FTI Consulting News Bytes – 7 February 2025

FTI Consulting News Bytes

We begin this week in the telecoms space as Nokia inked a deal with AT&T that followed on from strong Q4 results the week prior. We then move to AI where the EU has chosen to push ahead with enforcing the AI act whilst in the US, OpenAI stepped up its development of AI agents by announcing a new tool that crafts reports which it claims can match the output of a research analyst. Finally, peers in the House of Lords feel the UK must do better at supporting its young growth companies to avoid further falling behind the US and Google’s Head of Quantum AI Harmut Neven announced that the company will aim to release commercial quantum computing applications within the next five years.

This week’s news

Nokia pens deal with AT&T

In telecoms news,  US operator AT&T and Finland’s Nokia signed a multi-year expansion agreement to upgrade AT&T’s voice carriage and 5G network automation in the US. Raghav Sahgal, president of Cloud and Network Services at Nokia, told Reuters in an email  “this is an important deal for Nokia, reinforcing the strong and longstanding relationship between Nokia and AT&T, and covering multiple years and technologies that will enable new 5G functionality.” Senior Vice President Yigal Elbaz of AT&T’s Technology & Network Services echoed Sahgal’s comments saying “we are pleased to continue our relationship with Nokia to further optimize our network operations and enable new services that better support our customers’ evolving needs.” The deal, of which values were not disclosed, followed a strong prior week for Nokia where it reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit and sales, helped by higher demand for telecoms gear from mobile operators in North America and India.

Lord bemoan UK markets

The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee has stressed Britain must do a better job of supporting UK-based AI and creative technology start-ups to grow into global competitors. City A.M. adds it comes after UK fintech unicorns Revolut and Monzo both announced in recent months that they may list in the US rather than the UK stock market. Baroness Stowell, committee chairwoman, said: “The UK has the potential to be a powerhouse of growth for AI and creative tech companies” but that at the moment “we are at real risk of becoming an incubator economy instead” adding “too often it’s a case of the UK begins, other countries cash-in. That has to change.”

EU pushes ahead with enforcing the AI Act 

Brussels is pushing ahead with the enforcement of its AI Act even as President Donald Trump warns of retribution for the EU’s targeting of US tech companies. On Tuesday, the European Commission published long-awaited guidance on how these rules should be applied by companies and which software systems are considered AI systems. According to the Financial Times, this gives companies clarity on how to comply with the new rules, for example, when it comes to social scoring or emotion recognition. Companies that fail to comply could eventually face huge fines and could be banned from the EU.  A European Commission official said that the main goal of the guidelines is to “explain how the prohibitions will apply.” Further provisions targeting large AI models and AI-powered products that pose a rise to users, will be rolled out between now and 2027.

OpenAI unveils a new ChatGPT agent for “deep research”

OpenAI stepped up its development of artificial intelligence agents by announcing a new tool that crafts reports which it claims can match the output of a research analyst. The company said the new tool, “deep research,” “accomplishes in 10 minutes what would take a human many hours.”  In OpenAI’s blog post, the company said the new capability was designed for “people who do intensive knowledge work in areas like finance, science, policy and engineering and need thorough, precise and reliable research.” It could also be useful, the company added, for anyone making “purchases that typically require careful research, like cars, appliances and furniture.” According to The Guardian, the announcement comes just a couple of days after the company said it would speed up product releases in response to advances made by DeepSeek. 

Google says commercial quantum computing applications arriving within five years 

Speaking to Reuters, Google’s Head of Quantum AI Harmut Neven said that the company aims to release commercial quantum computing applications within five years. In a statement, he said that “we’re optimistic that within five years we’ll see real-world applications that are possible only on quantum computers.” Real world applications Google has discussed are related to material science – applications such as building superior batteries for electric cars – creating new drugs and potentially new energy alternatives. Google’s prediction arrives amid wider uncertainty about when such a breakthrough will occur.  In January, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested that quantum computing is still 20 years away from widespread use. While some experts believe practical applications could be realised within the next few years, others foresee two decades of work before quantum computers become commercially viable.  

Top Tweets of the Week 

• Zoe Kleinman, BBC Technology Editor: “The stage is set for a dramatic AI Action Summit in Paris on Monday.”
• Bloomberg Technology: “South Korea has blocked access to DeepSeek AI services from government devices, joining a list of companies and countries taking action to limit usage of the Chinese startup’s artificial intelligence chatbot due to security concerns.”
• Reuters Tech News: “John Schulman, an OpenAI co-founder who joined Anthropic last year, has left his role at the artificial intelligence startup, the company said.”

Number of the week

650,000 The number of listeners BBC Radio 4 lost in three months, as audiences turned to different formats like podcasts instead, accessing shows such as Desert Island Discs on demand.