Latest news with #StevenJohnson
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Porirua soup kitchen opens to support homeless in the city
E Kai soup kitchen setting up to serve a hot meal at its first session on Monday. Photo: RNZ / Nick James A soup kitchen has been set up in Porirua to help support those dealing with homelessness in the city. On a cold windy Monday evening, E Kai had its first event in the CBD, providing pumpkin and lentil soup with Rēwena bread to those in need. The soup kitchen is the only service of its kind in the city and is run by Ngati Toa Rangatira's iwi authority Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, Porirua City Council and WELLfed an adult education programme which specialises in cooking. Toe-Te Roopu Wahina social services is run by Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira. General manager Steven Johnson told RNZ the soup kitchen was focused on support for those that were homeless. "This initiative is set up to be able to provide a warm inviting space, where food is just the entry for those people to come in for us then to be able to put a wider wraparound service to support them where we can." He expected demand in the soup kitchen to increase as winter approached. Shane Tepania had been dealing with homelessness until WELLfed helped him out. He said they helped him get a job and a house. "Without them I'd probably be back on the streets." The soup kitchen would be very important to people, particularly in the colder months, he said. "If we can make a change, make a difference, wow, it's beautiful really just to see." E Kai will run every Monday from 4 Lyndsey Place in Porirua between 5pm and 7pm.
Hindustan Times
21-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
NotebookLM, using Gemini, is a new class of AI software: Google's Steven Johnson
Mountain View, California: A day ahead of the Google I/O 2025 developer conference keynote, a still rather small team within the tech giant's fold released its smartphone apps that needed less than 24 hours to become the number 2 most downloaded Productivity app and the number 9 most downloaded app overall, for the Apple App Store worldwide. NotebookLM still elicits some confusion — what sort an AI tool is this, we're often asked. The answer, Steven Johnson, who is Editorial Director for NotebookLM and Google Labs, suggests is actually rather simple. 'The core proposition of NotebookLM from the beginning has been that you give us your sources and we will restrict the model to those,' he says, further illustrating that it can be the ideal methodology for perfectly understanding a complex topic or decoding a lengthy, layered document that would have otherwise taken much longer to read and understand. While NotebookLM was till now available only on the web, the release of apps for Android phones and the Apple iPhone, has a relevance of timing too — the release of a Video Overviews option for a user's individual notebooks within the app; a feature that arrives soon after Audio Overviews, both use-cases that work better on a user's phone, than a typical desktop. Johnson spoke with HT on the sidelines of the I/O 2025 conference, about user adoption of this unique and still one of its kind artificial intelligence (AI) platform, the thought behind Video Overviews, training NotebookLM's underlying models and countering hallucinations, as well as the roadmap for the months that lie ahead. Edited excerpts. Also Read:Critical steps to unlock our vision for a universal AI assistant: Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis Q. NotebookLM's much awaited Android and iOS apps arrived yesterday. How do you see this development have a bearing on user adoption and basically how it'll be used on a phone? Any specific features you feel users have the chance to now fully explore? Steven Johnson: You'd be surprised to know that from the second we released Audio Overviews in September, people were asking for an app so that they can play the audio on their phone when they're going somewhere and also if they have quick questions about something. We had, a powerful web app that was fine, but people clearly wanted to be able to get all the features in a proper app. There was just a lot of interest from our users. But when Audio Overviews launched, we had seven full time engineers. We were tiny by Google standards. We had nobody to do mobile. We basically built a V1 of the app that was ready by the end of last year, but we decided to not rush this and make sure that it's fully feature complete. There are a lot of things you can do on the website that you can't do in the mobile app. But we wanted it to be really stable, a really nice looking, functional app. So we took a little more time to get it right. We recently started supporting images, which means users can actually have images of the source. I want to take a picture of this building that I'm designing and I'm an architect and I then want to be able to talk to Notebook about the design of this building — basically all those things that you can do with multimodal models. It is really exciting in terms of the overall roadmap. We also announced that the new Video Overviews feature is coming, which is built by the same team that did audio overviews. It's sort of a mini lecture with slides, with images, and charts taken from your sources, and single person speaking. Since it's not a two person conversation format, it's an efficient way of getting you the information, where the visual component adds to it. We're also starting to think about creating notebooks for people in advance, such as curating notebooks on different topics. One of the problems with NotebookLM is that when you come on day one, you don't have any notebooks, and you've to create them yourself before the product becomes useful. We're going to start rolling out pre-packaged notebooks on various topics. For NotebookLM as a platform for sharing information, there's a lot of room to explore. Also Read: Google I/O: Decoding Gemini app, AI in Search, Google Beam and Workspace updates Q. The latest announcement is about Video Overviews landing on NotebookLM soon. Can you tell us a bit more about this, and which models underline this feature? SJ: It's basically all Gemini, because it's not generating any actual motion video but taking static images from your slides to create a video in the sense of it showing images over a timeline with a voiceover. But we're very interested in the amazing things that are possible. I believe there's a lot in this current video overview platform, and there are a lot of features that can develop even before we get to full motion video. It's a little different from audio overviews in that way, since it can generate a timeline, generate a sort of pull quote from your sources, generate an agenda, generate a contrasting visual and more. Part of what we're asking the model to do is it is given data sources and therefore given these building blocks, now what's the best story you can tell or explanation you can curate to help someone understand this material. We can just keep adding more building blocks. We won't just take a chart from your sources, but we'll actually spontaneously generate a chart based on the facts in your sources. We can't quite do that yet, but you know that's coming. And so there may be ways to kind of like generate images or visuals like that will get more and more powerful over time. I believe we're going to find that this video platform is actually the foundation of a lot of really important stuff that we do. Q. NotebookLM is source centric, unlike broad knowledge based AI. Can you tell us about the technical mechanisms and strategies employed within NotebookLM's architecture to effectively curb hallucinations, especially when dealing with complex or contradictory source materials? SJ: The core proposition of NotebookLM from the beginning has been that you give us your sources and we will restrict the model to those. Basically, restrict the model to the information in those sources, which we think, is valuable for a variety of reasons. It's also valuable to talk to a general interest, general purpose model, obviously. But we think there are a lot of use cases where you want to limit the knowledge of the model to the documents you give. That can be because you want to personalise it, or because you want a specific kind of expertise. That can also be because you're working on a project that you want the model to be an expert in and you want to ground it in that. It also has the added advantage of reduced hallucinations when you actually put something directly into the context of the model. It's just more accurate. We have a state of the art citation system, and a user can always see where the information came from. You can use that as a way of exploring complex information. Simply follow the citation into the text and then you can read it right there. Among the things we've done from the beginning is to make sure your original documents are part of what you're doing, and not just off in the background somewhere or ignored all-together. But it does leave open the possibility that if a user, puts in a series of documents explaining why the earth is flat, depending on how severe the statements are, the model will report those things according to the sources or it will say something like, according to your sources, the earth is flat, although that is not really generally considered to be true. But in general, we let the user define the truth in those sources and we've just decided that's the most responsible way to do it. Also Read: Google building Gemini to be a proactive, personal universal AI assistant Q. How difficult is it to train and define this sort of a model? Simply because the data set is not in your control? SJ: There was just a lot of training in the underlying Gemini model before it got to be used in NotebookLM. Because NotebookLM was part of Google's AI program, there was a lot of attention on source grounding from the beginning with Gemini. But that's something that happens at the model level, as part of the training process. The model must be good at sticking to the facts of documents that have been put into the context of the model. In general, from what I've seen, Gemini is the best model at this. We're building Notebook at the right time, at the right tech company, and I'm very happy we have this model and not other models. Q. Given that users are uploading their personal and potentially sensitive research materials, data security and privacy are paramount. Can you give us a sense of the specific security measures and protocols NotebookLM has in place to protect user data? SJ: Right now we have no 'keep my data private' setting toggle for on or off, because it's all private. We currently do not use any of the user data to train the model in any way. If we ever change that, we would obviously give the user control over that. The only thing that can occasionally happen is if you ask a question and give negative feedback on the question's response, a human might look at the question and answer pair to figure out what went wrong there. But there's no training. We understand that people are putting their journals, even putting a book that they're writing, into notebooks on NotebookLM. We want them to be assured that that information is not going to get in the training set of models. Also Read: Tech Tonic | Why are AI companies this interested in Google Chrome? Q. What next for NotebookLM? Are there key areas or functionalities you'd like to focus on, and is integration with other Google apps, on the roadmap? SJ: In the early days, people were asking us internally, whether NotebookLM is for students, or authors? We insisted that it is students and yes, it is for authors, but it's not just for them. This is a bigger platform, for anybody who's working on a project that involves multiple documents where they have to synthesise information across those documents and make sense of things. We deliberately avoided focusing on one particular user, and were going to try and see this as a bigger thing. But that means that there's just so many different directions we can go. I personally would love to expand the tools for writing inside of NotebookLM. You can do some really clever writing in the chat, and we do have notes that you can copy and paste in there. But I'd like it to be a kind of notes editor with my sources in the background. With different kinds of studio outputs, like video overviews and audio overviews, you can imagine things such as interactive tutors that help you learn different topics. Maybe we can create a marketplace where people could sell notebooks on different topics. There are just so many things we want to do. The team has grown a lot, so we have more capacity. In the last couple of months, we shipped a lot of new features such as mind maps, source discovery, and now the mobile apps. But it is hard to prioritise because we just have a lot of ambition. In terms of interactions with other Google apps, it obviously it would be nice to be able to jump back and forth between Docs, Drive and NotebookLM. We could do a much better job of it, but ay ear ago, we were a very small team and most people hadn't heard of us. So it was hard to get the attention of anybody at Drive team, for example. Why would they spend time helping this little seven person startup inside of Google, but now people are answering our calls, so I think you'll see more NotebookLM features. The connection between Gemini and Notebook will strengthen as well. I think that people have really embraced this idea of having a tool dedicated to helping you understand things from complex documents, for example. It's a new thing. Word processors help you organise your words and pages, and convey your ideas visually. But a tool that is really trying to help you understand whatever you're trying to understand, is a new class of software in a way. Whether you're a student or a knowledge worker or an author, users seem to get that and see the value. Our slogan right now is — understand anything, and whatever it is, throw it in there and we'll help you understand it.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zealand Pharma continues to strengthen strategic leadership of innovation in obesity and related conditions with appointment of Steven Johnson as Chief Development Officer
Press release – No. 9 / 2025 Zealand Pharma continues to strengthen strategic leadership of innovation in obesity and related conditions with appointment of Steven Johnson as Chief Development Officer Steven will lead the regulatory and development strategies that position Zealand Pharma at the forefront of innovation in the management of obesity and other related complications He joins CMO David Kendall and recently appointed CSO Utpal Singh to strengthen Zealand Pharma's R&D leadership and progress its differentiated clinical pipeline of potential best-in-class peptide therapeutics Copenhagen, Denmark, May 19, 2025 – Zealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ZEAL) (CVR-no. 20045078), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based medicines, today announces the appointment of Steven Johnson as Chief Development Officer. Steven will join the executive team to lead regulatory and development strategies at Zealand Pharma. His appointment, alongside Chief Medical Officer, David Kendall and recently appointed Chief Scientific Officer, Utpal Singh further strengthens the company's strategy to lead the field in innovation in the management of obesity and other related conditions. Steven brings nearly 30 years of experience driving drug development and regulatory strategy across the pharmaceutical industry. He joins Zealand Pharma from UCB Biopharma, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President and Head of Regulatory Stakeholders, responsible for leading late phase clinical development, global regulatory affairs, biometrics and operational excellence. During Steven's tenure at UCB, his teams secured global approvals for key therapies across multiple therapeutic areas. Previously he had senior leadership roles at Medpace, Inc. and at Novo Nordisk. Steven began his career at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where he served as a Master Reviewer in the Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products. 'Steven brings a unique 360-degree perspective on global drug development gained from a career at major pharma companies, CROs and the FDA,' said Adam Steensberg, Chief Executive Officer, Zealand Pharma. 'He joins Zealand at a key moment as we embark on the collaboration with Roche to co-develop and co-commercialize petrelintide as a foundational therapy for people with overweight and obesity. Together, Utpal, Steven and David form a robust, seamless leadership team across research, development and medical affairs as we strive to become a leader in the management of obesity and related complications.' Steven Johnson added, 'Zealand Pharma is committed to delivering transformative therapies that are created with the patient's experience in mind to support long-term health outcomes. I'm excited to work alongside this exceptional team aligning human centered innovation with world class science to develop new therapies that could redefine the standard of care for obesity and more.' Steven was a Geriatrics Fellow at Washington State University and holds a PharmD, a BPharm, and a BS in Biology, also from Washington State University. About Zealand Pharma A/SZealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ZEAL) is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of peptide-based medicines. More than 10 drug candidates invented by Zealand Pharma have advanced into clinical development, of which two have reached the market and three candidates are in late-stage development. The company has development partnerships with a number of pharma companies as well as commercial partnerships for its marketed products. Zealand Pharma was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a team in the U.S. For more information about Zealand Pharma's business and activities, please visit Forward looking statementsThis press release contains 'forward-looking statements', as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 in the United States, as amended, even though no longer listed in the United States this is used as a definition to provide Zealand Pharma's expectations or forecasts of future events regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, the timing of the company's pre-clinical and clinical trials and the reporting of data therefrom. These forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as 'aim,' 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'could,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'forecast,' 'goal,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'plan,' 'possible,' 'potential,' 'will,' 'would' and other words and terms of similar meaning. You should not place undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data presented. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions, which may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations set forth herein and may cause any or all of such forward-looking statements to be incorrect, and which include, but are not limited to, unexpected costs or delays in clinical trials and other development activities due to adverse safety events, patient recruitment or otherwise; unexpected concerns that may arise from additional data, analysis or results obtained during clinical trials; our ability to successfully market both new and existing products; changes in reimbursement rules and governmental laws and related interpretation thereof; government-mandated or market-driven price decreases for our products; introduction of competing products; production problems at third party manufacturers; dependency on third parties, for instance contract research or development organizations; unexpected growth in costs and expenses; our ability to affect the strategic reorganization of our businesses in the manner planned; failure to protect and enforce our data, intellectual property and other proprietary rights and uncertainties relating to intellectual property claims and challenges; regulatory authorities may require additional information or further studies, or may reject, fail to approve or may delay approval of our drug candidates or expansion of product labeling; failure to obtain regulatory approvals in other jurisdictions; exposure to product liability and other claims; interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; unexpected contract breaches or terminations; inflationary pressures on the global economy; and political uncertainty. If any or all of such forward-looking statements prove to be incorrect, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by such statements. The foregoing sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations in any forward-looking statement. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this company announcement and are based on information available to Zealand Pharma as of the date of this announcement. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Information concerning pharmaceuticals (including compounds under development) contained within this material is not intended as advertising or medical advice. ContactsAdam Lange (Investors)Vice President, Investor Relationsalange@ Neshat Ahmadi (Investors)Investor Relations Managerneahmadi@ Anna Krassowska, PhD (Investor and Media)Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communicationsakrassowska@ Amber Fennell, Jessica Hodgson, Sean Leous (Media)ICR HealthcareZealandPharma@ (0) 7739 658 783Error 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
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zealand Pharma continues to strengthen strategic leadership of innovation in obesity and related conditions with appointment of Steven Johnson as Chief Development Officer
Press release – No. 9 / 2025 Zealand Pharma continues to strengthen strategic leadership of innovation in obesity and related conditions with appointment of Steven Johnson as Chief Development Officer Steven will lead the regulatory and development strategies that position Zealand Pharma at the forefront of innovation in the management of obesity and other related complications He joins CMO David Kendall and recently appointed CSO Utpal Singh to strengthen Zealand Pharma's R&D leadership and progress its differentiated clinical pipeline of potential best-in-class peptide therapeutics Copenhagen, Denmark, May 19, 2025 – Zealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ZEAL) (CVR-no. 20045078), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based medicines, today announces the appointment of Steven Johnson as Chief Development Officer. Steven will join the executive team to lead regulatory and development strategies at Zealand Pharma. His appointment, alongside Chief Medical Officer, David Kendall and recently appointed Chief Scientific Officer, Utpal Singh further strengthens the company's strategy to lead the field in innovation in the management of obesity and other related conditions. Steven brings nearly 30 years of experience driving drug development and regulatory strategy across the pharmaceutical industry. He joins Zealand Pharma from UCB Biopharma, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President and Head of Regulatory Stakeholders, responsible for leading late phase clinical development, global regulatory affairs, biometrics and operational excellence. During Steven's tenure at UCB, his teams secured global approvals for key therapies across multiple therapeutic areas. Previously he had senior leadership roles at Medpace, Inc. and at Novo Nordisk. Steven began his career at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where he served as a Master Reviewer in the Division of Metabolic and Endocrine Drug Products. 'Steven brings a unique 360-degree perspective on global drug development gained from a career at major pharma companies, CROs and the FDA,' said Adam Steensberg, Chief Executive Officer, Zealand Pharma. 'He joins Zealand at a key moment as we embark on the collaboration with Roche to co-develop and co-commercialize petrelintide as a foundational therapy for people with overweight and obesity. Together, Utpal, Steven and David form a robust, seamless leadership team across research, development and medical affairs as we strive to become a leader in the management of obesity and related complications.' Steven Johnson added, 'Zealand Pharma is committed to delivering transformative therapies that are created with the patient's experience in mind to support long-term health outcomes. I'm excited to work alongside this exceptional team aligning human centered innovation with world class science to develop new therapies that could redefine the standard of care for obesity and more.' Steven was a Geriatrics Fellow at Washington State University and holds a PharmD, a BPharm, and a BS in Biology, also from Washington State University. About Zealand Pharma A/SZealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ZEAL) is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of peptide-based medicines. More than 10 drug candidates invented by Zealand Pharma have advanced into clinical development, of which two have reached the market and three candidates are in late-stage development. The company has development partnerships with a number of pharma companies as well as commercial partnerships for its marketed products. Zealand Pharma was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a team in the U.S. For more information about Zealand Pharma's business and activities, please visit Forward looking statementsThis press release contains 'forward-looking statements', as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 in the United States, as amended, even though no longer listed in the United States this is used as a definition to provide Zealand Pharma's expectations or forecasts of future events regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, the timing of the company's pre-clinical and clinical trials and the reporting of data therefrom. These forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as 'aim,' 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'could,' 'estimate,' 'expect,' 'forecast,' 'goal,' 'intend,' 'may,' 'plan,' 'possible,' 'potential,' 'will,' 'would' and other words and terms of similar meaning. You should not place undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data presented. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions, which may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations set forth herein and may cause any or all of such forward-looking statements to be incorrect, and which include, but are not limited to, unexpected costs or delays in clinical trials and other development activities due to adverse safety events, patient recruitment or otherwise; unexpected concerns that may arise from additional data, analysis or results obtained during clinical trials; our ability to successfully market both new and existing products; changes in reimbursement rules and governmental laws and related interpretation thereof; government-mandated or market-driven price decreases for our products; introduction of competing products; production problems at third party manufacturers; dependency on third parties, for instance contract research or development organizations; unexpected growth in costs and expenses; our ability to affect the strategic reorganization of our businesses in the manner planned; failure to protect and enforce our data, intellectual property and other proprietary rights and uncertainties relating to intellectual property claims and challenges; regulatory authorities may require additional information or further studies, or may reject, fail to approve or may delay approval of our drug candidates or expansion of product labeling; failure to obtain regulatory approvals in other jurisdictions; exposure to product liability and other claims; interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; unexpected contract breaches or terminations; inflationary pressures on the global economy; and political uncertainty. If any or all of such forward-looking statements prove to be incorrect, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by such statements. The foregoing sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations in any forward-looking statement. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this company announcement and are based on information available to Zealand Pharma as of the date of this announcement. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Information concerning pharmaceuticals (including compounds under development) contained within this material is not intended as advertising or medical advice. ContactsAdam Lange (Investors)Vice President, Investor Relationsalange@ Neshat Ahmadi (Investors)Investor Relations Managerneahmadi@ Anna Krassowska, PhD (Investor and Media)Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communicationsakrassowska@ Amber Fennell, Jessica Hodgson, Sean Leous (Media)ICR HealthcareZealandPharma@ (0) 7739 658 783Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State of the economy; latest on Jackson County legislator vs Frank White
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — April is Financial Literacy Month, and this week we dive into why the issue is actually a concern in this country. We're joined by Kansas State Treasurer Steven Johnson whose career has included working in the financial services sector as well as running a family farm. One dead after driving off MO-7 Highway bridge into Truman Lake: MSHP Are Americans saving enough? Preparing for retirement? And more. Plus, how should we handle the market volatility? FOX4's Jonathan Ketz weighs in on the trouble facing the Jackson County Executive Frank White, in the form of a recall effort. We offered Mr. White the opportunity to join us but his office did not respond. Then, a . Veterans and first responders benefitting from a weeklong program as part of the 'War Horses for Veterans' program. They come from all over the country to deal with their anxiety and post-traumatic stress, free of charge. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
