Tag - ai

 
 

AI

Tokyo Electron, one of a handful of key chip gear-makers globally, revealed expansion plans after posting better-than-expected earnings.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2025
Tokyo Electron plans expansion despite AI spending doubts
The company, one of a handful of key chip gear-makers globally, revealed the expansion after posting better-than-expected earnings.
South Korea, along with countries such as France and Italy, have asked questions about DeepSeek's data practices, submitting a written request for information about how the company handles user information.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 6, 2025
South Korean ministries and police block access to DeepSeek
The move comes after the Chinese artificial intelligence startup did not respond to a request about how it manages user information.
The new generative AI-powered Alexa represents at once a huge opportunity for Amazon, which counts more than half a billion Alexa-enabled devices in the market, and a tremendous risk.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 6, 2025
Amazon set to release long-delayed Alexa generative AI revamp
The new generative AI-powered Alexa represents at once a huge opportunity for Amazon.
Panasonic will restructure low-growth businesses and make changes to its employment structure, according to a recently released statement.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025
Panasonic shares jump most in 11 years on restructuring plans
The Osaka-based company will restructure low-growth businesses and make changes to its employment structure.
Founded in Hangzhou only 20 months ago, DeepSeek’s technology made waves in January with a new mobile app featuring its reasoning AI chatbot.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 5, 2025
Australia bans DeepSeek from government tech, citing security
A threat assessment by the country’s intelligence agencies found the technology posed an unacceptable risk.
Google's vow to not use AI for weapons or surveillance have been removed from its guidelines.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2025
Google pledge against using AI for weapons vanishes
The revised principles were posted just weeks after Google chief executive Sundar Pichai attended the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
DeepSeek's impressive AI breakthroughs have sparked global attention but face mounting U.S. scrutiny, with potential bans unlikely to stop its open-source technology from spreading worldwide.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025
DeepSeek’s breakthroughs are too big for the U.S. to ban
The national security concerns behind the U.S. push to ban TikTok are even more pronounced when it comes to generative AI.
Panasonic, whose sprawling operations include hairdryers, PCs and lithium-ion batteries used by the likes of Tesla, will restructure or streamline businesses with low growth potential, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025
Tesla supplier Panasonic to cut costs to support shift into AI
One target may be the company’s long-standing TV operations.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is greeted by Kakao CEO Chung Shi-na during a press conference to announce partnerships on AI services in Seoul on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 4, 2025
OpenAI to deepen services within South Korea’s largest chat app
"We are particularly interested in AI and messaging," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told a press conference he held with Kakao CEO Chung Shi-na in Seoul.
French President Emmanuel Macron. Tech players from around the world will gather in France for an AI summit next week.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 4, 2025
France pitches AI summit as 'wake-up call' for Europe
Players from across the sector and representatives from 80 nations will gather in the French capital.
Monks at the temple of the golden Buddha Dordenma in Thimphu, Bhutan, in 2023
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2025
Japanese-made AI Buddha to make debut in Bhutan
Monks in the country will use the chatbot on a trial basis to further improve its functions and create guidelines on its use.
DeepSeek’s AI breakthrough has shaken assumptions about China’s innovation, highlighted weaknesses in U.S. tech restrictions, and reinforced China’s push for self-sufficiency despite export controls.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2025
DeepSeek forces a rethink of China’s ability to innovate
The Trump administration hasn’t outlined a policy toward technology flows yet, but it ordered a review of export controls on day one.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (right) and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an event on Monday to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2025
SoftBank forms joint venture with OpenAI in enterprise play
SoftBank and OpenAI said that the joint venture will help large Japanese enterprises in the adoption and training of Cristal intelligence in order to improve their businesses.
U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper appears on the BBC's "Sunday Morning" political television show with journalist Laura Kuenssberg.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2025
U.K. to become first country to criminalize AI child abuse tools
The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualized images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Bosses at artificial intelligence companies are concerned about finding enough electricity to keep servers running at data centers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025
AI’s electricity demand means new tech is coming to grids
Startups have an opportunity to develop and deploy grid-enhancing technologies, including pumping more power through cables.
Silicon Valley’s shock at DeepSeek exposes U.S. tech elites’ insularity and the unintended consequences of U.S. policies aimed at restricting China’s technological progress.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2025
Why Chinese tech keeps surprising the West
DeepSeek is the latest product from China to shock the U.S. tech broligarchy. It won’t be the last.
Chief among the worries surrounding DeepSeek is the fact that it collects and stores data in servers in China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 31, 2025
DeepSeek’s AI restricted by ‘hundreds’ of companies in days
Companies have worked to block access due to concerns about potential data leaks to the Chinese government and what they view as weak privacy safeguards.
Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group is in talks to invest as much as $25 billion in OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2025
SoftBank in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI
SoftBank has already committed $15 billion to Project Stargate, a joint venture with OpenAI to build data centers and other AI infrastructure.
The Deepseek and Alibaba app icons. Alibaba released a new version of its Qwen 2.5 artificial intelligence model on Wednesday, stating it surpasses the highly acclaimed DeepSeek-V3.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 30, 2025
Alibaba releases AI model it says surpasses DeepSeek-V3
The unusual timing of the release points to the pressure Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's meteoric rise in the past three weeks has placed on domestic competition.
Phishing and its social-engineering cousin "pretexting" together accounted for more than 20% of almost 10,000 data breaches worldwide last year.
WORLD / Society
Jan 30, 2025
Age of deepfakes means internet users must be more alert than ever
AI chatbots powered by large language models save attackers time and allow for more elaborate fake messages.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?