AI Sparks Bank Boom, Scandal, and Upheaval
15 April 2024: Banks lead AI innovation; China's AI water cannons; AI replacing analysts; Adobe's unethical AI; $21M secret AI trades; Instagram's AI search.
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Latest in AI,
1. 1-Minute Roundup
2. Headlines
3. AI Investment Deals
4. Other AI News
1-Minute Roundup
Headlines:
Evident report reveals North American banks leading in AI research, patents, and investments
China's AI-powered water cannons escalate tensions in the South China Sea
AI Investment Deals:
Arcadia secures $30M for AI innovation in renewable energy
Cohesity raises $150M to enhance AI-powered cyber resilience
Tabs raises $7M for AI-powered accounts receivable platform
Others:
AI set to replace entry-level financial analyst positions at banks
Adobe's Firefly AI image generator trained on rival platforms' content, contradicting ethical stance
Wife of Chinese AI firm's chairman admits to $21 million in secret stock trades during AI rally
Meta tests AI-powered search bar on Instagram for chat and content discovery
Headlines
Evident Report Uncovers AI Innovation Leaders in Banking
Evident's AI Innovation Report examines how banks foster AI innovation through research, patents, ventures, partnerships and open source.
Why it Matters: Banks that invest strategically in AI innovation will be best positioned to prosper in the coming AI-driven decade. The report provides critical benchmarks and insights for banks to assess their AI innovation capabilities.
By the Numbers:
In 2023, the 50 banks published over 300 AI research papers, a 6x increase from 2018
North American banks published over 80% of all AI research in 2023
AI patents filed by banks increased 21% YoY as of June 2022
Capital One and Bank of America filed 66% of all AI patents in the 12 months ending June 2022
Zoom Out: North American banks, especially JPMorgan Chase, Capital One and RBC, lead in AI research, patents and investments. Building these innovation capabilities takes years, giving the current leaders a significant head start. However, European banks are ramping up their efforts, especially in AI-focused investments.
China’s AI-Powered Water Cannon Escalates South China Sea Tensions
China's advancements in AI-enabled water cannons and aggressive use of this technology against the Philippines heighten tensions in the already volatile South China Sea.
Why it Matters: The combination of China's assertive claims, advanced water cannon technology, and willingness to use force against other claimant nations increases the risk of accidents and unintended escalations in the region.
AI Investment Deals
Arcadia secured $30M in growth funding to accelerate AI innovation in renewable energy deployment and introduce new offerings like battery storage and EV charging.
Cohesity, a data management provider, secured $150M in Series F funding with IBM and Nvidia Corp. to enhance AI-powered cyber resilience across hybrid cloud environments.
Tabs raised $7M in seed funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, bringing its total raised to $12 million. Tabs offers an AI-powered accounts receivable platform tailored for B2B businesses, designed to streamline AR processes and improve profitability amidst cash collection challenges.
Others
AI Set to Replace Entry-Level Financial Analyst Positions at Major Banks
Large financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are testing AI tools that could potentially replace up to two-thirds of entry-level financial analyst positions, transforming hiring practices and IT service delivery.
The move towards AI-driven automation in the financial services industry is expected to significantly impact the roles of CIOs, who will need to adapt to managing AI tools and their various organizational roles while overseeing fewer employees with technology needs.
Adobe's Not So “Ethical” After All
Adobe promoted its Firefly AI image generator as a safer, more ethical alternative to competitors like Midjourney, claiming it was trained mainly on licensed Adobe Stock images and public domain content.
However, it was revealed that around 5% of the images used to train Firefly were AI-generated content from rival platforms submitted by creators to Adobe's stock marketplace, contradicting Adobe's public stance on responsible AI and causing internal disagreement within the company.
Zhang Dihua, wife of Dawning Information Industry Co. chairman Li Guojie, secretly traded 150 million yuan ($21 million) of company stock during a year-long AI-fueled rally, pocketing 590,000 yuan from 232 trades.
The company, which is blacklisted by the US and plays a crucial role in China's AI and computing development, disclosed the affair after a regulatory inquiry but emphasized that Li was kept in the dark about his wife's actions.
Meta Tests AI-Powered Search Bar on Instagram for Chat and Content Discovery
Meta is experimenting with incorporating its generative AI, Meta AI, into the Instagram search bar for both chatbot conversations and content discovery.
The move comes as Meta aims to improve Instagram's search capabilities and discoverability, potentially in response to competition from platforms like TikTok and recent search engine updates from Google that surface results from social media platforms.
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