Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

A demonstrator holds a music score while singing the “Glory to Hong Kong” protest song during a flash mob protest in Hong Kong in September 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 15, 2024
Videos of Hong Kong protest song blocked on YouTube after court order
The Court of Appeal granted an injunction that holds platforms responsible for hosting the song, exposing global internet companies to new legal risks.
If OpenAI’s mostly male engineers are trying to build the perfect girlfriend, they are on the right track. If they are trying to build a more reliable AI model, there is still more work to do.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2024
OpenAI's new ChatGPT can flirt. What could go wrong?
What are the social and psychological consequences of regularly speaking to a flirty, fun and ultimately agreeable artificial voice?
Pasona plans to use cartilage conduction technology for headsets for staff and guide earphones for visitors in its exhibition at the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
JAPAN / Society
May 15, 2024
Pasona to promote cartilage conduction technology
The firm plans to use the technology for headsets for staff and for audio guides in its exhibition at the 2025 Osaka expo.
The plaintiff in an indirect gender discrimination case speaks at a news conference after winning the case in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2024
Japan AGC unit loses suit over indirect gender discrimination
A subsidiary of Japanese glass-maker AGC has lost a lawsuit filed by a female clerical worker seeking damages for indirect gender discrimination.
Toyota CEO Koji Sato says the company plans to expand AI-related investments, and this year will focus on building a strong foundation for software-defined vehicles.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2024
Japan’s carmakers look to China tech to claw back market share
With no signs of demand slowing for Chinese EVs, Japanese carmakers are looking to adapt their strategies to win over the world’s biggest auto market.
People ride past a JD.com advertisement promoting a Singles Day shopping festival in Beijing in 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024
China's e-commerce giants face a delicate balance
Chinese consumers are seeking discounts and lower-cost shopping following the pandemic.
Current AI systems, designed to be honest, have developed a troubling skill for deception, from tricking human players in online games of world conquest to hiring humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests, a team of scientists argue in the journal Patterns on Friday.
WORLD / Science & Health
May 11, 2024
AI systems are already deceiving us — and that's a problem, experts warn
Current AI systems have tricked human players in online games and even hired humans to solve "prove-you're-not-a-robot" tests.
A screen shot shows the large-scale language model developed using the Fugaku supercomputer.
JAPAN
May 11, 2024
Japan team uses Fugaku supercomputer to develop language model for AI
The large language model unveiled Friday is expected to lead to research on generative AI tailored to domestic needs.
Attendees arrive for Microsoft's event on AI technologies in Jakarta on April 30.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
May 11, 2024
Tech giants start to treat Southeast Asia like the next big thing
After decades of playing second fiddle to China and Japan, the region of about 675 million people is drawing more tech investment than ever.
LY said in November that there had been unauthorized access of its systems by a third party via Naver's cloud system, causing the leak of the personal data records of more than 300,000 Line users and others.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024
Naver exploring options including stake sale in Line operator
Naver apologized for a recent security breach that led the Japanese government to issue administrative guidance.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Izumo helicopter carrier is docked in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April.
JAPAN
May 10, 2024
Japan says viral video of MSDF ship likely real, not fabricated
The Defense Ministry said it has determined that the footage was not AI-generated because details matched that of the actual Izumo helicopter carrier.
SoftBank is in talks with South Korea's Naver over control of LY, which operates the popular messaging app Line, the telecommunications firm's CEO has said.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2024
SoftBank in talks with Naver over control of Line operator LY
LY is majority owned by a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Graphcore, a struggling British semiconductor startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024
SoftBank said to be in talks to buy troubled AI chip firm Graphcore
Graphcore reported just $2.7 million in revenue for 2022, a 46% drop from the prior year, according to its latest financial report.
China is likely around two years behind the United States in developing its own AI software.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024
U.S. eyes curbs on China's access to AI software behind apps like ChatGPT
Preliminary plans the Biden administration has include placing guardrails around the most advanced AI Models, the core software of AI systems like ChatGPT.
Attendees stand on an escalator in the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 25, 2016.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
Saudi Arabia AI fund would divest from China if U.S. asked, CEO says
U.S. officials have apparently told their Saudi Arabian counterparts that they need to choose between Chinese and American technology.
A Chinese flag is flown near a Huawei store in Shanghai in 2023.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024
U.S. revokes some export licenses for firms supplying China's Huawei
Huawei was placed on a U.S. trade restriction list in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans.
Economic security has evolved to include offensive measures, such as industrial policy. Countries like Japan are increasingly on-shoring strategic industries such as semiconductors, regardless of the cost.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 7, 2024
The shift from economic security to geoeconomics
Economic security started out as a defensive concept, but it has now been weaponized to include an offensive element, morphing into a geoeconomic tool.
Over 300 companies went out of business in fiscal 2023 due to labor shortages, according to Teikoku Databank.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 6, 2024
Japan's labor crunch persists despite slight improvement
Companies involved in IT engineering fared the worst, with more than 7 in 10 saying they didn't have enough workers and had to resort to forgoing projects.
A Rapidus factory under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido on April 26. The Tokyo-based chipmaker was set up with the aim to realize domestic production of state-of-the-art semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
May 6, 2024
Rapidus gearing up for mass production of next-generation chips
About three years before the planned start of mass production, Rapidus faces a host of difficult challenges, especially over technology and profitability.
Lin Ruei, 17, co-founder of Exptech and Disaster Prevention Information Platform app (DPIP), poses for a photo in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on April 29.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 3, 2024
Quake warning app demand surges in earthquake-rattled Taiwan
Official earthquake apps' patchiness and the demand for better alerts have boosted the popularity of privately-developed quake warning apps.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?