UK to mint its own NFT by this Summer

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April 6, 2022

The United Kingdom (UK)’s government announced that it plans to mint its own non-fungible token (NFT) by this summer.

The UK government has instructed the country’s state-owned company responsible for minting coins, the Royal Mint, to start working on a new NFT.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak reached out to the Royal Mint on behalf of the country’s government on Monday. According to a minister, the NFT initiative is part of a larger government attempt to lead the way in cryptocurrency.

The minister stated a number of initiatives the UK will take to increase regulatory oversight of digital assets. With this development, the UK government intends to make the country a global crypto hub.

City Minister John Glen said, “No one knows for sure yet how Web3 is going to look. But there’s every chance that blockchain is going to be integral to its development.”

The initiatives include establishing a Cryptoasset Engagement Group, bringing stablecoins into compliance with the UK’s existing electronic payment legislation, and many more. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are connected to real currencies such as the pound and dollar. The largest stablecoin globally, named Tether, has a circulating supply of over $80 billion.

“We want to see the businesses of tomorrow — and the jobs they create — here in the UK, and by regulating effectively, we can give them the confidence they need to think and invest long-term,” said Rishi Sunak.

Recently, the Ukraine government also launched its new NFT Museum of War in remembrance of the event and to support crowdfunding. The Meta History NFT Museum, a blockchain-based history of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was announced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation.

According to officials, the NFTs available on the platform include images of various incidents such as silhouettes of jets, screengrabs of news headlines, a cartoon-style illustration of an explosion, etc.

Clearview AI to allow Private players use its Facial Recognition tech

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Dipayan Mitra

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April 5, 2022

Clearview AI allow Private use Facial Recognition

United States-based facial recognition solution providing company Clearview AI says that it now plans to allow private businesses to use its highly capable artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition technology.

According to The Associated Press, this new development was revealed by the CEO and Co-founder of Clearview AI, Hoan Ton-That, while clarifying a recent federal court filing that suggested the company was up for sale.

Clearview AI is now set to compete with global giants like Microsoft and Amazon to provide technology that can be used to verify people’s identities using AI-powered facial recognition.

Last month, the company also launched the second version of its technology named Clearview AI 2.0, which has a database of more than 20 billion publicly available facial pictures. Clearview AI claims to have the world’s most accurate facial recognition system, and the company’s recently released second edition has enhanced compliance and management tools.

Clearview’s algorithms would be used to authenticate a person’s face in the new consent-based product. However, it was mentioned that the company’s massive archive of 20 billion images would only be reserved for government agencies and not private players.

Hoan Ton-That said that the tech is most likely to be used in non-controversial operations like ID checks to validate bank transactions or other similar tasks for commercial purposes. Ton-That added, “We let the court know we’re studying this notion,” referring to the company’s prior claims that it exclusively sold its services to law enforcement.

Recently it was also revealed by the company that Ukraine officials are using its technology to uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation, and identify the dead during the ongoing war with Russia. A United States diplomat mentioned that Ukraine has free access to Clearview AI’s strong face search engine, which might be used to screen people of interest at checkpoints, among other things.

Elon Musk buys 9.2% stake in Twitter, becomes Largest single Shareholder

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Dipayan Mitra

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April 5, 2022

CEO of Tesla and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, buys 9.2% stake in the microblogging social media platform Twitter, making him the single largest shareholder in the company.

Musk invested nearly $3 billion to acquire Twitter’s 73,486,938 shares, said the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Elon Musk Revocable Trust will hold Elon Musk’s stake in the company. Soon after Musk acquired Twitter’s share, he posted a tweet citing, “Do you want an edit button?”

Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022

This development comes after a few days of Musk hinting that he might soon start his own open-source social media platform that will support the integration and use of Dogecoin.

Musk said that he was unsure about the policies of Twitter and doubted the platform’s norms in promoting freedom of speech.

He asked his 79 million Twitter followers if they thought Twitter “rigorously conforms” to the notion that “free expression is important to a functioning democracy,” and over 70 percent of the 2 million respondents clicked ‘no,’ prompting Musk to propose a new platform.

This episode was followed by a tweet from the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agarwal, claiming that the results of Musk’s poll would have significant implications. “We cannot confirm or deny, but we may edit our statement later,” the company stated when asked if the tweet was a hoax.

The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022

Over the last few months, the microblogging social media platform has been witnessing a fall in its share prices. However, Twitter’s share prices shot up by 27% after the news was disclosed to the audience about Musk, adding nearly $8.38 billion to its market capitalization.

Microsoft and HPE tests AI on International Space Station

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Dipayan Mitra

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April 5, 2022

Microsoft HPE AI International Space Station

Technology giants Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) have partnered with NASA to test artificial intelligence (AI) technology on the International Space Station to perform multiple tasks.

According to the companies, the tasks they plan to perform using AI include checking the wear and tear of gloves on astronauts’ gloves.

The traditional method needs NASA astronauts to photograph their spacesuit gloves during and after each spacewalk and send them back to Earth for examination.

Once the images are received, NASA analysts evaluate photographs of the gloves for any damage that could constitute a concern, then report back to the astronauts on the International Space Station.

However, this is a lengthy process, and when astronauts get farther away from Earth, the communication weakens, which might lead to delays in the process.

Therefore to solve this challenge, Microsoft and HPE engineers are working with NASA scientists on a system that uses artificial intelligence and HPE’s Spaceborne Computer-2 to scan and analyze glove images directly on the International Space Station, potentially giving astronauts onboard autonomy with limited support from Earth.

The NASA team started with a selection of new, undamaged gloves along with gloves that had seen wear and tear during spacewalks and training on the ground. Photographs of those gloves were then clicked and scrutinized using Azure Cognitive Services’ Custom Vision.

The generated information was then used to train a Microsoft Azure cloud-based AI system, with the results being compared against actual NASA damage reports and photographs.

HPE’s Spaceborne Computer-2 deployed in the ISS analyzes the images clicked by crew members using the Glove Analyzer model to search for damages in real-time, and in case of damage, a notification is sent to Earth for the engineers to review. Microsoft says that the AI tool can also display a probability score of gloves to give an idea about how much damage the gloves are before astronauts use them.

Data and AI Specialist at Microsoft, Jennifer Ott, said, “Bringing cloud computing power to the ultimate edge through projects like this allows us to think about and prepare for what we can safely do next – as we expect longer-range human spaceflights in the future and as we collectively begin pushing that edge further out.”

Meta to expand WhatsApp Chatbot reach in India

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Dipayan Mitra

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April 5, 2022

Meta expand WhatsApp Chatbot reach India

Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp and Facebook, announced its plans to further expand the reach of WhatsApp Chatbot in India over the coming few months.

The Meta Business Coach tool was introduced on WhatsApp as a free, innovative, and easy-to-use tool for owners of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in India.

The new development will benefit users as more people will get access to the platform. The Meta Business Coach tool is an automated chatbot that can be used to impart digital skills and tools to SMBs.

Meta claims that the unique chatbot has already been used by more than 150,000 small business owners in the country in less than a period of four months.

Director, Small and Medium Businesses in India, Meta, Archana Vohra said, “Across metros and smaller towns, India lives and connects on WhatsApp. When we thought about expanding our existing business skills, we couldn’t think of a more powerful solution than one on WhatsApp.”

She further added that they expect that the Meta Business Coach will be a partner for business owners on this journey, giving them the training they require via their mobile phones. “As more small businesses rapidly move online in India, we understand how critical timely and easily accessible business skills become for them to unlock growth,” said Vohra.

Currently, the Meta Business Coach chatbot is available in Hindi and English, but the company intends to provide support for multiple regional languages in the future. The learning content on the platform is recommended depending on the user’s requirements and questions, with a menu to explore the curriculum. It comes with intuitive and simple tutorials, infographics, and other similar content to teach users how to effectively run their businesses.

WeChat Disables over 10 NFT related accounts over Crypto Speculation

By

Preetipadma K

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April 5, 2022

Over ten WeChat public accounts involved in the non-fungible token (NFT) trading have been disabled by Tencent’s WeChat platform, the majority of which are small and medium-sized NFT exchanges. WeChat stated that it has received complaints alleging that these accounts lacked the necessary regulatory approvals to trade NFTs and digital artifacts.

Some of the banned accounts include Art Meta Yuanyishu, Yidianshuzang, Spirit Leap, Huasheng Meta, One Meta, Earth Zero, Guizang Metaverse Yuanben Space, Shenda Shuzang, iBox, and Nuofangti. Existing customers were greeted with a statement that read, “This account has no legal permit or license to publish, disseminate, or engage in related business activities.” Meanwhile, the app’s head platforms, such as Tencent Magic Core, are unaffected, fuelling the suspicion that WeChat was after small and medium scale exchanges.

WeChat had also requested evidence of licensing from a few other digital collection sites by April 1 or face shut down. According to experts, the measure does not foreshadow a regulatory shift in China’s NFT business, which is expanding but has some unsolved problems.

Unlike cryptocurrency trade and mining, which are prohibited in China, it has yet to create clear laws on NFT trading. However, because there has been an increase in speculation and incidents of fraud, Tencent’s decision might suggest increased monitoring at the corporate level. Apart from banning cryptocurrency, the Chinese government has outright prohibited initial coin offerings (ICOs) and block reward mining. The administration justified the restriction by citing high power usage and increasing pollution levels. This leaves Chinese NFT enthusiasts with their national currency yuan as a means of purchasing digital collectibles. These NFTs are also not based on a distributed ledger like Ethereum but created on other blockchains that were missed by regulators. In addition, the government also imposes some limits on the blockchain networks on which NFTs can be issued, favoring those over which it has had a significant influence in the development.

The Tencent-owned messaging platform has 1.2 billion users, making it the largest in China and one of the largest in the world. WeChat, on the other hand, has been wary of NFTs, which have taken the globe by storm, with the embryonic industry reaching $41 billion last year, almost equal to the market for fine art. As per Chinese cryptocurrency journalist Colin Wu, WeChat demands that such accounts can only display and support the initial sale of digital collectibles and barred secondary transactions. Operators must also provide proof of cooperation with a blockchain company authorized by the Cyberspace Administration of China. It is reported that WeChat has been censoring NFT operators since late February when it terminated the mini-program of TheOne.art, a local digital collectible platform that has subsequently reopened.

Many local social media platforms and online organizations have continued to amend their rules in order to restrict and, in some cases, eliminate NFT platforms entirely from their networks, dreading a government crackdown on their day-to-day operations. For example, Ant Group’s WhaleTalk NFT platform modified its rules to enhance the penalty for selling digital collectibles through an over-the-counter (OTC) desk.

On the brighter side of things, Weibo, the Chinese social media behemoth, announced the debut of TopHolder, its NFT marketplace, last week. In October, McDonald’s had released a set of 188 NFTs to commemorate the company’s 31st anniversary in China. These incidents illustrate that China’s standing on NFTs is quite vague and many are profiting from the loopholes and current lack of strict regulation.

EU Parliament Passes Privacy-Busting Crypto Rules

By

Dipayan Mitra

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April 4, 2022

European Union (EU) parliament passes new privacy-busting crypto rules amid severe criticism from the community.

On Thursday, legislators in the European Union voted in favor of a de facto monitoring regime for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions.

The recommendations aim to expand anti-money laundering (AML) laws to the crypto sector, which now apply to traditional payments exceeding $1,114.

This step has been taken as the region tries to collect identifying information on transfers between private, self-custody wallets. The crypto community is, however, criticizing this development, mentioning it to be a move that would restrict innovation and invade privacy.

Many of the controversial amendments were rejected by members of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), who denounced what they called a “de facto ban of self-hosted wallets.”

Before the vote, Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, expressed his concern with the new restrictions, calling them “anti-innovation, anti-privacy, and anti-law enforcement.”

1/ On 31 March, the EU Parliament will vote on its proposal for a new crypto surveillance regime. The proposal is anti-innovation, anti-privacy, and anti-law enforcement. Make your voice heard and contact your member here: https://t.co/b3Ll3xXiW4
— Brian Armstrong – barmstrong.eth (@brian_armstrong) March 30, 2022

“This means before you can send or receive crypto from a self-hosted wallet, Coinbase will be required to collect, store, and verify information on the other party, which is not our customer, before the transfer is allowed,” added Armstrong regarding the new regulations.

According to the proposal, even the smallest crypto transactions would require the identification of payers and recipients, including transactions with self-hosted wallets.

Earlier last year, national governments announced that they planned to eliminate the EUR 1,000 cryptocurrency threshold, citing the ease with which digital payments can circumvent it, along with including private wallets not run by regulated crypto asset providers.

Microsoft Acquires Process Autonomation company Minit

By

Dipayan Mitra

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April 4, 2022

Global technology giant Microsoft announces that it has acquired process automation company Minit in a recent deal. However, no information was provided by either of the companies regarding the valuation of this acquisition deal.

According to Microsoft, the new acquisition will allow it to further its digital transformation strategies with automated insights from operational data and increase mining capabilities.

Efficient operations and ensuring that every component of any business process operates seamlessly are vital, yet most executives are unable to comprehend the true performance of their processes and must rely on subjective information to make choices.

Minit’s prime motive is to solve the mentioned challenge by transforming the way companies analyze, monitor, and optimize their processes.

Microsoft mentioned, “This acquisition will further empower Microsoft to help our customers digitally transform and drive operational excellence by creating a complete picture of their business processes, enabling every process to be easily and automatically analyzed and improved.”

The blog further added that customers would be able to gain a deeper understanding of their process data, discover how operations work, and drive process standardization and improvement throughout the whole business to ensure compliance at every stage.

Slovakia-based mining technology providing company Minit was founded by Rasto Hlavac in 2014. The firm specializes in providing solutions that lead businesses to transform the way they analyze, monitor, and optimize their processes, helping them uncover opportunities for continuous process improvement and higher operational efficiency.

Minit’s highly competent solution offers multiple features, including AI-powered Root-Cause Analysis, Process Simulation, Hierarchical Process Mining, Business Rules, Custom Metrics, Rework Detector, Process Compare, etc. To date, the company has raised €10.3 million from multiple investors such as Salesforce Ventures, Target Global, Earlybird Venture Capital, and others over two funding rounds.

CEO of Minit, James Dening, said, “We are looking forward to what it means to become part of an industry leader like Microsoft and what that brings us – how we can use that scale and excellence to continue to deliver great solutions to our customers.”

Kozhikode to have AI-powered CCTV Camera Network

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Dipayan Mitra

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April 4, 2022

Kozhikode, a city in Kerala, is soon to be brought under an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered CCTV camera network, say, officials.

This new development will considerably help authorities charge traffic rule violators with a reliable digital proof.

According to the plan, Kozhikode will soon have nearly 60 artificial intelligence-enabled CCTV cameras to identify traffic rule breaches and impose fines without regard for the consequences.

The installation and subsequent maintenance of the equipment will be completed by the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation (KELTRON). The project is being implemented in the city as part of a state-level road safety effort that is currently in its initial phase and will span metro cities.

Earlier, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the ‘Safe Kerala’ project to ensure safe traffic on the state’s roads. As a part of the project, the first batch of 100 AI-aided surveillance cameras got launched last year.

Motor Vehicle Department Inspector said, “Even minor offenses can be tracked with precision using AI-based cameras. Reluctance to wear seat belts, alteration of vehicles, unauthorized fittings, and reckless driving can be traced very easily even from distant locations.”

He further added that in the future, 24×7 checking would be a reality with no human interference. It is expected that the Kerala government will spend over Rs 225 crores to execute this state-level mega-project over the coming years.

Officials say that the cameras will become operational in the upcoming months. The police department of Kozhikode has already set up high-tech cameras with automated number plate recognition (ANPR) capabilities to help in ensuring adherence to traffic norms.

Recently, Kerala Police also announced that the department would receive training in artificial intelligence and data analytics to enter the next generation of police. The training program was launched at the Digital University Kerala campus located in Pallippuram.

Mayflower Autonomous Ship will attempt a Second Ocean Crossing with AI Captain

By

Dipayan Mitra

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April 4, 2022

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship is now ready for its second attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, United Kingdom, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, without the assistance of an onboard human.

The one-of-a-king autonomous ship has been integrated with IBM’s AI Captain, the operation’s digital brain that allows the Mayflower to design its own course across the ocean.

The artificial intelligence-powered captain can accurately see and avoid obstacles to ensure the safety of the autonomous ship while it sails.

Mayflower is equipped with vision sensors, infrared cameras, and a navigation system that lets it use dead reckoning in the event of a satellite failure. ProMare, a nonprofit dedicated to marine research, is leading the project, with IBM serving as the project’s principal technological and scientific partner.

Officials claim that the 3,200-mile journey between Plymouth and Plymouth is projected to take 10 to 12 days, depending on weather and other factors. The autonomous boat began its journey last year but was forced to return after a connector for the onboard generator failed, causing exhaust fumes to flood the inside. However, as there were no humans inside the boat, no one was injured in the mishap, which led to the ship’s return.

Vice President for Defense and Intelligence at IBM Federal, Ray Spicer, said, “In a perfect world, we’re gonna set this baby on its way from Plymouth, U.K., and not have to interfere at all. We’ll just watch it with pride as it sails along and makes its own decisions based on how well we trained it. And then it appears in Plymouth, Massachusetts, at the end of the journey.”

He further added that the autonomous and artificial intelligence tech in Mayflower sets it apart from other unmanned surface vessels. According to IBM, the AI Captain’s high-end algorithm was trained using millions of photos to spot possible risks such as seagulls, paddleboarders, and buoys.