One Model Raises $41M to Bring AI-powered Insights to HR Management

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August 12, 2023

One Model raises $41M bring AI-powered insights HR management — Image Credits: One Model

Today, One Model revealed that it has raised $41 million in a funding round headed by Riverwood Capital. One Model is a platform that employs artificial intelligence to assist organizations in making decisions regarding hiring, promoting, laying off employees, and general workplace planning.

According to One Model’s CEO, Christopher Butler, the funding will be used to boost several of the company’s growth initiatives, particularly in the fields of technology, product development, customer success, and go-to-market.

“One Model’s people analytics product roadmap will be expanded to solve problems for a diverse array of data science, analyst, people manager, and C-level audiences, delivering tailored content proactively through alerts, notifications, and individualized reporting,” Butler said.

One Model is what is referred to as a “people analytics” platform, a platform made, at least in theory, to gather and use organizational and talent data for better business outcomes. People analytics has long attracted significant interest. In a 2018 Deloitte survey, 84% of major organizations ranked them as “important” or “very important,” and 69% had already established a people analytics team.

Butler is a member of One Model’s founding team. The founding team initially worked for Inform, a people analytics business that was purchased by SuccessFactors, now known as SAP SuccessFactors, in 2010. After the acquisition, they claim they noticed a widening gap between what customers wanted to accomplish with their people data and the market’s available solutions. Hence, One model was founded.

One Model can carry out fundamental activities including finding talent or skill gaps inside an organization and forecasting future workforce requirements in light of demographic shifts and corporate objectives. Beyond this, the platform can estimate the cost of turnover and headcount in an effort to develop a strategy that monitors and gradually lowers this cost.

US Announces AI Cyber Challenge to Safeguard Crucial Government Software

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Sahil Pawar

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August 11, 2023

The Biden-Harris administration today announced the start of a significant, two-year competition that will employ artificial intelligence (AI) to safeguard the most crucial software used by the US, including the code that powers the internet and their vital infrastructure.

The “AI Cyber Challenge” (AIxCC) will test contestants from all over the United States on their ability to find and fix software vulnerabilities. The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is in charge of this competition, will work with a number of leading AI firms, including Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, who are contributing their expertise and making their cutting-edge technology available for this challenge.

The goal of this competition, which will award nearly $20 million in prizes, is to inspire the development of innovative technologies that will significantly increase the security of computer code, one of cybersecurity’s most urgent concerns. A public competition will be held by DARPA, and the participant who secures critical software the best will receive millions of dollars in rewards.

DARPA will also make $7 million accessible to startup companies who want to participate in AIxCC, ensuring widespread participation and an equal playing field.

Teams will take part in a qualifying competition in the spring of 2024, and the top-scoring teams (up to 20) will receive invitations to the semifinal competition at DEF CON 2024, one of the premier cybersecurity conferences in the world. The highest scoring teams (up to five) will proceed to the next round and receive cash prizes.

The best competitors will significantly impact cybersecurity for both America and the rest of the world. The challenge advisor will be the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), a division of the Linux Foundation. It will also assist in making sure that the winning software code is immediately put to use to safeguard America’s most crucial software and keep the American people secure.

RBI Suggests AI-powered Conversational Payments System for UPI

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Sahil Pawar

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August 11, 2023

Shaktikanta Das, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), revealed on Thursday that the monetary policy committee had kept the repo rate unchanged and that the central bank had proposed using conversational payments on the unified payments interface (UPI) through artificial intelligence.

In his proposal, Governor Das suggested introducing Conversational Payments on UPI, which is a cutting-edge payment method that will let users interact in a conversation with an AI-powered system to initiate and complete transactions in a safe and secure environment.

The RBI stated that conversational instructions hold immense potential in enhancing ease of use, and consequently reach, of the UPI system in a report titled “Statement on Development and Regulatory Policies,” which was released at the time of announcement of the monetary policy.

According to the central bank, this channel will be made available through smartphones and feature phones-based UPI channels. This will help in the deepening of digital penetration in the country.

The conversational UPI payment option will be initially made accessible in Hindi and English before being made available in additional Indian languages, the central bank governor stated, adding that instructions to NPCI will be issued shortly.

Additionally, the RBI advocated employing Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to make offline transactions easier in order to support the implementation of UPI-Lite, which was released in September 2022.

China’s Internet Giants Place $5 Billion Nvidia Chips Order Amid US Restrictions Scare

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Sahil Pawar

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August 11, 2023

Internet behemoths in China are on the prowl for high-performance Nvidia chips necessary for creating generative artificial intelligence systems, placing orders totaling $5 billion. The shopping frenzy is sparked by worries that the US would implement new export restrictions.

According to numerous people with knowledge of the situation, Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba have ordered 100,000 A800 processors from the US chipmaker for delivery this year for a total of $1 billion. According to two persons close to Nvidia, the Chinese organizations had also ordered additional $4 billion worth of graphics processing units for delivery in 2024.

A800 is the less powerful version of the cutting-edge A100 GPU for data centers by Nvidia. Due to export limitations put in place by Washington last year in an effort to stifle Beijing’s technology ambitions, Chinese tech companies can only purchase A800s, which have slower data transfer rates than A100s.

As the excitement surrounding AI has grown over the past year, Nvidia’s GPUs have emerged as the most in-demand product among the largest tech companies in the world for providing computational capacity for the creation of complex language AI models.

Chinese internet organizations are rushing to stockpile A800 chips out of concern that the Biden administration may be considering further export limits that would include even Nvidia’s less-powerful chips, as well as a larger GPU scarcity brought on by a spike in demand.

On Wednesday, Washington placed additional restrictions on some US investments in China’s quantum computing, advanced chip, and artificial intelligence industries which will come into effect from next year.

According to recent news, the A100 chips by Nvidia are reportedly offered for a stunning $20,000 per unit, which is double the standard price. Despite export limitations put in place by the United States, Chinese sellers are profiting from the soaring demand for high-end Nvidia chips, particularly the A100 artificial intelligence chips.

AWS, Udacity Announce Free ‘AI & ML Scholarship Program’

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Sahil Pawar

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August 11, 2023

AWS has collaborated with Udacity to award 2,500 students with scholarships in 2023. Through the ‘AWS AI & ML Scholarship Program’ students will be able to learn crucial skills to avail new career opportunities in the demanding field of artificial intelligence.

The scholarship program aims to help underrepresented and underserved students to learn foundational machine learning concepts as they prepare for a fruitful career in one of today’s fastest-growing fields.

All the participants will be able to access more than 20 hours of free training modules and tutorials on the basics of ML through the AWS DeepRacer Student platform. All 2,000 students in the AWS AI & ML Scholarship Program can join monthly “Ask Me Anything” seminars with industry’s leading practitioners from Amazon, in addition to tutoring from Udacity program mentors and instructors. The top 500 participants will also have 1:1 mentoring from advisors from AWS, Udacity, and other institutions through Udacity Connect.

AWS AI & ML Scholarship applications started on Udacity’s website on June 1 and will stay open till September 30. Last date to complete prerequisites on the AWS DeepRacer Student platform to earn scholarship access on Udacity is September 30. The scholarship recipients will be notified on October 9. The AWS AI & ML Scholarship Nanodegree program begins on October 16.

There is no application fee for the program. Moreover, all aspects of AWS DeepRacer Student, the service used to meet the application requisites, are free for students to use. Students over the age of 16 that identify as underserved or underrepresented in the tech industry and are currently enrolled in high school or college can apply.

Students can begin the application process by signing up for AWS DeepRacer Student and selecting the AI & ML Scholarship program. They can track progress for the scholarship program requirements on AWS DeepRacer Student. Students will get a unique code via email that can be used to submit the application once prerequisites are completed.

Indian Army Secures Patent for AI-based Accident Prevention System

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Sahil Pawar

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August 10, 2023

The Indian Army has secured a patent for an artificial intelligence-driven accident prevention system. This system, which was created by the Army’s research and development division (R&D), has the potential to improve traffic safety and reduce collisions.

#IndianArmy has received the patent for the project ‘Accident Prevention System based on Artificial Intelligence’ developed indigenously by Research & Development within the organisation. The Accident Prevention System would save lives by alerting drivers falling asleep while… pic.twitter.com/pMnR4nsr6H
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) July 21, 2023

The Indian Army tweeted about this accomplishment and emphasized how the system can reduce accidents. The official Twitter account of Digital India, a flagship program of Government of India also shared the news.

The #IndianArmy has received the patent for an ‘Accident Prevention System based on #ArtificialIntelligence’ developed indigenously by its Research & Development wing. #AatmanirbharBharat #DigitalIndia pic.twitter.com/OFfdNcc04Q
— Digital India (@_DigitalIndia) August 9, 2023

This AI-driven accident avoidance system is credited to Colonel Kuldeep Yadav. The patent application was formally filed on February 2, 2021, and according to the Indian Army’s disclosure of the patent certificate, it will be valid for 20 years. On July 11, the patent was formally granted.

By using artificial intelligence, the system’s primary purpose is to proactively prevent accidents. It primarily focuses on situations in which drivers run the risk of dozing off while operating a car or other big vehicles. The Accident Prevention System has the ability to save lives and dramatically increase road safety by instantly warning sleepy drivers and reducing the risk of accidents brought on by weariness.

The AI-based accident prevention system underwent extensive testing in the buses of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state transportation corporations before obtaining the patent. The device’s suitability for usage in trucks further suggests that it has the potential to make a significant contribution to road safety outside of the realm of military use.

The device was developed by Colonel Kuldeep Yadav as a result of his supervision of a military unit in Manipur. He invented this novel approach after seeing the increased dangers of driver weariness and accidents, particularly in hilly terrains. Over 1.54 lakh people nationwide lost their lives in traffic accidents in 2021. The cause of more than half of truck-related collisions was driver inattention caused by sleepiness.

DPDP Bill to be Implemented Through Graded Approach, Says Rajeev Chandrasekhar

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Sahil Pawar

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August 10, 2023

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, which is about to become law, will be implemented by the Centre for various organizations in a graded approach. According to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT, the government would initially implement the rule for major tech firms like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple and then provide a longer transition period for smaller organizations and start-ups.

With the data protection bill on verge of becoming law, the next big question on everyone’s mind is how much transition period it will allow entities.

MoS @Rajeev_GoI tells me the approach will be graded, with Big Tech first in line. pic.twitter.com/ed5XHzt5B5
— Soumyarendra Barik (@imsoumyarendra) August 10, 2023

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT spoke to journalist Soumyarendra Barik who took to Twitter to say, “With the data protection bill on verge of becoming law, the next big question on everyone’s mind is how much transition period it will allow entities. Rajeev Chandrasekhar tells me the approach will be graded, with Big Tech first in line.”

After receiving the President’s assent, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, which was approved by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, would become a law. This is the country’s second attempt at framing a privacy legislation, as it comes after three previous iterations of a data protection law that were first considered, and then shelved, by the government.

The Bill does not, however, provide a particular date for when its rules will become operational for organizations that collect users’ personal data. Start-ups and less digitized companies, like MSMEs, will most likely have to comply with the rule after big IT companies, according to Chandrasekhar.

The timelines will be decided after consultation with the industry, he said. The timelines, according to him, will be chosen so as not to interfere with companies’ continuing activities.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a privacy regulation of the European Union, gave organizations two years to prepare before it began to apply to them. The European Parliament passed the GDPR in 2016, and it went into effect the following year.

The minister said, “We expect the industry to ask for a long time period, but the government will negotiate with them. GDPR was designed when the world’s knowledge about privacy laws was low, but that is not the case today. So, it is unlikely that we will allow the industry a two year transition window.”

Rajya Sabha Passes Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023

By

Sahil Pawar

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August 10, 2023

Rajya Sabha passes Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 — Image Credits: NDTV

The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 was adopted by the Lok Sabha on August 7. Now the DPDP bill has been passed by the Rajya Sabha.

The goal of the DPDP bill, according to the document, is “to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises both the right of individuals to protect their personal data and the need to process such personal data for lawful purposes.” It is applicable to the processing of digital personal data on Indian soil, whether the data was initially obtained in non-digital form and afterwards converted to digital form.

It also applies to the processing of digital personal data that takes place outside of India’s borders if that processing is necessary to engage in any activity that involves providing goods or services “to Data Principals within the Indian territory.” The person to whom the personal data refers is referred to as the “Data Principal.”

The Bill states that only with consent and for specific “legitimate uses” may personal data be processed. It gives the central government the authority to exempt government agencies from the Bill’s obligations in the sake of predetermined factors such as national security, public order, and the prevention of crimes.

According to the Bill, a Data Protection Board of India must be established by the central government. In the event of a data breach, it will direct data fiduciaries to take the required precautions and oversee the administration of sanctions. It will also monitor compliance and hear complaints from impacted parties.

Additionally, there are fines up to Rs. 250 billion for failing to take security precautions to avoid data breaches and up to Rs. 200 billion for failing to fulfill commitments to children.

Jayadev Galla, a member of the Telugu Desam Party, expressed worry regarding a potential control of the data protection body by the central government. Syed Imtiaz Jaleel, an AIMM member of parliament, opposed the bill and stated, “The Bill poses major problems, one of which is the excessive centralization of power.”

The bill has been passed despite the oppositions’ claims and assertions about how the bill violates the right to privacy of the citizens of India. Only time can tell whether the apprehensions articulated by the opposition will in fact turn into reality.

Tesla Appoints Vaibhav Taneja as its New Chief Financial Officer

By

Sahil Pawar

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August 9, 2023

Tesla appoints Vaibhav Taneja as new Chief Financial Officer — Image Credits: Tesla

Tesla, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, has announced the appointment of Vaibhan Taneja as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Zachary Kirkhorn, who recently announced his decision to resign from the role, will be replaced by Taneja.

45-year-old Taneja is of Indian descent and is not new to the organization. Prior to his new position, he served as Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) at Tesla. The changeover, which happened on Friday, signifies a substantial change in Tesla’s financial management.

Taneja’s tenure at Tesla has been characterized by a string of increasing levels of responsibility. He started off in the position of Corporate Controller in May 2018, and due to his dedication and skill, he was promoted to CAO in March 2019. His responsibility for maintaining Tesla’s financial integrity was highlighted by the fact that his portfolio included the crucial areas of financial reporting, tax compliance, and internal controls.

Taneja’s connection to Tesla goes back much farther, since he provided his financial expertise to SolarCity Corporation, a maker of solar panels that Tesla purchased in 2016. Taneja handled a variety of positions in accounting and finance during his time at SolarCity, showcasing his adaptability and versatility in a fast-paced corporate environment.

Taneja made significant contributions while working for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in both India and the US prior to joining Tesla. His time with PwC, which spanned from July 1999 to March 2016, gave him a solid foundation in financial practices and concepts, which he now uses in his present leadership position.

With Taneja in charge of the company’s financial operations, Tesla is well-positioned to seize opportunities, tackle problems, and maintain its status as a pioneer in the field of electric mobility.

OpenAI Offers $395,000 Grant to NYU Ethical Journalism Project

By

Sahil Pawar

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August 9, 2023

OpenAI Offers $395,000 Grant to NYU Ethical Journalism Project — Image Credits: NYU

A $395,000 grant will be given to Arthur L. Carter Media Institute at New York University by the Sam Altman-run OpenAI to support a new media ethics programme. The announcement is a part of a larger initiative by OpenAI to link itself with journalism, an effort that seeks to train its LLMs with accurate and ethical data.

The Journalism Venture Capital Fund of the Carter Journalism Institute, which provides seed money for faculty projects that tackle problems in journalism, democracy, freedom of expression, and allied fields, has also contributed $50,000 to the programme.

Stephen Adler, a former executive in charge of Reuters, will head the effort. According to Stephen Adler, the initiative will provide workshops and discussions on existing and emerging journalism ethics issues.

From its recent agreements with organizations like Associated Press (AP), one of the largest US news agencies, and the $5 million in funding it received from the National Science Foundation, OpenAI appears to be one step ahead of its rivals like Google in terms of gathering clean data. According to reports, the collaboration with AP will look into ways to build AI to promote local journalism,

OpenAI will also link up with the 41 news organizations that the American Journalism Project supports. According to Sarabeth Berman, CEO of AJP, the money will also help establish a new product studio within the company, which will assist regional news organizations as they test out OpenAI’s technologies.

OpenAI has been secretive about where it obtained the data it used to train its most recent GPT model, despite the fact that the startup has been trying to address the complexities of ethical journalism amid the generative AI revolution.

Recently, news regarding Google’s Genesis initiative, which aims to properly produce news content using true facts, was announced. The Times, The Washington Post, and News Corp. executives participated in this demo of the same. People had different opinions about it, as some said it seemed to take for granted the effort that went into producing accurate and artful news stories, while others compared the technology to a personal assistant.