Heart goes out to team members who are facing downsizing: Byju Raveendran writes to staff

Byju's has undertaken multiple rounds of layoffs amid uncertainty around the company's cash position and overall slowdown in its business post the Covid-19 bump up.

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AI company Runway valued at $1.5 billion in latest funding

Runway's software allows users to transform or tweak existing videos or create new videos by using text prompts or images. The company also launched a mobile app earlier this year, giving its users access to its generative AI tools.

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Infosys growing on a solid foundation says Nilekani; Byjus awaits entire amount from Davidson Kempner

Indian tech services bellweather Infosys is not only growing on a “solid foundation” on the back of large deal wins, but is equally poised to harness opportunities despite global macroeconomic challenges, non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani said at the firm’s 42nd Annual General Meeting.

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Google open-sources Indian speech data location information

Google unveiled a slate of AI tools and technologies for India to support innovation among local developers during its's first-ever Google I/O connect for developers in India in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

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Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick defends Microsoft's takeover of the video game-maker

Bobby Kotick told a federal judge in San Francisco Wednesday that there's no incentive to deprive Microsoft gaming rivals like Sony of the popular Activision game Call of Duty, because such a move would alienate the franchise's devoted fanbase.

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Financial firms line up spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications

Financial firms are once again lining up to attempt to get their proposed spot bitcoin exchange-traded-funds approved by the U.S. securities regulator after BlackRock this month unveiled it was looking to launch such a product.

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List of startups that have faced valuation cuts recently

The valuations of many major Indian startups have been slashed by VCs and investors. Here’s a look at major startups that saw valuation markdowns recently.

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Large deals provide solid foundation to grow for Infosys: Nandan Nilekani

In his virtual address to the shareholders, Nilekani said the Bengaluru-based firm’s capability to harness opportunities despite the dynamic times of inflation, interest rates, geopolitics, war, demand volatility, supply chain dislocations is “tremendous”.

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Fidelity preparing to submit spot bitcoin ETF filing: report

The filings have been viewed as a vote of confidence for the crypto space, reigniting some retail interest in the industry which had felt renewed pressure after Binance and Coinbase Global, two of the biggest crypto exchanges, came under fire from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Booking.com to launch trip planner partially powered by tech behind ChatGPT

The feature, which will be available from Wednesday, would also rely on Booking's existing machine learning models to provide destination and accommodation options.

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Still hiring: Big Tech layoffs give other sectors in the US an opening

Federal, state and local government tech job postings in the US soared 48% in the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to an analysis by tech trade group CompTIA of data from Lightcast, a labor analytics firm.

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New benchmark tests speed of systems training ChatGPT-like chatbots

MLCommons, a group that develops benchmark tests for artificial intelligence (AI) technology, on Tuesday unveiled results for a new test that determines system speeds when training algorithms used for chatbots like ChatGPT - and Nvidia came out on top.

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AI model startup Reka raises $50 million in funding led by DST Global

The valuation of the deal was not disclosed. A source familiar with the matter said it valued Reka, which launched last year and has no revenue yet, at about $300 million.

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Arkam Ventures launches second fund; targets to raise $180 million

The firm -- floated by cofounder and former managing partner of Helion Venture Partners Rahul Chandra and Kalaari Capital’s Bala Srinivasa -- plans to complete raising the fund fully by the end of 2023.

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Amazon plans Prime Day for India later next month amid slowing ecommerce sales

Etailer briefs merchants on keeping inventory, deals in the pipeline.

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Banks raised questions in 2020 about FTX-affiliated hedge fund's wire activity FTX says

Some banks began rejecting wires to or from Alameda the same year that the cryptocurrency exchange scrambled to access the U.S. banking system, the report said.

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BluJ Aero secures $2.25 million in funding led by Endiya Partners

Aviation startup BluJ Aero has raised $2.25 million in a seed funding round to develop a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft powered by hydrogen fuel cell technology.

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US Supreme Court spurns Apple-Broadcom challenge to Caltech patents

The justices turned away an appeal by Apple and Broadcom of a lower court's ruling affirming a trial judge's decision to prevent the companies from contesting the validity of the patents as they defended against the California Institute of Technology's lawsuit.

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Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani earns 50% less in FY23: annual report

Gurnani, who is set to retire in December, earned Rs 25.6 crore from employee stock option plans (ESOP) during the last fiscal year compared with Rs 58.8 crore in FY22.

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Infosys enters into $454-million deal with Danske Bank

The deal is valued at $454 million for a period of 5 years with an option to renew for one additional year for a maximum of three times, Infosys said in a statement.

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IT industry needs guardrails to weed out graft: Staffing experts

​​This comes after the country’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services found senior executives breaching corporate code of conduct to give preferential treatment to some recruiters.

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AIs use in elections sets off a scramble for guardrails

Increasingly, political consultants, election researchers and lawmakers say setting up new guardrails, such as legislation reining in synthetically generated ads, should be an urgent priority.

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Dunzo's logistics arm plans to expand business to 10-15 new cities in next 18 months: Cofounder Dalvir Suri

​​Dunzo cofounder and Dunzo4Business (D4B) head Dalvir Suri said the logistics aggregator firm is working, along with the government-supported Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), to cater to intracity last mile delivery of products

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Japan's military considers adopting Elon Musk's Starlink satellite service

The ministry of defense already has access to communication satellites in geostationary orbit, but use of Starlink technology, operated by Musk's SpaceX, would add a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit.

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IBM nears $5 billion deal for software provider Apptio: Report

The Wall Street Journal reported that a deal between the companies could be completed over the weekend, adding that it was unclear whether the purchase price includes debt.

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How exactly does Generative AI impact IT jobs?

According to market intelligence firm Unearth Insight’s study, India’s $245-billion IT services industry employs around 300,000 people in sales and support functions. ​​Out of this, around 50,000 to 60,000 employees’ work will get impacted over the next three to five years.

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Elon Musk will train if Las Vegas martial arts cage match takes hold

Twitter owner Musk tweeted on Tuesday he was up for a cage match in Las Vegas with Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta , who has trained in jiu-jitsu.

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Amazon to invest $15 billion more in India says CEO Andy Jassy after meeting PM Modi

Ecommerce major Amazon on Saturday said it plans to invest $15 billion more in India, taking its total investment in the country to USD 26 billion, a top official of the company has said. After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company has already invested USD 11 billion in India till date.

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YouTube is testing an online-games offering

The company invited its employees to begin testing the new YouTube product called 'Playables', the report said, adding that games available for testing included titles such as arcade game Stack Bounce.

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Pichai meets Modi announces Google will invest $10 billion in India's digitisation fund

Notably, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City is a central business district under construction in Gandhinagar district in Gujarat, India. "PM's vision for Digital India was way ahead of his time I now see it as a blueprint that other countries are looking to do," Pichai said after meeting Prime Minister Modi.

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Government in talks with multiple semiconductor companies for major investments over the next one year: Ashwini Vaishnaw

On Friday, US memory-chip maker Micron Technology announced it would set up an outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing plant at Sanand in Gujarat entailing an investment of $2.75 billion. Of this, Micron will invest $825 million, while the rest will be a combination of incentives from the central and state governments.

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Infosys refutes charges of having been awarded tainted govt contracts in Australian parliamentary hearing

Not aware of anything that departs from company’s integrity, transparency: Infy's EVP Groth

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PM Modi meets tech CEOs as Washington visit concludes

Biden and Modi gathered with CEO's including Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. Also present were Sam Altman of OpenAI, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, and Indian tech leaders including Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, and Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, the White House said.

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TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas steps down after five years

In an email to staff, Pappas said they would be taking on an advisory role for the company during the transition.

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Intel India head Nivruti Rai resigns

“Intel India country head and VP of Intel Foundry Services, Nivruti Rai, is departing Intel after 29 years with the company. We are grateful to Nivruti for the tremendous progress Intel India has made under her leadership,” Intel said in a statement.

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LTIMindtree to spend $40-50 million on AI capabilities in FY24

These investments will only be restricted to building capabilities and do not include the capital allocated for picking up investments in AI-focused startups,

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Uber to lay off 200 employees in recruitment division

The reductions affect less than 1% of Uber's 32,700-strong global workforce and follow the ride-share company laying off 150 employees in its freight services division earlier this year.

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IT professional loses Rs 1.97 lakh in cyber fraud with offenders posing as narcotics department officials

​​Based on the complaint, a first information report (FIR) under section 419, 420 of IPC and section 66 (C), 66 (D) was registered against the fraudsters.

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Germany to offer aid only to strategic sectors after Intel subsidy

Intel's decision to develop two chip-making plants in Magdeburg was hailed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the biggest-ever foreign investment in Germany but some economists said the subsidies would be better spent on education.

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Google hit with $15 million verdict in US trial over audio patents

Personal Audio had argued that Google's music app Google Play Music featured playlist downloading, navigation and editing features that violated its patent rights.

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Tech sector facing challenges but will bounce back: Nandan Nilekani

The Infosys co­founders’ statement come as big tech companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon and Google had laid off techies in the west in a move to cut down costs.

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Online marketplace OLX Group lays off 800 employees globally

According to publication TechCrunch, the move comes as the company begins to phase out activities of its automotive business arm Olx Autos in several areas after a lengthy search for potential buyers and investors.

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Cisco launches AI networking chips to take on Broadcom Marvell

Cisco said the latest generation of its ethernet switches, called G200 and G202, have double the performance, compared with the previous generation, and can connect up to 32,000 GPUs together.

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IT major Hewlett Packard to offer cloud computing services for artificial intelligence

The move puts HPE into direct competition with cloud computing providers such as Amazon.com, Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc's Google.

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Industry linkage imperative for sustaining startups: Union Minister Jitendra Singh

Singh said the best evidence of India's growth story is that the country has earned 174 million dollars by launching American satellites, which is only possible under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who scrapped nearly 2,000 obsolete laws that were a hindrance in India's economic growth.

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IRDA considering Managed General Agencies in insurance

Insurtech startups which mostly operate as insurance intermediaries are pushing for a new set of licences from the IRDAI to set up agencies who can source customers and take risks too.

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Snap puts 10 billion AI chatbot messages to use refining its ad business

More than 150 million people — about 20% of Snapchat’s monthly users — have sent 10 billion messages to the chatbot, called My AI, since it was introduced at the end of February, the company said Thursday. Users have asked about everything from skin care recommendations to details about the latest sports car.

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India can assume leadership position through digital transformation: MeitY Secy

Speaking on the need for digital transformation at the National Internet Exchange of India's (Nixi) 20th foundation day event in Delhi on Monday, he added that India would be able to achieve its climate goals through digital transformation.

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Digital transformation would make India a digital leader globally: MeitY Secretary

Akilesh Kumar Sharma also pointed out the explosive growth of startups and entrepreneurships in the country.

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Silicon Valley Bank subsidiary sold to management team

Healthcare investment firm SVB Securities announced Sunday that its management team would buy out the company from parent Silicon Valley Bank, the California-based lender whose brisk collapse in March shook financial markets.

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