Latest news with #SupanthaMukherjee
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Orange to use OpenAI's latest models to work with African languages
By Supantha Mukherjee STOCKHOLM: French mobile operator Orange said on Tuesday it plans to use OpenAI 's latest AI models with African languages . The benefits of AI models have largely bypassed African languages, numbering over 2,000, due to challenges such as lack of data and limited computational resources, according to researchers at Cornell University in the United States and a report by journal Nature. Orange, which provides telecom services in 18 African countries, signed a deal with OpenAI last year to get access to its pre-release AI models and fine-tune large language models to translate regional African languages. It said it started working with African languages this year using OpenAI's Whisper speech model, but the new models can extend this work to far more complex uses. OpenAI's first open-weight models have trained parameters, or weights, which are publicly accessible and can be used by developers such as Orange to tweak the models for specific tasks without requiring original training data. Orange plans to fine-tune the models with its collected samples of African regional languages and deploy them locally. "We plan to provide the fine-tuned models for free to local governments and public authorities," Orange's Chief AI Officer Steve Jarrett told Reuters. "We see this initiative as a blueprint for how AI can help bridge the digital divide : by collaborating with local startups and communities, Orange and OpenAI hope to catalyze an ecosystem where African languages are first-class citizens in the AI realm," Jarrett said.
Mint
23-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Spy cockroaches and AI robots: Germany plots the future of warfare
Two of three European defence "unicorns" are German Government more supportive of defence startups, CEOs say Govt creating fast track to bypass procurement red tape, sources say Smaller firms advising govt alongside Rheinmetall, source says By Supantha Mukherjee, Sarah Marsh and Christoph Steitz MUNICH/BERLIN/FRANKFURT, July 23 (Reuters) - For Gundbert Scherf - the co-founder of Germany's Helsing, Europe's most valuable defence start-up - Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Scherf had to fight hard to attract investment after starting his company - which produces military strike drones and battlefield AI - four years ago. Now, that's the least of his problems. The Munich-based company more than doubled its valuation to $12 billion at a fundraising last month. "Europe this year, for the first time in decades, is spending more on defense technology acquisition than the U.S.," said Scherf. The former partner at McKinsey & Company says Europe may be on the cusp of a transformation in defence innovation akin to the Manhattan Project - the scientific push that saw the U.S. rapidly develop nuclear weapons during World War Two. "Europe is now coming to terms with defense." Reuters spoke to two dozens executives, investors and policymakers to examine how Germany - Europe's largest economy - aims to play a central role in the rearming the continent. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government views AI and start-up technology as key to its defence plans and is slashing bureaucracy to connect startups directly to the upper echelons of its military, the sources told Reuters. Shaped by the trauma of Nazi militarism and a strong postwar pacifist ethos, Germany long maintained a relatively small and cautious defence sector, sheltered by U.S. security guarantees. Germany's business model, shaped by a deep aversion to risk, has also favoured incremental improvements over disruptive innovation. No more. With U.S. military support now more uncertain, Germany - one of the biggest backers of Ukraine - plans to nearly triple its regular defence budget to around 162 billion euros ($175 billion) per year by 2029. Much of that money will go into reinventing the nature of warfare, the sources said. Helsing is part of a wave of German defence start-ups developing cutting-edge technology, from tank-like AI robots and unmanned mini-submarines to battle-ready spy cockroaches. "We want to help give Europe its spine back," said Scherf. Some of these smaller firms are now advising the government alongside established firms - so-called primes such as Rheinmetall and Hensoldt - that have less incentive to focus primarily on innovation, given their long backlogs for conventional systems, one of the sources said. A new draft procurement law, expected to be approved by Merz's cabinet on Wednesday, aims to reduce hurdles for cash-strapped start-ups to join tenders by enabling advance payment to these firms, according to a version dated June 25, reviewed by Reuters. The law would also entitle authorities to limit tenders to bidders inside the European Union. Marc Wietfeld, CEO and founder of autonomous robots maker ARX Robotics, said a recent meeting with German defence minister Boris Pistorius hammered home how deep the rethink in Berlin goes. "He told me: 'Money is no longer an excuse - it's there now'. That was a turning point," he said. Since Donald Trump's return to the political stage and his renewed questioning of America's commitment to NATO, Germany has committed to meet the alliance's new target of 3.5% of GDP on defense spending by 2029 - faster than most European allies. Officials in Berlin have emphasized the need to foster a European defence industry rather than rely on U.S. companies. But the hurdles towards scaling up industry champions in Germany - and Europe more broadly - are considerable. Unlike in the United States, the market is fragmented in Europe. Each country has its own set of procurement standards to fulfill contracts. The United States, the world's top military spender, already has an established stable of defence giants, like Lockheed Martin and RTX, and an advantage in key areas, including satellite technology, fighter jets and precise-guided munitions. Washington also began boosting defence tech startups in 2015 - including Shield AI, drone maker Anduril and software company Palantir - by awarding them parts of military contracts. European startups until recently languished with little government support. But an analysis by Aviation Week in May showed Europe's 19 top defence spenders - including Turkey and Ukraine - were projected to spend 180.1 billion this year on military procurement compared, to 175.6 billion for the United States. Washington's overall military spending will remain higher. Hans Christoph Atzpodien, head of Germany's security and defence sector association BDSV, said one challenge was that the military's procurement system was geared toward established suppliers and not well suited to the fast pace that new technologies require. Germany's defence ministry said in a statement it was taking steps to accelerate procurement and to better integrate startups in order to make new technologies quickly available to the Bundeswehr. Annette Lehnigk-Emden, head of the armed forces' powerful procurement agency, highlighted drones and AI as emerging fields that Germany needs to develop. "The changes they're bringing to the battlefield are as revolutionary as the introduction of the machine gun, tank, or airplane," she told Reuters. Sven Weizenegger, who heads up the Cyber Innovation hub, the Bundeswehr's innovation accelerator, said the war in Ukraine was also changing social attitudes, removing a stigma towards working in the defence sector. "Germany has developed a whole new openness towards the issue of security since the invasion," he said. Weizenegger said he was receiving 20-30 Linkedin requests a day, compared to maybe 2-3 weekly back in 2020, with ideas for defence technology to develop. Some of the ideas under development feel akin to science fiction – like Swarm Biotactics' cyborg cockroaches that are equipped with specialised miniature backpacks that enable real-time data collection via cameras for example. Electrical stimuli should allow humans to control the insects' movements remotely. The aim is for them to provide surveillance information in hostile environments - for example information about enemy positions. "Our bio-robots - based on living insects - are equipped with neural stimulation, sensors, and secure communication modules," said CEO Stefan Wilhelm. "They can be steered individually or operate autonomously in swarms. In the first half of the 20th century, German scientists pioneered many military technologies that became global standards, from ballistic missiles to jet aircraft and guided weapons. But following its defeat in World War II, Germany was demilitarized and its scientific talent was dispersed. Wernher von Braun, who invented the first ballistic missile for the Nazis, was one of hundreds of German scientists and engineers transported to the United States in the wake of World War II, where he later worked at NASA and developed the rocket that took Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. In recent decades, defence innovation has been a powerful driver of economic progress. Tech like the internet, GPS, semiconductors and jet engines originated in military research programs before transforming civilian life. Hit by high energy prices, a slowdown in demand for its exports and competition from China, Germany's $4.75 trillion economy contracted over the last two years. Expanding military research could provide an economic fillip. "We just need to get to this mindset: a strong defense industrial base means a strong economy and innovation on steroids," said Markus Federle, managing partner at defence-focused investment firm Tholus Capital. ESCAPING 'THE VALLEY OF DEATH' Risk aversion among European investors had in the past disadvantaged startups, which struggled to get the capital they need to survive the 'valley of death' – the critical early stage when costs are high and sales low. But a boost in defence spending by European governments following Russia's invasion of Ukraine has investors looking for opportunities. Europe now boasts three start-ups with a unicorn valuation of more than $1 billion: Helsing, German drone maker Quantum Systems, and Portugal's Tekever, which also manufactures drones. "There's a lot of pressure now on Germany being the lead nation of the European defense," said Sven Kruck, Quantum's chief strategy officer. Germany has become Ukraine's second-biggest military backer after the United States. Orders that might once have taken years to approve now take months and European startups have had the opportunity to test their products quickly in the field, several sources said. Venture capital funding of European defence tech hit $1 billion in 2024, up from a modest $373 million in 2022, and is expected to surge even more this year. "Society has recognized that we have to defend our democracies," said Christian Saller, general partner at HV Capital, an investor in both ARX and Quantum Systems. Venture capital funding has grown faster in Germany than elsewhere, according to a data analysis by Dealroom for Reuters. German defence startups have received $1.4 billion in the last five years from investors, followed by UK, the data shows. Jack Wang, partner at venture capital firm Project A, said many German defence startups - rooted in the country's engineering prowess - are good at integrating established components into scalable systems. "Quality of talent in Europe is extremely high, but as a whole, there's no better country, no better talent that we've seen other than in Germany," he said. Weakness in Germany's automotive industry means there is production capacity to spare, including in the Mittelstand: the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that form the backbone of Germany's economy. Stefan Thumann, CEO of Bavarian startup Donaustahl, which produces loitering munitions, said he receives 3 to 5 applications daily from workers at automotive companies. "The startups just need the brains to do the engineering and prototyping," he said. "And the German Mittelstand will be their muscles." ($1 = 0.8560 euros) (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Munich, Sarah Marsh in Berlin and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; Additional Reporting by Sabine Siebold in Berlin; Editing by Kenneth Li and Daniel Flynn)
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Denmark aims to host world's most powerful quantum computer
By Supantha Mukherjee and Stine Jacobsen STOCKHOLM/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -The Novo Nordisk Foundation and Denmark's state-owned credit fund said on Thursday they will invest in what they say will be the world's most powerful quantum computer, aiming to revolutionize areas such as drug discovery and materials computing holds the promise of carrying out calculations that would take today's systems millions of years and could unlock discoveries in medicine, chemistry and many other fields where near-infinite seas of possible combinations of molecules confound classical computers. The Novo Nordisk Foundation, the non-profit which controls pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, and Denmark's Export and Investment Fund (EIFO), said in a statement they would invest 80 million euros ($92.93 million) in the initiative called QuNorth. Microsoft, which has its largest quantum lab in Denmark, will provide software and Atom Computing will build the quantum computer. The computer will be named Magne, inspired by Norse mythology where Magne, the son of Thor, is known for his immense strength. Construction will begin in autumn and the computer is expected to be ready by the end of next year. The quantum computer will start operating with 50 logical qubits, Jason Zander, Microsoft's executive vice president, told Reuters. A qubit, short for quantum bit, is the basic unit of information in a quantum computer and a logical qubit is a virtual qubit built from many physical qubits to reliably process quantum information. Last November, Microsoft and Atom created 24 logical qubits, the highest number ever created. "When we get to about 50 logical qubits, that's when we start hitting true quantum advantage," Zander said. "I get to the point where I can run something on a quantum computer that I could not run on a classic computer." "When the machine gets up to 100 (logical qubits), we can start doing science problems, get up to a couple 100s, we can start doing some chemistry and starting to answer things, and then when all the way up to 1,000, now you are solving everything," Zander said. ($1 = 0.8606 euros)
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Code of practice to help companies with AI rules may come end 2025, EU says
By Foo Yun Chee and Supantha Mukherjee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -A code of practice designed to help thousands of companies comply with the European Union's landmark artificial intelligence rules may only be issued at the end of 2025, the European Commission said on Thursday, potentially marking a delay of more than six months. Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms, European companies such as Mistral and ASML as well as several EU governments have called for a delay in implementing the Artificial Intelligence Act, partly due to the lack of a code of practice. Publication of the Code of Practice for large language models (GPAI) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and similar models launched by Google and Mistral had originally been planned for May 2. "On the AI Act's GPAI rules, the European AI Board is discussing the timing to implement the Code of Practice, with the end of 2025 being considered," a Commission spokesperson said. Signing up to the code is voluntary but companies who decline to do so, as some Big Tech firms have indicated, will not benefit from the legal certainty provided to a signatory. The Commission pushed back against calls for a delay in rolling out the AI rules. "Our commitment to the goals of the AI Act, such as establishing harmonised risk-based rules across the EU and ensuring the safety of AI systems in the European market, remains unchanged," the spokesperson said.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fintech Klarna to launch $40 per month mobile plan in US
By Supantha Mukherjee STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish fintech Klarna on Wednesday said it would launch an unlimited mobile plan in the U.S., joining other finance companies moving into the telecoms business, including British rival Revolut. A number of fintechs, including Germany's N26 and Brazil's Nubank, have started offering mobile services in various countries as they seek to diversify their revenues. Other investors outside the fintech arena have also put money into the mobile services business such as actor Ryan Reynolds and on Monday U.S. President Donald Trump's family business also licensed its name to launch a mobile service. Klarna's mobile plan, which includes unlimited 5G calls and data for $40 per month, will use the platform provided by U.S. mobile services startup Gigs. Google-backed Gigs, which as a partnership with AT&T, makes it easier for any company to become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and sell mobile services to customers without owning the infrastructure that provides them. Klarna, which paused its plans for an initial public offering in April, has more than 25 million users in the U.S. and the fintech is increasingly choosing the country to launch new products. "Our ambition has always been to solve everyday problems ... mobile is a natural next step in building out our neobank offering," Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told Reuters. Most global fintechs have started a mobile service in other countries before entering the U.S., but Klarna plans to start in the U.S., its largest market, and roll out in the UK, Germany and other markets later this year. "There will be significant disruption to the MVNO market over the next two years, as enterprises try their hand at launching their own MVNO service," Juniper Research analyst Alex Webb said. "However, increased competition brings increased risk, so not all MVNO projects are likely to be successful." U.S. MVNO market size is estimated at $14.83 billion in 2025, and is expected to reach $20.84 billion by 2030, according to research firm Mordor Intelligence.
