FTI Consulting News Bytes – 12 April 2024

FTI Consulting News Bytes

We start this week by looking at Microsoft’s plans to open a new AI hub in London as part of a £2.5bn investment in the UK. Keeping with the UK, government ministers are considering a smartphone sales ban for under-16s due to online safety concerns. Next, we look at how smaller browser companies in the European Union are seeing a spike in users after the EU’s legislation made it easier for consumers to switch. Elsewhere, we explore recent comments from Rene Haas, Chief Executive Officer of Arm, highlighting how the same push for energy efficiency in smartphones is needed in artificial intelligence. Finally, we examine how plans to deliver defibrillators to patients by drones are being developed by the Welsh Ambulance Service.

Lastly, a special thank you to everyone who joined us for our fireside chat with the FT’s Madhu Murgia and Sifted’s News Editor Tim Smith on all things AI. In case you’re interested in grabbing a copy of Madhu’s new book CODE DEPENDENT: Living in the Shadow of AI, it is available to order here.

This week’s news

Microsoft announces new AI office in UK 

London’s status as Europe’s centre of excellence for artificial intelligence got a boost after Microsoft unveiled plans for a major new AI hub in Paddington, The Standard reports. The tech giant said it will begin hiring scientists and engineers for the hub, which will pioneer work to develop language models, supporting infrastructure and create tools for foundation models. The move is part of Microsoft’s £2.5 billion UK investment proposals, which includes bringing 20,000 of the most advanced graphic processors to the country by 2026. The Standard also highlights that Microsoft is part of a growing list of tech firms who have set up significant AI units in London amid an explosion of interest in the technology from investors and consumers.

Sale of mobile phones to under-16s may soon be banned 

Children under 16 could soon be banned from purchasing mobile phones under proposals considered by the UK government. Michelle Donelan, the Technology Secretary, is looking at imposing the restriction to protect young people from the harmful effects of social media, such as bullying, exposure to pornography and violent content. It comes as part of a government crackdown on mobile phone usage by children, with Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, issuing guidance earlier this year urging schools to ban mobile phones in the classroom, saying the move would reduce disruption and improve behaviour. A Telegraph article added that an Ofcom poll from last year showed 97% of children have a phone by the age of 12.

EU’s new tech laws are working as small browsers gain market share

Independent browser companies in the European Union are seeing a spike in users after EU legislation forced Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft and Apple to make it easier for consumers to switch to rivals, according to data provided to Reuters. The results come after the EU’s Digital Markets Act took effect on March 7, forcing big tech companies to offer mobile users the ability to select from a list of available web browsers via a ‘choice screen’. Cyprus-based, Aloha Browser, one of the first companies to give monthly growth numbers since the new regulations came into effect, said users in the EU jumped 250% in March.

Arm CEO expresses concerns around AI’s impact on energy consumption

Arm CEO Rene Haas has labelled AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT as “insatiable in terms of their thirst” for electricity. He expressed concerns that power demand from the AI industry was rapidly on the rise and causing electric-power plant providers to drive up prices. He also warned that without greater efficiency, “by the end of the decade, AI data centres could consume as much as 20% to 25% of U.S. power requirements.” The Wall St Journal noted the comments as Mr Haas prepared to launch a joint programme between the U.S. and Japan, worth up to $110 million, to fund AI research at universities in the two countries.

Drones to the rescue!

The BBC reports drones could soon be deployed to deliver defibrillators to patients under new plans being developed by the Welsh Ambulance Service. The Service revealed they had already undergone test flights in partnership with the University of Warwick and SkyBound, to understand how quickly a defibrillator could be deployed following a 999 call. As part of their Drone-Delivered Defibrillators study, the ambulance service believes the new approach could improve the chances of survival for thousands of people who suffer a cardiac arrest every year. No official rollout date has been set, but the article added results of the project are due to be announced in early 2025.

Top Tweets of the Week

• Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox: Thanks to the incredible work done by @Blizzard_Ent and NetEase to renew our commitment to players, we will soon welcome back millions of community members in China to our Blizzard universes. This is exciting for everyone at Xbox, Blizzard, and for players everywhere. 
• Financial Times: Elon Musk predicts AI will overtake human intelligence next year.
• Logan Kilpatrick, Product Lead, Google AI Studio: New @Google developer launch today: Gemini 1.5 Pro is now available in 180+ countries via the Gemini API in public preview. Supports audio (speech) understanding capability, and a new File API to make it easy to handle files. New embedding model!

Number of the Week

€12.3bn – The amount raised by Pan-European start-ups in Q1 according to Sifted with climate tech the largest sector by funds raised (€3.7bn)