By Antonio Reynolds, Stephen Conley and Kimberly Alli ( December 20, 2024, 3:26 PM EST) — In 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made significant strides in its efforts to regulate Big Tech and nonbank financial firms. Under Director Rohit Chopra’s third year of leadership, the CFPB utilized its rulemaking authority, interpretive rules and enforcement to bolster regulatory guidance and rein in alleged bad actors…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

In the traditional English Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” a slightly overgenerous suitor bestows on their true love a series of increasingly lavish gifts to mark the yuletide season. The twelve days of Christmas themselves actually refer to the period between Christmas day and Epiphany, when the Magi are understood to have arrived at the mangerside of a certain recently born infant. Rather than waiting until then to post this blog, though, as today marks twelve sleeps until Christmas Day, I thought I would take the opportunity to suggest what a revenue operations-minded true love might consider as suitable stocking fillers. First day: a RevOps operating model. The right operating model avoids overreliance on job titles and reporting lines to configure a high-performing framework wrapped (naturally) in a set of operating principles. Second day: a revenue process transformation. Buyers are changing, and so must businesses to ensure that they continue growing, which requires changing their focus, work and culture. Third day: a campaign-aligned budget plan. Key to effective budgeting is building a campaign strategy that clearly connects goals, spending, and outcomes rather than treating the funding part as an afterthought. Fourth day: better marketing measurement. Relying on marketing-sourced revenue as a KPI, we like to quip, is the fastest way for a CMO to get fired, so ditch the sourcing metrics. Fifth day: a data quality strategy. At this time of year, it’s timely to remember that data quality is for life, not just for the holidays, which necessitates a suitable marketing and sales data strategy. Sixth day: operational excellence. Although frequently overlooked, streamlined and optimized processes are the bedrock to achieving successful B2B outcomes. Seventh day: AI tools for RevOps. Generative AI is widely deployed across B2B marketing, and RevOps teams have plenty of options to maximize their own efficiency and performance with AI, too. Eighth day: omnichannel-empowered buyers. The right technology enables B2B revenue leaders to win, retain, and grow customers by enabling buyers to buy how they want to buy. Ninth day: buying group-enabled martech. High-consideration B2B purchases are today made by groups of between four and nine people, likely requiring a revenue marketing platform that is suitably enabled. Tenth day: genAI-driven personalization. Among the top use cases for AI in B2B marketing, there are plenty of opportunities to leverage it throughout the buyer journey. Eleventh day: a ticket to B2B Summit North America. Taking place in 2025 on a new date (March 31–April 3) and in a new location (Phoenix, Arizona), B2B Summit North America will deliver solutions to the challenges facing B2B right now. Twelfth day: advice for the year ahead. Ranging from the rise of AI coworkers in B2B organizations to quitting trying to scale chaos, there is plenty of insight and guidance to be had. The observant will have noticed that, unlike the gifts in the song, these are all in the singular. Putting aside what use anyone would have for ten leaping lords, for instance, certainly nobody needs more than one operating model or revenue process. As such, you’ll allow a little creative license, I’m sure! And so, whether that special person in your life will place some or all of these items under the tree for you, I’m sure even a few of them will result in a small epiphany of your own. Happy Holidays! “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as seen by AI: While the words aren’t quite right, they’re probably no worse than when most people try to sing it! source

由友邦香港(AIA)冠名贊助，全城矚目冬日盛典「友邦嘉年華」 於中環海濱活動空間盛大開幕，慶祝 10 歲生日。是次嘉年華由 2024 年 12 月 20 日至 2025 年 2 月 16 日舉行，誠邀廣大市民及遊客一同參與慶祝這場跨越聖誕節、新年和農曆新年的大型盛事。 作為中環海濱的標誌性活動，「友邦嘉年華」每年吸引接近數以百萬計人士入場，為大家帶來優 質的家庭娛樂體驗，亦成為香港人冬季「必去」的活動，吸引刺激愛好者、家庭、情侶以及來自 各地及各年齡層的人，透過這世界級的合家歡活動，聯繫各社群，為大家帶來歡樂及難忘體驗。友邦香港及澳門首席執行官馮偉昌表示:「過去十年，『友邦嘉年華』已經成為香港大型盛事。這 個標誌性的冬季活動匯聚社區各界，包括我們的客戶、慈善團體、遊客及廣大市民，共同創造無 數快樂回憶。過去十年的『友邦嘉年華』更為香港帶來港幣 18 億經濟效益。 今年，為慶祝『友邦嘉年華』的十歲生日，我們以『Season of Love』為主題，將捐贈 40,000 張門票予慈善團體，並向病童贈送毛公仔，藉此進一步在社區傳播歡樂和分享愛。我們希望『友 邦嘉年華』繼續在社區帶來歡樂，讓大家與摰愛創造更多快樂回憶，實踐『健康長久好生活』。」 為慶祝「友邦嘉年華」10 歲生日，我們將舉辦有史以來最大型的活動，除了備受歡迎的經典機 動遊戲項目回歸外，還有令人振奮的新景點及首次在香港亮相的項目，包括來自歐洲 28 項機動 遊戲，超過 30 個遊戲攤位，贏取超過 100 萬隻全新毛公仔。此外，更設有互動探索區和攝影 區，期望為您創造最難忘時刻。今年的美食村和社區舞台規模進一步擴大，提供 19 個美食攤位 和匯聚 300 個社區合作夥伴，再加上首次亮相的「藍妹大排檔」，將為大家帶來一個集視覺享受和動感娛樂於一身的休憩空間。 活動舉辦單位 Great China Entertainment Group 首席執行官 Randy Bloom 表示:「今天我們 慶祝這個香港珍愛的傳統十周年;標誌著我們旅程中的一個重要里程碑。過去幾星期，我們的團 隊一直努力不懈地打造此非凡的製作，承諾在這個節日期間點燃喜悅，帶給訪客們無限歡樂。這 個活動年復一年的演變，見證我們合作夥伴、社區和忠實粉絲的堅定支持。我們為這個活動在過去十年中所取得的成就感到自豪，並熱切期待歡迎每一位來到『友邦嘉年華』的您。」 「友邦嘉年華」現場娛樂無限。除了廣受歡迎的遊樂設施、攤位遊戲、打卡景點和餐飲選擇外， 今年更增添許多全新精彩亮點。 「友邦峻宇呈獻世界雜技團」雜技表演 在「友邦峻宇呈獻世界雜技團」表演，您將欣賞到全新令人讚嘆的表演。來自 12 個國家的表演 者將讓您目不轉睛，藝術家們以非凡的技巧，與才華洋溢的演員一起以幽默的方式吸引觀眾眼 球，適合一家大細觀賞。繼去年創下票房紀錄後，享負盛名的 Gandeys Circus 製作的「世界雜 技團」再度強勢回歸。這次網羅了來自哥倫比亞、阿根廷、墨西哥、埃塞俄比亞、巴西和英國， 全球頂尖人才組成超級巨星陣容，帶來充滿創意和娛樂性的精彩演出。每天最多四場表演，65 分鐘演出不設中場休息。12 月份的演出門票正熱賣中，座位有限，請盡早預留位置。 Live at the Big Top音樂會在嘉年華的壓軸周，大帳篷將再次變身成為香港最獨特的現場音樂表演舞台。2025 年 2 月 11 日至 16 日期間，本地及國際級表演者將聚首一堂，包括香港炙手可熱的創作歌手 Gareth.T、 全球白金銷量的音樂才子 Christopher、人氣節目“Mania – The ABBA Tribute”，以及由 Magic Room x SuNKeN 帶來的特別派對等，讓您在獨特而親密的環境中與心儀的表演嘉賓近 距離接觸，限量門票現已開始發售。 2 月 12 日—Christopher(丹麥)2 月 13 日—Gareth.T 湯令山(香港)與特別嘉賓 Gordon Flanders 2 月 14 日—Magic Room x SuNKeN2 月 15 日至 16 日—Mania – The ABBA Tribute 藍妹大排檔在「友邦嘉年華」首次亮相的藍妹大排檔將展現香港充滿活力的酒吧文化、地道傳統和現場娛 樂，呈現嶄新、熱鬧、親切的大排檔氛圍。當您踏入其中，將會被帶到一個突破界限、充滿創意的地方，成為尋求香港難忘特色的終極體驗 之地。與我們一同參與多元化的活動，包括舞蹈及電子音樂、廣東的士高經典、棟篤笑，以及您 最喜愛的本地潮人掌管的酒吧活動。 這個場地經過特別設計，以香港活力四射場景為首創概念，以滿足不同類型的活動需要，從售票的音樂會、表演藝術演出，以至私人派對和企業活動。參加我們的開幕之夜，成為首批沉浸於獨 特、升級版大排檔體驗之中! 這裡不僅是「友邦嘉年華」入場人士的酒吧，也有門票銷售的活動，活動陣容包括 Jokerz x Takeout Comedy、Cassio、Benny Cee、Soho House、Reflex/Broadback、蘭桂坊、Dead Poets、Call me Al 等。如欲了解活動詳情及購票資訊，請到 https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-blue-girl-dai-pai-dong-3910273。 「友邦嘉年華」360度觀景台利用風景如畫的中環海濱位置，我們特意建造了一個高架觀景台，為遊客提供在社交媒體分享 的打卡點。於這個黃金位置，您可以拍攝到標誌性的香港摩天輪、最受歡迎的飛天鞦韆和燈塔滑 梯，展現了香港海濱壯麗的天際線，這些景點預計將成為今年冬季香港最受青睞的攝影景點。美 景將充斥著您的社交媒體動態，請萬勿錯過拍攝完美照片的機會。 全新遊樂設施!極限昇空及繽FUN屋世界頂級驚險遊樂設施之一將在「友邦嘉年華」十周年之際再度回港。這個遊樂設施極限昇空高 達35.8米，將人們高高拋向中環海濱的天空中，對於尋求刺激的訪客來說，定必再次成為「 友邦 嘉年華」中最受歡迎的遊樂設施之一。另外，全新的繽FUN屋亦是首次在香港亮相，保證會帶來 令人毛骨悚然的樂趣，讓你雙腿發抖。這兩個景點將會廣受歡迎。 合作夥伴活動:今年，友邦嘉年華有七個核心支持夥伴:瑞銀集團、國泰、lankwaifong.com、「 樂高集團、Trip.com、「 The「Sandbox「 和「 Mercedes「Benz。這些品牌都是去年的合作夥伴，還有更多國際品牌帶來全 新的互動活動、送贈紀念品和品牌推廣活動，為「友邦嘉年華」增添更多樂趣。 LinkedIn Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp source

By Jeff Montgomery ( December 20, 2024, 4:45 PM EST) — A federal jury in Delaware on Friday rejected semiconductor design and licensing giant Arm Ltd. Inc.’s claims that Qualcomm Inc. breached Arm’s chip architecture licensing and trademark rights, but was declared hung on matching claims against Nuvia Inc., acquired by Qualcomm in 2021… Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Skoda and Volkswagen are the latest vehicle manufacturers that have had vulnerabilities discovered in their cars that could allow malicious actors to execute code remotely. The exploits can range from tracking GPS coordinates and speed data to recording conversations in the car via the in-cabin microphone and, if skilled enough, even control functions such as stopping and starting the vehicle. These incidents confirm that security vulnerabilities with connected vehicles are ongoing. In my recent connected vehicle security report, I discuss how modern cars are just a rolling network of internet-of-things devices connected through a gateway to the internet to communicate with the vehicle manufacturer. Depending on the car’s age, the car’s internal components can be brand-new (likely meaning that security considerations went into the programming) or a decade-plus old, so there’s no telling how many security vulnerabilities are inside a given vehicle. Along with that, modern conveniences like mobile apps for the infotainment system or remote start/stop allow owners to interact remotely with the vehicle through the internet, and like all internet-connected devices, hackers just love to discover new vulnerabilities that give them control of a device or vehicle, giving new meaning to the term “crashing the computer.” The other issue with modern connected cars is that they collect a lot of data, from the car itself as well as from the devices connected to it. In 2023, a federal judge in the US ruled in a class-action suit that vehicle manufacturers have a right to use the data they collect from the car they sold you, including the phone logs and text messages you send through the infotainment system. This is a serious privacy issue, but considering that many employees will connect their business or personal smartphones to their car, or to a rental, this now means that business data can be collected by these cars, shared with the manufacturer, and the automaker is then free to use that data as they see fit. If that doesn’t concern you enough, Ford is now seeking a patent to record conversations that happen within its vehicles in order to serve you ads. Ads within a browser on your PC are bad enough, but in a car? This would mean that Ford (and possibly other automakers) could have access to any conversation you have in your car, which could potentially compromise business secrets or even national security secrets. So what can be done about this? From a technological perspective, not much. Yes, as a business leader, you can utilize unified endpoint management solutions to gain better control of the mobile devices that are used for business within your enterprise and mobile threat defense offerings to secure this endpoint. But once that device is communicating with the connected car, you have little control over what info is shared with the car, outside of just not allowing that to happen. From a business policy perspective, you need to institute policies that inform employees about how certain vehicles (especially newer ones) could be collecting business data and how to mitigate those risks. This is the same as existing policies that many organizations have implemented to educate employees on proper BYOD usage, such as not connecting to open Wi-Fi at the coffee shop. There are a lot of privacy risks with modern cars, and more people are becoming aware of them. If you are interested in discussing how to improve the security posture of your connected vehicles, reach out and schedule an inquiry or guidance session with me today. source

When President-elect Donald Trump declared that he would “shut it down” during his campaign, many dismissed it as mere rhetoric. Yet beneath the sound bite sits a policy approach that’s surprisingly ordinary — at least by international standards. It’s what many democracies call “machinery of government” (MoG) changes: administrative overhauls — common in countries such as Australia, Canada, and the UK — that align government functions with evolving policy priorities. What Are Machinery Of Government Changes? MoG refers to the administrative restructuring of government organizations: creating new departments, merging existing ones, or redistributing their functions. MoG changes enhance government effectiveness and efficiency by tailoring structures to serve the needs of the moment. In parliamentary democracies, prime ministers regularly wield MoG powers to respond to emerging challenges or shift priorities. For instance: Australia: The Department of Climate Change was reestablished to reflect renewed environmental priorities in 2022. Canada: The Indigenous Services portfolio was divided to address reconciliation with First Nations more effectively. United Kingdom: The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy was split into three distinct entities in 2023. A Comparison Of US And Commonwealth Approaches In the United States, MoG changes are disdained as chaotic political overreach, especially when considered through a partisan lens. The US, constrained by its separation of powers, requires Congress for major restructuring, making the process slower and more fragmented. By contrast, MoG changes are considered pragmatic in parliamentary systems, where more centralized authority enables swift changes. Aspect United States Commonwealth (e.g., Australia, the UK) Decision-Making President, with Congress’ involvement Prime Minister/Cabinet decision Legal Requirements Often requires legislative action Executive prerogative; less legislative input Speed Of Changes Slow; often crisis-driven Fast, proactive, and systemic Drivers Of Change Crises or political mandates Strategic policy shifts Examples  DHS (2003); DNI (2004); CFPB (2010) MBIE (2012); UK Health Security Agency (2021) Why More Systematic And Regular MoG Changes Could Work For The US Adopting a more MoG-like approach to government restructuring offers several benefits. Future administrations — regardless of party — could use MoG changes to modernize government operations and better serve national priorities by: Aligning better with policy priorities. An MoG approach could reorganize departments to align with evolving national goals, such as reshaping energy and environmental agencies to address climate change. Improving civil service efficiency. The US federal government is notorious for duplication of effort. For example, over 40 federal agencies oversee food safety. Streamlining such fragmented oversight could cut costs and improve service delivery. The incoming Trump administration has proposed merging the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety responsibilities with the Food Safety and Inspection Service to create a single “Federal Food Safety Agency” to unify oversight. Increasing responsiveness to crises. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the limits of US bureaucratic agility. Establishing temporary crisis agencies or task forces with clear mandates — as is done in the UK and Canada — could help the US respond more effectively to future challenges, whether public health emergencies or natural disasters. Modernizing the bureaucracy. Eliminating redundant layers of bureaucracy and focusing on digital transformation would make federal agencies more responsive and transparent. For example, the incoming Trump administration has said that it will consolidate narrow commissions and bureaus such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Similarly, Australia folded narrower agencies into a single Border Force. Enhancing customer experiences. By focusing agencies on customer journeys, the US government could make customer experiences more intuitive and efficient. Service Canada aligns agency operations around life events such as retirement, unemployment, or having a child. The Biden administration has already taken steps toward a journey-centric life events model (Forrester client access only). Simplifying politics. MoG changes could help reduce legislative gridlock by shifting responsibilities within the executive branch. While such changes would require careful planning to maintain checks and balances, they could enable administrations to implement necessary reforms without years of partisan negotiation. Could this be the moment that the US federal government embraces MoG as a strategic tool for more effective public services? Let’s discuss. source

The rise of agentic AI could help Australia address its low productivity growth problem while overcoming a burnout epidemic in the country, according to intelligent automation technology provider UiPath. Australia’s productivity growth averaged just 1.2% throughout the 2010s. However, Australia’s Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, noted that the Federal Treasury has downgraded its long-run forecasts for productivity from 1.5% to 1.2%. He has said “there is no more important structural problem” to fix in the economy. Burnout may be a factor impacting workplace productivity. A survey of 1,000 full-time office workers by recruiter Robert Half found that 80% of Australians were experiencing some level of burnout in 2024. These findings are supported by Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index, which revealed that 62% of Australian workers were burned out, higher than the global average of 48%. Yelena Galstian, UiPath’s local head of solutions and customer advisory, told TechRepublic that leveraging AI and automation could help organisations attain productivity gains. It could also help individuals reduce burnout by providing more balance through technology support for manual tasks. Agentic AI will be able to make decisions and perform actions Agentic AI is viewed as the next step in automation. IBM combines planning, memory, tool usage, and autonomous actions to perform various workplace tasks. IBM envisions a future with armies of agents that can interact with humans and perform autonomous actions. Galstian said agentic AI, named one of Gartner’s top 10 trends this year, enables automation to expand into decision-making tasks. AI agents will no longer rely on humans to outline problem-solving steps. They can reason independently and interact with tools, such as robotic automation systems, to perform actions. AI agents poised to handle more cognitive steps Previously, process automation technologies were leveraged to ease the burden of workers completing rules-based tasks, such as data extraction and entry. Galstian noted how the invoice dispute resolution process allowed some tasks to be performed by automation to cut down on time. “Anything that would have been about reading and processing the invoice and entering it into systems, anything that would have been about a quick reply, or entering the result into the final finance systems; all of those types of things are classic automation skills,” Galstian explained. However, as these agents become more advanced in the coming years, they can handle more cognitive steps in a process. They will determine appropriate resolutions independently, involving humans only for escalations, clarifications, or when specific criteria require human oversight. SEE: How Generative AI Is Becoming A Source of ‘Costly Mistakes’ for Enterprise Tech Buyers “The amount of time a human agent will need to spend on invoice dispute resolution will be significantly less than it would have been with traditional automation,” Galstian said. “With agents, we’re giving up that curve of reliability for agency; we’re giving them the opportunity to act independently and make dynamic decisions. AI agents are good for non-deterministic type scenarios … where I might be giving the same input, but there are multiple ways a problem can be solved.” AI agents will have applications across multiple Australian industries Galstian said UiPath was seeing some excitement in the Australian market about agentic AI technologies. “There are so many areas [where it can be applied],” Galstian said. “It’s like the last mile of AI transformation; wherever the processing would have been more about streamlining the process, and there would have been a lot more, I suppose, human intervention that would be required. These are the kinds of processes that are now available for automation.” What industries stand to benefit from AI? Several industries could benefit from agentic AI technologies, according to UiPath. Manufacturing: Manufacturing use cases will be “quite large” in Australia, Galstian said, making traditionally challenging supply chain and logistics planning tasks easier to manage. Retail: Agentic AI could take the Australian retail sector’s ability to market and sell “one step further” by orchestrating more hyper-personalised sales and marketing initiatives. Professional services: Human and virtual agents could work together in professional services, with agents helping with tasks such as analysing financial reports. Health care: Galstian sees multiple use cases for AI agents in Australian health care, such as analysing health results or assisting with patient management. SEE: Is Edge Computing Living To Its Promise In The Australian Market More Australia coverage Workers and organisations stand to benefit from AI agents UiPath’s Global Knowledge Worker Survey released earlier this year, which included Australian knowledge worker respondents, found that the global workforce is experiencing burnout. Almost a third (32%) of employees worldwide said they “felt extremely” or “very” burnt out, compared with 29% in 2023. “A very large cohort of Australian organisations participated in the survey,” Galstian said. “The statistics showed there was so much strain on employees and burnout. A big support for that was that Australian workers were looking for how AI and automation could help them alleviate some of that stress.” More than half (55%) of global respondents to the UiPath survey indicated a reduced workload would help, while over a third (37%) want more time and bandwidth to get their tasks completed, the door seems to be open for AI agents to support workers with tasks if it makes their lives easier. Galstian recommends that Australian organisations seeking productivity gains focus on areas where they already see the potential for automation. “We’re looking for areas of the business where you might have a gut feeling about where challenges lie in terms of inefficiencies,” she said. “We’re looking for where we can reduce non-value added work, opportunities for error, or cycle times, and where, if we were smart about how we did the operations, we could increase scale and speed of something you’re trying to do without driving up costs.” source

By Jeff Montgomery ( December 20, 2024, 4:45 PM EST) — A federal jury in Delaware on Friday rejected semiconductor design and licensing giant Arm Ltd. Inc.’s claims that Qualcomm Inc. breached Arm’s chip architecture licensing and trademark rights, but was declared hung on matching claims against Nuvia Inc., acquired by Qualcomm in 2021… Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More While large language models (LLMs) and generative AI have dominated enterprise AI conversations over the past year, there are other ways that enterprises can benefit from AI. One alternative is large quantitative models (LQMs). LQMs are trained to optimize for specific objectives and parameters relevant to the industry or application, such as material properties or financial risk metrics. This is in contrast to the more general language understanding and generation tasks of LLMs. Among the leading advocates and commercial vendors of LQMs is SandboxAQ, which today announced it has raised $300 million in a new funding round. The company was originally part of Alphabet and was spun out as a separate business in 2022. The funding is a testament to the company’s success, and more importantly, to its future growth prospects as it looks to solve enterprise AI use cases. SandboxAQ has established partnerships with major consulting firms including Accenture, Deloitte and EY to distribute its enterprise solutions. The key advantage of LQMs is their ability to tackle complex, domain-specific problems in industries where the underlying physics and quantitative relationships are critical. “It’s all about core product creation at the companies that use our AI,” SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary told VentureBeat. “And so if you want to create a drug, a diagnostic, a new material or you want to do risk management at a big bank, that’s where quantitative models shine.” Why LQMs matter for enterprise AI LQMs have different goals and work in a different way than LLMs. Unlike LLMs that process internet-sourced text data, LQMs generate their own data from mathematical equations and physical principles. The goal is to tackle quantitative challenges that an enterprise might face. “We generate data and get data from quantitative sources,” Hidary explained. This approach enables breakthroughs in areas where traditional methods have stalled. For instance, in battery development, where lithium-ion technology has dominated for 45 years, LQMs can simulate millions of possible chemical combinations without physical prototyping. Similarly, in pharmaceutical development, where traditional approaches face a high failure rate in clinical trials, LQMs can analyze molecular structures and interactions at the electron level. In financial services, meanwhile, LQMs address limitations of traditional modelling approaches.  “Monte Carlo simulation is not sufficient anymore to handle the complexity of structured instruments,” said Hidary. A Monte Carlo simulation is a classic form of computational algorithm that uses random sampling to get results. With the SandboxAQ LQM approach, a financial services firm can scale in a way that a Monte Carlo simulation can’t enable. Hidary noted that some financial portfolios can be exceedingly complex with all manner of structured instruments and options. “If I have a portfolio and I want to know what the tail risk is given changes in this portfolio,” said Hidary, “what I’d like to do is I’d like to create 300 to 500 million versions of that portfolio with slight changes to it, and then I want to look at the tail risk.” How SandboxAQ is using LQMs to improve cybersecurity Sandbox AQ’s LQM technology is focused on enabling enterprises to create new products, materials and solutions, rather than just optimizing existing processes. Among the enterprise verticals in which the company has been innovating is cybersecurity. In 2023, the company first released its Sandwich cryptography management technology. That has since been further expanded with the company’s AQtive Guard enterprise solution.  The software can analyze an enterprise’s files, applications and network traffic to identify the encryption algorithms being used. This includes detecting the use of outdated or broken encryption algorithms like MD5 and SHA-1. SandboxAQ feeds this information into a management model that can alert the chief information security officer (CISO) and compliance teams about potential vulnerabilities. While an LLM could be used for the same purpose, the LQM takes a different approach. LLMs are trained on broad, unstructured internet data, which can include information about encryption algorithms and vulnerabilities. In contrast, SandboxAQ’s LQMs are built using targeted, quantitative data about encryption algorithms, their properties and known vulnerabilities. The LQMs use this structured data to build models and knowledge graphs specifically for encryption analysis, rather than relying on general language understanding. Looking forward, Sandbox AQ is also working on a future remediation module that can automatically suggest and implement updates to the encryption being used. Quantum dimensions without a quantum computer or transformers The original idea behind SandboxAQ was to combine AI techniques with quantum computing. Hidary and his team realized early on that real quantum computers were not going to be easy to come by or powerful enough in the short term. SandboxAQ is using quantum principles implemented through enhanced GPU infrastructure. Through a partnership, SandboxAQ has extended Nvidia’s CUDA capabilities to handle quantum techniques.  SandboxAQ also isn’t using transformers, which are the basis of nearly all LLMs. “The models that we train are neural network models and knowledge graphs, but they’re not transformers,” said Hidary. “You can generate from equations, but you can also have quantitative data coming from sensors or other kinds of sources and networks.” While LQM are different from LLMs, Hidary doesn’t see it as an either-or situation for enterprises. “Use LLMs for what they’re good at, then bring in LQMs for what they’re good at,” he said. source