To ensure a level playing field in the digital market, a parliamentary panel on Tuesday discussed creating a legal framework for healthy competition in the space as it asked big tech majors Google, Amazon, Apple, and others over alleged anti-competitive practices.
Many members of the Parliamentary Panel on Finance interrogated the market dominance of large tech companies during the meeting, , which, they said, is driving out other competitors and killing off Indian players.
As all the big tech companies at the meeting suggested that no further regulation is needed in the Indian digital market, one member replied that if the big tech companies were going to be so uncooperative, they would need limited knowledge of it. But it should be left to regulate the MPs in how they deem fit.
He said the panel members suggested that they want a law that is not business friendly but protects the interests of the consumers at the same time. Top executives from the Indian branches of Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, and Uber made their submissions before the panel.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by former Union Minister Jayant Sinha, looks into various aspects of market competition, especially those related to technology majors.
After the meeting, Mr. Sinha said that the parliamentary panel would issue a report on the development of competition law for digital markets, which is the report they are putting together. They will specifically deal with matters relating to competitive conduct and competitive behavior, including issues relating to platform neutrality, pricing, and how data is used in adjacent markets. Sinha said the panel had held six to seven meetings and will issue a report in the first week of September.
Google Cloud has teamed up with Singapore to support the ongoing efforts to enhance the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities through a wide-ranging agreement that includes skills training, AI governance, and research and development.
According to the signed memorandum of understanding, the government will work with Google Cloud to create, test, and scale artificial intelligence applications in primary areas such as sustainability, finance, and healthcare.
The partnership led by the National AI Office of Singapore is its very first public-private AI partnership with a global technology company like Google. Google Cloud will provide dedicated certification programs and training resources to cultivate machine learning and deep AI proficiency for identified public sector officers.
Google Cloud said these programs would reinforce its commitment to bridging the AI talent gap. The programs will build on Google’s Skills Ignition SG training program in collaboration with SkillsFuture Singapore and Infocomm Media Development Authority, Singapore.
Google Cloud will also contribute by collaborating with Singapore’s Ministry of Education and AI Singapore to facilitate local students a headstart in pursuing STEM careers.
Moreover, Google Cloud will bolster the Singapore government’s efforts to shape artificial intelligence governance and ethics in crucial areas like finance. These efforts complement Google’s involvement in the Advisory Council of the Ethical Use of AI of Singapore and its critical contributions to the Model AI Governance Framework.
Mark Zuckerberg seems to have finally heard his critics and changed his selfie, allegedly in response to critical memes mocking the graphics of Meta’s newest project Horizon Worlds.
Zuckerberg debuted the virtual reality social app Horizon Worlds in France and Spain earlier this week, sharing what people called a ‘flat and goofy digital avatar’ posed in front of the Eiffel Tower and green hills. The internet immediately started mocking the avatar, hoping it was only the preliminary graphics for the venture on which Meta had spent at least $10 billion last year.
Kevin Roose, New York Times tech columnist, said that the graphics were worse than the 2008 Wii game. Several Twitter users were a little less kind, calling things like an international laughing stock and eye-gougingly ugly.
Many also compared the Metaverse design to early 90’s graphics and pointed out how childish and lifeless the Zuckerberg selfie looked. It quickly was given the designation “dead eyes.”
After the criticism, Zuckerberg announced on Friday that significant updates are coming soon, along with new avatar graphics. Zuckerberg posted a photo of a more advanced-looking avatar of his on Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg said that he is fully aware that the photo he posted earlier was pretty basic as it was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch. He added that the graphics in Horizon are capable of much more and promised that it would be improving very quickly.
Drover AI, a Los Angeles–based startup, has tested and sold its camera-based computer vision systems that use AI and machine learning to accurately detect whether a rider is sidewalk riding or riding inappropriately.
Drover will continue to build the next generation of Drover’s current IoT module, PathPilot, which contains a camera and a computer system that issues commands directly to the scooter by analyzing visual data. Depending on the city’s needs, the scooters will either slow the rider down or emit noises to alert them that they are driving on the sidewalk.
Drover’s chief business officer and co-founder Alex Nesic said that the new version of the IoT module, PathPilot Lite, will do the same thing, except that it will be better, integrated, and cheaper. According to Nesic, the company has modules on about 5,000 vehicles and orders for over 15,000 more that Drover AI needs to deliver by the end of the year.
Drover also sells its data to cities. It is also working on the use of distributed cameras moving through cities to develop a suite of tools that could potentially facilitate a city-facing dashboard that shows information like bike lane violations or the state of infrastructure.
While giving an example, Nesic said that their system could tell if the rider was on the bike lane for 20% of the time or on the sidewalk 30% of the time. This kind of information can help with policy decisions on where to put bike lanes or whether the bike lanes are working.
Drover has been receiving a lot of attention from insurance companies and transportation agencies like Transport for London that want this kind of statistical data to understand how new mobility modes are being used in the infrastructure.
Rarible, a well-known NFT marketplace, has unveiled a unique idea for establishing an NFT marketplace for ApeCoin holders. With 0% marketplace fees on the decentralized & cross-chain Rarible Protocol 3, the proposal seeks to create a full-featured custom NFT marketplace for ApeCoinDAO.
Rarible’s proposed NFT marketplace will include all of the ApeCoinDAO ecosystem’s collections, including the original Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), the Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC), and any new collections that the DAO may curate. It will also focus on Otherside, a metaverse platform from BAYC developers Yuga Labs. The NFT marketplace would also consolidate listings from other well-known NFT markets, such as OpenSea, LooksRare, X2Y2, etc., to assure liquidity. Aside from zero marketplace costs, Rarible is providing 0% to trade NFTs in $APE or $ETH, the lowest fee among all offers presented to ApeCoin DAO.
For those who need a review, ApeCoin is an Ethereum-based token made to power metaverse experiences and operate Web3 applications like the game Otherside by Yuga Labs. Interestingly, Yuga Labs, the company behind BAYC, did not design the token. ApeCoin DAO built it in an effort to demonstrate decentralization. The price has been in a perpetual state of flux ever since it was launched in March, with substantial token allotments given to Bored Ape NFT holders for free.
DAOs or decentralized autonomous organizations are online communities built around common interests or aims, with members frequently represented by tokens. Owners of ApeCoin are ApeCoin DAO members and have the ability to vote on proposals pertaining to the ecosystem. Recently, the community debated whether to maintain APE in the Ethereum ecosystem to lower gas costs for upcoming drops. Though rival network Avalanche courted APE holders, eventually, the community chose to remain in the Ethereum blockchain.
The proposed NFT marketplace would accept credit card checkout via MoonPay and fiat on-ramp payments. Zendesk will offer the platform’s users better customer service. The new marketplace will also support an on-chain order book, allowing for the integration of orders, bids, and offers into an Otherside marketplace and other dApps. Since Roboto, Mfers, rektguy, v1 Punks, small dinos, MetaAngels, Wanderers, and other NFT community markets are already powered by Rarible, it appears that they are confident in their proposition.
Rarible acknowledged the possibility of formalizing the proposed idea and submitting it to the DAO for vote. If the idea is accepted by the ApeCoin community, the Rarible team will launch the NFT marketplace in 4 weeks.
This comes after Leading Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden disclosed a plan to create a Bored Ape Yacht Club marketplace for the ApeCoin community, on August 9. It would run via the official ApeCoin website and is based on Magic Eden’s technology. According to Magic Eden’s proposal, its ApeCoin marketplace will have a base marketplace fee of 1.5%, which could be reduced to 0.75% based on a number of considerations, including a 0.5% discount for using ApeCoin and an additional 0.25% discount for users who have an NFT from distinctive Bored Ape-related projects. Magic Eden had recently made its debut in the Ethereum market and is already aiming to empower the most well-known community in the industry. If the idea is approved by the ApeCoin community, Magic Eden promises that it will launch the marketplace as soon as September.
Later on, further features might be added, such as the possibility for Bored Ape developer Yuga Labs to sell merchandise via the platform if it so wishes, as well as a launchpad for developing and distributing new NFT projects connected to ApeCoin.
Another candidate, startup Snag Solution, submitted its application just hours after Magic Eden’s was published. Since then, this white-label marketplace protocol developer has modified the terms of its pitch and now says that buyers of NFTs using ETH would pay a 0.5% marketplace fee, while buyers using APE will pay a 0.25% fee. The proposed idea states that 0.25% of all fees would be remitted to the ApeCoin DAO’s treasury.
In 2019, businessman Alexei Falin, product manager Alexander Salnikov, and product designer Ilya Komolkin established the Rarible NFT marketplace. Rarible’s collaborations with prominent companies and notable celebrities, such as boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., are one of the reasons that make it stand out from the competition. Another reason is that anyone with the requisite creativity and vision can “mint” their NFTs and offer them to collectors, thanks to Rarible’s access to 3 distinct blockchains. It also makes it possible for creators to mint their NFTs for free by charging minting charges to buyers, giving them a lower-risk entry point.
Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) has allegedly flagged some parents’ accounts for possible abuse over naked pictures of their sick kids.
According to a father, the tech giant flagged the images as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) after he used his Android smartphone to take photos of an infection on the groin of his toddler. Google closed his accounts and reported him to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), thus spurring a police investigation.
This incident highlights the complications involved in identifying the difference between an innocent photo and potential abuse once it becomes a part of the user’s digital library, whether on their cloud storage or personal device. The incident occurred in 2021 when some hospitals were closed due to the pandemic.
As per the report, the father (whose name was not revealed) noticed swelling in his child’s groin and sent images of the issue at a nurse’s request before a video consultation. The doctor ended up prescribing antibiotics that cured the infection.
The father received a notification from Google two days after taking the photos. It stated that his accounts were locked due to harmful content that was a severe violation of policies of Google and might even be illegal.
Like several internet companies, including Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook, Google uses hash matching with Microsoft’s PhotoDNA to scan uploaded images to identify matches with known CSAM. It led to the arrest of a man in 2012 who was a registered sex offender and had used Gmail to send images of a minor girl.
Due to regulatory scrutiny, Chinese social media giant Tencent Holdings suspended issuing its non-fungible tokens (NFT) on the Huanhe platform last Tuesday. A year ago, the Chinese internet behemoth entered the non-fungible token market, sparking considerable interest in the art world. But Tencent is currently obliged to abandon its NFT ambitions due to the murky legal landscape in China. To comply with Beijing’s rules, it will cease releasing “digital collectibles” and would repay customers upon request, according to a statement on the company’s Huanhe app.
The year began with momentous interest and growth in NFTs for companies like Tencent and Alibaba. However, the popularity started to fizzle, with Tencent suffering huge losses in May and June. The Chinese government’s harsh regulations, which restrict the markets for digital collectibles, continue to be the major cause of the sharp decline in sales. Users who have obtained NFTs are prohibited from engaging in private transactions per government regulations. Since the NFTs become less lucrative as a result of this action, buyers are mainly demotivated due to the absence of a secondary market. Additionally, the legislation fosters a situation in which it is almost hard for purchasers to benefit from NFTs.
Additionally, individuals who register on the marketplace sites must be older than 18 and successfully complete an identity verification process. While this is not a major restraint, it still restricts the growth of the NFT industry.
Tech companies like Tencent and Ant Group reached an agreement in June to halt the secondary trade of digital collectibles and “self-regulate” their market operations after state media repeatedly raised problems surrounding NFT speculation in the nation. Later, during the first week of July, Tencent decided to shut down one of its NFT platforms. They took remedial action, such as removing the virtual collectible section from their news application and transferring the executives in charge of the NFT platform. At the same time, Tencent’s other NFT platform is having a difficult time surviving in the hostile market. Experts advise that companies in the Web3 domain must safeguard themselves while volatile market circumstances persist.
Huanhe never promoted its digital collectibles as investments in order to adhere to stringent Chinese regulations that prevent trading in digital assets, including cryptocurrency. Further, Huanhe customers had no way to resale their items, so the digital collectibles were inextricably linked to the buyer’s account after they have been purchased. In order to avoid regulatory issues, Chinese NFT platforms changed their names to digital collectible platforms in late 2021, giving rise to the phrase “digital collectible.”
Digital collectibles marketplaces have flourished locally despite strict oversight. According to research by China’s National Press and Publication Administration, there were only around 100 of these platforms in China in February 2022, but there were about 700 by early July.
Recently, KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) India has created something truly innovative in the NFT domain. On Thursday, the iconic red and white striped bucket from KFC India debuted as an NFT in the digital realm. The “KFC BuckETH,” as KFC calls it, is a unique single collectible that will be hosted on the OpenSea NFT marketplace. It was minted on the Ethereum blockchain in collaboration with Blink Digital. The NFT was announced during an Instagram Live hosted by comedian, author, and actor Danish Sait and influencer Sharan Hegde.
In order to commemorate the brand’s achievement of expanding to 600 restaurants across 150 Indian locations, emerging artists from all over India collaborated to design the artwork for this NFT. As a digital collectible, the KFC BuckETH showcases a combination of their distinctive styles. The artwork is considered an “ode to the unique melting pot culture that is India.”
A KFC spokeswoman provided further information regarding the KFC BuckETH, stating, “The Bucket is as iconic to KFC as the signature taste of our chicken. The Bucket is testimony to the brand’s heritage and has been an integral part of many celebratory moments for our customers.” With its first NFT, KFC BuckETH, which was chosen from a variety of vivid designs created by up-and-coming artists, the company is thrilled to take the Bucket in a new direction in the modern digital world. The KFC BuckETH offers customers a chance to interact with the company in a completely unique manner.
KFC India released a photo of its newly made NFT on Twitter and Instagram, calling it the “crunchiest bucket on the block (chain).” The KFC BuckETH will be given away as a prize in a social media contest along with a year’s supply of KFC!
To enter the contest for the NFT, you should visit KFC India’s official Instagram account @kfcindia_official and screenshot the “Ultimate Chicken Lover Checklist,” which will be displayed on the account’s Stories. After that, you must add GIFs, photos, or text to the checklist and share it to your Instagram story while tagging KFC. The restaurant chain will choose one winner, and they will get a year’s worth of KFC as well as the KFC BuckETH NFT.
KFC is not the first food chain to venture into the world of NFTs. Taco Bell was the first fast food company to introduce an NFT collection in March last year. On the NFTMarketplace Rarible, the company displayed five variations of the “NFTacoBells,” and all of them quickly sold out.
KFC Malaysia had introduced an NFT collection in May that featured illustrations of iconic KFC experiences. Three Malaysian artists created a total of 11 NFTs, which are obviously a tribute to the branch’s 11 top-secret herbs and spices.
The collection includes three Generations artwork by Arif Rafhan, four Together Editions artwork by Wilson Ng, and four Moving Fried Chicken artwork by Book of Lai.
The World Robot Conference 2022, also called China Robot Expo, is being held in Beijing from 18 to 21 August. Around 130 Chinese and foreign exhibitors have been showing off the latest innovations in robot technology, including drones, robot servers, exoskeletons for the health care sector, and humanoid robots used in search-and-rescue missions,
The robot makers at the China robot expo said they are expanding fast beyond the industrial droids with innovations that can care for the elderly in a rapidly aging society or deliver hotel room services.
Industrial robots that can help lift boxes or assemble cars account for the bulk of sales in the world’s biggest market, i.e., China. Now, Chinese robot makers are increasingly eyeing the health care and service sectors due to the reformed government policies that aim to turn China into an innovation hub by 2025.
Shuai Mei, chairwoman of Beijing AI-robotics Technology, said they have the first-move advantage and market advantage in terms of technology. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, last year, China’s production of industrial robots topped 330,000 units from January to November, surging 49% from the previous year.
In 2020, China was ranked first globally for sales of industrial robots by the Frankfurt-based International Federation of Robotics. The industry data showed that the operating income in 2020 topped 100 billion yuan for the first time. According to Macquarie Research, the sector is expected to post an annual growth rate of 20% through 2025.
A US appeals court has ruled that an artificial intelligence system cannot be an inventor under the United States (US) patent law. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the Patent Act needs the inventor to be a natural person. The ruling rejected computer scientist Stephen Thaler’s plea for patents on two inventions created by his DABUS system.
Thaler said that DABUS, i.e., Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience, is sentient and natural. His attorney Ryan Abbott said the decision undermines the purpose of the Patent Act and has tangible negative social consequences.
The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) refused to comment on the decision. Thaler has lost other bids for patents that state DABUS as their inventor in Australia and the European Union. A Virginia court and PTO, both rejected Thaler’s applications for DABUS patents because the system is not a human being.
Thaler challenged the Virginia court decision before the Federal Circuit, which deals with patent appeals. Abbott told the Federal Circuit that the ruling was at odds with the plain language and purpose of the Patent Act. He added that the act is meant to promote innovation and does not explicitly mention that an inventor must be a natural person.
However, in a unanimous three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Leonard Stark said there is no ambiguity that the Patent Act requires inventors to be natural persons, i.e., human beings.
Stark said that Thaler’s argument that awarding patents to artificial intelligence systems would encourage innovation was speculative. He also dismissed Thaler’s concerns that denying AI patents would diminish the purpose of patents outlined in the US Constitution.
There have been instances where AI has been recognised as a patent inventor. In the month of February, artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition system developing company Clearview Ai received a US patent for its revolutionary face recognition platform.
