Philips cut 6,000 jobs, China’s Baidu will launch its own version of ChatGPT in March, and a foldable iPad is in the works.
This is all the tech news that is trending right now. Welcome to trending hashtags. It’s Tuesday, January 31st and I’m your host, Asha Pamma.
Dutch electronics giant Philips is cutting 6,000 jobs as it looks to restore its profitability and improve the safety of its products following the recall of millions of ventilators. Used to treat sleep apnea, the ventilator was recalled after concerns the foam used in the machines became toxic. The new reorganization brings the total number of job cuts announced by new CEO Roy Jacobs in recent months to 10,000, or about 13 percent of Philips’ current workforce. The company had said yesterday that half of the layoffs would happen this year and the remaining half would be completed next year. Shares of Philips rose 5.5 percent yesterday morning, helped by fourth-quarter earnings that were much better than expected.
source: reuters
Chinese Internet search major Baidu Inc plans to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot service similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT in March, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The technology firm plans to launch the service as a standalone application and gradually integrate it into its search engine, said the person, who declined to be named. Baidu plans to include chatbot-generated results when users make search requests, rather than just links, the person said. Baidu is already investing heavily in AI and last month, unveiled three AI-powered creators whose technology allows them to take on the role of screenwriter, illustrator, editor or animator.
source: reuters
Apple could be on track to release a foldable iPad as early as next year, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. This new model is expected to boost shipments and improve product mix, Kuo tweeted early yesterday. Kuo said the rumored foldable iPad will feature a “carbon fiber” kickstand made by Chinese component maker Anji Technology. Kuo said the launch of the foldable iPad will be joined by an improved iPad mini, due to enter mass production in early 2024. The Verge reports that this isn’t the first time Kuo has set a date for the Apple foldable prediction, after two years ago he spoke of a 2023 release of a foldable iPhone. In the near term, Kuo is predicting a decline in iPad shipments of between 10 and 15 percent year-over-year in 2023.
source: ledge
Kristin Maczko, Google’s former head of mental health and well-being, said in a LinkedIn post that she was fired after working for the company for nearly 15 years. Maczko said that “many people” in Google’s mental health and well-being team were affected by the round of layoffs announced on January 20. Explaining the layoffs, CEO Sundar Pichai said in a memo to remaining employees that the company had overhired. Insider spoke to several current and former Google employees who said they could not understand the reasoning behind the decisions. In all, 12,000 workers were laid off.
source: insider
Scientists have created an AI system capable of generating artificial enzymes from scratch. Salesforce Research developed an AI program, called ProGen, that uses next-token prediction to assemble amino acid sequences into artificial proteins. Some of these enzymes worked as well as enzymes found in nature, even when their artificially generated amino acid sequences diverged significantly from those of any known natural proteins, the University of California reported. Scientists say the technique will give a boost to the 50-year-old field of protein engineering by speeding up the development of new proteins that can be used for almost anything from therapeutics to breaking down plastics.
source: University of California
This is all the tech news that is trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast Network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Daily Briefing. Be sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get important news straight to your inbox every day. Plus, check out the next episode of Hashtag Tendence, our weekly hashtag trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have any suggestion or tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Aashi Pamma.
