The State Pension is often a useful foundation when you’re creating an income in retirement. Yet, a survey from Just Group found that a third of people didn’t check their State Pension forecast before stopping work. While the State Pension might not be your primary income in retirement, it’s often…
Affordability challenges mean more people could near retirement with outstanding mortgage debt. It could affect your retirement plans or mean your income once you give up work doesn’t stretch as far as you expect. If you’re approaching retirement with a mortgage, read on to find out what your options may…
Insurance already? But I just got ID'd vbois May 6, 2024
Fueled by record-high investment from semiconductor players and once-in-a-generation federal backing, semiconductor manufacturing capacity is poised for a massive expansion in the United States. This strategy aims to rebalance the country’s supply and demand profile to establish greater autonomy in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and intellectual property rights; as the US…
“Layer 2” rollups are computer networks that are designed to help scale “layer 1” blockchains such as Ethereum — and they’ve been bustling with activity recently, especially since Ethereum implemented its scaling-related EIP-4844 (“Dencun”) upgrade in March. Jesse Pollak, who is Coinbase’s head of protocols and who founded and leads…
The University of Manchester has signed a landmark new deal that will see up to 65% of its electricity demand supplied through a brand-new renewables project. In a major move towards achieving its 2038 zero carbon ambitions, the University has partnered with leading UK clean energy company Enviromena to buy…
Did you know that the National Gallery turns 200 this year? Originally founded in 1824, the museum in Trafalgar Square, London houses an impressive collection of over 2,300 paintings. Displaying art from the mid-13th century to 1900, it’s home to many famous paintings that people travel across the world to…
Advances in AI have accelerated dramatically over the past two years, marked by an ability to design, train, and—most important—run AI at a large scale and for many millions of users. AI’s potential impact spans sectors and could deliver positive social change. In fact, AI is already being used to further…
Eric Kutcher, a senior partner at McKinsey, talks to the chief executive officers of two of Indonesia’s largest telecommunications providers—Ririek Adriansyah, chief executive officer of PT Telkom Indonesia Tbk (Telkom), and Vikram Sinha, president director and chief executive officer of Indosat Oredoo Hutchinson (Indosat or IOH). Referencing the diversity of…
Quick Hits Comprehensive workplace safety legislation proposed in the New York State Senate would require retail employers to assess potential workplace violence hazards and develop and implement comprehensive written workplace violence plans. Among other requirements, retail employers with fifty or more employees nationwide would have to install panic buttons to…
Britain’s housing stock has been dubbed the “worst value for money” in a Resolution Foundation report. With the media reporting that the UK is in the midst of a housing crisis, you might not be surprised by the news, but how the UK compared to other countries could still shock…
If the pandemic and the ensuing few years have taught us nothing else, it is the fact that we are in a world of terminal turmoil. Change comes fast and often. Black swans lurk around every corner. Yet many companies are still executing their strategic planning like it’s 1985. The…
In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, a podcast dedicated to the exploration of software, product management, and engineering, McKinsey partner Rikki Singh talks to Kareem Yusuf, senior vice president of product management and growth at IBM. Throughout his career, Yusuf has worked across disciplines to sharpen his product…
A significant majority of large investors polled in a new survey say they consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns when determining which firms to invest in, but basic governance factors far outweigh environmental and social concerns in their calculus. This is according to the 2024 Institutional Investor Survey on…
In this episode of the AI + a16z podcast, a16z General Partner Zane Lackey and a16z Partner Joel de la Garza sit down with Derrick Harris to discuss how generative AI — LLMs, in particular — and foundation models could effect profound change in cybersecurity. After years of AI-washing by…
Today we are excited to announce the Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) and Azure Firewall integrations in the Microsoft Copilot for Security standalone experience. This is the first step we are taking toward bringing interactive, generative AI-powered capabilities to Azure network security. Copilot empowers teams to protect at the speed…
With UK tax allowances falling it can be useful to look at how you can structure your investments to ensure they are as tax-efficient as possible. There are a number of options to consider, including ISAs, pensions and bonds, alongside VCTs and EIS. But which should you choose? Claire Spinks,…
By: Rania Abboud For many highly skilled international workers, securing an H-1B visa in the United States can be elusive. With this year’s lottery results announced, employers find themselves exploring alternative strategies to retain invaluable talent. Among these strategies is the consideration of relocating talent to Canada, where a range…
Quick Hits The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division published new field assistance guiding its field staff on the implications of employers’ increasing use of automated systems and AI technologies. The guidance cautions that while such technologies have workplace benefits, human oversight is necessary to avoid results that violate federal labor…
Leading AI Transformation: Moody’s drives pragmatic AI innovation to help employees and customers around the world - Source For over 100 years, Moody’s Corporation has been helping organizations make better decisions through data—believing that understanding risk is the best way to get ahead of it. Working with Microsoft, the company…
Leaders have fretted since COVID-19 lockdowns that collaboration and innovation might suffer when teammates interact less. New research points to an emerging concern four years on, as organizations settle into remote, hybrid, and in-person configurations: Potentially fewer opportunities for vital knowledge sharing outside one’s core department.That is one implication of…
A tape measure may seem an unlikely tool to identify unconscious bias within an organization, yet in the hands of biologist Nancy Hopkins, it quantified gender bias and became a powerful symbol of the fight for gender equality. At Carnegie Mellon University, during the most recent Scientists & Strategists lecture…
If history is a guide, transformative breakthroughs emerge when powerful creative tools reach the masses. That’s why we’re thrilled to lead the $5M seed round for Yellow, a company focused on revolutionizing 3D character creation through generative AI. The potential impact is immense. Despite rapid progress in 2D image generation…
Quick Hits On April 29, 2024, three separate lawsuits were filed challenging the 2024 Title IX regulations: (1) Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho filed one lawsuit in the Western District of Louisiana; (2) Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina filed a second lawsuit in the Northern District of Alabama; and…
President Joe Biden to join Microsoft for announcement in Mount Pleasant Mount Pleasant, WI – May 8, 2024 – Microsoft today announced a broad investment package designed to strengthen the role of Southeast Wisconsin as a hub for AI-powered economic activity, innovation, and job creation. These investments include $3.3B…
Ravi Acharya, a PhD researcher who performed experimental work in the project, explained: "The great advantage of silicon quantum computing is that the same techniques that are used to manufacture the electronic chips — currently within an everyday computer that consist of billions of transistors — can be used to…
Is it appropriate to restrict employees from expressing their political views at work? On the one hand, you want people to feel free to express themselves. But then, you don’t want those water cooler chats to turn into full-blown political showdowns. According to a Gartner survey, around four out of…
History shows that during times when Russia's vital interests are affected, its people are ready to maintain confrontation for as long as necessary. The confrontation with the West around Ukraine is such a situation. At the same time, unlike other major threats that our country has faced in past eras,…
Opal Sandy from Oxfordshire is the first patient treated in a global gene therapy trial, which shows 'mind-blowing' results. She is the first British patient in the world and the youngest child to receive this type of treatment.Opal was born completely deaf because of a rare genetic condition, auditory neuropathy,…
Artificial intelligence that allows users to hold text and voice conversations with lost loved ones runs the risk of causing psychological harm and even digitally 'haunting' those left behind without design safety standards, according to University of Cambridge researchers. ‘Deadbots’ or ‘Griefbots’ are AI chatbots that simulate the language patterns and…
Imagine that two brands are running contests where participants stand to win nearly identical fitness watches. Both companies will award the watches to randomly chosen winners, amounting to 1 percent of all participants. Brand A has capped the number of entries at 1,000, while Brand B allows up to 10,000…
Nonstop disruption. We have all lived through it the past several years: a global pandemic, geopolitical and economic instability, and the rise of new technologies such as generative AI (gen AI). This increasing pace of change, coupled with the anxiety of prolonged uncertainty, has created a situation in which companies…
Frontiers Research Highlight Research shows that employees who are steered by digital nudges may lose some ethical competency. That has implications for how we use the new generation of AI assistants. Julian Friedland, David B. Balkin, and Kristian Ove R. Myrseth May 08, 2024 Reading Time: 6 min Topics Frontiers…
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Supreme Court concluded that the “good faith” defense applies to claims seeking to impose penalties under California Labor Code section 226. An employee must show that an employer’s failure to comply with section 226(a) was both knowing and intentional in order to establish an entitlement to…
It’s an unquestionable fact that stress is bad for your health. Did you know, though, that research from University College London has found that financial stress is the most detrimental to biological health – more than divorce or even a bereavement? In a recent study, Moneybox found that: Nearly half…
A team of engineers, neuroscientists and surgeons from the University of Cambridge developed the devices and used them to record the nerve signals going back and forth between the brain and the spinal cord. Unlike current approaches, the Cambridge devices can record 360-degree information, giving a complete picture of spinal…
Crammed elbow to elbow around a table in a tiny basement-level Clark Center conference room, a multidisciplinary cross-section of scientists, physicians, engineers and students convened to scarf sandwiches and compare notes. They were there that fateful Friday in 2019 because Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD — one of Stanford Medicine’s most…
Midsize companies don’t dominate the headlines and investor attention the way corporate behemoths do, but they are the economic engines of many countries and a vital part of the global business ecosystem. The world’s 50,000-plus midcap companies—which we define as organizations with $200 million to $2 billion in revenue—represent more…
Until recently, unless you worked on a trading floor, making your own stock deals wasn’t easy. “When I started 20 years ago, I used a dial-up connection and paid $17 per trade, which meant I thought long and hard before each one,” recalls Ed deHaan, a professor of accounting at…
Seyfarth Synopsis: On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor released its latest attempt to amend its 1975 “fiduciary rule” and seven prohibited transaction class exemptions issued between 1975 and 2020 that investment advice fiduciaries have relied in connection with sales of common investment products like securities, mutual funds and…