One quick thing: PLI scheme for mobile manufacturing has created 5 lakh jobs, says IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

In today’s newsletter: 

• ChatGPT turns one
• Rich should pay higher taxes: Murthy
• Ola unveils direct UPI driver payments

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ChatGPT, the AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, just turned one year old. And what a year it has been!

• And in a fitting gift on ChatGPT's first birthday, OpenAI received the ultimate birthday gift! (More on that later)

In just one year, ChatGPT has quickly risen to prominence, not only captivating tech enthusiasts but also making AI mainstream among the masses.

• The soaring popularity of the AI chatbot forced tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta to rush to integrate generative AI capabilities into their respective offerings

• ChatGPT also sparked a broader conversation about the role of AI in society, raising crucial questions about ethics, bias, and the future of work

The AI chatbot’s ability to generate human-like text and answer questions in an informative way has captured the imagination of millions.

Coinciding with ChatGPT's first birthday, OpenAI today announced the return of Sam Altman as CEO. 

• Altman, who was recently ousted in a (failed) boardroom coup, is back at the helm, with Microsoft securing a non-voting observer seat on OpenAI's board

The new board includes former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who will assume the role of chairman, and Larry Summers, the former Secretary of the Treasury. 

• Quora co-founder Adam D'Angelo is the only person who will remain from the old board

Mira Murati, who was named interim CEO after Altman's sudden ouster, will return to her previous CTO position, while Greg Brockman will return as president

• OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who was among the board members that fired Altman and later expressed regret for his role, is exploring ways to continue his work at the AI startup, Altman said in a message to the company

Also read: A timeline of Sam Altman's ouster and return to OpenAI

Altman outlined three immediate priorities for OpenAI:

• Advancing research in artificial intelligence
  
  
• Continuing to improve and deploy products
  
  
• Building a beneficial artificial general intelligence

While the industry is rapidly embracing generative AI, the looming challenge is regulation!

• OpenAI and other AI firms face the task of navigating the regulatory landscape, ensuring responsible and ethical AI development

P.S. ChatGPT wrote a poem on turning one. Read what it said

Picture credit: Bing 

NR Narayana Murthy, one of India's richest tech billionaires, has endorsed higher taxes for the wealthy.

The Infosys founder said that the rich should pay higher taxes so that the government can provide many public services to the less privileged.

"We have to realise that India is a poor country with a per capita GDP of $2,300, which is far away from being called a middle-income country," Murthy said. 

Murthy, however, believes that nothing should be given for free. People who avail themselves of these services and subsidies should also contribute to making our society better, he said.

For example, if the government plans to provide free electricity to citizens, it should also state that this benefit would only be made available if the percentage attendance in schools goes up by 20 percent, Murthy suggested.

The software industry icon also mentioned that people in the infrastructure industry must work three shifts to expedite Bengaluru’s infrastructure development and make prompt decisions.

"For example, completing the Electronic City Metro and expanding to other areas where there are a lot of companies, have to be taken up on a priority," he said.

Also read: If a company has the mindset to innovate, it won’t have to worry about AI: Narayana Murthy

Following in the footsteps of Swiggy and Zomato, Ola has also adopted the new UPI-Plugin option introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) last year.

In a move to enhance user convenience, Ola Cabs today announced the launch of an in-app payment feature powered by the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) plugin. 

This feature will enable riders to make payments directly through the Ola app, eliminating the need to switch to third-party applications like PhonePe or GPay.

• Users can simply create their UPI ID and link their bank accounts directly within the Ola app

• The feature is scheduled to roll out in Bengaluru by the end of this week and nationwide by the end of December

UPI plug-ins or merchant SDKs (software development kits) are gaining traction within the digital payments landscape.

• Payment gateways like Paytm, Razorpay, and JusPay have introduced UPI Plug-in solutions for their merchants

These solutions enable businesses to facilitate faster and smoother transactions without requiring customers to navigate third-party apps.

Find out more

• Stability AI, a British AI startup, is exploring a sale as it faces investor pressure over its finances.

• Google DeepMind has used AI to predict the structure of more than 2 million new materials, which could lead to better-performing batteries, solar panels, and computer chips.

An AI-powered mind performance app, a made-in-India mobile shooter game, and a therapy & self-care app - these are some of the apps selected by Google as part of its list of the best apps and games of 2023.

• Google has selected apps across 24 categories on the India Play Store for this list and many apps are from local developers

Read the entire list

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