud' due to its copper colouring. The site's expansion plans have been the subject of legal challenges over recent years, with the High Court quashing previous planning permission granted by An Bord Pleanála. The amended planning application that received approval in March included findings from An Bord Pleanála stating that the development 'would not have significant negative effects on the environment' if given the go-ahead. This permission has now been challenged by two environmental groups – Environmental Trust Ireland and Futureproof Clare – in separate judicial reviews lodged this week. Environmental Trust Ireland, which is represented by Limerick firm Hayes Solicitors, has taken a case which it is understood is partly based on the alleged concerns raised internally within An Bord Pleanála. In the planning authority's board minutes from last October for the Aughinish refinery's expansion – seen by The Journal – it records that it was 'brought to the Board's attention that certain parts of the Inspector's report may have been written following interaction with an external technology system', later referring to ChatGPT. However, it is understood that Environmental Trust Ireland is challenging whether the inspector remained involved in the process after the AI use was flagged, referring to later minutes for An Bord Pleanála's March meeting to discuss the refinery's expansion. While the inspector was listed in later minutes, An Bord Pleanála has stressed to The Journal that the individual was not involved in the case after November 2024. It is understood that an admin error may have resulted in the confusion. Environmental claims The judicial review taken by Environmental Trust Ireland is one of two filed this week against the expansion of the refinery's disposal area the red mud waste. A group called Futureproof Clare has taken the other, separate case. It is represented by FP Logue solicitors and The Journal understands its arguments are based around the environmental impact of the expansion. The plant has capacity at its bauxite residue disposal area (BRDA) until 2030 and the new extension will extend the lifetime of the BRDA up to 2039. The proposed development would increase the height of sections of the disposal area by 12 metres. It would bring the total height to 44 metres. The company has maintained that it can't continue production unless its waste facility is expanded. Aughinish Alumina did not respond when contacted for comment. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal

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