All posts by Paul Stradling

News

Featured Article : What’s All The Fuss About ChatGPT?

In this article, we look at what ChatGPT is, what it can do, and what type of businesses could get the most out of it.

What Is ChatGPT? 

Released by OpenAI in November 2022, ChatGPT is a free, text-based AI Chatbot that can answer questions, write essays seemingly on any subject, tell jokes, write literary parodies, answer complex coding questions, and more. Although, like other chatbots, it generates text based on written prompts, it appears to be more advanced and creative than previous and some rival chatbots. ChatGPT has been “trained” to generate human-like responses to prompts given to it and can be used to build chatbots that can engage in conversation with users in a variety of contexts. This has led to it becoming a viral sensation online.

Who? 

Some recent online evangelists for the abilities of ChatGPT include Bindu Reddy, CEO of Abacus.AI, Tobias Zwingmann, managing partner of RAPYD.AI (a German consulting firm), and Christopher Potts, a professor at Stanford University. Also, many people have been posting screenshots online of some of the amazing responses and results they’ve got from ChatGPT.

An Updated Variant of GTP-3 

ChatGPT uses a new variant of GPT-3 (Generative Pre-training Transformer 3), the language processing machine learning model developed by OpenAI which is available as a commercial API for programmers. GPT-3 is a neural network-based model that’s been trained on a massive dataset of text to learn the patterns and structures of human language. This has enabled it to carry out tasks like translation, summarisation, question answering, text generation, and even fine-tuning specific tasks or datasets to improve its performance on those tasks.

The difference with the GPT-3.5, which is the new variant at the heart of ChatGPT is that it includes additional training data and improvements to the model architecture. These mean that it is better at a variety of language processing tasks, such as taking a naturally phrased question and producing an impressive and natural human-like answer, hence so much positive online interest.

Additional Training 

According to OpenAI’s blog, the additional ‘training’ that’s helped to take ChatGPT to the next level has been the OpenAI team feeding human-written answers to GPT-3.5 and using a type of simulated reward and punishment called “reinforcement learning” to make ChatGPT produce better quality answers to example questions.

What Is ChatGPT Best At? 

Some of the things that ChatGPT is particularly good at include:

  • Generating responses to prompts that are appropriate and coherent in the context of a conversation.
  • Using natural language and mimicking human conversational style.
  • Maintaining the continuity of a conversation by being able to remember and use information from previous exchanges
  • Providing general knowledge and answering questions about a wide range of topics

OpenAI says the dialogue format of ChatGPT enables it to “answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.” 

One caveat, however, is that ChatGPT is a machine learning model, and its performance depends as such on the quality of the data it was trained on and the specific task it is being used for.

How Do I Try ChatGPT? 

The best way to find out what the fuss about ChatGPT is all about is to try out the beta (free) version. To do so, go to https://chat.openai.com/ and register (name and telephone number for the 2FA code). This results in being directed to ChatGPT where users can see a list of its main, standout capabilities, e.g. remembering previous conversations. Open AI also list some of its main limitations, and examples of the kinds of questions that users may like to try asking it.

What Businesses Could Make Best Use Of ChatGPT? 

There are a variety of businesses that could potentially make use of ChatGPT or similar chatbot technologies. Some examples of industries that might find ChatGPT useful include:

  • E-commerce: ChatGPT could be used to build chatbots that assist customers with their online shopping experience. For example, ChatGPT could help customers find products, answer questions about product details, or provide recommendations based on their purchase history.
  • Customer service: ChatGPT could be used to build chatbots that handle customer inquiries and complaints, freeing up human customer service representatives to handle more complex or urgent issues.
  • Healthcare: ChatGPT could be used to build chatbots that provide basic healthcare information or triage to users, helping to reduce the burden on healthcare providers and allowing them to focus on more complex cases.
  • Education: ChatGPT could be used to build chatbots that provide tutoring or assistance with homework for students.
  • Financial services: ChatGPT could be used to build chatbots that provide financial advice or assistance with banking tasks.

Top Three Advantages Over Other Chatbots?

ChatGPT itself sums up its top 3 advantages over other chatbots as:

  1. High quality responses: Because it has been trained on a large dataset of human language, it is able to generate responses that are more human-like and coherent than some other chatbots. This can make it easier for users to communicate with the chatbot and may result in a more pleasant user experience.
  2. The ability to handle a wide range of topics: ChatGPT is trained on a diverse dataset and is able to provide information and responses about a wide range of topics. This can make it more versatile and able to handle a broader set of user inquiries compared to chatbots that are only trained on a specific domain or task.
  3. Continuity and context awareness: ChatGPT is able to maintain the continuity of a conversation and use information from previous exchanges to provide more contextually relevant responses. This can make it feel more like a natural conversation and may help the chatbot better understand the user’s intentions and needs.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The coherent human-like responses, continuity and contextual awareness, and the sheer diversity of subjects that ChatGPT can write high quality information about (and very quickly) are just some of the main reasons why it is being talked about online in such a positive way.

A powerful chatbot like this has multiple, value-adding applications for many businesses and could deliver cost and time savings, improve efficiency and customer service. As noted above, ChatGPT can also enable businesses to build chatbots, freeing up more of their resources. What’s more, the beta version is currently free. In essence, although this is not the only chatbot available, it is impressive, it could provide advantages and leverage for smaller businesses and is an example of the next phase of chatbots that it’s harder to tell are actually chatbots. The advice would be to give it try and experience it for yourself.

News

Tech News : Rent-a-Robot

It’s been reported that global logistics firm DHL is using “a good number” of leased robots to help it deal with high demand over the Christmas period.

What For … And Where? 

The Wall Street Journal has reported that DHL is using leased robots for package handling over the Christmas period. Jobs the robots can help with include sorting/receiving/unloading [packages], moving heavy payloads, replenishing stock shelves, picking up orders, fulfilment, and helping to handle returns after the Christmas period.

Why? 

The reasons why temporary so-called “surge bots” are being used include:

– A surge in demand for delivery services over the Christmas period.

– A shortage of labour/workers.

– Supply-chain disruptions.

– A sharp increase in online shopping triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

– Enabling smaller businesses to achieve low-cost, low risk automation and avoid high wages.

– Potential for immediate savings through improved efficiency.

– Companies can try out the technology and move to lease-to buy (for example) if it delivers results.

How Many Robots? 

It’s not clear exactly how many “a good number” of leased robots is for this Christmas period but, according to reports of comments by Sally Miller, chief information officer of DHL’s North American supply-chain business, DHL may have as many as 2,000 robots working in its facilities by the end of the year.

How Do You Lease A Robot? 

Leasing a robot / involves paying a subscription-like fee from third-party robotics firms. Frees vary depending on the tasks the robots are required to perform, along with other variables such as processing volumes and the kinds of packages being handled.

Part of the preparation by the companies leasing the robots involves taking a 3-D scan of a facility and feeding the data into an AI program to create a mock-up of a robot’s mechanical, electrical, and software systems.

Why Lease Instead Of Buy? 

Companies such as DHL and others may lease instead of buy robots because surges in demand may only be short-lived and relatively predictable (leased robots can be ordered in advance where and upturn is expected), e.g. Christmas, where companies can also avoid upfront costs and ongoing maintenance expenses.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

As Amazon has shown with its use of robot arms ‘Robin’ and ‘Cardinal’ to re-direct boxed-up pre-delivery items around its warehouses and now the ‘Sparrow’ robot in the handling (parcels) part of its business, robots can bring the business benefits of improved efficiency, safety, and 24-hour / 365 days a year working. Amazon, however, is a huge and growing company and the largest manufacturer of industrial robots in the world. Other companies, however, don’t manufacture their own, may not have the scale, funds, figures, confidence in, or commitment to justify buying robots but may need to tackle periods of high demand, while not having the labour or be able to pay higher wages to do it.

This is where leasing robots / robots-as-a-service come into their own, not only giving often smaller businesses a way to achieve low-cost, low risk automation but also enabling them to try robot technology in their business before committing to buying it. In the case of this story, DHL is a large global business which already has warehousing and logistics robots such as its Stretch robot (from Boston Dynamics) for its automated trailer loading. Automation of this kind is revolutionising not just parcel and warehousing businesses but businesses in many other sectors that need to meet similar challenges. For now, although robots can’t completely replace humans in most factories and warehouses, they can make operations more efficient.

News

Tech News : Microsoft Tops List Of Best-Run Companies

Microsoft has retained the No.1 spot in Drucker Institute’s annual Management Top 250 ranking for the best-run companies in the U.S. for the third year in a row, while rankings for some other tech companies have slipped.

Top Five Not All Tech This Year 

One of the most notable aspects of this year’s rankings is that unlike last year, tech companies have not taken all top five spots. Instead, General Motors Co. is ranked at No. 4 and Whirlpool Corp has reached No. 5.

How Is Being ‘The Best’ Measured? 

The Drucker Institute’s Management Top 250 ranking is arrived at by analysing 34 data inputs provided by 14 third-party sources and by measuring corporate effectiveness and performance in the five areas of customer satisfaction, employee engagement and development, innovation, social responsibility, and financial strength.

What’s Happened To Other Tech Company Rankings? 

Although Apple (in the ‘all-star’ list) and IBM are ranked second and third behind Microsoft, some of the other tech companies of note that have slipped in the rankings this year include:

– Meta: showed the fourth-largest decline in overall score, dropping from 31st to 130th in this year’s ranking.

– Amazon: showed the biggest decline in overall score this year, dropping to eighth from second.

– Alphabet Inc. (Google)

– Über

– Salesforce

– Cisco Systems

– Intel

– Adobe

– HP

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the problems leading up to and following Elon Musk’s takeover, Twitter did not make the top 250.

Why Tech Ranking Falls? 

Some of the reasons why some of the big technology companies have dropped in the rankings this year include:

– A slowing of revenue growth as they came out of the pandemic boom.

– Concerns and bad press about the power and market concentration of the big tech companies.

– In the case of Meta, for example, its rebrand and investor confusion about the metaverse concept (and the resulting cuts in its workforce) plus other concerns about the safety of its young users may explain the fall.

– In the case of Amazon, for example, its customer service ranking suffered this year which may be due to customer-service concerns, shipping delays, and search results full of advertised products causing frustration.

Why Is Microsoft No.1? 

One of the main reasons why Microsoft has stayed at the top of the rankings is the growth and continuing success of its cloud business, i.e. even though Microsoft’s business has seen some revenue declines, its cloud computing services revenue grew by 35 per cent.

Cars Bounce Back

One other trend of note in this year’s Management Top 250 ranking is the gaining of rankings by car companies, e.g. Ford (up to 15th from 26th), GM and Tesla (up to 76th from 249th). The reasons for this may include the ability of customers to get cars (the pandemic limited supply), and increased knowledge of the benefits of and demand for electric vehicles.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Peter Drucker realised the importance of marketing and innovation and taking a wider more holistic view of what makes business great, i.e. taking many different factors into account. This is why the Management Top 250 ranking is so significant and while some businesses may not rank in the top 10 for all the five areas the ranking uses, a relatively fair overall ranking can be arrived at, and the specific areas of strength and weakness can be highlighted. In general, this year’s rankings show how Microsoft appears to have been getting it right with its cloud business, how a slowing of revenue growth coming out of the pandemic boom has had an adverse impact on other tech companies, and how demand for electric cars is rising.

News

Sustainability : Fuss Over Fusion

US scientists have announced a major breakthrough in their efforts to create nuclear fusion energy after they were able to produce more energy from a fusion experiment than was put in.

What Is Nuclear Fusion? 

Whereas current nuclear power plants split atoms in a process known as ‘fission’ to generate energy, ‘fusion’ generates energy by fusing atoms together (hence ‘fusion’), which is the same process that powers our sun. The fusion process, which can actually create temperatures much hotter than the sun, is achieved by combining lighter elements (hydrogen) to make a heavier one (helium). Fusion reactors use powerful magnetic fields (magnetised target fusion) to control charged gas/plasma and keep it within a container.

The Benefits of Fusion 

Fusion power, which was described by National Geographic (2019) as the “holy grail for the future of nuclear power” is safer than fission nuclear power, produces very little radioactive waste, and is a carbon-free energy source.

The Breakthrough 

This latest nuclear fusion a breakthrough was made at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. The experiment reportedly involved focusing 192 lasers on a small metal can to heat and compress the hydrogen fuel (to more than 100 billion times that of Earth’s atmosphere). This created temperatures multiple times hotter than the centre of the sun (100 million degrees Celsius) and with the result being a brief nuclear fusion reaction. The significant aspect of the reaction on this occasion (it has been tried before) was that more energy was produced from the fusion experiment than was put in to make it happen

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

Now more than ever, the race is on to find an effective way to supply a limitless, clean, cost-effective, and safe power source could benefit us all, help the environment, and create new opportunities in a whole new sector. Although producing more energy from a fusion experiment than was put in may not sound like a major breakthrough, the complexity of being able to generate massive temperatures and pressure in a controlled and safe way shouldn’t be underestimated. This result is being hailed as a turning point and major step which shows that the nuclear fusion testing methods work and brings the promise of clean, limitless energy without lots of radioactive waste one step closer. Success at scale with nuclear fusion energy could benefit not just humanity but the whole planet and could be a major way to tackle global warming challenges.

The potential importance of nuclear fusion energy has meant that there has been a race to be first to harness it in different locations around the world, even in the UK. For example, a nuclear demonstration plant is being built at Culham Oxfordshire by a Canadian company (with Jeff Bezos as a backer). It is estimated to cost around $400m and aims to be operational by 2025. When ready it could give the UK government the chance to develop a fusion industry in the UK and be seen to be at the cutting edge of the new industry is the justification for the investment.

News

Security Stop-Press : Signed Malicious Windows Drivers Used In Ransomware Attacks

It’s been reported that kernel-mode hardware drivers that have been certified (signed) by Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Developer Program have been used maliciously in post-exploitation cyber attacks, i.e. where the attacker had already gained administrative privileges on compromised systems.

The attacks have been linked to known ransomware and SIM swappers. It is understood that Microsoft has now released security updates to revoke the certificates, has suspended the accounts used to submit the drivers to be signed, and is working on a further detection measures.

News

Tech Tip – Upload An Image To Google To Aid A Search

Google’s Image Search allows you upload an image (or paste in the URL) to identify what a product is and where it can be found on the Web. This could be very useful when searching for Christmas presents. Here’s how it works.

– Go to Google and click on ‘Images’ (top right).

– Click on the camera icon (right hand side of the search box).

– Upload a photo, e.g. of an item of clothing you like the look of but don’t know where to find it.

– Google will use its ‘Lens’ feature to display the exact image or something close to it with a link to click through to website where it can be found.

– It is also possible to add keywords to the search to help get the closest match.

News

Tech News : Starlink Broadband Trial In Cumbria

As part of Project Gigabit, the UK government has announced a trial of Starlink satellite broadband in the Lake District as part of wider plans to connect highly remote areas.

What Is Starlink?  

Starlink, operated by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company uses a constellation of low orbit satellites around the earth (launched by SpaceX rockets) to provide broadband internet. Starlink provides satellite Internet access coverage to most of planet and is particularly useful for areas where connectivity is unreliable or completely unavailable. Starlink says that users of its satellite broadband can expect to see download speeds between 100 Mb/s and 200 Mb/s and latency as low as 20ms in most locations.

How Do You Get Starlink Broadband? 

Starlink customers are sent a kit which includes the Wi-Fi router, cables and base that enables them to connect to their satellite broadband. Being a satellite connection, however, users need to have a clear view of the sky to connect, plus they need to download the Starlink App to determine their best install location.

Trial Of Starlink 

As part of the UK government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit, launched in March 2021, the project to bring next generation gigabit broadband to more than one million hard to reach homes and businesses, the £100 million trial in Cumbria aims to connect the first 60,000 customers currently in “notspots”. The trial involves a test of 3,000 low-Earth orbit satellites to help bring high speed satellite broadband to what the government describes as “very remote places”. These are the less than one per cent of sites in the UK where it may be too expensive to build a gigabit-capable broadband network to, even with a substantial public subsidy. It has been reported that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband is to be part of this trial.

Locations For Starlink Trial 

Although the trial will test which satellites can be used to deliver high-speed connections to more than a dozen “very hard to reach” locations, some very specific locations have been explicitly named by the UK government. The government says that as part of the trial, a 12th century abbey in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, a scout camping site in Snowdonia, a Lake District Mountain rescue base and other remote premises will be the first to have the equipment installed which allows them to link up to orbiting satellites.

Up To Ten Times Faster

The government says that this satellite broadband will not only mean that “very remote places” can get a broadband link, but that the (satellite) broadband is also “up to ten times faster than is currently available to them.” 

Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said of satellite broadband: “High-speed broadband beamed to earth from space could be the answer to the connectivity issues suffered by people in premises stuck in the digital slow lane.” 

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Broadband and Wi-Fi are now essential services for business, and organisations would obviously welcome any improvement in broadband speeds in the UK as soon as possible. It would undoubtedly help UK companies to become more competitive and would boost the economy.

It has long been known, however, that there are many ‘not spots’ and rural and remote areas in the UK that are at a disadvantage because the ground-based infrastructure isn’t there and which may prove difficult, costly, and time-consuming to install broadband by cable/fibre. It would seem to make sense, therefore, that satellite broadband (provided there’s a clear view of the sky for users) could be one way that very remote places could be quickly linked up to a connection that may be faster than many users in cities and towns enjoy. The project in Cumbria is part of a wider trial to test the reliability of satellite technology to bring high-speed connections to the most hard-to-reach parts of the UK so it remains to be seen how it performs and what the costs and other challenges are as to whether it is rolled-out on a larger scale to other areas of the UK.

News

Featured Article : Twitter Roundup

Here, we look at more of the rapid changes at Twitter, what the reaction has been, how this has affected the platform, plus the wider implications.

All Change 

The beginning of Twitter’s (current) saga was when the world’s richest man, Tesla and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk bought shares in the social media giant back in January, followed by on/off April to October negotiations which resulted in Musk buying and taking over the social media giant. What followed has been some major, high-profile changes with Twitter’s workforce and practices, and the rules for users, how the platform plans to generate revenue, and how users have reacted to the changes.

Summary 

As expected with Musk, ideas, changes, and polls among users have come thick and fast and have not always been popular. Here is a brief summary of some of the standout events to date:

– Musk’s $44 billion takeover leading to ultimatum’s given to staff over committing to new working conditions. This led to resignations and mass job cuts – Twitter slashed roughly 50 per cent of its workforce (reports showed Musk’s leadership sacking an estimated 80 per cent of contract employees without formal notice).

– Twitter top executives sacked, including Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadd.

– Fears that Twitter could change for the worse under Musk’s ownership, i.e. reinstating unpopular banned users and controversial figures and allowing the wrong kind of ‘free speech.’

– Thousands of (outsourced) content moderators dropped, leading to fears of a drop in quality and possible rise of misinformation.

– Elon Musk warning that Twitter could face bankruptcy unless more (non-advertising) revenue could be generated.

– The Blue service/Blue Tick service is announced by Musk as new revenue generator and as a way to reduce the platform’s reliance on advertising and tackle the problem of fake / bot accounts, and parody accounts. The key elements of the Blue subscription service are a verifying tick next to the name in the user’s profile and the ability to edit tweets up to five times within the first 30 minutes of tweeting.

– A chaotic period after the announcement of the Blue services when (for example) a wave of blue tick verified (yet fake) accounts impersonating influential brands and celebrities tweeting fake news plus having to be suspended and removed. Also, there was confusion over the introduction of new grey “official” badges instead of blue ticks on some high-profile accounts, which were then suddenly scrapped, also reports that US far-right activists have been able to purchase Twitter blue ticks.

– Elon Musk announcing that all but “exceptional” Twitter employees need to come back to working in the office for at least 40 hours per week or their resignation will be accepted.

– Reports that Twitter users are leaving the platform in protest over Musk’s ownership and moving to competing, and decentralised social network ‘Mastodon.’

– America’s Federal Trade Commission warning that “no chief executive or company is above the law,” fears over Twitter’s approach to security, and questions about this in relation to possible Saudi involvement in the Twitter takeover.

More Controversial Changes 

Some of the more controversial announcements from Twitter have included:

– Musk announcing an amnesty to suspended Twitter accounts (after taking an opinion poll).

– Former US President Donald Trump being allowed back on Twitter (an invitation which he has declined).

– An announcement that Twitter is no longer enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy.

Reactions 

There have, of course, been many reactions from companies and users to the happenings at Twitter since Musk’s takeover. Some of the main ones include:

– Apple and Google reportedly threatening to drop Twitter from their app stores (something Musk denied).

– Apple and Amazon (major sources of advertising revenue for Twitter) stopping (which some deny bout Amazon) and then resuming advertising on Twitter. It was reported that Musk met Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple HQ over the “misunderstanding.”

– Twitter losing more than 50 per cent of its advertising partners and a number of large companies pausing advertising on Twitter since Musk’s takeover, e.g. General Mills Inc, Audi, Volkswagen, General Motors, and more.

– Reports (Mikmak) of Twitter suffering a massive 68 per cent drop in media traffic (the number of times people click on an ad). This is so serious because Twitter currently derives 90 per cent of its revenue from advertising.

– As well as many normal users leaving, a large number of high-profile celebrities have very publicly announced that they’re leaving/have left Twitter since Musk’s takeover. These include Elton John, Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Toni Braxton among others.

Where? 

Reported alternatives to Twitter that appear to have picked up Twitter leavers include:

– Discord.

– Mastodon. An estimated 18,000 people signed up for Mastodon accounts at the end of October.

– Hive Social, reportedly experiencing rapid growth since Musk’s Twitter takeover.

– Post.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Huge changes have taken place at Twitter since Musk’s takeover. Perhaps of most significance is the uneasiness that brands and Twitter’s big advertisers (Twitter’s main source of revenue) felt about possible negative associations with (for example) the ‘wrong kind’ of free speech, banned and unpopular figures returning, an apparent lack of moderators (many of whom have been sacked) and the chaos around the backlash and bogus accounts.

Notably, although Musk has remained publicly as outspoken, the considerable threat of Apple dropping its advertising prompted Musk to go to Apple HQ to meet with its CEO. Other large brand advertisers threatening to stop or suspending advertising has shown how reliant Twitter is on them, how brands (including celebrities) run a mile from negative associations, and how much Twitter can be hurt in this way due to its current reliance on advertising for revenue (90 per cent of its revenue) and the need for a credible revenue-generating alternative (the blue tick system was publicly abused by users) .

Twitter’s loss of users over Musk’s ownership, decisions, and style has meant, however, a big boost for alternative platforms, e.g. Mastodon and Discord. The Twitter saga is by no means over and for now it looks as though offering incentives to advertising partners to balance the recent loss of revenue is going to a focus for the platform, which now appears to be struggling more than it was when Musk took over. We shall see.

News

Tech News : Online Safety Bill Amendment Gets Mixed Reaction

The Government’s decision to amend the Online Safety Bill to allow ‘legal but harmful’ content has received a mixed reaction with criticism coming from The Samaritans.

What Is The Online Safety Bill? 

The UK government’s Online Safety Bill, originally proposed by former PM Teresa May, is (draft) legislation that’s designed to place a ‘duty of care’ on internet companies which host user-generated content in order to limit the spread of illegal content on these services.

The idea of the Bill is to prevent the spread of illegal content and activity (e.g. images of child abuse, terror material, and hate crimes), as well as to protect children from harmful material. Until the recent amendment it was also designed to protect adults from legal but harmful content.

Where? 

The Online Safety Bill applies to social media platforms, video-sharing platforms, search engines, plus other tech services, and requires them to implement systems and processes to remove illegal content as soon as they become aware of it. The Bill also requires these services to take additional proactive measures with regards to the most harmful ‘priority’ forms of online illegal content.

The Amendment – Legal But Harmful Material OK? 

Following five months of delays, plus a return to Parliament, Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan confirmed an amendment to the Bill which shifts the emphasis away from general safety towards child safety. The amendment means that social media sites will no longer need to remove material designated “legal but harmful.” 

Michelle Donelan said: “Any incentives for social media firms to over-remove people’s legal online content will be taken out of the Online Safety Bill. Firms will still need to protect children and remove content that is illegal or prohibited in their terms of service, however the Bill will no longer define specific types of legal content that companies must address.”  She added: “This removes any influence future governments could have on what private companies do about legal speech on their sites, or any risk that companies are motivated to take down legitimate posts to avoid sanctions.” 

Why? 

The government says that the amendment has been made over fears that the Bill would stifle free speech and created a quasi-legal category between illegal and legal where sizable platforms and companies would have to remove both illegal content, plus any content that had been named as legal but potentially harmful. This echoes concerns by free speech campaigners that the Bill could allow the government or tech platforms to censor content.

Replaced With What? 

The government says the legal but harmful measures will be replaced with “triple shield” which it says will “strike the right balance with its protections for free speech.”  This will take the form of “new duties which strengthen the Bill’s free speech requirements on major online platforms” which it says will make them more accountable for their policies. The new duties will prohibit online platforms from removing or restricting user-generated content, or suspending or banning users, where the content doesn’t actually go against the platform’s terms of service or the law.

Concerns 

The amendment has been met with mixed reactions. Although there is broad agreement that the Bill’s emphasis on protecting children is a good thing, concern has been expressed by some groups. For example, concern has been expressed by the Samaritans in an open letter online which says that: “We have been pleased to see continued commitment from the Government to protecting vulnerable children as it considers modifying the Bill. But susceptibility to harm from suicide and self-harm content does not end when people reach the age of 18. Anyone, including young adults aged 18-24, can be just as vulnerable to harm from this type of content”. 

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

In practical terms, businesses like social media platforms will now need to do less assessing, restricting, and removing of content and will need to relate judgement of content to whether its legal or prohibited in their terms of service. Other work may need to be done by platforms too, e.g. looking more closely at their terms of service, being required to show how they enforce their user age limits, answering to a toughened regulator, being more transparent about how their algorithms work and publishing details of when the regulator Ofcom has taken action against them. Although the amendment still provides protection for children, there is an argument, as made by the Samaritans, that young people over 18 need protection too from certain content.

That said, the change should please free speech campaigners, plus there are other aspects to the Bill that should provide a wide range of projections in law, particularly for young people from many types of harmful content and online behaviours.

News

Tech Insight : Digital Dosh

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launching India’s first pilot for a retail digital rupee (e₹-R/eINR/E-Rupee) this month, we look at what this means and what the benefits could be.

Why?  

The pilot will help to decide whether India could intrpduce one of the world’s first nationwide digital currencies. It is thought that having a digital currency could boost India’s digital economy and, thanks to blockchain and the other technolgies that it’s built on, could create a more efficient and cheaper currency management system.

What Is Digital Currency? 

A digtital currency such as the one in the Indian pilot scheme is known as a central bank digital currency (CBDC). This means that it is a type of money / fiat currency issued by central bank that exists only in digital form (instead of printing money) for people to use as legal tender. This is different to a cryptocurrencies which are digital assets on a decentralised (blockchain) network.

How Will It Work? 

Banks will offer users a digital wallet which can be stored on a mobile phone or other device. Digital tokens, in the same denominations as the the physical rupee can be stored in the digital wallet. Users can then transact the token through the digital wallet (offered by the banks in the pilot) person-to-person and person-to-merchant using the QR codes displayed in the merchants’ stores. A digital Rupee, however, is not paid any interest by the central bank although deposits held in the bank can be converted into digital rupees and vice-versa.

Eight Banks 

The pilot will involve eight banks in total.The first phase will invlove four banks: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and IDFC First Bank. The next phase will invlove Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Cities 

The pilot will take place in the following Indian cities: Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar, and later in Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna, and Shimla.

When Could It Be Launched If The Pilot Is Succesful? 

RBI said at the beginning of the year that it would introduce a digital currency in 2022 or 2023.

Benefits 

Some of the benefits of having a digital Rupee could include:

– Convenience and speed for users and merchants and liberate merchants from the cost and trouble of having to go to the back with cash.

– Propelling India’s transition towards becoming a cashless society.

– Freeing banks from having to maintain sufficient cash deposits before they expand their loan books and from the risk of bank-runs which can result from unrestrained expansion of loan books.

Drawbacks 

Some drawbacks of a digital rupee system could include:

– Disruption to the banking system. For example, when interest rates are low, people could convert their bank deposits into digital currencies which could cause cash holdings of banks to drop and hinder the banks’ capacity to create loans.

– Centralised implementation rather than the decentralisation the cryptocurrencies have.

– Possible privacy issues / and/or possibilities of security problems.

– Take-up, inertia (training ) etc.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Particularly since the pandemic, developed countries are moving more towards becoming cashless societies anyway and India sees a digital currency controlled by its banks as a way to speed this along and boost its digital economy. Blockchain has proven itself to be a very valuable technology in many industries and especially for cryptocurrencies, and now for digital currencies.

India is not the first country to try it (China has one and other world banks are running trials) but digital currencies look as though they could benefit consumers (convenience), merchants (cost savings and increased efficiencies) and banks (reduced risk and more control). It remains to be seen what the final outcome of the pilot will be but India appears to be looking to follow China in introducing a CBDC quickly if the signs are good.