Latest news with #Or
Mint
4 days ago
- Science
- Mint
AI as infrastructure: India must develop the right tech
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often treated as a discrete branch of information technology, surrounded by fears of sentient machines, widespread job losses and existential risks. These reactions are understandable but short-sighted. AI is not just a product or tool. It is an enabling layer, much like electricity, the internet or aviation, that can permeate and power every aspect of life. Electricity offers a useful parallel. In the 19th century, Edison and Tesla fought bitterly over the future of current, with Edison backing direct current (DC) and Tesla championing alternating current (AC). Edison went so far as to electrocute animals to discredit AC. But common sense and scalability prevailed, and AC became the standard. Today, no one argues about what kind of current powers their device. We simply expect it to work. Also Read: Will AI ever grasp quantum mechanics? Don't bet on it AI is taking a similar path. For most people, their introduction to AI has been through conversational tools like ChatGPT or voice assistants like Siri. But that's merely the tip of the iceberg. The real power of AI lies in systemic transformation. Last year, AI kind of won a Nobel prize in Chemistry! It was awarded to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from Google DeepMind for protein structure prediction, a puzzle humanity has been attempting to solve for over five decades. It was made possible through an AI called AlphaFold2. This is the kind of systemic AI transformation that we need, and fortunately, there are inroads being made. Take Niramai, a women-led Indian startup that's revolutionizing breast cancer screening with non-invasive, radiation-free AI diagnostics. Or Wysa, a mental health startup using AI to deliver affordable Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to over 6 million users across 60 countries. Or Tapestry, incubated at Google X, which is making electrical grids more resilient by improving visibility and reducing complexity. These are not vanity projects. They're mission-driven innovations designed to solve problems that truly matter. But to scale the impact of AI, we need systemic thinking. Also Read: Indian states should adopt AI for inclusive growth and governance Systemic change needs systemic thinking: Some of India's core challenges such as air pollution, water scarcity, fragmented supply chains and rural health gaps are not 'market opportunities' in the traditional sense. They cannot be solved by building a prettier app or running a slick marketing campaign. These issues demand long-term thinking, policy alignment, patient capital and public-private partnerships. AI can bring transformative changes, and fortunately, help is at hand. First, let's look at the state-sponsored initiatives. The IndiaAI Mission is one such coordinated effort driving foundational capabilities across the ecosystem. Over 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) are being deployed through public-private partnerships, giving startups and researchers access to large-scale computing power. Indigenous AI models like BharatGen focus on developing context-specific datasets and models in areas like agriculture, healthcare and urban planning. Further, there's exemplary work being done in developing IndiaAI Datasets and skill-building programmes like YuvaAI. While the public sector is helping with core infrastructure and favourable policies, global investors, family offices and academia are investing in AI startups. Also Read: Rahul Matthan: Brace for a wave of AI-enabled criminal enterprise Incubation centres are also supporting hundreds of early-stage deep-tech ventures. That said, startups in this space don't just need funding or a pathway from campus labs to capital markets. They need frameworks. How do you design AI for scale? How do you ensure safety is built-in and not bolted on later? How do you unlock value while keeping costs grounded in reality? How does it treat linguistic minorities? Who are left out, who are counted and who are privileged? These aren't coding problems; they're systems design challenges. Across the board, large technology companies and innovation hubs are stepping up to help founders in their AI journey. This is where horizontal mentorship from technologists, product leaders and ethicists becomes a force multiplier. For me, the top-of-mind recall is Google for Startups, which I've mentored for over a decade. The accelerator has nurtured 17 cohorts, helping 237 startups raise over $4.5 billion and create 8,500 jobs. Today, the focus is sharper than ever, helping AI-first startups solve real problems through access to tools, mentorship, cloud infrastructure and, most importantly, guided thinking. Also Read: India must forge its own AI path amid a foundational tug of war Go for the right kind of AI growth: India doesn't need an AI ecosystem built purely on monetization and hype. It needs one built on resilience, inclusion and public good. This means investing in those already solving hard problems, often quietly and resourcefully. It means shifting our narrative from fear to responsibility, from siloed innovation to systemic collaboration. We are not just users of AI. We are—and must be—its co-creators. If we get this right, India won't just keep pace in the global AI race. It will set the benchmark for what responsible, equitable and high-impact AI-led growth should look like. The author is CEO of Agrahyah Technologies and adjunct professor of digital transformation at IIM Trichy.
Boston Globe
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In an era of infinite TV, how do you commit to watching a new show?
Costarring Tim Daly as McCord's husband Henry, a theology professor and former Marine aviator, 'Madam Secretary' is smart and suspenseful in its depiction of the complex geopolitical environment Elizabeth has to operate within. It's part pressure-cooker, part chess match, and the same can be said of the fierce office politics she has to cope with in the White House. Advertisement So why did I drag my feet when it came to watching 'Madam Secretary'? Was it because it aired on fusty old CBS? Had I internalized the idea that a show on a broadcast network would inevitably be too formulaic to hold my interest, that the real action and boundary-pushing immediacy was to be found on premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime or on streaming platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and Apple TV+? I don't think that's it. Snobbery has never been an element of my viewing habits. It makes no sense when it comes to television, a medium with a vast and varied menu. Moreover, the broadcast networks have been at this a long time, and they know what they're doing, at least once in a while. Advertisement Consider the superb new version of ' Or ' What was more likely at play was my reluctance to commit to a multi-season series (and the broadcast networks tend to have more episodes per season than cable or streaming platforms do). As consumers in the attention economy and the demand side of the supply-and-demand equation in an era of infinite supply, that's a factor a lot of us have to consider these days — at least those of us who are compulsive completists. The universe of shows worth watching just keeps expanding. We're so constantly bombarded with new series that FOMO has become our common condition. I still find it hard to give up on a TV show. As with novels, I need to see how it ends, and whether it gets worse or better along the way. When I told my nephew that I had (by that point) 'hate-watched' about 60 hours of Showtime's ' I still have several more seasons of 'Madam Secretary' to watch. Will it fall off a cliff, quality-wise, as onetime faves like 'The Good Wife' and 'Suits' did after a few stellar seasons? Or will it continue to meet reward my high hopes and expectations all the way through, like 'Breaking Bad' did? Advertisement I guess I'll find out. In the words of the immortal Elaine May, 'The only safe thing is to take a chance.'' Also? When someone whose judgment you trust gives you advice, take it. 'Madam Secretary' is available for purchase on Prime Video and Apple TV+. Don Aucoin is the Globe's theater critic and an arts-critic-at-large. Don Aucoin can be reached at
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Beyond Oil Announces Exercise of Warrants and Purchase of Warrant Shares by Clal Insurance
Beyond Oil Receives C$2.166M in Warrant Exercise Proceeds from 1,836,766 Warrants VANCOUVER, BC and KIBBUTZ YIFAT, Israel, May 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beyond Oil Ltd. (CSE: BOIL) (OTCQB: BEOLF) (Frankfurt: UH9) ("Beyond Oil" or the "Company"), a food-tech innovation company dedicated to reducing health risks associated with fried food while lowering operational costs, minimizing waste, and enhancing sustainability, today announced that members of the Or family have exercised a total of 1,836,766 warrants, 1,751,647 of which had an exercise price at C$1.18 per warrant and 85,119 of which had an exercise price of C$1.75 per warrant, for gross proceeds of C$2,215,901.71 to the Company. As part of the previously announced strategic investment agreement with Clal Financial Management ("Clal"), a subsidiary of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd., Clal has purchased all of the resulting 1,836,766 common shares from the Or family at a price of C$3.498 per share, in accordance with the terms disclosed in the Company's news release dated March 12, 2025, for a total of C$6,421,509.47. Further to the news release of the Company dated May 1, 2025, with this exercise of warrants by the Or family, Beyond Oil has now received an aggregate of C$7,007,043.12 in warrant exercise proceeds since January 1, 2025. Additionally, further to the Company's news releases dated April 23, 2025, and March 12, 2025, the Company would like to update that it expects the previously announced brokered private placement of up to C$10.85 million, led by Clal, to close on or before Tuesday, May 20, 2025. About Beyond Oil Ltd. Beyond Oil Ltd. is a food-tech innovation company with over 15 years of dedication to creating solutions that mitigate health risks, improve sustainability, and reduce costs for food service companies. The Company's patented technology, with regulatory clearances from the FDA and Health Canada, significantly reduces harmful compounds in frying oil, addressing critical health concerns. Beyond Oil's solution tackles a global issue in the food industry: the widespread practice of reusing frying oil for hundreds of cycles across several days. This practice is common in restaurant kitchens, hotels, catering services, banquet halls, fried food manufacturing plants, and institutions such as schools, kindergartens, and military facilities. Beyond Oil's product is backed by extensive research which has highlighted its value in health risks associated with reused oil, including links to cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Beyond Oil's product provides an effective means to mitigate these risks while offering additional benefits such as improved food quality, operational cost savings, and reduced environmental impact. For more information about Beyond Oil, please visit: Forward-Looking Statements and Information The Canadian Securities Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the Company and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release contains 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the securities laws. Words such as 'expects,' 'anticipates,' 'intends,' 'plans,' 'believes,' 'seeks,' 'estimates' and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not historical facts, and are based upon management's current expectations, beliefs and projections, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain. Such expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith. However, there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs and projections will be achieved, and actual results may differ materially from what is expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. In addition, we cannot assure that any patent will be issued as a result of a pending patent application or, if issued, whether it will be issued in a form that will be advantageous to us. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting the Company, reference is made to the Company's reports filed from time to time at Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, subsequent events or circumstances, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. If the Company does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that the Company will make additional updates with respect thereto or with respect to other forward-looking statements. References and links to websites have been provided as a convenience, and the information contained on such websites is not incorporated by reference into this press release. The Company is not responsible for the contents of third-party websites. Contacts: Beyond Oil OrCEO and Co-founderPhone: +972 52-601-0680Email: info@ ARX | Capital Markets AdvisorsNorth American Equities DeskEmail: beyondoil@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Int'l Business Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Cannes Film Shines Light On Secret Life Of Migrant Maids
Or Sinai didn't have to go far to find the subject of her acclaimed debut film about the secret lives of the millions of women who support their families back home by being domestic workers abroad. She was chatting to the "wonderful Ukrainian woman" who looks at her mother, who has Parkinson's Disease, when the housekeeper started telling her about the lover she had taken. "I realised that our view of migrant women is so wrong," she told AFP at the Cannes film festival, where "Mama" is being shown in the official selection. "We think of them as poor women sacrificing themselves to do everything for their families. "But actually as I researched I realised they develop these temporary identities," picking up a little comfort where they can. When the Ukrainian housekeeper "started working for my parents, they were embarrassed by her and tried to behave as if she wasn't there. It was crazy," Sinai said. "So I started talking to her and I immediately fell in love with her because she's super funny. "She's only three years older than me and she has such a dramatic life, which is an absurd contrast to how many people like her are in the shadows of our society" living their own hidden lives. It isn't the first time Sinai has turned received ideas upside down. She won the Cannes Festival's top prize for short films with "Anna" in 2016, where an overworked mother heads off looking for sex in a small town after getting an unexpected afternoon off from looking after her son. "Mama" is about a housekeeper who returns home from working for a rich couple in Israel to find her best laid plans for the family she has been bankrolling have been turned upside down in her absence. "In her attempt to give her daughter something meaningful, she actually lost all the years with her growing up and her ability to connect with her kids," Sinai, 40, said. Instead she finds her passive, less-than-useless husband has supplanted her as her daughter's confidant. Sinai's own best laid plans were thrown up in the air by the outbreak of war in Ukraine, with the director forced to switch the story to neighbouring Poland. Belarus-born Evegenia Dodina, who plays the housekeeper -- best known as Villanelle's mother in "Killing Eve" -- has been winning glowing reviews for her "carefully calibrated performance". Screen magazine said: "It's not merely that she conveys her joy and sadness, but how emotionally torn her character feels." War closer to home in Gaza has cast a shadow over "Mama" and other Israeli films at Cannes. Hundreds of top film figures have signed an open letter condemning Israel for committing "genocide" in Gaza and the film industry for its "passivity". With scores dying every day in Israeli strikes on Gaza since the festival began last week, Sinai said it was important to make "a clear separation between the government and the Israeli people". "The government is doing horrible stuff" which many people were opposed to, she told AFP. "I wish the war would end immediately. I will always carry this on my back." Between Ukraine and Gaza, "it's really a miracle that we managed to make the film happen at this horrible time," Sinai added. "The film is about wanting people to feel love for other people and that's the only thing I can do, to spread love instead of war."
Time of India
11-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Those Unsaid Words
WRITERDear Mummy,Or do I call you best friend, anchor, giggle-dost, research point, cheerleading squad, trivia collector, lifeline….so many descriptors and yet none would do justice to your place in my had our power struggles. The more you sought to mould me, the farther I fled. I was the rebellious child who couldn't be coaxed to follow the straight and narrow. I was the young woman who was constantly trying to shrug away your influence. I would do it my way and not yours was my constant those wasted years or perhaps they were just a rite of passage I had to go through to discover the real you: The woman who taught me how to be a mother and a professional in the truest sense. The woman who stands up for what she believes is right. The woman who puts love before anything else but will not allow her dignity to be dented. The woman who hasn't lost touch with the child in her; the woman who still sucks the marrow out of the time left to are my greatest inspiration. When I am 82, all I can hope for is I still have the joie de vivre that epitomizes you. As also your appetite for life and Mother's Day my darling Mummy. It's a privilege to be your POET AND ACTIVISTAmma,On a gloomy February morning, everything I lived for came died in my arms—a few years ago now, but I still feel the weight of that moment, as if time itself bent around our didn't fight for yourself. You stayed for me. You knew l'd be left behind in a world where no one bore my name in their bones, no one carried my childhood in their memory. Every mother will understand. Especially those who have also been fathers. Even more—those who've had to be it all: parent, protector, partner, were my only true relationship. My beginning and the end. The one who held the weight of my karma and walked beside me throughout my weren't perfect. We fought-loudly, a child, I would say, "Amma, I want to die before you." And you'd only hold me tighter, press your lips to my forehead, as if you could kiss away fate. But you left. Before I could. Without really leaving. The house echoes now. It's missing your laughter, your scolding, your chai cups, your voice calling out my name just to hear it. You left your sarees, your books, your ashes—and were a true socialist to the end. My comrade, you did so well. You are loved more deeply than you ever dared to believe. I remember you with every breath. And yet-today, I Iive like a is a joy in me that I can't explain. A rooted happiness, soft and is my tribute to you. To please-if you can, hug your mother for me today.I would give anything for one PERSON, ACTOR, DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER AND ACTIVISTMy Amma,During my childhood, adolescence and most of my youth, you were my idea of the fearless rebel, speaking truth to power and defying tradition. You were contemptuous of liars and your mid-40s, when you were still an employee with ESI Corporation, you took an open university MA course in English literature. I was in engineering college, and I remember how you'd make me read aloud to you all those books your course had prescribed. You came up against some superior of yours, due perhaps to your standing up to Hindi imposition. You were posted to KGF, which entailed daily travel, and you'd rise and cook for the four of us, grown-up children, take a bus from Jayanagar to Majestic, and from there to KGF by 10am, head back to Majestic after office, usually for rehearsals, and get back home by 10pm. You were a tough one were a bundle of contradictions though. You wrote in Kannada, acted in Kannada plays and admired many Kannada writers, but never asked us children to read Kannada. You made us recite the Amarakosha, speak simple sentences in Samskrita and train in Carnatic music, but had very little interest in ritual or temple visits. You admired the RSS, but your favourite among my close friends was a Muslim. You treated him like a prospective son-in-law. You never smoked or touched liquor but participated with great enthusiasm in theatre parties at my getting on with my own little family and struggles, we drifted apart, re-imagining our world in different your idealism continues to inspire me, even today. Looking back, I realize I'm you and you're me. The feistiness with which you took on poverty and unjust power is what keeps me going even in the face of challenges and OF 'TWO WISE CHICKS' PODCASTDear Ma,Every time someone asks me who my role model is, the answer is always easy. It's taught me early that independence isn't just a choice—it's a necessity. Whether it was opening my first bank account or learning how to stand on my own two feet (sometimes shakily), your quiet strength and financial wisdom were always my came for everything—PTMs, school plays, musicals, and just like that too. You always showed up, even when I didn't think I needed worry a lot. That hasn't changed. But underneath it all, your constant reassuring presence has been Mother's Day, Ma. I hope I make you proud—even if I still don't clean the kitchen the way you taught AND FOUNDER-PRESIDENT, THE MAJOLLY MUSIC TRUSTMy dearest Ma,Even as a young lady, you possessed tremendous courage moving to another country you never heard of, by ship, to be a high school teacher in a convent courage has always been a hallmark of yours. From introducing new curriculums in schools, becoming one of the most well respected and adored teachers in that country, publishing a book in your 60s, taking care of an ill husband (my father) and I (after a surgery) while preparing for a very important CA exam, running a house while being an educator, and always the life of a last days with my father were extremely tough for you but you bore everything with optimism and never gave strength and practical ways have always been an inspiration to me and others. You are strict but kind, with always a helping hand for those in a super senior citizen now, you refuse to sit quietly and keep buzzing around with your vegetable garden, catching up with relatives, pottering around the house, look forward to exploring new countries and much to you and all the other brave mothers out there. All of you are what keep us ticking!
