This Week In Tech by Nosa Alekhuogie nosa.alekhuogie@thisdaylive.com
Tech Top 5 News
Google precocious released a caller hunt inclination which shows that radical successful Nigeria are progressively funny successful Artificial intelligence. It reached a grounds precocious successful 2022 successful Nigeria and crossed the world. The apical trending questions successful Nigeria included “what is AI art, “what is heavy learning successful artificial intelligence,” “how to go an AI engineer,” and “when was artificial quality invented” – each of which person been searched 5,000 per cent much successful 2022 than 2021.
Other searches included “what is artificial quality each about” (+370 per cent), “is artificial quality a course” (+260 per cent) and “what is artificial intelligence” (+130 per cent).
Google, which views AI arsenic a solution for addressing important societal challenges similar clime change, precocious shared their attack to pursuing AI responsibly, including prioritising gathering and investigating for information and its intent for the nationalist good.
The President of Google Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Matt Brittin, said, “It’s large to spot radical successful Nigeria showing much of an involvement successful the transformational exertion that is AI. AI is already a cardinal portion of galore of our lives – successful fact, if you usage Google tools regularly, you’re astir apt utilizing AI without adjacent realising: it’s what helps maps springiness you the fastest oregon astir fuel-efficient way oregon hunt to find what you’re looking for. We are continuing to prosecute AI boldly and responsibly – creating tools that amended the lives of arsenic galore radical arsenic possible.”
Google is utilizing AI to code information challenges – including connected Gmail, which automatically blocks much than 99.9 per cent of malware, phishing and spam and protects much than 1.5 cardinal inboxes utilizing AI.
Apple Defying Odds: No Mass Layoff
Apple has defied the tempest of ostentation and pandemic-related proviso concatenation issues without importantly reducing its workforce.
In caller times, apical tech companies person chopped tens of thousands of employees combined, defying myths astir the industry’s unstoppable growth.
The pandemic has slowed Apple’s headcount maturation and continued request for its halfway products, truthful it has not announced immoderate important reductions to date.
However, immoderate analysts person predicted that humble outgo cuts could beryllium coming.
On the tech giant’s quarterly net telephone recently, the iPhone shaper acknowledged the company’s hurdles but did not notation cost-cutting, layoffs, oregon strategy shifts.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, told Wall Street analysts connected the telephone that “whatever challenges we face, our strategy is ever the same,” including its investments “in innovation, successful people.”
While they person not done truthful yet, similar everyone else, they volition set their headcount for the existent level of demand,” helium said.
While Apple has not announced layoffs, its concern has been strained successful different ways. Like different Big Tech companies, it has faced threats of antitrust enactment successful the United States and EU.
Cook spotlighted that determination were present 2 cardinal progressive Apple devices and shared that the proviso concatenation issues that hampered the availability of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro Max done the extremity of past twelvemonth are present alleviated.
ChatGPT Becomes Fastest Growing App successful History
ChatGPT, which uses AI to make text, has go the fastest increasing Application fashionable successful galore fields and for galore uses, including penning essays, articles, resumes, and adjacent jokes.
The artificial quality made immense headlines aft its merchandise successful November 2022.
It is estimated to person reached 100 cardinal monthly progressive users successful January, conscionable 2 months aft launch.
According to a caller survey by UBS Research, it is becoming 1 of the astir fashionable apps.
“In 20 years pursuing the net space, we cannot callback a faster ramp successful a user net app,” UBS analysts stated.
The ample connection model-powered artificial quality from OpenAI tin astir instantly make paragraphs of human-like, fluid substance to reply immoderate punctual you tin travel up with.
In the research, ChatGPT had 13 cardinal unsocial visitors per time successful January, which is much than treble the fig successful December.
OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Plus, a paid mentation of the chatbot. It costs $20 per month, offering users entree to ChatGPT during highest usage times, faster effect times, and precedence entree to caller features.
Microsoft, who was a erstwhile capitalist successful OpenAI, precocious invested an further $10 cardinal into the institution and is said to beryllium moving connected integrating ChatGPT into immoderate of its services, including Bing. ChatGPT besides caught the attraction of Google, which is said to beryllium processing respective public-facing AI tools of its own.
MTN Nigeria’s Active Fintech Customers Hit 14.9m successful 2022
MTN Nigeria has recorded a 57.5 per cent maturation successful the fig of customers utilizing its fintech services successful 2022, bringing its full progressive fintech lawsuit basal to 14.9 million.
It disclosed this successful its 2022 fiscal statements and noted that its fintech gross roseate by 19.6 per cent to N84.4 cardinal successful 2022.
The summation was driven by the 18.3 per cent maturation successful Xtratime, MTN’s airtime lending product, and halfway fintech services, which includes wallet and super-agent business.
Of the 14.9 cardinal fintech customers, MTN said astir 2 cardinal were progressive MoMo wallet users. The institution besides disclosed that the fig of registered MoMo wallets since the motorboat successful May 2022 was 13.2 million, indicating the underlying momentum successful the ecosystem.
The company’s integer gross for the twelvemonth besides grew by 64.1 per cent arsenic the adoption of its integer products continues to turn with idiosyncratic travel optimisation and the maturation of the progressive base, up 37.5 per cent to 10.3 million.
Rich media services, mobile advertising, and contented VAS proceed to thrust gross growth. The institution added that its instant messaging platform, Ayoba, besides accounted for fractional of its progressive users.
Firm Unveils Mobile App to Monitor Political Projects, Bills
A non-partisan organisation, Pichledest, has urged enlightened Nigerians to get progressive and prosecute successful the nation’s governmental decisions to alteration the presumption quo.
The CEO, Patrick Imhen, noted this during the unveiling of a mobile application, Poliliod, that volition supply Nigerians with governmental accusation to assistance them marque informed and intelligent decisions to amended the prime of governmental leaders.
“The imaginativeness is to get astatine slightest 80 per cent of elective governmental offices occupied by competent leaders successful the adjacent 17 years of 5 wide elections successful Nigeria,” helium said.
Imhen, however, highlighted a large situation confronting the federation for decades now.
“It is mediocre governmental leadership. We discovered that astir 76 per cent of the electorate during the predetermination were unenlightened Nigerians who cannot marque intelligent electoral decisions,” helium noted.
The CEO said the ngo of the Poliliod app is to get enlightened Nigerians engaged with governmental activities portion besides giving them a level to show and enactment successful governance.
It volition avail Nigerians with the candidates from each governmental parties contesting for positions, including presidential, governorship, senate, national location of representative, authorities location of assembly, section authorities president and ward councillors.
“If you inquire galore enlightened Nigerians contiguous to notation those contesting to correspond them successful their authorities and national constituencies, oregon which bills are being deliberated oregon passed successful their authorities location of assembly, they don’t know,” helium explained.
According to Imhen, the days of being oblivious volition alteration with the app successful place.
“Users volition person escaped entree to the profiles of the candidates and complaint their competence based connected respective competency criteria,” helium outlined.
Poliliod users tin besides presumption assorted bills being sponsored, deliberated oregon passed successful the assorted authorities location of assemblies, the national location of representatives oregon the legislature and tin beforehand oregon responsibility this measure and the property and the legislators tin beryllium availed of specified ballot results.
Other features of the app see monitoring authorities projects and programmes and the show standing of elected officers.
“We impulse Nigerians everyplace to instrumentality vantage of this solution,” the CEO stated.
Tech Personality of The Week:
Ifunanya Chiegboka
This week’s tech property is Ifunanya Chiegboka.
Ifunanya is simply a fiscal exertion manufacture person with 12 years of acquisition moving astatine the cross-section of integer concern building, enlargement successful Africa and planetary emerging markets.
She’s besides keen connected contributing to probe and connecting the antithetic players successful the Fintech ecosystem.
Having worked successful Flutterwave, I
nterswitch Group, and OPay integer services, 3 integer outgo unicorns successful Africa, she has a heavy consciousness of the integer payments manufacture successful Africa.
Over the years, she dedicated clip to publishing newsletters journaling the partnerships, acquisitions, mergers, and backing investments successful the African fintech industry.
She contributes to the exertion assemblage done publications successful the Fintech Nucleus, Business tabloids and speaking astatine conferences.
As a fintech leader, Ifunanya produced the first-ever broad study connected the Nigerian merchant acquiring industry, ‘The State of Play- Web Acquiring Business successful Nigeria’.
Recognising her publication to the fintech assemblage and opening caller markets for fintech companies crossed Africa, the Hong Kong authorities awarded her a prime Migrant Status, portion the UK authorities awarded her ‘Global Talent Migrant Leader Status’.