Business news

Consumer & Gadgets

How the cost of living crisis and games industry turmoil could hurt Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro release

In late November 2020, I was one of those people standing in line—or rather, refreshing my browser—hoping to snag a PlayStation 5 during a restock. The pandemic was in full swing, and with most of the world locked indoors, ...

Business

UK govt buys semiconductor facility key to defense

The UK government announced on Friday that it had acquired a key semiconductor factory after fears its imminent closure would hamper a crucial supply chain to Britain's armed forces.

Business

Amazon's $4 billion partnership with AI startup Anthropic gets UK competition clearance

Britain's competition watchdog said Friday that it's clearing Amazon's partnership with artificial intelligence company Anthropic because the $4 billion deal didn't qualify for further scrutiny.

Business

Meta hit with $102 million privacy fine from European Union over 2019 password security lapse

Meta was punished Friday with a fine worth more than $100 million from the social media giant's European Union privacy regulator over a security lapse involving passwords for Facebook users.

Business

OpenAI discusses giving Altman 7% stake in for-profit shift

OpenAI is discussing giving Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman a 7% equity stake in the company and restructuring to become a for-profit business, people familiar with the matter said, a major shift that would mark the first ...

Business

EasyJet founder makes life hard for 'brand thieves'

Daring to prefix a company or even a pop group's name with "easy" could land you with legal action, as the founder of British airline easyJet relentlessly tackles alleged trademark breaches.

Business

'Broken' news industry faces uncertain future

From disinformation campaigns to soaring skepticism, plummeting trust and economic slumps, the global media landscape has been hit with blow after blow.

Business

Regulating artificial intelligence: From BRICS to beyond

Researchers from the Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) program recently participated in a seminar inviting expert dialogue on the role of BRICS competition authorities in the fast-maturing era of artificial intelligence (AI) ...

Business

Google CEO says antitrust trials could drag on for years

Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said it will take many years to resolve Google's antitrust battles, downplaying the idea that they pose an immediate threat to the company's business.

Business

Can cryptocurrencies ever be green?

Cryptocurrencies have been condemned over their environmental record at a time when traditional investments have been rapidly moving towards greener environmental, social and governance (ESG) values. So how long will it be ...

Business

US lawmakers seek to clean up crypto regulation 'food fight'

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted a bill that would create a new legal framework for digital currencies, in a move cheered by crypto supporters but opposed by consumer groups who say it fails to protect ...

Business

German AI translation start-up DeepL valued at $2 bn

The German translation firm DeepL said Wednesday that it had attracted $300 million of investment in a deal valuing it at $2 billion, as interest surges in generative artificial intelligence tools.

Business

What environmental equality in Africa really looks like

The just energy transition is meant to be an equal, democratic process where the world gradually moves toward lower carbon technology. Green technologies are reliant on minerals such as cobalt and lithium that are abundant ...

Business

Amazon to invest 15.7 bn euros in Spain

Amazon's cloud computing division AWS will invest 15.7 billion euros ($17 billion) to expand its data centers in Spain's Aragon region through to 2033, the US tech giant said Wednesday.

Business

OpenAI apologizes to Johansson, denies voice based on her

OpenAI chief Sam Altman apologized Tuesday to Scarlett Johansson after the movie star said she was "shocked" by a new synthetic voice released by the ChatGPT-maker, but he insisted the voice was not based on hers.