FTI Consulting News Bytes – 3 May 2024

FTI Consulting News Bytes

This week, we start by looking at e-commerce platform Shein who is planning to expand its marketplace as it considers a potential listing later this year. We then follow Microsoft on its tour in Southeast Asia as the company pledges billions of AI investment in the region. Next, we turn our attention to the second Global AI Summit which is proving less popular than its first edition. Following that, we discuss the latest investigation launched by the European Commission looking into Meta’s content moderation mechanisms to stop misinformation ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. Finally, we explore the evolving relationship between AI and media, as the Financial Times becomes the latest news publisher to strike a deal with OpenAI for content licensing.

This week’s news

A shoo-in for market grab

In an attempt to increase the number of household names it sells on its site, e-commerce retailer Shein is pursuing companies including toy manufacturer Hasbro, and toothpaste giant Colgate-Palmolive to add to its rapidly growing marketplace, according to Reuters. Previously described by Time magazine as the “Amazon of fashion,” Shein is muscling its way into other categories ahead of its planned stock market listing later this year. In Europe, Shein’s marketplace is available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, with an average of 108 million monthly active users in the EU. This rapid growth has prompted European regulators to apply an additional layer of governance rules under the EU’s Digital Services Act. In the meantime, all eyes are on Shein as the company is expected to confirm London as its IPO destination. More to come.

Microsoft’s bet on Southeast Asia 

Microsoft continues to lead the pack on the AI rat race as it takes its bets on Asia and announces a $2.2 billion investment into building Malaysia’s digital infrastructure. Bloomberg reports that the move marks its latest step in vying with the likes of Alphabet and Alibaba Group to win over Southeast Asian businesses which cater to the fast-digitising regions with a 650 million population. Of course, one big Southeast Asian move this week wasn’t enough for Microsoft, CNBC added. Nearby, in Thailand, the tech giant announced “significant commitments” to build a new regional data centre. With AI adoption still relatively nascent in Southeast Asia, Microsoft is tapping into a gold mine. Rumour has it, the proliferation of AI in the region could grow the local economy by $1 trillion by 2030. Lucrative.

AI Summit hype is cooling off

Last year, we witnessed a world-first as Britain hosted the inaugural Global AI Summit in the aims of reaching a consensus on AI regulation. Six months later, the second event hosted by Britain and South Korea is unlikely to draw in the same studded crowd as its predecessor, Reuters reports. Why? Because the glitz and glam of a world-first has eroded and the second summit aims to pose thornier questions around the impacts of the resources needed to fuel AI’s development. From discussions around the vast amount of data required to train large language models, and the electricity powering a growing number of data centres, market concentration and environmental impacts are the headline acts this year – a less enticing invite for the industry’s big players. Even governments are taking a step back, with France postponing its attendance in its entirety to 2025, all three of the European Union’s chief tech regulators taking a rain check and the US Department of State only saying it would send “representatives” at this stage.

EU’s Meta crackdown

The European Commission has launched a disinformation probe against social media platform Meta. According to the BBC, the investigation will look into the company’s approach to moderating disinformation on Facebook and Instagram. This comes at a time when Brussels has raised its efforts to clamp down on disinformation ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. According to the European Commission, Meta’s present procedures for filtering political advertisements and misinformation may not be in compliance with the bloc’s Digital Services Act. It gave Meta five days to explain how it will root out fake news, fake websites, and especially Russian influence campaigns. 

AI and media tie-up

The use of AI in media has mixed views – and so does the use of media sources to power it. Whilst some media publications such as the New York Times have sued OpenAI and Microsoft for using their content to help build ChatGPT models, others saw an immediate opportunity. The Financial Times has become the latest publication to report it has signed a licensing deal with OpenAI to allow the company use its archived content for the development of AI models and let ChatGPT respond to queries with summaries attributable to the newspaper, linking back to original articles. The FT’s chief executive John Ridding underscored the importance of reliable sources underpinning AI products. The move follows other news publishers such as Axel Springer, Le Monde and Presa Media who have signed similar agreements. 

Top Tweets of the Week

• Ben Thompson: After nearly 30 years, we’re saying goodbye to ‘World Business Report’. It’s had a few different looks and more than a few different presenters. But it’s time for a change. Out with the old, and in with the err, old. ‘Business Today’ makes a welcome return to @BBCNews next week.
• BBC: Bumble Boss – what women can learn from me.
• CNBC: Taylor Swift’s music returns to TikTok after Universal Music agrees new licensing deal, ending spat.

Number of the Week

$1.8bn – Donald Trump’s earnout bonus from Trump Media Technology Group