1. New AI budget announced by UK government

With initial investments to start this year, the UK government is dedicating around £900 million in both the development of an exascale supercomputer and the establishment of a new AI Research Resource. Also included in the spring budget is an annual £1 million prize for the next 10 years for the best research into critical areas of AI, titled the Manchester Prize.

2. Microsoft: AI tools are helping employees focus more on work that ‘truly matters’

In a survey of 2,700 employees and 1,800 business decision makers across the US, UK and Japan, Microsoft found that 89 per cent of those with access to automation and AI-powered tools “feel more fulfilled because they can spend time on work that truly matters.” And 89 per cent say they hope to apply AI solutions to more tasks and activities.

3. Widespread concern that AI would lead to job losses is unfounded, Continental says

More than six out of 10 Germans (61 percent) fear that the use of AI could lead to job losses, according to a survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of the German automotive technology company Continental. “In reality, it will have the opposite effect,” says Ariane Reinhart, Continental’s executive board member for human relations and sustainability. “Like any other major technological innovation, artificial intelligence will open up countless opportunities and create millions of new jobs.” She added that Continental currently employs “around 1,200 AI experts across the globe. By the end of the year, they will number 1,500.”

4. Survey: IT leaders see AI/ML as key to managing business uncertainty

A survey of global IT leaders by Rackspace Technology found that 69 per cent rank AI and machine learning as a high priority for their organisations, compared to 54 per cent in 2021. One-third of respondents said they had begun launching AI/ML projects during the previous year. “The fact that almost a third of respondents began their AI/ML journey within the past year is striking and points to the fact that these technologies are seen as the key to driving efficiencies in uncertain economic times,” said Jeff DeVerter, Chief Technology Evangelist, Rackspace Technology.

5. Brookings: Defenses needed against use of deepfakes in international conflicts

The use of AI to create deepfakes — videos, audio and other media that have been digitally altered to make it appear that people have said or done things they didn’t say or do — post a “particularly difficult challenge” for policymakers and officials in democratic states, warns a report from Brookings. “As a result,” the report’s authors recommend, “the US and its democratic allies should consider developing a code of conduct for deepfake use by governments, drawing on existing international norms and precedents.”

6. Generative AI represents a ‘step change’ for business: Salesforce survey

A majority (67 per cent) of senior IT leaders expect their businesses to prioritise the use of generative AI over the next 18 months, and 33 per cent say it will be a top priority, according to a Salesforce survey. “Generative AI represents a step change in how organisations across industries will analyse data, automate processes, and empower sales, service, marketing, and commerce professionals to grow customer relationships — but it comes with new risks and challenges,” said Clara Shih, CEO of Service Cloud, Salesforce.

7. Generative AI could threaten 300 million jobs: Goldman Sachs

An analysis by Goldman Sachs concludes that generative AI could ‘expose’ 300 million full-time jobs around the world to automation, creating significant disruption in the labour market. However, the analysis added that automation has historically also created new jobs that displaced lost ones, and that generative AI could increase global GDP by 7 per cent through increased labour productivity.

8. AI research doesn’t always translate to clinical use

Despite ‘immense progress’ in AI models, AI applications have seen limited deployment in clinical healthcare settings, according to a non-peer-reviewed study by Australian researchers published in medRxiv. The study, which looked at AI use related to COVID-19 care, concluded that these gaps in translatability “could, and should, be considered already at the model development stage to increase translatability into real COVID-19 healthcare environments.”

9. AI development will require addressing governance, privacy concerns and more

As AI becomes more prominent in daily life, further study is needed to address six key challenges related to the technology, concludes a study by a team of international researchers. Those challenges include potential impacts on human well-being, the responsibility to prioritise human values, privacy protection, design principles that distinguish between low- and high-risk applications, governance across the full AI lifecycle and ensuring that humans maintain complete control over over AI interactions, behaviours and outcomes.

10. Study: Older Australians have low trust in AI workplace tools

Only 40 per cent of Australians trust the use of AI tools at work, a study by the University of Queensland and KPMG found. However, levels of trust vary widely by age and education: 65 per cent of Gen X and Millennials trust AI in the workplace, compared to 39 per cent of older Australians, and those with university degrees (56 per cent) are more likely to trust AI than those without (40 per cent).