One important thing: Will you pay for a more powerful version of ChatGPT? OpenAI has extended its paid ChatGPT subscription service to India, days after unveiling its next-gen AI language model GPT-4 which powers the text-generating chatbot. 

• For a monthly fee of $20, users will gain access to the new chatbot powered by GPT-4, as well as priority access to upcoming features. They will also enjoy faster response times during conversations and the ability to access ChatGPT even during peak demand periods.

For more news from the world of artificial intelligence, do check out our special weekly section 'This Week in AI' below.

In today’s newsletter: 

• Why TCS will not see major change under new CEO
• PhonePe gets another big cheque 
• Bengaluru Metro: Why India Inc is pitching in

Bonus: One of India's finest streaming television series is back for another season. Scroll below for more deets!

Was this newsletter forwarded to you? You can sign up for Tech3 here

Hours after he resigned as the TCS CEO, a usually reserved Rajesh Gopinathan was at his candid best in a joint press conference with the new CEO K Krithivasan.

“I can’t tell you how happy and light I feel. Till a week back it was all-consuming. The last 48 hours it has been very liberating,” he said. 

Gopinathan also said he has no idea what his next move will be, adding that he hasn’t written a resume since the time he was in college!

• That said, Gopinathan mentioned that he wants to make sure that the transition happens smoothly, and that he has no plans to skimp on that. Read more on what Gopinathan said at the conference.

India's largest IT firm will now begin its transition to a new CEO, K Krithivasan, a 34-year TCS veteran and head of the company's BFSI vertical. The vertical accounts for a significant chunk of the company's revenue.

During the conference, Krithivasan said that no great organisational or strategy shifts are on the anvil. 

“We will not make any changes, we will continue to focus on core principles and fine-tune as we go along,” he said.

Analysts are also not anticipating any bumps in the road or drastic shifts under the leadership change.

Why?

• Krithivasan is well-qualified and has grown the business consistently and involved in many strategic changes, they say
  
  
• Krithivasan has built a reputation for being great at execution
  
  
• He is liked, respected, and well-known by clients, and as a BFSI vertical leader, he is unlikely to face external questions about client relationships

Analysts also praised Gopinathan for steering TCS through the pandemic and amid macroeconomic challenges. Though not extraordinary, growth has been in line with industry trends.

At 58, Krithivasan is relatively older than when his peers in other IT companies took on the role of CEO. 

The Board and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran looked at several candidates, Gopinathan said. 

“The unanimous choice was that Krithi is the best fit and the best person for the job at this point in time,” he said.

The funding winter does not seem to be a hindrance for PhonePe, as its proposed larger fundraise appears to be on track.

After General Atlantic, Tiger Global, and others, its largest shareholder Walmart has now made a large investment in the fintech unicorn.

PhonePe has raised $200 million from Walmart at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion.

• With this, the company has now raised $650 million from a clutch of investors since January
  
  
• PhonePe intends to raise $1 billion in new funds, making it the largest funding round since the beginning of 2022.

PhonePe’s fundraise follows the company’s spin-off from e-commerce major Flipkart, which was announced in December. The Flipkart spin-off also completes PhonePe's transition to a fully Indian-domiciled company, which began in 2022.

The company plans to use the new funds to expand its payments and insurance businesses in India, as well as to aggressively launch and scale new businesses such as lending, stockbroking, ONDC (open network for digital commerce)-based shopping, and account aggregators over the next few years.

PhonePe's valuation markup comes as its closest competitor, Paytm, has seen its valuation drop by more than 50% since going public in November 2021, prompting public shareholders to question the company's ability to achieve company-level profitability.

India's startup and tech hub Bengaluru is growing at 5G speeds, but its infrastructure is stuck at 2G.

Corporate giants in the city are collaborating with Bengaluru Metro to address mobility issues. Though metro operators in other cities have collaborated with corporates and offered them station naming rights in order to generate non-fare box revenue, the Bengaluru Metro model is unique. 

• Firms are paying up to Rs 100 crore per station, as well as painting Metro pillars, helping with median maintenance, and contributing to other aspects of the project

The upcoming Metro stations near Whitefield, Outer Ring Road (ORR), Electronics City, and airport road are a boon for many companies in the area. These stretches are known for heavy traffic, but with the Metro, employees can save time on their commute and also cut down on transport expenses.

Some of these firms have entered into agreements with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) for building Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) from the nearest station to their respective campuses as well as funding stations, painting viaducts, pillars, planting saplings and maintaining medians. 

Go deeper

"Any institution can take the horse to the pond, but it is for the horse to drink from it. Here, the pond is the Shakti chip, its open architecture, and industry is the horse,” said IIT Madras director V Kamakoti, when asked about the response the institute-made chip received from industry.

Now, as the government prepares to commercially launch India's first indigenous microprocessor, Shakti, by December 2023, a lack of industry interest casts doubt on its future.

More on the latest installment of our Inside IIT Madras series here

It's been an absolutely thrilling week in the world of artificial intelligence! A flurry of exciting announcements has kept tech enthusiasts on the edge of their seats.

OpenAI, the firm responsible for creating the internet sensation ChatGPT, released a new version of the language model, called GPT-4. This upgraded model is a force to be reckoned with, as it can do much more than its predecessor. 

Not only can it read text, but it can also look at pictures and suggest dinner recipes based on the contents of your fridge! To top it all off, GPT-4 has outperformed its predecessor in a simulated bar exam and can even turn a hand-drawn website mockup into a fully functional website. 

While GPT-4 has been the talk of the town, Google has been making strides of its own.

• The tech giant has revealed an array of AI-powered features for its Workspace productivity suite, integrating generative AI capabilities into key products like Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet. The company is also giving developers access to one of its most advanced AI models. 

Microsoft has also unveiled its plans to make AI more accessible to users by introducing upgrades to its widely used office software. Among them is a new AI "copilot" for Microsoft 365, which includes popular applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Meanwhile, Apple has been working diligently to incorporate generative AI concepts into Siri, its virtual assistant.

• According to a report by the New York Times, Apple engineers have been collaborating with the Siri team to test out similar concepts to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

In the East, things are also heating up with the unveiling of Ernie Bot, the highly anticipated AI-powered chatbot from Chinese search giant, Baidu. As ChatGPT continues to dominate in the West, Chinese tech companies and startups are scrambling to develop worthy rivals.

More from the world of AI:

• Can AI solve IT’s eternal data problem?
  
  
• The stupidity of AI
  
  
• Gods in the machine? The rise of artificial intelligence may result in new religions

• Multiple YouTube influencers have been hit with a class action lawsuit for promoting unregistered securities while endorsing the now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. The lawsuit is seeking damages of over $1 billion.
  
  
• PLBY Group, the parent company of Hugh Hefner's Playboy, announced a $4.9 million impairment loss on the Ethereum it held last year.

It is Friyay! The highly anticipated second season of Rocket Boys is finally here, featuring Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh as Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha and Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai, respectively. 

The season, which also features Arjun Radhakrishnan as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, delves further into the challenges and difficulties these scientists faced to make India a nuclear nation, with a key focus on the country’s first-ever nuclear test at Pokhran in 1974.

Watch it on Sony LIV

It’s also almost the IPL season! For those seeking a more thrilling watch, look no further than Caught Out: Crime, Corruption, Cricket. This sports documentary delves into India's biggest match-fixing scandal, featuring the prominent figures involved and the journalists who uncovered the corruption. Stream it on Netflix.

Note: By subscribing to Tech3 you have already made the right choice. Top it up with a premium offering, the Moneycontrol Pro Panorama, a newsletter that gives you a sharp take on macros, markets, business and finance. Sign up for Pro from this link to get this newsletter in your inbox and also a host of content enjoyed by 500,000+ subscribers.