Reining in ChatGPT: AI tech titans must navigate a regulatory maze to thrive in the UK and beyond February 14, 2023 As ChatGPT continues to amaze, and Alphabet and others try to follow suit, Jess Jones explores some of the legal and regulatory challenges facing AI tech, and what they mean for the UK’s ambition to become a science superpower. “The genie is out of the bottle – and it’s hard to imagine how it goes [...]
Liberty Global buys five per cent stake in Vodafone claiming shares are undervalued February 13, 2023 Telecoms giant Liberty Global has bought an almost five per cent stake in Vodafone after claiming shares in the troubled firm are undervalued. Liberty’s purchase of a 4.92 per cent stake in Vodafone comes as a vote of confidence in the British company, as it struggles to satisfy investors. The phone operator’s share price [...]
Meta gears up for more job cuts as staff complain of ‘lack of clarity’ February 12, 2023 Meta employees have complained about a "lack of clarity" around budgets at the social media giant as the firm readies for another round of job cuts, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Arm China lays off dozens of staff as restrictions hit demand February 11, 2023 SoftBank Group Corp’s chip technology firm Arm Ltd’s China joint venture laid off 90-95 employees last week to cope with a challenging business outlook this year, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The layoffs come as SoftBank tries to set up a public listing for Arm this year. The China market has been a major source [...]
UK lost out on £320m AstraZeneca factory: Hunt ‘disappointed’ after drug giant choses low-tax Ireland instead February 10, 2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he was disappointed the UK “lost out this time” on a £320 million new AstraZeneca factory after the drugs giant chose the low-tax Republic of Ireland instead. The group had wanted to build a plant near its existing sites close to Macclesfield, Cheshire, but the “discouraging” tax rate had prompted a [...]
Lyft loses ground on Uber: Share price falls 30 per cent after profit down £100m on forecast February 10, 2023 Lyft is trailing behind competitor Uber as disappointing forecasts have caused investors to lose confidence. Shares in the ride-hailing company dropped more than 30 per cent this week after it reported lower than expected first quarter profit forecasts of $975m (£805m). Initially, analysts forecasted it would be at $1.09bn (£900m), according to Refinitiv data. Lyft [...]
Tech rout continues as Yahoo staff cull adds to over 30,000 job losses in sector this year February 10, 2023 Yahoo has become the latest tech giant to announce huge job losses, as the cost of living crisis forces digital advertisers to reign back on their spending. The American web provider said it was axing over 20 per cent of its entire workforce, with the cuts expected to make 1,600 current workers redundant, including 1,000 [...]
Google: Alphabet’s shares tank eight per cent after video blunder involving its version of ChatGPT February 9, 2023 Google’s parent company Alphabet’s shares plummeted yesterday after its brand new AI chatbot answered a question wrong during a promotional video. The owner of Google saw shares crash almost eight per cent on Wednesday, causing a $100bn (£82bn) loss to its value. This comes after Alphabet announced that Google would be launching an integrating its [...]
Taking the Mickey: Disney to slash 7,000 jobs in bid to save £4.5bn as part of ‘significant transformation’ February 9, 2023 The Walt Disney Co has said it will cut about 7,000 jobs as part of a “significant transformation” announced by CEO Bob Iger. The job cuts amount to about three per cent of the entertainment giant’s global workforce and were announced after Disney reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street’s forecasts. Mr Iger returned as [...]
Astrazeneca’s shares rise, as cancer drug uptake offsets fall in sales of pharma giant’s Covid-19 vaccine February 9, 2023 Astrazeneca has posted what it claimed were “strong” financial results for the full year 2022 as surging demand for cancer medicines offset a fall in Covid vaccine revenues. Shares in Astrazeneca jumped on the news as the firm said it expects another year of double-digit revenue growth in 2023. The British firm’s strong results came [...]