Tech Digest daily roundup: Skilled professions at biggest risk from AI, warns OECD
Major economies are on the “cusp of an AI revolution” that could trigger job losses in skilled professions such as law, medicine and finance, according to an influential international organisation. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said the occupations at highest risk from AI-driven automation were highly skilled jobs and represented about 27% of employment across its 38 member countries, which include the UK, Japan, Germany, the US, Australia and Canada. The Guardian
An Indian CEO is being criticised after he said that his firm had replaced 90% of its support staff with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Suumit Shah, founder of Dukaan, said on Twitter that the chatbot had drastically improved first response and resolution time of customers’ queries. The tweet sparked outrage online. It comes at a time when there has been a lot of conversation and apprehension about AI taking away people’s jobs, especially in the services industry. BBC
The UK competition watchdog is ready to reopen talks with Microsoft after the company agreed to halt legal proceedings over its planned merger with Activision Blizzard. The technology giant will attempt to restructure the $69bn (£56bn) deal to respond to the Competition and Markets Authority’s concerns after a breakthrough in the United States. A US judge ruled on Tuesday that Microsoft could go ahead with its acquisition of the video game maker behind Call of Duty. Sky News
Nothing likes to play the teaser game to perfection and the hype surrounding the Phone (2) has been through the roof in the last few months. The Phone (2) is now official and it brings improvements across the board compared to its predecessor.
Nothing Phone (2)
Phone (2) may seem identical to Phone (1) but the new device features a rounded back making it more comfortable to handle. The Glyph interface received an update as well and now comprises of 11 segmented LED strips with 33 total LED lighting zones. It offers new use cases for notifications such as volume control and timer indicators. GSM Arena
Elon Musk’s Tesla is poised to gatecrash Britain’s energy market by selling electricity to households. Tesla is developing plans to register as an electricity provider with the industry regulator and launch a “retail electricity product in the UK”, a job listing has revealed. The company is seeking to hire an experienced energy executive as its UK head of operations for Tesla Electric. It is thought that the service, which would be available to owners of the company’s Powerwall home battery, would sell electricity to UK households and buy back stored energy at times of peak demand. Telegraph
Tech firms that push children towards content such as that made by influencer Andrew Tate could be targeted after a government defeat in the Lords over changes to the Online Safety Bill. Baroness Kidron, who backed the amendments, said firms had to be held to account for algorithms that led people to harmful content online. Previously, peers argued, the bill was going to regulate content only. The government resisted the amendments but lost by a majority of 72. It argued that the changes would delay other child protection measures included in the bill. BBC
