Author: Art Ryan

Dubai, UAE – April 2025 — The world is gearing up for one of the most influential financial gatherings of the year. With just 2 days remaining, the Dubai FinTech Summit 2025 is ready to open its doors to industry leaders, innovators, regulators, and investors from around the globe. Under the theme “Shaping the Future of Finance,” the summit promises to be a launchpad for the next wave of fintech transformation. A Global Gathering for Financial Evolution Anticipating over 8,000 attendees from more than 100 countries, this year’s summit will spotlight the extraordinary pace of financial innovation — driven by…

Dubai, UAE – May 10, 2025 — The wait is nearly over! In just 4 days, the landmark 30th edition of the HODL Summit — the world’s longest-running Web3 and crypto gathering — will open its doors on 14–15 May 2025 at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. Over 5,000 attendees including top policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs, and innovators will convene to shape the next chapter of blockchain, DeFi, and AI-powered infrastructure. 🔍 Key Themes at HODL 2025 Attendees will gain insight into the latest in: 🌐 A Milestone Global Gathering Organised by Trescon, HODL (formerly the World Blockchain Summit) has hosted 29 successful…

Former employees at IBM were replaced with AI, the company’s CEO confirmed earlier this week. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that the tech giant had tapped into AI to take over the work of several hundred human resources employees. However, IBM’s workforce expanded instead of shrinking—the company used the resources freed up by the layoffs to hire more programmers and salespeople. “Our total employment has actually gone up, because what [AI] does is it gives you more investment to put into other areas,” Krishna told The Journal. Krishna specified that those “other areas” included software engineering, marketing, and…

Cloud IT monitoring vendor Datadog’s purchase of feature flagging and data experimentation startup Eppo further expands the vendor’s platform’s range of capabilities following its recent acquisition of AI observability vendor Metaplane. Feature flagging is a technique that enables enterprises to deliver software to users safely and quickly. With the method, companies can gradually fix bugs or problems in code without redeploying new features. For emerging AI applications, the technology can help enterprises roll out AI features more controllably. Eppo was founded in 2021 by former Airbnb data scientist Chetan Sharma. The company announced in August that it had raised about $28 million,…

Ever wished you could understand what your cat is trying to tell you? A Chinese tech company is exploring whether it’s possible to translate those mysterious meows into human language using artificial intelligence. Baidu (9888.HK), opens new tab, owner of China’s largest search engine, has filed a patent with China National Intellectual Property Administration proposing a system to convert animal vocalisations into human language, according to a patent document published this week. Scientists have long attempted to decode animal communication, and Baidu’s patent represents the latest effort to leverage AI to do so. The document says the system will collect animal…

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready says AI deserves credit for the “healthy” results the social media company reported on Thursday. For the first quarter of the year, ending March 31, Pinterest’s global revenue was $855 million, a 16% year-over-year increase, while global monthly active users increased 10% year-over-year to 570 million users. In the U.S. and Canada, revenue grew by 12% to reach $663 million. “Our business, including our top-line revenue growth, remains healthy,” Ready stated on an earnings call. Ready said that Pinterest’s use of AI to tailor the user experience helped set it apart from competitors. He called Pinterest a “shopping…

SoundCloud appears to have quietly changed its terms of use to allow the company to train AI on audio that users upload to its platform. As spotted by tech ethicist Ed Newton-Rex, the latest version of SoundCloud’s terms include a provision giving the platform permission to use uploaded content to “inform, train, [or] develop” AI. “You explicitly agree that your Content may be used to inform, train, develop or serve as input to artificial intelligence or machine intelligence technologies or services as part of and for providing the servi The terms have a carve out for content under “separate agreements” with third-party rightsholders, such…

Microsoft employees aren’t allowed to use DeepSeek due to data security and propaganda concerns, Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith said in a Senate hearing today. “At Microsoft we don’t allow our employees to use the DeepSeek app,” Smith said, referring to DeepSeek’s application service (which is available on both desktop and mobile). Smith said Microsoft hasn’t put DeepSeek in its app store over those concerns, either. Although lots of organizations and even countries have imposed restrictions on DeepSeek, this is the first time Microsoft has gone public about such a ban. Smith said the restriction stems from the risk that data…

Data center operator CoreWeave is reportedly seeking a $1.5 billion debt deal after a disappointing IPO. According to the Financial Times, CoreWeave is holding a roadshow this week with bankers at JPMorgan for debt options. The company’s executives intend to use the meetings to gauge investor interest. New Jersey-based CoreWeave listed its shares in March, initially targeting a $2.7 billion fundraise. The company was forced to slash that total to $1.5 billion following investor concern about its large debt burden and a weakening market for AI infrastructure. CoreWeave, which has customers including Microsoft, raised $12.9 billion of debt in the…

Dubai, UAE – The world’s eyes are once again turning to Dubai as it prepares to host the much-anticipated HODL Summit 2025, a landmark event set to redefine the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain innovation. A Premier Gathering for the Crypto Community Scheduled for March 18–20, 2025, at the luxurious Dubai World Trade Centre, the HODL Summit will bring together some of the most influential figures in the digital asset industry. From blockchain developers and crypto investors to regulators and thought leaders, the event aims to foster dialogue, drive partnerships, and catalyze the next wave of decentralized technologies. Dubai’s reputation…

The countdown continues! With just 3 days remaining, the global financial stage is set to converge in Dubai for the much-anticipated Dubai FinTech Summit 2025, kicking off on May 12 at the stunning Madinat Jumeirah. This year’s summit promises to be a launchpad for the future of finance, bringing together over 8,000 industry leaders, policymakers, tech innovators, and investors from around the globe. With over 300 speakers and 200+ exhibitors, the event will tackle the most pressing and transformative themes in FinTech today — from AI in finance and digital currencies to regulatory innovations, blockchain ecosystems, and financial inclusion. Expect…

The Dubai Financial Services Authority has announced that it released a new explainer guide for its Innovation Testing Licence to support financial technology development within the Dubai International Financial Centre. The Innovation Testing Licence offers firms the ability to test new products, services, and business models under controlled conditions with modified regulatory requirements. Since its introduction in 2017, the DFSA used this licence as a foundation for fintech engagement in the DIFC. The explainer guide, available on the DFSA website, provides practical guidance to firms seeking to apply for the licence. It sets out the purpose of the framework, outlines…

Experience a seamless crypto-powered journey — from flights and visas to local purchases in Bhutan Bhutan is setting a new global standard in travel by becoming the first nation to implement a national-level crypto payment for tourism. This groundbreaking innovation allows travellers with Binance accounts to enjoy a completely cashless journey through Bhutan. Developed in partnership with Binance Pay and Bhutan’s fully digital DK Bank, the system offers a seamless, secure, and flexible end-to-end crypto payment experience. More than 100 merchants across the country, even those in remote areas, are now working with Binance Pay and DK Bank, enabling everything…

Marine Corps officials unveiled the service’s new artificial intelligence implementation plan, laying out timelines for achieving key objectives and milestones for digital transformation. Lt. Gen. Melvin “Jerry” Carter, deputy commandant for information, approved the 57-page document April 23 and it was recently published. The plan was developed following last year’s release of the Corps’ AI strategy. The service sees artificial intelligence capabilities as transformative technologies to “enhance decision advantage in the evolving landscape of modern warfare,” officials noted. The AI implementation plan includes objectives and tasks related to five strategic goals. Tactical innovation is one of the main objectives related to achieving the goal of…

Around the world, governments are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence: public investment, partnerships with private firms, and in some cases publicly-run AI resources. The Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator (VPA) has released “The Global Rise of Public AI,” a new paper from VPA Director Ganesh Sitaraman and policy analyst Karun Parek. The paper examines how governments are building public AI and the strategic considerations behind those efforts. The paper reveals that public efforts to shape markets are already central to the future of AI, and that the stakes are high in choosing between these public AI strategies. Sitaraman and Parek identify four common approaches to…

It was a slow Friday afternoon in July when a seemingly isolated problem appeared on the radar of Phillip Misner, head of Microsoft’s AI Incident Detection and Response team. Someone had stolen a customer’s unique access code for an AI image generator and was going around safeguards to create sexualized images of celebrities. Misner and his coworkers revoked the code but soon saw more stolen customer credentials, or API keys, pop up on an anonymous message board known for spreading hateful material. They escalated the issue into a company-wide security response in what has now become Microsoft’s first legal case…

Microsoft says that it’s embracing Google’s recently launched open protocol for allowing AI “agents” to communicate with each other. On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it would bring support for Google’s Agent2Agent (A2A) spec to two of its AI development platforms, Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio. Microsoft has also joined the A2A working group on GitHub to contribute to the protocol and tooling. “By supporting A2A and building on our open orchestration platform, we’re laying the foundation for the next generation of software — collaborative, observable, and adaptive by design,” wrote the company in a blog post. “The best agents won’t…

Google is rolling out a feature in its Gemini API that the company claims will make its latest AI models cheaper for third-party developers. Google calls the feature “implicit caching” and says it can deliver 75% savings on “repetitive context” passed to models via the Gemini API. It supports Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro and 2.5 Flash models. That’s likely to be welcome news to developers as the cost of using frontier models continues to grow. Caching, a widely adopted practice in the AI industry, reuses frequently accessed or pre-computed data from models to cut down on computing requirements and cost. For example, caches…

Amazon said Thursday it is releasing a new generative AI-powered tool to help merchants improve their listings with missing details or attributes. Sellers often have hundreds of products listed on Amazon, and they need to update information related to them from time to time, which can be a cumbersome task. The e-commerce tech giant wants sellers to use its new AI-powered tool, called Enhance My Listing, to make the chore easier. The tool automatically suggests product titles, attributes, descriptions, and missing details to sellers based on seasonal trends. Sellers can accept, reject, or modify these suggestions before updating the product…

Tech giants like to boast about trillion-parameter AI models that require massive and expensive GPU clusters. But Fastino is taking a different approach. The Palo Alto-based startup says it has invented a new kind of AI model architecture that’s intentionally small and task-specific. The models are so small they’re trained with low-end gaming GPUs worth less than $100,000 in total, Fastino says. The method is attracting attention. Fastino has secured $17.5 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures, famously OpenAI’s first venture investor, Fastino exclusively tells TechCrunch. This brings the startup’s total funding to nearly $25 million. It raised $7 million…