Latest news with #DavidWong
Auto Express
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Express
Hydrogen filling stations needed as UK urged to follow Europe's lead
The UK Government must support the development of a European-style Hydrogen filling station network and give drivers a genuine alternative to battery-powered EVs, say car makers frustrated by a lack of progress in the development of hydrogen fuelling options. Speaking at a 'Hydrogen Summit' organised by BMW on 6 June, David Wong, the head of technology and innovation at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the UK requires the same sort of policy ambition as the EC. Across the channel, the European Commission has mandated that by 2030 there should be at least one Hydrogen filling station every 120 miles on all major routes, and in all towns with a population of 100,000 or more. 'What gets regulated, gets done', said Wong, at the same time calling for the Government to ditch the expensive car road tax supplement for all zero-emission vehicles, whether hydrogen or battery powered. Advertisement - Article continues below Europe's backing for a hydrogen fuelling network has encouraged BMW to commit to launching its first hydrogen fuel-cell-powered production model in 2028, but currently the UK won't be on the list of countries where it's sold. Also speaking at the summit, BMW's head of Hydrogen tech, Dr Jürgen Guldner, warned: 'We sincerely hope that the infrastructure will develop further because right now in the UK it's not in any condition where it would make sense to launch such a vehicle. 'Hopefully in the next few years, development will pick up and there will be more hydrogen fueling stations that would allow a market introduction,' he said. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below With BMW absent from the market, UK car drivers will in theory have access to only two hydrogen vehicles, the Toyota Mirai and new Hyundai Nexo. The reality is that sales of both will be effectively limited to corporate customers with their own hydrogen fuelling resources. Yet according to Guldner, there's a broad potential market for hydrogen-fuelled cars, particularly among high-mileage drivers and those living in cities without access to off-street parking. 'We get a lot of feedback from real people saying a battery car does not work for me,' he says. 'Maybe they don't have electric charging at home, maybe they are on the road a lot and don't want to depend on charging stops. Even if we can get them down to 20 minutes at some point, we still have a (charge point) infrastructure issue. We have issues like trailering (towing), and obviously cold weather conditions where a battery car basically has to be warmed up by using the energy in the battery. Whereas in a fuel cell car, you don't lose any range.' Advertisement - Article continues below In spite of these issues, the UK government's approach to passenger car decarbonisation is focused entirely on a forced transition to battery electric cars, supported by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), a body of environmental scientists charged with advising the government on net zero strategy. The CCC has repeatedly stated it sees no place for hydrogen in road transport, an approach some car makers say is short-sighted, and could actually slow the journey to net zero if a proportion of consumers choose to stick with ICE rather than battery-electric vehicles. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below According to Wong, the government must be more open-minded: 'Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are not the enemy to batteries. Battery-electric vehicles are not the enemy to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles,' he says. 'The common enemy is carbon and fossil fuels, and that is why we think the two are complementary, and that demands technological openness and, for vehicle manufacturers investing in both of these technologies, commitment to a multi-pathway approach.' Jon Hunt, Senior Manager Hydrogen Transformation, Toyota GB, also spoke at the summit to affirm that view. 'When it comes down to vehicles,' he said, 'our role is to provide customers with choice. They can make decisions that best suit themselves. Advertisement - Article continues below 'What we can't have is people dismissing technologies which are there to enable us all. So I would request that people respect the fact that bringing these technologies to market is for the benefit of all, and our job as an automotive manufacturer is to be able to make them accessible and usable for our customers.' Having had around a dozen hydrogen filling stations a few years ago, but just one publicly accessible location today, the UK is not currently a good place to consider marketing or buying a hydrogen-fuelled car. Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below Europe's drive to introduce a viable hydrogen filling station network revolves around demand for the fuel for fuel-cell-powered heavy goods EVs, because in many cases truck operators say they can't do the work required of them using battery-powered vehicles. So while the UK's first flowering of hydrogen filling stations for cars has quietly disappeared, it's not that the interest has disappeared with it, but the pathway has changed. That's because a hydrogen filling station can be viable even if it's used by only a handful of trucks per day, whereas it might require hundreds of hydrogen cars visiting daily to be profitable. However, once installed for trucks, hydrogen infrastructure is ready at the roadside for cars to use too, potentially resolving a 'chicken and egg' situation confronting hydrogen fuel cells today. Advertisement - Article continues below A recent Road Haulage Association (RHA) survey here in the UK revealed that while 12 per cent of HGV operators want to introduce hydrogen-fuelled trucks and buses within the next five years - and believe the vehicles will be available to enable them to do so - a third of truck operators and nearly two-thirds of coach operators think the UK won't have a refuelling network to support their ambitions. As a result, the RHA says that without rapid Government intervention to speed hydrogen delivery - and a raft of other measures - the road transport sector simply cannot meet UK net zero targets. This too flies in the face of advice to the Government from the Climate Change Committee, which sees 'no role for hydrogen in road transport'. So should the CCC have less influence over the government's transport agenda? Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below Chris Jackson is CEO of Protium, a hydrogen infrastructure SME that is leading on the government-backed project HyHaul project, which will see 30 fuel-cell trucks operating on the M4 corridor supported by three new filling stations by 2026. 'I think a lot of people are concerned that if you see battery electric vehicles as effectively not being able to do all the things that people want to do, that just creates a delay in the move away from fossil fuels as people wait for technology that will allow them to decarbonise,' he says. 'I don't think the CCC sees a role (for hydrogen) partly because they're not seeing vehicles on the road with demand picking up, but also because they're looking at 33 million vehicles and figuring how to convert the bulk of that. 'Many people would say even if 20 or 15 per cent of passenger vehicles go hydrogen, that's still a customer segment that wouldn't otherwise be able to decarbonize with battery electric, that needs a product. Jackson is also concerned about a strategy that puts all the UK's transport solutions at the mercy of global forces: 'If you close out all out technology pathways and the only option left for people is bad, because CNG (compressed natural gas) is out, HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil) is out, hydrogen's out, you're basically betting the entire hopes of the largest-emitting sector in the UK, which is transport, on one technology which is batteries, on a supply chain that is predominantly in China. And from a political perspective, a national economic perspective, a broad society perspective, how comfortable are we betting the house on that?' Now you can buy a car through our network of top dealers around the UK. Search for the latest deals… Find a car with the experts New Kia Sportage breaks cover and it's sleeker than ever New Kia Sportage breaks cover and it's sleeker than ever Full specification and details have been announced for the UK version of Kia's big-selling mid-size SUV Car Deal of the Day: Get the Range Rover look for (a lot) less with the Jaecoo 7 for £244 a month Car Deal of the Day: Get the Range Rover look for (a lot) less with the Jaecoo 7 for £244 a month Jaecoo is another Chinese brand that has recently arrived in the UK, and its 7 SUV has made a bit of a splash. It's our Deal of the Day for 3 June. Nissan Qashqai alternatives: cars you could buy instead of Nissan's big-selling SUV Nissan Qashqai alternatives: cars you could buy instead of Nissan's big-selling SUV The Nissan Qashqai has been a hit since the first generation launched in 2006, but if it's not quite your cup of tea, we've rounded up the best of the… Best cars & vans 3 Jun 2025
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Thomson Reuters introduces agentic AI CoCounsel
Content-driven technology conglomerate Thomson Reuters has launched its agentic AI platform, CoCounsel, for tax, audit, and accounting professionals. Unlike conventional AI assistants, agentic AI systems can plan, reason, act, and react within real workflows, completing complex, multi-step tasks with the required transparency, precision, and accountability, states the company. Thomson Reuters chief product office David Wong said: 'Agentic AI isn't a marketing buzzword. It's a new blueprint for how complex work gets done.' 'We're delivering systems that don't just assist but operate inside the workflows professionals use every day. The AI understands the goal, breaks it into steps, takes action, and knows when to escalate for human input — all with human oversight built in to ensure accountability and trust." Developed over a year and bolstered by the acquisition of Materia, the AI copilot startup, Thomson Reuters agentic platform is now live across products used by some of the accounting firms in the US. These systems are integrated into legal, tax, risk, and compliance platforms, designed for high-stakes environments where accuracy and trust are paramount. Instead of creating standalone tools, Thomson Reuters is re-architecting core product experiences by leveraging content from Checkpoint, Westlaw, and Practical Law. This strategy is claimed to enable the new agentic systems to act and reason within established industry best practices, enhanced with generative AI capabilities. Wong added: 'We're not just rebranding AI assistants. We're engineering full agentic systems — backed by trusted content, custom-trained models, and real domain expertise.' 'What others are calling agentic, we've already had in the market. What we're launching now sets a new bar: this is what AI looks like when it's built with real content, trained with real experts, and trusted by the professionals who do real work.' CoCounsel automates tasks such as client file review, memo drafting, and compliance checks, providing explainable outputs. It unifies firm knowledge, Checkpoint, IRS code, and internal documents into a cohesive AI-guided workspace. Early adopters are already stated to have been witnessing significant advantages from this innovation. The company has said that the next product to be launched is Ready to Review, an agentic tax preparation application that redefines professional-grade AI. Built on the GoSystem Tax Engine, it is purported to not only assist with tax returns but also draft them, adapting to feedback, and autonomously resolving diagnostics. In February 2025, Thomson Reuters unveiled its second Corporate Venture Capital Fund, Thomson Reuters Ventures Fund 2, valued at C$150m ($104.58m). This fund will focus on early-stage technology companies within legal technology, tax and accounting, fintech, and other markets. "Thomson Reuters introduces agentic AI CoCounsel" was originally created and published by International Accounting Bulletin, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
The Market Online
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Market Online
Thomson Reuters takes leap into agentic AI
Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI), a leading media and and technology company, has taken the leap into agentic AI with the launch of CoCounsel, a tax, audit and accounting assistant The new technology, partially powered by OpenAI, is capable of planning, reasoning, acting and reacting within real-world workflows Thomson Reuters provides specialized software and insights for legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government and media professionals Thomson Reuters stock has added 17.55 per cent year-over-year and 172.97 per cent since 2020 Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI), a leading media and and technology company, has taken the leap into agentic AI with the launch of CoCounsel, a tax, audit and accounting assistant. The product, partially powered by OpenAI, is capable of planning, reasoning, acting and reacting within real-world workflows. CoCounsel, sharpened by insights from legal and tax, audit and accounting experts, promises professional results, though it still requires a human to sign off on final decisions. Nevertheless, early client results have been impressive. 'Before CoCounsel, we were manually comparing residency and filing codes across 36 states. Each jurisdiction used to take us half a week to fully review—now it takes under an hour,' Rich Marlatt, chief information officer at BLISS 1041, said in a statement. 'We built our own templates in CoCounsel for 1,041 returns across 50 states and now due to agentic research and reusable templates, we can feed client-specific factors and instantly understand how each state handles them.' Thomson Reuters' next launch under its agentic AI platform will be Ready to Review, a tax prep application built on the GoSystem Tax Engine, designed to draft returns, adapt to feedback and autonomously resolve inconsistencies. Looking our farther head, the company intends to deliver agentic upgrades across its legal, compliance and risk and trade offerings, covering everything from employment policy generation to deposition analysis to compliance risk assessments. Thomson Reuters' agentic AI platform, kick-started by its 2024 acquisition of Materia, an AI startup specializing in tax and accounting systems, is driven by a strategy of 're-architecting core product experiences,' according to Monday's news release, which the company defines as 'drawing from the most critical features and content across platforms such as Checkpoint, Westlaw and Practical Law… enabling them to act and reason within already accepted industry best practices… and supercharging them with generative AI.' The company has been net income profitable, though inconsistently, since 2020, while generating annual revenue growth throughout the period. Management's guidance for 2025 includes increases in both revenue and free cash flow. Leadership insights 'Agentic AI isn't a marketing buzzword. It's a new blueprint for how complex work gets done,' David Wong, chief product officer at Thomson Reuters, said in a statement. 'We're delivering systems that don't just assist but operate inside the workflows professionals use every day. The AI understands the goal, breaks it into steps, takes action and knows when to escalate for human input — all with human oversight built in to ensure accountability and trust.' 'We're not just rebranding AI assistants. We're engineering full agentic systems — backed by trusted content, custom-trained models and real domain expertise,' Wong concluded. 'What others are calling agentic, we've already had in the market. What we're launching now sets a new bar: this is what AI looks like when it's built with real content, trained with real experts and trusted by the professionals who do real work.' 'As more platforms launch agentic capabilities, OpenAI is thrilled to power use-cases like the ones Thomson Reuters is bringing to its vast ecosystem of professional users,' added Olivier Godement, head of product platform at OpenAI. About Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters provides specialized software and insights for legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government and media professionals. Thomson Reuters stock (TSX:TRI) is down by 0.89 per cent trading at C$270.24 as of 11:11 am ET. The stock has added 17.55 per cent year-over-year and 172.97 per cent since 2020. Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying about this media and technology stock on the Thomson Reuters Corp. Bullboard and check out the rest of Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
Cision Canada
02-06-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
Thomson Reuters Ushers in the Next Era of AI with Launch of Agentic Intelligence
NEW YORK, June 2, 2025 /CNW/ -- Thomson Reuters (TSX/Nasdaq: TRI), a global content and technology company, today unveiled its next major leap forward — agentic AI systems, beginning with the launch of CoCounsel for tax, audit, and accounting professionals. While today's most advanced AI assistants can generate results when prompted, agentic AI goes beyond simply responding under a pre-defined sequence of actions. It plans, reasons, acts, and even reacts — operating inside real workflows to complete complex, multi-step assignments with the transparency, precision, and accountability professionals require. Unlike generic AI, Thomson Reuters agents are refined by legal and tax, audit, and accounting experts to reason in alignment with professional standards and best practices, while ensuring that human expertise remains in the loop to guide judgment, validate outputs, and make final decisions. This evolution is underway at Thomson Reuters, and it's redefining what professional-grade AI can — and should — do for professionals. "Agentic AI isn't a marketing buzzword. It's a new blueprint for how complex work gets done," said David Wong, Chief Product Officer at Thomson Reuters. "We're delivering systems that don't just assist but operate inside the workflows professionals use every day. The AI understands the goal, breaks it into steps, takes action, and knows when to escalate for human input — all with human oversight built in to ensure accountability and trust." The Thomson Reuters Agentic AI Platform: Built for How Professionals Really Work The Thomson Reuters agentic platform has been in development for over a year, accelerated by its acquisition of Materia, the AI copilot startup specializing in agentic systems for tax and accounting. Its foundation is already live across products being used by some of the largest accounting firms in the United States. These new systems are being embedded into legal, tax, risk, and compliance platforms — all tailored to high-stakes environments where accuracy and trust are non-negotiable. What sets the Thomson Reuters approach apart is the deeply embedded nature of our agents. Rather than build standalone agentic tools, Thomson Reuters is re-architecting core product experiences. This approach involves drawing from the most critical features and content across platforms such as Checkpoint, Westlaw, and Practical Law, exposing their market-leading capabilities as tools for our agents to use — enabling them to act and reason within already accepted industry best practices — and supercharging them with generative AI. "We're not just rebranding AI assistants. We're engineering full agentic systems — backed by trusted content, custom-trained models, and real domain expertise," Wong said. "What others are calling agentic, we've already had in the market. What we're launching now sets a new bar: this is what AI looks like when it's built with real content, trained with real experts, and trusted by the professionals who do real work." Now Live: CoCounsel for Tax, Audit and Accounting Professionals The first of these new agentic experiences is now live: CoCounsel for tax, audit and accounting professionals, a vertical-specific AI agent designed for modern tax and accounting professionals. CoCounsel automates real work — from client file review to memo drafting and compliance checks — while providing explainable outputs. It connects firm knowledge, Checkpoint, IRS code, and internal documents into a single AI-guided workspace. "This isn't GenAI in a prettier wrapper — it's a fully integrated, intelligent system built to do the work," said Kevin Merlini, Vice President of Product at Thomson Reuters and former CEO of Materia. "Now CoCounsel doesn't just assist — it acts with context, navigates complexity, and integrates directly into how professionals already operate. It's purpose-built for high-stakes work — and it's only the beginning." That perspective is shared by OpenAI, whose models power elements of CoCounsel, which sees this launch as a real-world example of what agentic AI can and should be. "As more platforms launch agentic capabilities, OpenAI is thrilled to power use cases like the ones Thomson Reuters is bringing to its vast ecosystem of professional users," said Olivier Godement, Head of Product, Platform at OpenAI. Early customers are already seeing major benefits. "Before CoCounsel, we were manually comparing residency and filing codes across 36 states. Each jurisdiction used to take us half a week to fully review—now it takes under an hour," said Rich Marlatt, Chief Information Officer at BLISS 1041. "We built our own templates in CoCounsel for 1041 returns across 50 states and now due to agentic research and reusable templates, we can feed client-specific factors and instantly understand how each state handles them." The launch of CoCounsel for tax, audit and accounting professionals marks a major step forward — but it's just the start. Launching Next: Ready to Review — an agentic tax prep application that's redefining what professional-grade AI can do. Built on the GoSystem Tax Engine, it doesn't just assist with returns — it drafts them, adapts to system feedback, and resolves diagnostics on its own. Coming Soon: Agentic Workflows for Legal, Risk, and Compliance The rollout of agentic systems continues this year with expanded capabilities across legal, risk and trade, and compliance domains — including intelligent workflows for intelligent drafting, employment policy generation, deposition analysis, and compliance risk assessments. Many of these experiences already exist within CoCounsel, Westlaw, and Practical Law, but are now being upgraded with full agentic orchestration, where agents not only generate output but plan, execute, and adapt across tools in real time. These systems are: Built for goal-based execution across multi-step legal and compliance tasks Designed with task-specific tool orchestration to engage both Thomson Reuters and third-party platforms Governed by human-in-the-loop oversight for safety, accuracy, and accountability Powered by transparent reasoning and traceable sourcing Refined with custom LLMs trained by in-house legal, tax, and compliance experts Thomson Reuters isn't just expanding capabilities — we're redefining what GenAI can do in the hands of professionals. Why Thomson Reuters Is Leading the Agentic Era The Thomson Reuters approach is rooted in unmatched assets and infrastructure: 20B+ documents, 15+ petabytes of data, and 500+ trusted content assets 4,500 subject matter experts and 180+ AI engineers working side-by-side Global reach across 500,000+ customers — including 100% of Fortune 100 and the entirety of the US federal court system Deep integrations including OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, and Google An enterprise-grade platform with ISO 42001 certification and secure, zero-retention architecture This Launch Marks the Latest Chapter in Thomson Reuters Ongoing Transformation The debut of its agentic intelligence is the latest milestone in Thomson Reuters ongoing evolution into a global technology powerhouse. "This is more than a product launch — it's a clear signal of where the industry is heading, and who's leading it," said Wong. "As we continue to re-architect the workflows professionals rely on every day, one thing is clear: the future of work is already here — and it's being built inside Thomson Reuters." Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters (TSX/Nasdaq: TRI) informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. The company serves professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Its products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world-leading provider of trusted journalism and news. For more information, visit Contact Ali Hughes +1.763.326.4421 [email protected]
Epoch Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
NTD Invites Photographers to Celebrate America's Birth
Amateurs, students, and professional photographers alike can compete for a new international photography award celebrating an independent America. The NTD International Photography Competition (NIPC) has just announced a special award titled 'Best Work Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of American Independence.' It also announced two new award categories: Best Chinese Photographer and Best Sports Photography. Each of these award's winners will receive $2,000 in cash or $2,000 worth of photography products and equipment. Now in its fifth iteration, the NIPC invites photographers around the world to enter uplifting images of 'beautiful moments.' Amateur and professional photographers who enter two competition categories, Social Relations & Humanity and Nature & Landscape, will compete for the $5,000 Gold Award or $5,000 worth of photography products and equipment. The NIPC, hosted by The Epoch Times' sister media outlet NTD, is one in a series of international art and cultural competitions that celebrate time-honored traditions. The competition's mission is to 'preserve traditional aesthetics,' so each entry must be free of digital editing. However, photographers can adjust the brightness, sharpness, and color balance of their images. The NIPC focuses on photographers' technical skills and manual dexterity, including hand-eye skills when setting up a shot. It invites entrants to submit luminous, naturalistic images that depict beauty and kindness. 'Morning Scene' by Chee-Eam Chua (Malaysia). Nature & Landscapes category Gold Award winner of the 4th NTD International Photography Competition. Courtesy of the NTD International Photography Competition 'Fall Over' by David Wong (Australia). Society & Humanity category Outstanding Technique Award winner at the 4th NTD International Photography Competition. Courtesy of the NTD International Photography Competition Photographers have until July 31, 2025, to register. Related Stories 3/8/2025 1/20/2024 Finalists' work will be featured online and in an exhibition in New York City from Jan. 25 through Jan. 31, 2026. To find out more, visit What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
