Author: Akin Naphtal

Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship Ahmad Hanandeh emphasized the urgent need for digital transformation, innovation, and creativity to keep pace with global technological advancements. Speaking at the Middle East Financial Technology Summit, Hanandeh highlighted Jordan’s significant progress in the digital economy, particularly in digital infrastructure. The rapid growth of digital technology and advancements in smart devices, data processing, and artificial intelligence have brought about revolutionary changes in global economies. Various sectors, including finance, agriculture, industry, healthcare, and security services, are increasingly leveraging digital technologies like artificial intelligence. The government of Jordan is committed to matching these developments and capitalizing…

During his visit to Washington, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a groundbreaking announcement, unveiling plans for the world’s first summit on artificial intelligence (AI). With a goal to position the UK as a global leader in addressing the potential risks associated with AI technology, Sunak aims to ensure its safe and secure development while harnessing its transformative potential to improve lives. Emphasizing the UK’s track record in leveraging innovative technologies for the benefit of humanity, Sunak stressed the need for collective action to regulate and protect citizens. He also advocated for London to become the headquarters of a future…

Microsoft has announced that it will deploy OpenAI’s generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) bot to US federal agencies through its Azure cloud service. By utilizing the generative AI capabilities of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, government agencies have the potential to improve productivity, efficiency, and gain new insights from data. Microsoft has incorporated support for OpenAI’s advanced large language models (LLMs), including GPT-3 and the latest GPT-4, into Azure Government. To ensure stringent security requirements for government cloud operations, Microsoft has developed a new architecture that allows government agencies to securely access the large language models in the commercial environment from Azure…

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has extended its partnership with WEMART, a prominent Middle Eastern supermarket chain, to implement Alibaba Cloud’s proven security solution, Web Application Firewall (WAF). As the importance of safeguarding sensitive data continues to grow in the digital landscape, the Middle East is experiencing a rise in cybersecurity awareness. The collaboration between Alibaba Cloud and WEMART has already yielded significant results for the UAE-based e-commerce platform. During the COVID-19 pandemic, WEMART leveraged Alibaba Cloud’s online-to-offline shopping solutions, enabling seamless digital transformation and improving the online shopping experience for customers. As the…

When Google Marketing Live started in 2013, the ad industry was in the midst of a major shift: the move to mobile. Fast forward ten years and AI is similarly transforming our industry. AI is foundational to Google Ads. For many years, it has been quietly helping in the background, supporting advertisers in maximizing their time and return on investment. It’s fundamental to many of the products we’ve built over the last decade, driving growth for businesses of all sizes, from features like Smart Bidding to fully AI-powered products like Performance Max. Today at Google Marketing Live, we’re sharing how…

Airtel Zambia has launched its Voice over LTE – VoLTE which is expected to offer a high-definition cellular experience to its users. According to Manu Sood, Managing Director, Airtel Networks Zambia Plc, “this is the first of its kind in Zambia and we are truly proud to be launching this in line with the provision of 100% 4G konse. This launch of HD Calls in Zambia only by Airtel means a whole new level of experience added to the 4G experience.” READ ALSO: United Kingdom: Flutterwave and Token.io Collaborate to Provide Pay By Bank Transfer to Users in UK and…

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has collaborated with Token.io, Europe’s leading account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure provider, to power Pay By Bank transfer capabilities for Flutterwave’s platform. The announcement was made today at the Money20/20 Europe fintech conference in Amsterdam. A2A payments (often called ‘Pay By Bank’) are a fast and secure way to move money between bank accounts. Open banking powered A2A payments do not require registration or error-prone data entry, making them a seamless payment method. End-users authenticate A2A payments directly with their bank for a frictionless experience that also delivers higher success rates than market standards. A2A…

France-based music platform Deezer is developing tools to detect AI-generated music, as part of its efforts to maintain a fair and transparent environment that benefits both real artists and music fans. Over 100,000 new tracks are uploaded per day to the Deezer platform. The new capabilities will be used to tag music that has been created by generative AI, starting with songs featuring synthetic voices of existing artists. The tags will be used to keep the industry and end-users informed of what is “real” or AI–generated on the platform, said the company. READ ALSO:Linda Yaccarino is officially on the job…

Incoming Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino started her new gig on Monday, according to a tweet. “It happened — first day in the books!” she wrote. “Stay tuned…” Twitter owner Elon Musk announced in mid-May that he had hired a new CEO. Just days later, Yaccarino resigned from NBCUniversal, where she had been the chairman of its advertising and partnerships group; Musk then confirmed that the ad exec was his new CEO pick. It seems that Yaccarino is starting earlier than anticipated, though. When Musk announced that he had found a new CEO, he said that she would start in about six weeks… but it’s only…

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) launched key features of Zoom IQ, a smart companion that empowers collaboration and unlocks people’s potential through generative AI. Now available through free trials for customers in select plans*, the Zoom Meeting summary and Zoom Team Chat compose features will help teams improve productivity, balance workday priorities, and collaborate more effectively. “With the introduction of these new capabilities in Zoom IQ, an incredible generative AI assistant, teams can further enhance their productivity for everyday tasks, freeing up more time for creative work and expanding collaboration,” said Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoom. “There is no…