Frontier & Research
GPT-Live is a system designed to enable continuous voice interaction with AI through a turnless speech model and low-latency architecture. The system was built over a six-month development period to support faster and more natural conversations. Source: OpenAI
AI in Business
Palantir's CEO Alex Karp commented on the AI industry following the company's strong financial quarter with $1 billion in profit. Karp expressed concerns about the trustworthiness of AI frontier labs for enterprise deployment. Source: TechCrunch
AI in Business
AWS has enabled Superblocks, a vibe-coding (low-code/no-code AI development) tool, to be embedded into private AWS cloud environments for customers. This development represents a move toward decoupling applications from underlying AI models in enterprise deployments. Source: TechCrunch
AI in Business
DesignArena, a platform that crowdsources human evaluations for AI models, has raised $7.9 million in funding. The platform serves 5.3 million users globally and provides evaluation data to frontier AI laboratories. Source: TechCrunch
AI in Business
South African taxpayers are increasingly using AI-powered tax bots for filing during the current tax season, showing higher adoption rates than observed in the United States where trust in AI versus human tax professionals is declining. The trend reflects growing comfort with AI applications in financial and administrative tasks
Policy & Regulation
The Trump administration's FTC has issued a ban on foreign imports of advanced robots, citing national security concerns about data collection and the need to protect US robotics companies from Chinese competition. The ban creates a paradox: while intended to boost US robotics, it may hinder domestic research
AI in Business
NTT Data SA is expanding its workforce across technology disciplines in response to growing AI demand in the market. The company is also investing in upskilling and reskilling programs for existing employees to meet evolving business needs. Source: ITWeb
AI in Africa
The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has introduced a multilingual AI chatbot called Batho Pele that provides public servants and citizens with instant access to public service policies, circulars and legislation. The chatbot represents the South African government's adoption of AI technology to improve access to
AI in Business
House spending records reveal that OpenAI's ChatGPT is the dominant paid AI tool used by congressional offices on Capitol Hill. Congressional staff employ ChatGPT for drafting memos, summarizing legislation, and managing constituent communications. Source: TechCrunch
AI in Business
South African technology companies are experiencing project delays due to global hardware supply constraints, memory technology shortages, and volatile pricing. Organizations are implementing mitigation strategies to address disruptions in their tech procurement channels. Source: ITWeb
AI in Africa
South Africa's National Treasury is advancing the MyMzansi digital transformation platform from proof of concept to production-ready status with specific use cases identified. The government aims to scale its digital transformation initiatives across departments and services. Source: ITWeb
AI in Business
Telkom reported improved Q1 earnings driven by growth in mobile and fibre services, with increased data revenue and margins offsetting weakness in its BCX business unit. The company's data-first strategic focus contributed to stronger financial performance in core connectivity services. Source: ITWeb