In Paris, JD Vance skewers EU AI rules, lauds US tech supremacy

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

At the AI Action Summit in Paris this week, the U.S. declined to sign the statement summarizing the resolutions. But it did make an appearance: Vice President J.D. Vance gave a speech to the audience of dignitaries, tech leaders and regulators. Amid a conference heavy on equitable AI development — specifically, beyond the outsized influence […]
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Google backs Toonsutra to grow its webtoons platform in India

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

It’s no news that India is a huge market for entertainment businesses, but what often doesn’t get mentioned is that its people love to see content in their own languages. According to a recent survey by non-profit Internet and Mobile Association of India, more than 870 million Indians sought out videos, music and other content […]
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Affirm plans to bring Buy Now, Pay Later debit cards to more users through deal with FIS

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

Affirm is working with fintech company FIS to bring its debit card to more banks.

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Musk’s $97.4-billion bid for OpenAI aims to ‘slow down a competitor,’ Sam Altman says

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in offering to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Musk is aiming to “slow down a competitor.”

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EU says AI race ‘far from over’ as bloc pledges 50-billion-euro investment boost

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday that the race for AI leadership had not yet been won by China or the U.S.

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JD Vance says U.S. will defend American AI and block efforts to weaponize the tech

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. will safeguard American artificial intelligence and chips and block efforts to “weaponize” the critical technologies.

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AI chatbots unable to accurately summarise news, BBC finds

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

The BBC’s head of news and current affairs says the developers of the tools are “playing with fire.”

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AI investments surged 62% to $110B in 2024 while startup funding declined 12%, says Dealroom

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

Venture capitalists are gobbling up term sheets for startups peddling artificial intelligence, but they’re remaining picky when it comes to funding the wider spectrum of technology.  According to new figures from analytics firm Dealroom, AI startups raised $110 billion last year, 62% more than the year before. At the same time, privately-backed companies (startups and […]
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Ghanaian fintech Affinity bags $8M to scale digital banking in a mobile money-driven market

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

Africa’s top digital banking platforms typically come from high-growth, populous markets like Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt. But Affinity Africa, an upstart from Ghana, wants to join the conversation. The startup has raised $8 million in seed funding to expand its financial products further across the country, where mobile money is the dominant financial tool. […]
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Instagram is introducing teen accounts with new safety features in India

Posted on February 11, 2025 by Techme101

Instagram said Tuesday that the platform is introducing its teen accounts feature, which has extra protective measures for safety for users in India, one of its biggest markets with over 350 million users. The company introduced Teen Accounts last year in The U.S., U.K, Canada, and Australia. Meta migrated accounts of Instagram users who are […]
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