The World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced plans to launch the Centre for Trustworthy Technology to promote responsible production and use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain, virtual reality and quantum computing. Based in Austin, Texas, the Centre for Trustworthy Technology joins a global network of 17 centres connecting public and private sector stakeholders to maximise the benefits of emerging technologies whilst minimising the risks, according to a report in ITP.Net Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director, WEF and Head of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, highlighted the centre’s key role is to ensure that…
Author: DigitalTimesNG
Microsoft chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella highlighted in a session at the World Economic Forum, that a ‘golden age of AI’ is upon us and that it will redefine work as we know it. “The future of work is not just about technology and tools,” he said. It’s about new management practices and sensibilities to the workplace.” In the recent past, it has been widely reported that the tech giant is ramping up its investments into ChatGPT, an AI-powered and large language model developed by OpenAI that can be used for natural language processing tasks. The AI platform site amassed…
Microsoft plans to cut around 5 per cent of its global workforce, resulting in the loss of around 11,000 jobs, reports Sky News. The company has more than 220,000 employees worldwide, including 6,000 in the UK. The job losses could be announced within days in the face of a global economic downturn, likely before Microsoft reports its second-quarter earnings on 24 January. This latest round of job cuts follows recent moves by major tech companies worldwide to reduce their workforce and lower costs. Amazon has announced plans to cut around 6 per cent of its global workforce or 18,000 jobs;…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Wednesday in Abuja, signed a revised Memorandum of Understanding with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, NLRC, with provisions to deter unapproved lottery and gaming practices on telecommunications platforms through information and intelligence sharing. Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, noted during the ceremony that the MoU, which will impact the gaming industry, is in sync with the Commission’s Strategic Vision Plan (SVP) and is in a bid to promote fair practices in the industry for the protection of telecommunications consumers in relation to lottery and gaming activities. Danbatta said the collaboration is in…
Nearly three-quarters (73%) of CEOs believe global economic growth will decline over the next 12 months, according to PwC’s 26th Annual Global CEO Survey, which polled 4, 410 CEOs in 105 countries and territories in October and November 2022. The bleak CEO outlook is the most pessimistic that CEOs have been regarding global economic growth since 12 years ago and is a significant departure from the optimistic outlooks of 2021 and 2022 when more than two-thirds (76% and 77%, respectively) thought economic growth would improve, ITOnline reports. According to the report, in sub-Saharan Africa, CEO survey respondents expressed many similar…
MTN Ghana has received a bill for back taxes of around GHS8.21 billion (USD664 million), including penalties and interest charges, the company announced on Friday. The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) issued a notice of the tax liability assessment after an audit determined the operator had under-declared its revenue by more than 30% for the five-year period 2014-2018. In a statement, MTN Ghana said it ‘strongly disputes the accuracy and basis’ of the assessment and believes all taxes due have been paid for the period. ‘MTN Group and MTN Ghana will continue to engage with the relevant authorities on this matter…
Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has granted conditional approval for Vodafone International Holdings to sell its 70% stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group. In a statement, the regulator explained it had approved the sale after Telecel submitted a revised financial and technical proposal in December, which demonstrated the capital investment required ‘to extend the deployment of 4G and launch innovative fintech solutions’. Having rejected an initial sale plan submitted by Vodafone Ghana in January 2022, due to concerns Telecel lacked the required technical and financial resources, the NCA stated Telecel had since improved its ‘overall governance and management team’…
The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), distributed smart agriculture materials to beneficiaries of the National Adopted Village for Smart Agriculture (NAVSA) 5-Day Empowerment Programme which took place at Al-Qalam University, Katsina, Katsina State. NAVSA Programme is designed to accelerate massive job creation, economic diversification and growth, facilitate the integration of digital technologies and innovations in the agriculture processes and practices in order to significantly increase productivity, improve food security, ensure an eco-friendly agricultural practice, attract potential talents and youths into agriculture professions to maximise outcomes. In this edition, the Federal Government has improved…
FTX, a Crypto exchange firm has recovered more than $5 billion but the extent of customer losses in its collapse is still unknown. This disclosure was made by an attorney for the bankrupt company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried on Wednesday, according to a report by Reuters. The company, which was valued a year ago at $32 billion, filed for bankruptcy in November and U.S. prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of orchestrating an “epic” fraud that may have cost investors, customers and lenders billions of dollars. “We have located over $5 billion of cash, liquid cryptocurrency and liquid investment securities,” Andy Dietderich, an…
Blockchain firm, Venom Foundation and Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, Iceberg Capital Ltd on Wednesday launched a $1 billion crypto venture fund and said it was leading a $20 million funding round in virtual world platform, Nümi Metaverse. Reuters reports that the fund, called Venom Ventures Fund (VVF), aims to invest in early-stage startups focused on payments, asset management, banking services and gaming on Web3, a much-hyped vision of a future internet built on blockchain. The launch comes at a time when funding for crypto startups has slowed following the global risk-off mood and a series of crypto blowups that culminated…