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ChatGPT, a new cutting-edge A.I. chatbot that was opened to the public for testing last week, attracting a million users in the first five days, is the latest example of generative artificial intelligence, AI which can generate new content rather than simply analyzing or acting on existing data. It is being hailed as the next era-defining technological innovation, changing how we create new content online or even experience the Internet.
While chatbots to date have had major limitations, ChatGPT, which was created by AI research lab OpenAI, is based on natural language generation technology. "The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests," writes OpenAI on its announcement blog page. Among other things ChatGPT can write poetry, correct coding mistakes with detailed examples, generate AI art prompts and write new code.
ChatGPT has not only created a much better chatbot it could also transform how the Internet itself functions, with some going as far as predicting that it could spell the end for Google. But the technology has flaws and is already raising ethical and legal questions.
Read on to learn more about this story and the week's most important technology news impacting business.

Auropol Group, a 60-person manufacturer of specialty chemicals for the rubber and plastic industries based in Kolkata, India, has more than doubled its growth in the past three years thanks to a green circular economy strategy, the use of digital platforms, the upskilling of its work force and continuous focus on research and development of green and digital strategies, which ended up reducing waste and energy use and improving efficiency.

The company’s strategy is an example of how going green and digital can help small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) become more resilient.

Pairing digital with sustainability practices can be an effective way for SMEs, which make up the backbone of the global economy, to not only absorb shocks but to thrive, according to new research from the World Economic Forum and the National University of Singapore Business School. That’s important because the report, Future Readiness of SMEs and Mid-Sized Companies: A Year On, indicates that 67% of executives from SMEs say they are struggling to keep their doors from closing.

“We can't have close to 70% of employment and GDP driven by companies fighting for survival,“ says Olivier Woeffray, the moderator of the event and the Forum’s Practice Lead, Strategic Intelligence. The Forum’s New Champions community gathers “forward looking and purpose-driven mid-sized companies” to demonstrate what can happen when smaller businesses shift from survival mode to long-term future readiness. “We believe building future readiness should be viewed as a core business fundamental rather than a nice to have,” he says. “Our research explores some of the key opportunity areas for this shift to happen.”

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SustainedBIZZ uses AI to reduce computer aided engineering (CAE) driven data generation in product development for engineers, with the aim of making prototyping faster and more cost efficient. The company started out by focusing on e-mobility, but the technology can also be applied to the aerospace and manufacturing sectors.

The German startup is part of TechFounders, a five-month accelerator program at UnternehmerTUM, the Technical University of Munich’s Center for Innovation and Business Creation. It was one of 61 startups from the UnternehmerTUM ecosystem that competed for prizes during a December 8 Demo Day. The Innovator’s Editor-in-Chief was a moderator at the event.

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Amount of market value erased from European tech companies since the peak of the 2021 boom, according to The State of European Tech 22, an annual report about the European tech scene produced by the venture firm Atomico. Plentiful funding in 2021 led to the creation of more than 100 unicorns - tech companies with valuations of $1 billion or more - in 2021 but that figure has fallen to 31 this year, the lowest level since 2017, excluding the COVID pandemic year 2020. More than 14,000 European tech workers have been laid off. The trend is a reflection of the state of the global economy and the war in Ukraine.