companies

China is a sleeping giant of AI and has many companies competing with each other

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It seems that US companies and startups are the great competitors of the AI ​​segment, but Chinese companies are demonstrating that rivalry is also formidable. He Deepseek impact Of course it has been noticed especially there. And if not, tell Baidu. Ernie was closed and paid. Considered “La Google China”, Baidu was one of the first to launch its own chatbot. Ernie launched In March 2023 and in September I was already available to All audiences. However, the company’s approach was always clear: his generative chatbot was closed, and was paid. But it will soon be free. This week those responsible for Baidu have announced two important changes in their strategy. To start, Baidu will have a free version As of April 1which will allow access to the company’s LLMs. The company had been trying to monetize the service for 17 months, which in China had a monthly price of 49.90 yuan (6.56 euros). And besides, Open Source. But it is also that the company has confirmed that the next generation of its LLM Ernie will use an Open Source license on June 30. It is a turn of the events, because as we have commented from the beginning Baidu adopted a model and license owned for its chatbot. Even Openai seems consider a similar movement. Deepseek changes everything. The reason for these strategy changes is probably due to what has happened with Deepseekthe Chinese startup that launched Deepseek v3 in November and After Deepseek R1 In January. These models were not only free, they were also Open Source, which triggered their popularity by demonstrating that they were really competitive even when comparing them with the best LLM of their competitors in the United States. There, by the way, Depseek’s impact has also been formidable: several of those US rivals have already offered their reasoning models free of charge. Fierce competition in China. Baidu’s decision shows how in China there is also a particular war to lead in AI. Alibaba, without going any further, has just presented The promising Qwen2.5-Maxand Bytedance, who does not conform to Tiktok, is beginning to become a surprising power in the. Other companies such as Tencent or Startups such as MoNshot and O1.AI They are also in that fight, however much their models have to be very socialists. The important thing is that they use you. Baidu seems to recognize that in this battle one of the keys is to achieve some popularity. According to Reuters The most successful chatbot in China is currently Doubao (Bytedance) with 78.6 million monthly users. Deepseek is the second with 33.7 million while Ernie has only 13 million. Ernie 4.5 will arrive soon, but what about the reasoning? In Baidu they currently have ERNIE 4.0, which competes with GPT-4, but will soon launch Ernie 4.5, which will be precisely the one that adopts that license Open Source. What does not seem to have a model of reasoning as Deepseek R1, something surprising again considering that Baidu is a giant with many more resources. One that yes, will surely be moving card so as not to let this juicy market escape. Image | Baidu In Xataka | Deepseek has given the starting gun in the race for a cheaper AI. And China starts with advantage

The companies of AI have been jumping the copyright for years. They have just suffered a disturbing legal defeat

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Thomson Reuters He has won The first important case against AI in the United States. This legal victory can end up being an important precedent in an open war that exists between generative companies and human creators and content creative companies. When chatgpt or existed. One of the curiosities of the case is that the demand arrived in 2020, even before the revolution created by Chatgpt and other generative AI models occurred. At that time Thomson Reuters demanded the startup of the so -called Ross Intelligence. According to them, the company had reproduced material from its legal research division, called Westlaw. The judge, inflexible. As they explain In Wiredthe defense arguments did not convince Judge Stephanos Bibas, of the Court of the District of Delaware. In his sentence he indicated that “none of Ross’s possible defenses is sustained. I reject them all.” Fair use, nothing. Normally IA companies are shielded in the doctrine of fair use (“Fair Use”). This legal criterion maintains that limited use of protected material is allowed without needing permission from the owner of those rights. As explained in Wiredel, four factors are analyzed: the reasons for creating the work, its nature (if it is an essay, a poem, a private letter), the amount of material used, and how that use impacts the market value of the original. Be careful for what copies. Thomson Reuters won two of those analyzes, but the fourth was for Judge Bibas the most important, because Ross “wanted to octize with Westlaw developing a substitute for the market.” That is: they were copied to try to compete with them in the same market. A precedent with a problem. Curiously Ross Intelligence closed its doors in 2021, precisely Faced with costs of the dispute. It is precisely the opposite with AI giants, who usually have many more economic resources when defending these types of demands. The legal precedent is undoubtedly relevant, but it may be more difficult to wield it if the litigation costs cannot be supported by the plaintiffs. Care, generative. The appearance of all kinds of generative models has unleashed a wave of demands for copyright violation. One of the most important cases is what The New York Times holds against Openaibut there are others like the one that affects Microsoft by Github Copilotthat of Stable Diffusion and Midjourney or the recent one Meta scandal and the books with copyright that he used to train his AI models. Fair use and competition. Precisely this judgment raises an important legal obstacle for AI companies. First, for that argument of the fair use that may now not work. And secondly, due to the fact that when using those works protected by copyright, the impact for the original works can be remarkable. Images | WIRESTOCK | Solen Feyissa In Xataka | Openai has used Copyright content to train its models: now it faces a wave of demands

Elon Musk is applying to the US the same recipe that has applied to all its companies

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Elon Musk did not receive Not a single vote in the elections from the US, neither a dollar from the US government receives. However, many consider him the most powerful person in the country, and has declared war on bureaucracy. Not two weeks ago that Donald Trump was invested as 47th President of the United States, but Elon Musk has had plenty of time to put An army of twenty -year -old engineers Even the kitchen of the US administration. That a private citizen, without an official charge and without obligation to account for anyone, can access classified information has lit all alarms in the country. Elon Musk’s “demon” mode. The “modus operandi” that has shown Doge during its first weeks of operation carries the Elon Musk personal stamp. Just observe minimally what happened when Elon Musk He took Twitter controleliminating functions and dismissing your staff, to find the same pattern in the “control” of Donald Trump that He has executed Doge In the last two weeks. The Millionaire has used this system of harassment and demolition of the structure established in all its companies or projects. Your biographer defined This scenario as “demon mode”, in which Elon Musk orders to stop everything and eliminate all the unnecessary or superfluousregardless of whether some norms or regulations are breached in the process. As he quotes in his biography, Elon Musk considers these operations as “giving things to things and purging all the shit of the interior of the system.” Work in “Extremely Hardcore” mode. When Elon Musk enters that “demon mode” demands a Extreme work commitmentliterally describing it as “Extremely Hardcore”. Again, something we already saw in the landing of Musk on Twitter. Now, Doge’s team is also applying that extreme work discipline and has even mounted sleeping beds in the offices of the Blanca to the White House that became its headquarters, According to sources of The New York Times. As published by Musk, they are working Even weekends. The US is not a company. Elon Musk applied that optimization exercise in Space X when he developed his First Merlin engineswith the Starlink satellites and with the Starship rocket. Tesla also suffered Musk’s “demon mode” when he faced the company bankruptcy If the Production rhythm of your Model 3. Elon Musk even He slept under the table of his office while I found formulas To optimize the assembly line. The millionaire has applied these optimizations in all its companies using a policy of Challenge to regulationswhich left them exposed to sanctions. However, they are private companies and, as such, they must be aware of the risk of incurring these infractions and assuming the consequences. However, what Many wonder in the US It is whether the government of a country can afford that luxury. Doge and officials. One of Doge’s first battles has been against officials, which began when the president He repealed the measures that protected career officials, those who carry out their work in the administration regardless of who governs. Following the same pattern as on Twitter of 2022, it was sent An email more than two million officials under the matter “Fork in the Road” (bifurcation on the road). In that email, They were invited to give up just by responding to the mail in exchange for receiving the equivalent of your salary until September as compensation for dismissal. In 2022, mail trick It did not fullysince the company had to pay compensation to its ex -employed. In this case, it has not been too successful and the measure has been taken before the courts. Some twenty -year -old engineers. Another aspect of Doge’s “control” has been the Young entourage, twenty -year -old They had been doing practices In Elon Musk companies. These “black men” of Doge entered the databases More sensitive from the administration without even showing a government employee credential, since Doge is an external consulting body, not a government agency. In fact, in many cases they refuse reveal their names. To the officials who refused for a group of intruders They had access to the data that the Treasury Department has of millions of citizens, They were withdrawn from service. Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, He had to order To officials that allow access to the Musk team, since, remember, they are not government officials officially. Trump triggered. Doge’s “control” has raised controversy both for its intimidating methods and for the legality of its actions. The recent one Total closure From the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by Doge has made alarms jump of those who consider that neither Doge nor Donald Trump have the power of Close government agencies. According to him Article 1 of the Constitution That is a prerogative that It must be given from the Congresssomething that has not occurred. Therefore, not only are they being questioned that “the black men” anonymous of Doge act in an opaque way by accessing the most sensitive databases of the government, but also put on the table if the own Trump would be overreach in their functions passing Above Congress’ competences. Citizen Musk. In the midst of all this storm: Elon Musk. A private citizen who does not pay accounts for his acts and only responds to the president, who has given him free way to access all areas of the federal government. Will it cut the funds of NASA, from the SEC or FAA with the same lightness that you have used with USAID? It is difficult to define where the public service of the millionaire actions begins and where its private interests. SPACE X receives huge amounts of NASA money and the increase in missions with the American space agency points to an upward trend in that financing route. In addition, Elon Musk has in his hand the survival of regulation agencies such as FAA that regulates precisely the spacex scope, so it becomes a judge and part, giving rise to a conflict of interest more than evident. Trump He … Read more

Our rivers have been contaminated with medications for years. The EU has a solution: let the pharmaceutical companies pay

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When we read that one of the great environmental challenges of our time is the state of our rivers, our imagination travels directly to the fecal waterindustrial pollution or, lately, microplastics. In what we don’t usually think It’s in the medications. But the problem is real and the European Union is determined to solve it. How can medications ‘contaminate’? Drugs (whether for medical or veterinary use) have a very long life after consumption. And, inevitably, a good part of the medications end up being expelled from the body and entering wastewater. From there, despite the efforts of treatment systems, they reach rivers, lakes and seas. An increasingly solid scientific consensus. Although it is difficult to get a complete idea of ​​the impact of this type of pollution on the environment, the investigations that are appearing They make it clear that it is very far from being an anecdote. In fact, at least 631 pharmaceutical substances (human or veterinary) have been found in more than 71 countries on five continents. Many of them, at levels higher than those considered safe. In 2022, the CSIC analyzed 258 rivers and, after cataloging the Manzanares River as “the most contaminated by drugs in Europe”, warned that we were in the face of “a global threat to the environment and human health.” “Global threat (…) to human health”? Are we not exaggerating? In the case of antibiotics, to use an example we are all familiar with, this is clearly seen. We have been warning for years that the abuse of these medications leads to the emergence of multiresistant bacteria. That’s true on the consumption part, yes; but also in the part in which enormous quantities of them are dumped into nature every year (with the problems that this causes for ecosystems and the risks that it poses). Why is this news now? Because the European Union wants to take action on the matter and, as Oriol Güell explainsis introducing a whole new battery of measures in the renewed Directive on Urban Wastewater Treatment. The goal is to “reduce the compounds discharged into the environment by more than 80%”; the environment, the introduction of a whole series of “quaternary treatments” (ozone, activated carbon, new membranes, etc…) in the treatment systems. The problem? that the EU wants them to pay the affected industries: above all, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. An idea that the sector has not liked. As expected, the application of the “polluter pays” principle in these terms has not pleased the sectors involved. Above all, because of the costs. According to the employers’ associations of both sectors, the application of the European directive would lead to an increase of about 500 million euros in Spain alone. And, beyond the expected conflicts between companies and administration, it is true that the movement is paradoxical. Not because it is not reasonable to charge the costs of water treatment to those who produce them; but because just a couple of years ago, Europe announced its intention to bet on having drug factories on the continent (and thus reduce its dependence on international supply lines). Towards a culture of responsible drug use. Be that as it may, in the end we always return to the same thing: the drug industry is heading straight into a very complex crisis in which health, economic, environmental and cultural issues intermingle so as not to lead us to a dead end. One in which we risk our health, the future and our lives. Image | manuel mv | Joshua Goge In Xataka | The Ozempic boom is so big that US pharmacies have decided to do something unusual: start manufacturing it themselves

Almost all big technology companies have failed in China. Not an unknown Indian company: InMobi

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Today, there are few global Internet companies that have managed to prosper in China. The Google search engine and other products from the American giant were no longer available in this Asian market more than a decade ago. amidst controversies over content censorship. Something similar happened with platforms like FacebookX (Twitter) and Amazon. However, InMobi has managed to make its way where many others have failed. It is an Indian company that operates at both ends of the advertising ecosystem. Advertising agencies and brands turn to it to help their ads reach mobile device users. Developers, for their part, monetize their applications and games by facilitating the integration of ads managed by InMobiwhich also collects data to refine its products. How to conquer the second largest mobile advertising market in the world Founded in 2007 in Bangalore, from the beginning it aimed to go beyond its country of origin because a large part of Indians still used basic mobile devices. The main markets of its business niche were in United States and China, scenario that hasn’t changed much since then. So he decided to bet first on the North American country and then for the Asian. After obtaining millions of dollars of financing backed by SoftBankInMobi decided to directly enter the world’s second largest advertising market in 2012. The Indian company not only aimed to offer advertising services for local clients, but also to become a bridge for US clients looking to have a presence in China. The company picked it up in a study published a year later of its arrival on the market. understand the Chinese cultural characteristics and the specific reasons driving user behavior was key to the business. InMobi grew steadily over the years until reaching the profitability of its global business in 2017. By the time it reached that milestone, its revenue in China had grown 15 times over the previous three years. InMobi quickly became the largest independent mobile advertising platform in the world. In 2017, this firm’s advertising network reached between 80% and 90% of Chinese smartphones. The service offering allowed clients to place advertising in more than 37,000 applications, reaching some of the most famous in the country. According to Jessie YangCEO of InMobi China, many foreign players failed in the Chinese market because They did not act quickly enough to adapt. On the contrary, his company outlined a plan according to the needs of the Asian market and did not hesitate to be completely flexible to adjust it along the way. One of the phrases that usually accompanies their press releases is “Think from the user’s point of view”. InMobi’s philosophy repeats: “Think from the user’s point of view.” InMobi’s success in China has given rise to numerous analyzes of the keys to its achievement. Some of them rescue very interesting elements. For example, the company was able to understand the Chinese market. To achieve this, he hired local staff, including Jessie Yang, who had worked at a reputable consulting firm. He also carefully studied the Chinese market, identifying trends and trying to stay one step ahead. At first he took advantage of his presence in other countries such as the United States to work alongside Chinese giants like Tencentthe creators of WeChatto get clients in international markets. Last but not least, he cultivated local partners. China has very strict rules for foreign companies that want to operate within its borders. But tell it to Blizzard and its tense relationship with NetEase. InMobi worked to have good synergy with local firms such as FuguMobile. Once its reputation was established, InMobi began working with large American companies such as Microsoft. Why other foreign companies have failed in China After learning about InMobi’s achievement in China, the question arises why other foreign companies They have not had the same fortune. Some of the reasons have been made evident in the previous paragraphs, but let’s delve a little deeper into this aspect taking into account the very interesting analysis which former Silicon Valley Bank CEO Ken Wilcox did a while back. Launching into the Chinese market without a local partner is practically a leap into the void. No matter how big the corporation is that dares such a feat, the most common thing is to choose to set up a joint venture. And it is precisely here where the first great challenge appears. Companies usually have different final objectives, which ends up generating conflicts and, in many cases, failure. Another great challenge is the cultural barrier, and especially the concept of “guanxi”. This system, based on building personal relationships through trust and mutual obligations, is key in Chinese business. For foreign companies that do not master this dynamic, moving in this field is complicated, especially when some practices may seem directly inappropriate from a Western prism. The Chinese regulatory environment is often another problem, and one of the main reasons why foreign companies need local partners. It depends on the type of business, but companies typically need a variety of licenses to operate, plus they must submit regular reports to regulators, which adds an additional operational burden. Finally, companies must coexist with the constant presence of Chinese Communist Partywhich has considerable control of the businesses carried out in the country. Wilcox explains that Western companies are not usually used to this type of dynamic. Images | InMobi | David Veksler | Alejandro Luengo | HaziiDozen In Xataka | China investigates whether the US CHIPS law harms its companies: the mature semiconductor market is at stake

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