The Innovator's Radar newsletter enables you to stay on top of the latest business innovations. Enjoy this week's edition.
Jennifer L. Schenker
Innovator Founder and Editor-in-Chief |
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AI’s downsides were on full display this week:
* Google said on May 14 it will turbo charge its search engine with its AI model, drawing on the rapidly advancing technology to directly answer user queries at the top of results pages. “Google will do the Googling for you,” the company explained. That means users will soon no longer have to click on the links displayed in search results to find the information they are seeking. By the end of the year more than a billion people will have access to the technology. For news publishers — many of whom are already struggling with steep traffic declines — the revamped search experience will likely cause an even further decrease in audience, potentially starving them of readers and revenue.
* Microsoft revealed that its emissions have risen by almost a third since 2020. The push to build out the infrastructure behind AI is threatening its climate goals. The nearly 30% increase in emissions was in large part due to the construction of the data centers that AI and cloud computing systems run on, Microsoft said in its annual sustainability report on May 15.
*Mark Read, chief executive of London-based advertising group WPP, was the target of a deepfake scam in which criminals used advanced AI-powered voice clone software and public YouTube footage to set up a video meeting with his executives. The goal was to extract personal details and money. It failed but other deepfake scams have succeeded, fueling fears of how deep fakes could negatively impact business and elections around the world.
*OpenAI co-founder and long-time chief scientist Ilya Sutskever quit, increasing speculation and fear that Ai safety is being put on a back burner at OpenAI. Sutskever is the fourth key employee to recently leave. Hours after the announcement, Jan Leike, another senior researcher at OpenAI, resigned. He worked closely with Sutskever on "alignment" - or ensuring that AI systems act in the human interest if and when they surpass human-level intelligence. Two others working on safety and governance also quit since the beginning of the year. “ Regulators are struggling to design rules with teeth to ensure that as big tech companies speed ahead use of the technology does not cause societal harm.
Read on to learn more about this story and the week's most important technology news impacting business.
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| What a difference a year makes. At last year’s Viva Technology conference, held in June 2023, uncertainty was the common theme; the economic outlook was rocky, fundraising was tough, and while AI presented exciting new opportunities, many didn’t know what this technology meant for their organization. Former Cisco Executive Chairman John Chambers shared advice with leaders from around the world on how to view this downturn as an opportunity, rather than a roadblock, and lean into the wariness while others were afraid to take risks.
With this year’s conference around the corner, Chambers delves back into these topics and discuss what’s next for global business leaders. Those attending VivaTech this year – and for those who won’t be there, but are interested in hearing more – can get a sneak peek at the items (and opportunities) at the top of John Chambers' agenda at this year's conference in his latest exclusive column for The Innovator. |
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Who: Meredith Whittaker is President of Signal, an encrypted messaging service, and a member of the Signal Foundation Board of Directors. She has over 17 years of experience in tech, spanning industry, academia, and government. Before joining Signal as President, she was the Minderoo Research Professor at New York University, and served as the Faculty Director of the AI Now Institute, which she co-founded. Prior to NYU, Whittaker worked at Google for over a decade, where she led product and engineering teams, founded Google's Open Research Group, and co-founded M-Lab, a globally distributed network measurement platform that now provides the world's largest source of open data on Internet performance. She was one of the core organizers pushing back against the company's insufficient response to concerns about AI and its harms and was a central organizer of the Google Walkout.. She is scheduled to speak on a panel that will be moderated by Innovator Editor-in-Chief Jennifer L. Schenker at the Viva Technology conference taking place in Paris May 23-25.
Topic: Can we have it all: safe, profitable, and ethical AI? The same topic as her Viva Technollogy panel.
Quote: "The centralized and largely unaccountable power of the AI industry poses dangers of democracy and geopolitical stability, and the prospects for meaningful regulation appear particularly dim, even as vague calls for 'regulation' or an 'international body to focus on AI' echo from tech companies and pundits. The need for democratic oversight and meaningful checks on these companies and the application of the technology they develop and profit from has never been more acute." |
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| Nanosono, a new materials deep tech company based in Israel, has developed a nanotechnology based platform that is designed to provide instant and continuous antimicrobial action, eliminating up to 99.9999% of bacteria, viruses and fungi. Potential customers include pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies, manufacturers of paints and coatings, wound dressings, and textiles, as well as producers of plastics and polymer-based products.
The startup, which operates seven advanced laboratories in Northern Israel, says its nanotech platform can be used to prevent or treat everything from run-of-the-mill annoyances like acne, toenail fungus, dandruff, and diaper rash to prevention of serious life-threatening infectious diseases such as Covid.
“The world is grappling with infectious diseases, global pandemics and antimicrobial resistance and a growing concern about hygiene,” says Nanosolo CEO Ori Bar Chaim. “We are providing a robust, long-lasting solution to fight against harmful microorganisms. Our goal is to become the best antimicrobial technology in the world and ensure that any company that has issues or problems that need an anti microbial solution will contact us.”
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Amount of money a bipartisan U.S. Senate group recommends that the country spend annually for non-defense AI innovation to cover initiatives ranging from assisting design and manufacturing of high-end AI chips to local election initiatives to a series of “AI Grand Challenge” programs to keep the U.S. ahead of rivals—particularly China. The document, which was revealed May 15 and billed as a road map for AI policy, includes a long list of recommendations for encouraging AI while also addressing concerns about the technology’s potential for harm.
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