FTI Consulting News Bytes – 16 June 2023

This week’s news

PM’s message at London Tech Week: “AI doesn’t respect national borders”

Artificial intelligence (AI) “does not respect borders” and the UK must lead on drawing up global regulation for the technology, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said this week – reports City AM. Speaking at London Tech Week, Sunak warned that the adoption of AI would have an impact on employment akin to the “industrial revolution” and said its adoption must be done “safely”. “The possibilities are extraordinary. But we must, and we will do it safely,” Sunak said. “I know people are concerned, the very pioneers of AI are warning us about the ways these technologies can undermine our values and freedoms through to the most extreme risks of all. And that’s why leading on AI also means leading on AI safety.” Sunak wants to make the UK “not just the intellectual home, but the geographical home of global AI safety regulation.” His comments come as a growing number of companies increasingly look to base AI operations in the UK, such as Palantir, as reported by The Times last week, citing access to talent and strong academic and corporate research.

Climate tech collaboration launches at London Tech Week

Climate tech startups from across the UK and parts of Europe are being encouraged to join an initiative designed to make it easier for them to access capital and scale up, according to Computer Weekly. Known as the Climate Tech Supercluster, its aim is to bring green tech startup founders, investors and other stakeholders together to help bring products and services to market quicker. The European supercluster region is already home to over 3,000 climate tech startups and scaleups with the market worth over $1tn, as per Business Leader. The Climate Tech Supercluster is a joint venture between Liminal, Cambridge Cleantech, and Oxfordshire Greentech.

Enterprise and industrial metaverses are exceeding expectations 

Nokia and EY released a study examining the current state of the enterprise and industrial metaverses. According to the report, companies that have already deployed industrial metaverse use cases are seeing more reported benefits than those still in the planning phase expect, most notably in capital expenditure reduction (15%), sustainability (10%) and safety improvement (9%). Geographically, the US and UK are leading the way in terms of companies that have deployed or piloted at least one metaverse use case while APAC lags behind, reports telecommunications trade title Fierce Wireless. As Thierry Klein, President of Bell Labs Solutions Research at Nokia Bell Labs, stated: “the Industrial Metaverse is an extension of Industry 4.0. Consequently, those who have already implemented mission-critical communications networks for Industry 4.0 are now well placed to experience the benefits of the metaverse that clearly some companies are already seeing.”

Vodafone & Three agree merger to create UK’s largest mobile phone operator

In landmark telecommunications news this week, Vodafone and the owner of Three UK agreed a deal to merge their UK operations. The proposed plan would give the combined entity around 27 million customers, making it the biggest mobile network in the UK. As reported by The Guardian, the deal is “likely to face close scrutiny from competition regulators, although last year the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, changed its long-held stance, saying it was now more open to consolidation in the sector.” Meanwhile, both the union Unite and consumer group Which? expressed concern over the proposed deal, the latter claiming that reducing the number of major UK telecoms firms from four to three “risks reducing the choices available to consumers, raising prices and lowering the quality of services available.”

EU lawmakers pass landmark artificial intelligence regulation

The European Parliament has approved the bloc’s landmark rules for artificial intelligence, known as the EU AI Act, clearing a major hurdle for the first formal regulation of AI in the West to become law, according to CNBC. AI has become a key battleground in the global tech industry as companies compete for a leading role in developing the technology — particularly generative AI, which can generate new content from user prompts. The rules are the first comprehensive regulations for AI. What generative AI is capable of, from producing music lyrics to generating code, has caught the attention of academics, business leaders and even school students. But it has also led to worries around job displacement, misinformation, and bias.

Top Tweets of the Week

• Katie Prescott, The Times’ Technology Business Editor: There was a notable, noisy exodus of men (felt like half the room) from the headline stage at #LTW2023 as @mahonalex @DrHelenONeill and Dame Vivian Hunt stepped up to talk about the role of companies in women’s health.
• Mike Butcher, Editor-at-Large, Tech Crunch: People are saying that Elon Musk going to VivaTech is a ‘slight’ on the UK/London tech ecosystem. I don’t think so. Probably two reasons: 1. VivaTech has a BIG stage & closer to a national event. London Tech Week is really closer to a government & city inward-investment event.
• HSBC innovation Banking: Today, we’re so excited to announce our new brand, HSBC Innovation Banking – the new name for @SVB_UK

Number of the Week

274m  – The number of hours spent on Diablo 4 in its first week since release

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