Author: Art Ryan

AI data platform company Hammerspace announced that several venture investors have invested $100 million in growth capital in the company. Altimeter Capital, which inveted in Meta, MongoDB, NVIDIA, Snowflake and Uber, led the Series B round. ARK Invest, led by Cathie Wood, joined the round through its ARK Venture Fund. Known for its conviction-based investing in disruptive technology companies—including early bets on Tesla, NVIDIA and Palantir—ARK sees Hammerspace as foundational to the performance infrastructure AI demands, according to Hammerspace. The remainder of the funding round was filled out by a combination of new and existing investors. Source: https://insideainews.com/

Day 3 Marks the Closing Chapter of Africa’s Biggest Tech Revolution 🔥 The Final Day. The Boldest Ideas. The Lasting Impact. It’s Day 3 of GITEX Africa 2025, and the energy in Marrakech, Morocco is electric. Over the past two days, we’ve witnessed a powerful convergence of minds, machines, and momentum—Africa’s digital future is no longer on the horizon; it’s unfolding in real-time. From game-changing startups and groundbreaking AI showcases, to high-level policy dialogues and record-breaking investor meetings, GITEX Africa has become more than an event—it’s a continental milestone. 🚀 What’s in Store on This Final Day? As the curtains…

The upcoming Dubai AI Festival 2025 will host an extraordinary lineup of global tech leaders—and among the most anticipated voices is His Excellency Younus Al Nasser, a visionary architect of Dubai’s pioneering smart city initiatives and a global authority in data-driven digital governance. Championing Dubai’s Digital Transformation With a distinguished career that has defined the technological evolution of Dubai, H.E. Younus Al Nasser currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, under the Dubai Digital Authority—a role he assumed in June 2023. His appointment marks a new chapter in the UAE’s ambitious vision to…

The Dubai AI Festival 2025 continues to attract the world’s most influential minds in science, technology, and innovation. Among this year’s most distinguished speakers is Prof. Jong-Ho Lee, a globally respected semiconductor expert, academic leader, and former Minister of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea. A Towering Figure in Science and Innovation Currently serving as Full Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, Prof. Jong-Ho Lee stands at the forefront of global semiconductor research and next-generation computing technologies. His deep contributions to the microelectronics field have earned him the prestigious title of…

The Dubai AI Festival 2025 is set to host a remarkable assembly of global leaders and innovators, and among them is Hasan Fardan Al Fardan, the Chief Executive Officer of Al Fardan Exchange. Renowned for his dynamic leadership in the financial services sector and deep expertise in fintech, Hasan will deliver vital insights on the transformative role of AI in reshaping the financial landscape. Championing Digital Transformation in Financial Services At the helm of Al Fardan Exchange, one of the UAE’s most trusted family-owned financial institutions, Hasan Fardan Al Fardan is leading the company through a comprehensive digital transformation strategy.…

In an update to its Preparedness Framework, the internal framework OpenAI uses to decide whether AI models are safe and what safeguards, if any, are needed during development and release, OpenAI said that it may “adjust” its requirements if a rival AI lab releases a “high-risk” system without comparable safeguards. The change reflects the increasing competitive pressures on commercial AI developers to deploy models quickly. OpenAI has been accused of lowering safety standards in favor of faster releases, and of failing to deliver timely reports detailing its safety testing. Last week, 12 ex-OpenAI employees filed a brief in Elon Musk’s case against OpenAI arguing the company would…

Context.ai, a startup building evaluations and analytics for AI models, announced Tuesday that its co-founders will join OpenAI. Context.ai plans to wind down its products following the acqui-hire, per a message on the company’s website. When reached for comment, OpenAI declined to reveal the terms of the deal. “Evals are a requirement to building high-performing AI applications, but they’re hard to get right today,” reads the message. “We spent two years building evals and analytics for [models] at Context.ai — with a few pivots along the way. We couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter of our journey at…

In a sign of Anthropic’s increasingly cozy relationship with Amazon, Anthropic has formed a new team to recruit AWS customers to use its AI products. The team, which Anthropic appears to have begun hiring several months ago, aims to “accelerate” the adoption of Anthropic’s AI among AWS accounts by “building programs that […] scale across global markets and segments.” That’s according to job listings on Anthropic’s website and job boards around the web. “[Y]ou will own and scale one of our most significant strategic relationships, leading a team responsible for multi-billion dollar revenue opportunities through our AWS partnership,” reads a listing for a Head of Amazon…

Google is bringing its Veo 2 video-generating AI model to users who pay for Gemini Advanced, the company’s premium AI plan. The expansion comes as Google looks to deliver an answer to OpenAI’s Sora video generation platform, and as competition in the space grows fiercer. Two weeks ago, one of the more formidable synthetic media companies, Runway, released the fourth generation of its video generator and raised more than $300 million in new capital. Starting Tuesday, Gemini Advanced subscribers will be able to select Veo 2 from the model drop-down menu in Google’s Gemini apps. Users can create eight-second video clips at 720p resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio, and…

Anthropic announced on Tuesday that its AI chatbot, Claude, now integrates with Google Workspace, allowing it to search and reference your emails in Gmail, scheduled events in Google Calendar, and documents in Google Docs. The integration is rolling out in beta first to subscribers to Anthropic’s Max, Team, Enterprise, and Pro plans. Administrators managing multi-user accounts must enable the integration on their end before users can connect their Google Workspace and Claude accounts, according to Anthropic. Google DeepMind’s Gemini chatbot also integrates with Workspace, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT integrates with Google Drive. However, Anthropic is one of the first third-party AI companies…

In the wake of criticism over the underwhelming performance of its AI products, especially in areas like notification summaries, Apple on Monday detailed how it is trying to improve its AI models by analyzing user data privately with the aid of synthetic data. Using an approach called “differential privacy,” the company said it would first generate synthetic data and then poll users’ devices (provided they’ve opted-in to share device analytics with Apple) with snippets of the generated synthetic data to compare how accurate its models are, and subsequently improve them. “Synthetic data are created to mimic the format and important properties of user data,…

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said the startup is building an artificial intelligence (AI) agent that can do all the work of software engineers, not just augment their skills, during a wide-ranging interview at a recent Goldman Sachs conference. “This is not just augmenting the current software engineers in your workforce, which is kind of what we can do today through Copilot, but instead, it’s literally an agentic software engineer that can build an app for you,” Friar said at the Disruptive Technology Symposium in London. “Not only does it build it, it does all the things that software engineers hate to do” such as quality assurance tests,…

Reliance Infosystems is making a bold play to weave artificial intelligence into Nigeria’s business fabric, launching a programme recently in Lagos to arm executives with the tools to harness AI’s potential. The Lagos-based tech outfit teamed up with Lagos Business School for a masterclass, drawing C-suite leaders eager to decode AI’s promise amid a swelling digital economy. The Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Infosystems, Olayemi Popoola, said the initiative seeks to embed AI as a cornerstone of operations. “AI will be the core of business, like the alphabet and numbers for literacy and math,” he told attendees, pitching the initiative…

As the global AI community converges in Dubai for one of the most influential tech gatherings of the year, Dubai AI Festival 2025, the spotlight shines on a visionary who has played a pivotal role in shaping the cloud-powered digital age—Dr. Werner Vogels, Chief Technology Officer at Amazon.com. A technologist, innovator, and academic at heart, Dr. Vogels brings to the festival a wealth of experience that spans cutting-edge distributed systems research and enterprise-level technology transformation. Architect of the Cloud Era Dr. Vogels joined Amazon in 2004, during a period of rapid transformation for the tech giant. Tasked with helping drive…

As Dubai prepares to host the world’s most forward-thinking minds at the Dubai AI Festival 2025, one name on the speaker lineup embodies the bold intersection of AI, digital transformation, and sustainable urban development—Joseph Bradley, Chief Executive Officer of Tonomus, Saudi Arabia. A recognized futurist and digital strategist, Bradley is leading the charge to realize the world’s first cognitive city—a bold vision that places AI not just at the heart of technology, but at the center of human progress. A Leader in Cognitive Innovation At the helm of Tonomus, the cognitive technology subsidiary of NEOM, Joseph Bradley is redefining what…

As the world gathers in Dubai for the highly anticipated AI Festival 2025, all eyes will turn to one of the most influential voices in artificial intelligence and digital governance—His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama. A true visionary, H.E. Al Olama has not only defined the UAE’s AI strategy but also elevated its position on the global tech stage. A World-First Appointment in AI Leadership In October 2017, H.E. Al Olama made history when he was appointed as the world’s first Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence. This landmark appointment underlined the UAE’s ambitious and proactive approach to emerging technologies.…

Africa’s Tech Transformation is Unfolding—Live from Marrakech ⚡ Building Momentum After a Groundbreaking Day 1 Day 1 of GITEX Africa 2025 set the stage with visionary keynotes, groundbreaking tech showcases, and powerful collaborations—and now, Day 2 is here to take it even further. Happening in Marrakech, Morocco, this three-day epicenter of innovation is not just highlighting Africa’s potential—it’s proving that the continent is leading the global tech conversation. From AI to fintech, health tech to green energy, the spotlight is on African ingenuity shaping the world’s digital future. 🚀 Day 2 Highlights: Innovation in Action Today, the conversations deepen, the…

Dubai, UAE – The Dubai AI Festival is set to welcome an extraordinary lineup of visionary leaders, and among them is His Excellency Essa Kazim, the esteemed Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Known for his strategic leadership and pivotal role in shaping Dubai’s global financial reputation, H.E. Essa Kazim will be a keynote speaker at the event, offering invaluable insights at the intersection of artificial intelligence, financial innovation, and governance. A Pillar of Dubai’s Financial Ecosystem H.E. Essa Kazim holds several key leadership roles that reflect his influence across Dubai’s financial and legislative landscape. In addition to…

OpenAI said on Monday that it would soon wind down the availability of GPT-4.5, its largest-ever AI model, via its API. GPT-4.5 was released only in late February. Developers will have access to GPT-4.5 via OpenAI’s API until July 14, after which they’ll have to transition to another model in OpenAI’s catalog, the company says. OpenAI is positioning GPT-4.1, which launched Monday, as the preferred replacement. “[GPT-4.1] offers similar or improved performance than GPT-4.5 in key areas at a much lower cost,” an OpenAI spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. “[W]e will [be] deprecating GPT-4.5 to prioritize building future models.” To be clear,…

OpenAI on Monday launched a new family of models called GPT-4.1. Yes, “4.1” — as if the company’s nomenclature wasn’t confusing enough already. There’s GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and GPT-4.1 nano, all of which OpenAI says “excel” at coding and instruction following. Available through OpenAI’s API but not ChatGPT, the multimodal models have a 1-million-token context window, meaning they can take in roughly 750,000 words in one go (longer than “War and Peace”). GPT-4.1 arrives as OpenAI rivals like Google and Anthropic ratchet up efforts to build sophisticated programming models. Google’s recently released Gemini 2.5 Pro, which also has a 1-million-token context window,…