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BBC News
05-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
The people refusing to use AI
Nothing has convinced Sabine Zetteler of the value of using AI."I read a really great phrase recently that said something along the lines of 'why would I bother to read something someone couldn't be bothered to write' and that is such a powerful statement and one that aligns absolutely with my views."Ms Zetteler runs her own London-based communications agency, with around 10 staff, some full-time some part-time."What's the point of sending something we didn't write, reading a newspaper written by bots, listening to a song created by AI, or me making a bit more money by sacking my administrator who has four kids?"Where's the joy, love or aspirational betterment even just for me as a founder in that? It means nothing to me," she says. Ms Zetteler is among those resisting the AI invasion, which really got going with the launch of ChatGPT at the end of then the service, and its many rivals have become wildly popular. ChatGPT is racking up over five billion visits a month, according to software firm training AI systems like ChatGPT requires huge amounts of energy and, once trained, keeping them running is also energy intensive. While it's difficult to quantify the electricity used by AI, a report by Goldman Sachs estimated that a ChatGPT query uses nearly 10 times as much electricity as a Google search query. That makes some people Florence Achery, owner of Yoga Retreats & More, the environmental impact is one reason why she vows to stay away from AI."My initial reaction was that AI is soulless and is a contradiction with my business, which is all about human connection," says Achery, based in London."However, I found out that the environmental impact was awful with all the energy consumption required to run the data centres. I don't think that people are aware of that."While Ms Zetteler admits she respects AI for all the social-good it can achieve, she says she's concerned about the wider impact on society."I'm happy that AI exists for blind people if they can have articles translated by AI and anything that is truly beneficial. But in general, I don't think it will benefit us long-term."Is she worried it might have a knock-on effect on her business, especially if rival companies are using AI?"Like everything, I could save money by sending our agency to Milan on EasyJet flights rather than the train."Already my profit margins look unsuccessful if that's how you measure success, but how about if you measure success by how much you're contributing to society and how well you sleep?" Sierra Hansen, who lives in Seattle and works in public affairs, also refuses to use AI. For her, she's concerned that the use of AI is harming our ability to problem solve."Our brain is the thing that helps organise what our days look like, not going to AI Copilot and asking it to tell it how to manage my schedule."Our job as a human is to apply critical thinking skills, and if you are feeding simple tasks into ChatGPT then you're not solving on your own. It's doing the thinking for you. If I want to listen to music, I don't need AI to create the perfect punk rock album for me." But not everyone has the luxury of opting out of Adams (not her real name), who works in digital marketing, resisted AI initially on environmental grounds, and because she thought using it was lazy."I heard about the energy needed to power data centres and the amount land they take up, and it didn't sit right with me. I didn't understand why we needed it," she about a year ago her three colleagues at the marketing firm she works for started adopting AI, for tasks such as copywriting and idea months ago Ms Adams had to follow them, after being told she had to cut her budget."Then it was out my control," she says. She feels that continuing to resist would have hurt her career."I started playing with it a bit more after reading job descriptions asking for AI experience. I recently realised that if I don't implement it into my ways of working, I'm going to get left behind."Now, she says, she doesn't view tapping into AI as laziness anymore."It can elevate my work and make some things better," adding that she uses it to refine copywriting work and for editing photos. The moment to opt out of AI has already passed, says James Brusseau, a philosophy professor specialising in AI ethics at Pace University in New York."If you want to know why a decision is made, we will need humans. If we don't care about that, then we will probably use AI," he says."So, we will have human judges for criminal cases, and human doctors to make decisions about who should get the transplant. But, weather forecasting will be gone soon, and anesthesiology too," says Prof Brusseau. Ms Adam has accepted using AI at work, but she still feels despondent about AI's growing influence."Even when you do a Google search it includes an AI overview, while some emails have a topline summary, So now it almost feels like we have no control. How do I turn all that off? It's snowballing."
BBC News
05-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Devon artists concerned by planned change to AI laws
Artists in Devon say they are concerned government proposals to change copyright law could make it easier for Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies to use their work for government has proposed law changes which would allow AI developers to be able to use creators' content on the internet to help develop their models, unless the rights holders elected to "opt out".The Devon Artist Network said it was "very worried" about the proposals and Devon illustrator Sarah McIntyre said it would be "disastrous" for her. A consultation on the plans by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has closed and a spokesperson said no decisions had been taken yet. Destroying careers Ms McIntyre, from Bovey Tracey, said she would be impacted if the change was to said: "We've always owned our work, that's just a part of British law. "I made this, it's mine and I can earn money from it and if someone else copies it then that's against the law."But now they are saying everything we've ever created, all our artwork, we have to go back and opt out of it being used to train AI."Ms McIntyre has written to Mel Stride, Conservative MP for Central Devon, and asked for said although AI presented "significant opportunities for innovation and economic growth" the government was "putting the creative industries at risk"."Labour must press pause on its rushed consultation and rethink its approach to harness the benefits of AI without compromising the success of our creative industries," he said. Avenda Burnell Walsh from the Devon Artist Network said the group was also opposed to the said: "My car is parked on the road all night and day in the public domain but I wouldn't expect to have to say to somebody legally you can't have this car it's mine. "You shouldn't have to say that about your art either, should you?" However some argue artists might benefit from the potential changes. Mike Phillips, a professor of interdisciplinary arts at the University of Plymouth, said AI could be used for artists to track down copyright said: "It would be nice if some of the effort put into ripping stuff off was put into tracking stuff down. "That is something AI is good at, identifying things and recognising patterns in things and so maybe that would allow artists to use AI and seek the benefits from it." The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said it would consider the submissions the creative industries have made during the consultation. It said the UK's "current regime for copyright and AI is holding back the creative industries, media and AI sector from realising their full potential - and that cannot continue"."That's why we have been consulting on a new approach."It added: "No decisions have been taken".
Al Bawaba
25-02-2025
- Business
- Al Bawaba
Cisco Showcases Simplicity, Security and AI Readiness at Cisco Live Amsterdam
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking and security, highlighted innovative technology, partnerships, and skills programs to the over 17,000 IT professionals that attended its flagship technology event in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region. Cisco Live EMEA provides customers with a clear vision for how the company can help simplify IT in the face of increasing complexity, and a blueprint for securely adopting and utilizing AI to empower their businesses.'Cisco is in a unique position to help guide our customers through the incredible change we're seeing right now across industries,' said Oliver Tuszik, President of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Cisco. 'From the changing nature of the workplace, to the AI revolution in data center and network infrastructure, and the need for digital resilience at all levels, Cisco has solutions for our customers' biggest challenges.' Cisco's recent CEO research highlights the dilemma customers face today as they prepare for the impact of AI. More than 70% of CEOs shared concerns about losing ground to competitors and missing out on opportunities because of IT and infrastructure gaps. They recognize the need to invest in AI skilling and workforce upskilling, alongside the technology investments. CEOs also recognized the importance of trusted partners, with 96% reporting their reliance on them to assist in future-proofing their networks for AI. Simplicity, Security and AI ReadinessAcross its portfolio, Cisco is committed to building solutions that simplify operations, embed security at all levels, and provide customers with the technology they need to embrace AI.'Every business today is working overtime to understand the opportunities and challenges of adapting how they work and serve customers in the AI era,' said Jeetu Patel, EVP and Chief Product Officer, Cisco. 'At Cisco, it's our mission to actively shape this future and help our customers around the world to win. That's what the innovations in networking, security, data centers, and more that we unveiled at Cisco Live EMEA are all about. Our customers need trusted partners to navigate this shift and we're answering the call.' Cisco introduced and is delivering impactful innovations across the unmatched breadth of its product portfolio. This includes:AI infrastructure and data center solutions to enable enterprise and service provider customers to transform infrastructure to power AI N9300 Smart Switches with Hypershield: Cisco's Smart Switches redefine adaptive and scalable AI data center architectures by embedding services directly into the network. Cisco Hypershield, which will be the first service available, eliminates the gap between security and networking layers by converging them into a single Hybrid Mesh Firewall: The N9300 Smart Switch and Hypershield integration, along with advances in firewall, management, and licensing, will enable Cisco to deliver Hybrid Mesh Firewall optimized to protect AI applications in the data center and public cloud. Cisco's Hybrid Mesh Firewall is a highly distributed security fabric managed under a single management console, delivering zero trust segmentation and protect application vulnerabilities in modern and AI Agile Services Networking: The Cisco Agile Services Networking architecture provides a blueprint for service providers as they look to enable AI connectivity and monetize assured services. The innovations introduced to deliver this architecture include Silicon One-powered platforms, coherent pluggable optics and provider management and assurance software of AI Server Family: New Cisco UCS C845A M8 server, based on the NVIDIA MGX reference architecture, brings flexibility to AI workloads. Its advanced architecture is designed to enable AI innovation, offering the computational power for intensive tasks and the efficiency required for rapid to modernize everywhere people and technology work and serve customers.Universal Zero Trust Network Access: Cisco is extending its identity-first Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) with Hybrid Private Access to optimize in-office experience and keep sensitive data private. Along withPolicy Assurance to predict and prevent policy-related access disruptions, Cisco is enabling customers to make zero trust truly universal in both coverage and Friction Workplace Connectivity: To deliver a full complement of integrated workplace wireless infrastructure solutions that provide innovative intelligence, security, and assurance, Cisco is introducing an expanded portfolio of Wi-Fi 7 access points for small and mid-size deployments, along with high-powered stackable access AI Assistant for Webex Contact Center: To improve agent and customer service experiences, the Cisco AI Assistant for Webex Contact Center is now generally available. This includes context transfer summaries, dropped call summaries, Agent Wellbeing and automatic customer satisfaction scores (Auto CSAT). The company has also announced that features including suggested responses, real-time transcription for agents, wrap-up summaries and mid-call summaries will be available in Q2 2025. Cisco Room Bar BYOD: According to a recent Frost and Sullivan report*, 56% of video-enabled spaces are currently Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD). To enable seamless collaboration in any space, Webex unveiled the Cisco Room Bar BYOD. The Room Bar BYOD allows you to join any meeting hosted on your laptop via USB-C and provides a cost-effective and scalable solution that features AI-powered capabilities to empower businesses with high-quality meeting assurance and security solutions that encompass a customer's entire digital footprint so they can stay ThousandEyes Traffic Insights: Generally available in March, Cisco ThousandEyes Traffic Insights extends visibility deeper into on-premises networks by correlating traffic flows with synthetic measurements for end-to-end assurance of every digital experience. The out-of-the-box Cisco integration enhances digital resilience by enabling customers to accelerate remediation and rapidly pinpoint performance issues. New Cisco and Splunk integrations now available: Cisco Secure Application for Splunk AppDynamics and Cisco Talos Threat Intelligence now integrate with Splunk security solutions, enhancing visibility and threat detection. Application attack data from Cisco Secure Application for Splunk AppDynamics flows into Splunk Enterprise Security, enabling faster security investigations. Additionally, real-time threat intelligence from Cisco Talos is now available for Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk SOAR, and Splunk Attack Analyzer. Solving AI ChallengesCisco's portfolio gives customers and partners solutions to accelerate AI adoption, but challenges remain. Recognizing the need to tackle the energy efficiency challenges imposed by AI workloads, as well as the deepening skills gap that has developed due to the ever-evolving AI landscape, Cisco has introduced new partnerships and programs at Cisco Live Alliances: The Cisco Engineering Alliances program is designed to accelerate building new validated solutions to solve some of our customers' most pressing challenges. Cisco has signed alliances with Vertiv, DeepCoolAI, Green Revolution Cooling and Asperitas to deliver liquid cooling solutions, addressing the ever-increasing thermal density in AI data centers. Additionally, Cisco has signed alliances with Panduit, MHT Technologies and ThinLabs to deliver end-to-end direct current microgrid solutions leveraging Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) and Fault Managed Power (FMP) to reduce energy use in smart buildings. AI Skilling: Cisco continues to enhance its offerings in AI skilling by launching its newest AI Skills Journey program to build critical AI Infrastructure skills from entry to expert — available on As a part of this effort, Cisco Learning & Certifications has updated current certifications, including Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) and Internetwork Expert (CCIE). These updated certifications reflect the AI and cybersecurity skills needed to achieve impactful business outcomes. Select programs will be complimentary through March 24. AI-led Customer Experience Cisco also announced the first, jointly developed AI Agent from its strategic partnership with Mistral AI, one of Europe's leading providers of AI solutions. The AI Renewals Agent greatly enhances and streamlines the renewal proposal creation process at Cisco by consolidating both structured and unstructured data from over 50 signals and sources and providing real-time sentiment analysis, summarized recommendations, intelligent automation, and personalization, all tied to customer outcomes and key performance indicators (KPIs). The new agent is the latest AI innovation for Cisco's Customer Experience (CX) organization and continues to demonstrate how Cisco is delivering against its vision of using AI to make every customer experience personalized, proactive and predictive, and delivering unique outcomes that exceed customers' expectations. © 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba (
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Georgia Republican faces town hall backlash over DOGE's 'chainsaw approach' to federal cuts
Rep. Rich McCormick faced an angry crowd Thursday during a town hall in his Georgia district, where many constituents lashed out at the Republican lawmaker over his support for massive federal layoffs and budget cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. In video of the event taken by Greg Bluestein, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an NBC News contributor, attendees clashed with McCormick, bashing both President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk who is helping lead DOGE's efforts to drastically reduce government spending. In one instance, an attendee referred to recent cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by asking, 'Why is the supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?' McCormick responded that 'a lot of the work they do is duplicitous with AI.'Almost 1,300 probationary CDC employees were removed from their posts as the Trump administration makes efforts to terminate all probationary workers — typically employees who are recent hires. 'If we continue to grow the size of government and we can't afford it, it's going to have shortfalls in your Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security,' McCormick added at the event in Roswell, about 20 miles from the CDC headquarters. The attendee shot back that the administration was taking a 'chainsaw approach' to dismissing its employees and the layoff effort was being 'jammed down the pipe, so rushed and sloppily.' After McCormick said that a department or agency makes its own decisions about whom to cut from its workforce when given a directive about head count, people in the audience could be heard saying, 'No!' with one person saying, 'Elon Musk is deciding.' The town hall was also punctuated by constituents saying, 'we're pissed,' and 'don't bend over,' as well as chants of 'shame!' As McCormick struggled to respond to the interruptions from the crowd and suggested he was offering solutions and people didn't 'want to hear,' one person can be heard shouting, 'We want to work with someone better.' McCormick handily won re-election last year, winning 64.9% of the vote in a state that Trump flipped after narrowly losing the battleground to Joe Biden in 2020. One person who raised budget concerns Thursday could be heard telling McCormick that he had done a 'disservice' and had failed to 'stand up for us.' In another instance, an attendee asked McCormick how he plans to 'rein in the megalomaniac in the White House' following Trump's 'LONG LIVE THE KING' post on Truth Social, a question that was met by cheers and some people rising to their feet. 'When you talk about tyranny, when you talk about presidential power, I remember having the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected,' McCormick said, to boos from the attendees. 'I don't want to see any president be too powerful,' McCormick added. At different points during the town hall, McCormick made attempts to quiet the crowd, saying at one point, 'If you're gonna yell at me, that's not going to be an effective town hall," and later telling attendees, "Nobody can hear when you're yelling." A spokesperson for McCormick did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night on the town hall. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Important' to regulate AI but it's 'tricky': Google DeepMind CEO
STORY: :: Google Deepmind CEO says regulating AI is 'important' but 'tricky in the current environment' :: February 9, 2025 :: Paris, France :: Demis Hassabis, Nobel Laureate and Google Deepmind CEO 'I think it's important to regulate AI., but it's important to get the regulations right and that's hard, when such that the technology itself is not fully understood and it's so fast moving. And it also needs to be international because AI is going to affect all countries, the whole world, as a technology, it needs to be... there needs to be sort of international cooperation around that. And that's also tricky in the current environment." 'I mean, just briefly on DeepSeek, it's an impressive piece of work and I think it's probably the best work I've seen come out of China. But it's important to understand that, despite the hype, there's no actual new scientific advance there. It's using known techniques. Actually, many of the techniques we invented at Google, and at DeepMind, things like AlphaZero and some of the reinforcement learning, they use." The AI Action Summit, which kicks off on Monday (February 10) at Paris' Grand Palais, will discuss how to safely embrace artificial intelligence at a time of mounting resistance to heavy-handed red tape that businesses say stifles innovation. The summit will also aim to find common ground between U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, China and nearly 100 other nations on how to regulate AI. An official for the French presidency said the summit will give voice to countries around the world, not only the likes of U.S. and China. Mitigating labor disruption and promoting sovereignty in a global AI market are also on the agenda. Google Senior Vice President James Manyika said global conversations on AI were usually "focused on the risks and complexities and not enough on the opportunities," citing AI's potential to help developing countries in education, climate change and health care. A non-binding communiqué of principles for the stewardship of AI, bearing U.S., Chinese and other signatures, has been under negotiation and would mark a big achievement if reached, said the people involved in the summit, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Instead in focus is how to distribute AI's benefits to developing nations, via cheaper models made by the likes of France's startup Mistral and China's DeepSeek. The Hangzhou-based company rocked global markets last month by showing it could vie with U.S. heavyweights on human-like reasoning technology, at lower costs. Hannabis said the hype over DeepSeek was "a little bit exaggerated" as there was "no actual new scientific advance", but said it demonstrated "extremely good engineering". Sign in to access your portfolio
