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E-Business

NITDA Eulogies Impact of NAIDT Programme @ One

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NITDA AI Developers Training (NAIDT) programme, which started as NITDA Developers Group (NDG) Training, is a programme borne out of the need to accelerate the capacity of young Nigerians in Artificial Intelligence, which is one of the most highly demanded tech talent today.

Through NAIDT with the support of volunteers from Google Developers Group (GDG), NITDA has empowered many Nigerian youth and set them on the path to starting a journey that will not only transform their lives but will create a positive domino effect that will impact our society.

NAIDT is anchored on the NITDA “Learn, Teach and Earn” philosophy, which has led to graduates of the programme becoming instructors, hence perpetuating a cycle of learning, teaching, and earning. Former participants are now teaching and mentoring the next generation of tech enthusiasts while augmenting their financial standing through their earnings in the programme.

As NITDA and GDG celebrate NAIDT at One, remarkable successes have been achieved, with not only trained and upskilled Nigerian youths but with participants going ahead to create their innovation-driven startups such as ElonosiaAI, FundusAI, Gyronics to name a few.

Others have become ambassadors of tech Giants like Microsoft, while some are using their skills to offer services to foreign companies while living in the country.

At One, NAIDT has gone through 12 cohorts, with training for a total of 2,785 Nigerians from all works of life, such as NYSC corps members, graduates, secondary school students and artisans. Participants are trained in machine learning, data analytics and other AI areas such as natural language processing (NLP). The use of AI tools such as ChatGPT to leverage large language models is also taught during the NAIDT trainings.

On the occasion of the NAIDT at One celebration, the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, congratulated the beneficiaries and promised to facilitate the success of the startups originating from the programme. He also thanked the GDG for their unwavering support in ensuring the success of the programme.

The DG, however, decried the low percentage of female participants, which stood at less than 10%. He challenged the GDG to address the gender imbalance by devising innovative ways such as women-specialized trainings on AI and other emerging technologies.


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E-Business

Schmidt, Ex Google Chief Says AI Risky in Terrorist Hands

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Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO
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Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO has expressed concerns about the extreme risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) falling into the hands of terrorists or rogue states.

Schmidt, Ex Google Chief Says AI Risky in Terrorist Hands

Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO

He warned that nations such as North Korea, Iran, and Russia could adopt AI technologies to develop weapons capable of causing significant harm, including biological weapons.

Schmidt urged governments to oversee private tech companies, emphasising, “The real fears I have are not the ones most people discuss about AI, I talk about extreme risk.”

“I’m always worried about an ‘Osama Bin Laden’ scenario, where truly evil individuals take control of some aspect of modern life to harm innocent people,” he added.

With private companies driving AI advancements, he stressed the need for careful government monitoring and regulation. “It’s really important that governments understand what we’re doing and keep their eye on us,” he said.

His remarks followed a two-day AI summit in Paris, where the UK and the U.S. declined to sign a communiqué outlining the future direction of AI. The declaration on “inclusive and sustainable artificial intelligence for people and the planet” was endorsed by 57 countries, including India, China, the Vatican, the EU, and the African Union Commission.

The UK justified its decision, stating that the agreement lacked “practical clarity” on global AI governance and national security concerns.

Schmidt supports U.S. export controls restricting the sale of advanced AI microchips to certain countries, aiming to slow adversaries’ progress in AI research.

He also highlights the importance of international collaboration on AI safety, suggesting that cooperation with nations like China is essential to addressing global AI challenges.

 

 


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OpenAI CEO Rejects $97.4Bn Takeover Bid from Elon Musk

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Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI
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Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI, has firmly declared the company “not for sale” following a $97.4bn (£78.4bn) takeover bid from a consortium led by Elon Musk.

OpenAI CEO Rejects $97.4Bn Takeover Bid from Elon Musk

Elon Musk

Speaking at the AI Action Summit in Paris, Altman emphasised OpenAI’s mission to develop AGI (artificial general intelligence) for the benefit of humanity.

Marc Toberoff, attorney for Elon Musk, confirmed the bid submission on Monday.

In response, Altman humorously offered to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion on Musk’s platform.

Unlike many tech giants, OpenAI is not publicly traded but operates through a complex partnership between non-profit and for-profit entities.

Musk aims to return OpenAI to its non-profit roots, despite owning a rival firm, xAI.

Christie Pitts, a tech investor, expressed scepticism about Musk’s intentions, noting his competitive interests.

Altman echoed this sentiment, suggesting Musk’s move disregards OpenAI’s mission.

Altman, who holds no stock in OpenAI, advocates transforming the organisation into a fully for-profit company to raise more funds for AI research.

Although the board has the final say, the $97.4bn offer falls short of OpenAI’s previous $157bn valuation and rumoured $300bn in future funding talks.

Toberoff stated the consortium might increase their bid. Meanwhile, OpenAI is collaborating with Oracle, a Japanese investment firm, and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund on “The Stargate Project,” a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative announced by President Donald Trump.

 

 

 

 


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Adobe Launches AI Video Tool to Compete with OpenAI

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Adobe yesterday released the first public version of an artificial intelligence tool that can generate video clips and revealed how much it will charge, but said it will not set pricing for major users such as studios until later this year.

The Firefly Video Model, as Adobe is calling the service, will compete against Sora, a model developed by ChatGPT creator OpenAI, and startup Runway, both of which currently offer video-generation services. Facebook owner Meta Platforms has also developed a video-generation AI model but has not given a timeline for when it will be released.

Adobe’s model differs from its rivals because it is geared toward generating clips that will fit into how film and television studios use Premiere Pro, its flagship video editing software.

To that end, many of the features that Adobe is emphasizing revolve around feeding existing shots into the video model and asking it to generate clips that fix or expand on shots that were taken on a real production set but that did not come out quite right.

Adobe said the service will generate five-second clips at 1080p resolution. While that is shorter than the clips of up to 20 seconds generated by OpenAI’s service, Adobe executives said the majority of individual clips in most productions are only three seconds.

Adobe said a user can generate 20 clips per month for $9.99 and 70 clips for $29.99. That compares with 50 videos for $20 per month with OpenAI’s plan at lower resolution and a $200 OpenAI plan that can handle longer, higher resolution videos.

Adobe is also working on a “Premium” pricing plan for studios and other high-volume video users and will release those pricing details later this year. Alexandru Costin, Adobe’s vice president of generative AI, said the company is working to generate 4K video and will remain focused on quality rather than longer clips.

“We actually think that great motion, great structure, great definition scheme, making the actual clip look like it was film, is more important than making a longer clip that’s unusable,” Costin told Reuters.

 


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