Deepfakes – essentially putting words in someone else’s mouth in a very believable way – are becoming more sophisticated by the day and increasingly hard to spot. Recent examples of deepfakes include Taylor Swift nude images, an audio recording of President Joe Biden telling New Hampshire residents not to vote, and a video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling on his troops to lay down their arms. Although companies have created detectors to help spot deepfakes, studies have found that biases in the data used to train these tools can lead to certain demographic groups being unfairly targeted. A deepfake of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2022 purported to show him calling on his troops to lay down their arms. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images My team and I discovered new methods that improve both the fairness and the accuracy of the algorithms used to detect deepfakes. To do so, we used a large dataset of facial forgeries that lets researchers like us train our deep-learning approaches. We built our work around the state-of-the-art Xception detection algorithm, which is a widely used foundation for deepfake detection systems and can detect deepfakes with an accuracy of 91.5%. We created two separate deepfake detection methods intended to encourage fairness. One was focused on making the algorithm more aware of demographic diversity by labeling datasets by gender and race to minimize errors among underrepresented groups. The other aimed to improve fairness without relying on demographic labels by focusing instead on features not visible to the human eye. It turns out the first method worked best. It increased accuracy rates from the 91.5% baseline to 94.17%, which was a bigger increase than our second method as well as several others we tested. Moreover, it increased accuracy while enhancing fairness, which was our main focus. We believe fairness and accuracy are crucial if the public is to accept artificial intelligence technology. When large language models like ChatGPT “hallucinate,” they can perpetuate erroneous information. This affects public trust and safety. Likewise, deepfake images and videos can undermine the adoption of AI if they cannot be quickly and accurately detected. Improving the fairness of these detection algorithms so that certain demographic groups aren’t disproportionately harmed by them is a key aspect to this. Our research addresses deepfake detection algorithms’ fairness, rather than just attempting to balance the data. It offers a new approach to algorithm design that considers demographic fairness as a core aspect. source

By Phillip Bantz ( January 31, 2025, 4:56 PM EST) — The bombshell tax-crimes case of U.S. Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein landed at a U.S. Department of Justice outpost in Maryland that has been plagued in recent years by botched cases and internal strife — pitting a beleaguered U.S. attorney against a pair of former Donald Trump attorneys itching for a fight…. 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

By Matthew Santoni ( February 3, 2025, 5:55 PM EST) — An immigration detention facility in Pennsylvania must allow detainees access to virtual hearings for pending criminal proceedings in New Jersey, since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement assumed responsibility for protecting their constitutional rights, a federal judge ruled Friday…. 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

Driving engagement is top of mind for most digital banking leaders. Forrester’s research reveals the immense value — for both customers and banks — of useful, convenient digital banking experiences. The right mobile banking offerings, for example, can unlock new value for a customer and differentiate a bank’s brand. And our broader customer experience research — such as our Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) — shows that improvements in experience design strengthens a bank’s business outcomes in three main ways: Retention — the likelihood of a customer staying with the brand. Enrichment — the likelihood of a customer buying additional products and services from the brand (and, in banking, to turn to the brand with their next dollar or decision). Advocacy — the likelihood of a customer recommending the brand. As they invest in and prioritize digital experiences, bank leaders should consider the willingness of customers to share more data with the bank. This willingness forms an important part of a broader “value flywheel.” The flywheel is especially powerful in banking, since trust (along with related factors such as advice and guidance) is the foundation of sustained, profitable growth (see figure below). In December, we asked consumers in the US and UK about the types of companies with which they are comfortable sharing data — and the factors that increase their willingness to share personal and financial data. We found that: People tend to trust banks to keep their data safe. When asked which “types of companies” respondents “trust to keep [their] personal information and data secure,” banks earned the top spot: Nearly three-quarters (72%) of UK adults and nearly two-thirds (64%) of US adults said they trusted banks (see chart below). Only credit card companies and health providers garnered similar responses in both countries. Most customers are willing to share more data in exchange for value — especially for better money management. Across both the US and the UK, 59% of respondents said they’d be willing to share more of their personal and financial data with a financial services company if they gained some sort of benefit from it. The desirability of specific benefits varied, but in both markets, a plurality of respondents said they’d share more data if the bank “[helped] me save more money.” Other value props included “to let me keep better track of my money” and “to give me long-term financial advice.” It’s clear that banking customers are prepared to share more data, provided the bank offers them something in exchange. The idea of building a “flywheel” has been in vogue for years, so execs might be wary of yet another one. But in this case, the two variables directly fuel one another: Increased and expanded data sharing by bank customers enables banks to offer new and greater value to those customers, which in turn drives deeper engagement and willingness to share even more data. Of course, there’s a big “if” in here: This data-for-value flywheel only works if the bank’s digital, data, and business teams can harness the data with which customers entrust them. To that end, executives should make the most of Forrester’s Data, AI & Analytics service. Executives and leaders at banks should strive to enrich their customers’ digital experiences, not just so that they get higher engagement, user satisfaction, cross-sell rates, and brand advocacy but so that they build and strengthen a data-for-value exchange that helps them create ever-better offerings and gain a durable competitive advantage. Figure 1: Illustrating The Data-For-Value Exchange Flywheel   Figure 2: People Tend To Trust Banks With Personal And Financial Data source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Cerebras Systems announced today it will host DeepSeek’s breakthrough R1 artificial intelligence model on U.S. servers, promising speeds up to 57 times faster than GPU-based solutions while keeping sensitive data within American borders. The move comes amid growing concerns about China’s rapid AI advancement and data privacy. The AI chip startup will deploy a 70-billion-parameter version of DeepSeek-R1 running on its proprietary wafer-scale hardware, delivering 1,600 tokens per second — a dramatic improvement over traditional GPU implementations that have struggled with newer “reasoning” AI models. Response times of leading AI platforms, measured in seconds. Cerebras achieves the fastest response at just over one second, while Novita’s system takes nearly 38 seconds to generate its first output — a critical metric for real-world applications. (Source: Artificial Analysis) Why DeepSeek’s reasoning models are reshaping enterprise AI “These reasoning models affect the economy,” said James Wang, a senior executive at Cerebras, in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. “Any knowledge worker basically has to do some kind of multi-step cognitive tasks. And these reasoning models will be the tools that enter their workflow.” The announcement follows a tumultuous week in which DeepSeek’s emergence triggered Nvidia’s largest-ever market value loss, nearly $600 billion, raising questions about the chip giant’s AI supremacy. Cerebras’ solution directly addresses two key concerns that have emerged: the computational demands of advanced AI models, and data sovereignty. “If you use DeepSeek’s API, which is very popular right now, that data gets sent straight to China,” Wang explained. “That is one severe caveat that [makes] many U.S. companies and enterprises…not willing to consider [it].” Cerebras demonstrates dramatic performance advantages in output speed, processing 1,508 tokens per second — nearly six times faster than its closest competitor, Groq, and roughly 100 times faster than traditional GPU-based solutions like Novita. (Source: Artificial Analysis) How Cerebras’ wafer-scale technology beats traditional GPUs at AI speed Cerebras achieves its speed advantage through a novel chip architecture that keeps entire AI models on a single wafer-sized processor, eliminating the memory bottlenecks that plague GPU-based systems. The company claims its implementation of DeepSeek-R1 matches or exceeds the performance of OpenAI’s proprietary models, while running entirely on U.S. soil. The development represents a significant shift in the AI landscape. DeepSeek, founded by former hedge fund executive Liang Wenfeng, shocked the industry by achieving sophisticated AI reasoning capabilities reportedly at just 1% of the cost of U.S. competitors. Cerebras’ hosting solution now offers American companies a way to leverage these advances while maintaining data control. “It’s actually a nice story that the U.S. research labs gave this gift to the world. The Chinese took it and improved it, but it has limitations because it runs in China, has some censorship problems, and now we’re taking it back and running it on U.S. data centers, without censorship, without data retention,” Wang said. Performance benchmarks showing DeepSeek-R1 running on Cerebras outperforming both GPT-4o and OpenAI’s o1-mini across question answering, mathematical reasoning, and coding tasks. The results suggest Chinese AI development may be approaching or surpassing U.S. capabilities in some areas. (Credit: Cerebras) U.S. tech leadership faces new questions as AI innovation goes global The service will be available through a developer preview starting today. While it will be initially free, Cerebras plans to implement API access controls due to strong early demand. The move comes as U.S. lawmakers grapple with the implications of DeepSeek’s rise, which has exposed potential limitations in American trade restrictions designed to maintain technological advantages over China. The ability of Chinese companies to achieve breakthrough AI capabilities despite chip export controls has prompted calls for new regulatory approaches. Industry analysts suggest this development could accelerate the shift away from GPU-dependent AI infrastructure. “Nvidia is no longer the leader in inference performance,” Wang noted, pointing to benchmarks showing superior performance from various specialized AI chips. “These other AI chip companies are really faster than GPUs for running these latest models.” The impact extends beyond technical metrics. As AI models increasingly incorporate sophisticated reasoning capabilities, their computational demands have skyrocketed. Cerebras argues its architecture is better suited for these emerging workloads, potentially reshaping the competitive landscape in enterprise AI deployment. source

Küresel standartlara göre ABD’de dini milliyetçilik nispeten düşük düzeydedir ancak diğer yüksek gelirli ülkelere kıyasla öne çıkmaktadır Bu basın bülteni orijinal İngilizceden Türkçeye çevrilmiştir. Otuz altı ülkeyi kapsayan yeni bir Pew Research Center anketinde orta gelirli ülkelerde yaşayan insanların yüksek gelirli ülkelerde yaşayan insanlara göre “dinî milliyetçi” (religious nationalists) olma olasılıklarının daha yüksek olduğu bulundu. Ancak dinî milliyetçiler anket yapılan hiçbir ülkede nüfusun çoğunluğunu oluşturmuyordu. Bu raporda, anketimizde dinin ulusal kimlik ve yönetimdeki rolüyle ilgili dört temel sorunun tamamına karşı güçlü bir dindar tavır takınan ve ülkelerinin tarihsel olarak baskın diniyle özdeşleşen kişiler “dinî milliyetçi” (religious nationalists) olarak sınıflandırılmaktadır. Anket yapılan ülkeler arasında dinî milliyetçiliğin yaygınlığı büyük ölçüde farklılık göstermektedir: Almanya ve İsveç’te ankete katılan yetişkinlerin yüzde 1’den azı kriterleri karşılarken, Endonezya’da (%46) ve Bangladeş’te (%45) bu oran yüzde kırkın üzerindeydi. Bu analizde ABD’li yetişkinlerin yalnızca %6’sı “dinî milliyetçi” (religious nationalists) olarak sınıflandırılırken, ABD’li yetişkinlerin ankete katılan diğer yüksek gelirli ülkelerdeki insanlara göre ülkelerinin tarihsel olarak baskın dinî metinin (bu durumda İncil) şu anda ulusal yasalar üzerinde büyük veya bir miktar etkisi olduğunu söyleme olasılıkları daha yüksektir. Ayrıca ABD halkı diğer yüksek gelirli ülkelerdeki insanlara kıyasla İncil’in (yine diğer ülkelerde sorulan kutsal metinlere kıyasla) bu tür bir etkiye sahip olması gerektiğini söylemeye daha meyillidirler. Türklerin büyük çoğunluğu dinin topluma yardımcı olduğunu (%84) ve hoşgörüyü teşvik ettiğini (%90) söylüyor. Üçte ikisi aynı zamanda Türkiye’nin hem Müslüman hem de demokratik bir devlet olabileceğini düşünüyor. Ancak Kuran’ı sorduğumuz diğer ülkelerle karşılaştırıldığında Türkiye’de Kuran’ın ulusal yasayı etkilemesini isteyen kesim çok daha az. Aslında yetişkinlerin yüzde 31’i İslam dininin kutsal kitabının Türk hukuku üzerinde hiçbir etkisinin olmaması gerektiğini düşünüyor. Ankete katılan ve Müslüman nüfusun baskın olduğu diğer ülkelerin aksine, Müslüman Türklerin yalnızca %32’si şeriatın veya İslam hukukunun ülkelerindeki Müslümanlar için resmî yasa olması fikrini kısmen veya güçlü bir şekilde desteklerken, neredeyse yarısı (%48’lik bir çoğunluk) buna güçlü bir şekilde karşı çıkıyor. (“Dini milliyetçileri” (Religious nationalists) nasıl sınıflandırdığımız ve farklı dinler ve dini metinler hakkında nasıl sorular sorduğumuz hakkında daha fazla bilgi.) Ek bulgular: Dinin toplum üzerindeki etkisi Dünya genelinde dine ilişkin görüşler genel olarak olumludur ancak orta gelirli ülkelerde bu durum daha da geçerlidir. Ankete katılan 18 orta gelirli ülkedeki katılımcıların ortalama %87’si, ankete katılan 18 yüksek gelirli ülkedeki katılımcıların ise ortalama %56’sı dinin topluma büyük ölçüde yardımcı olduğunu söylüyor. İnsanlar ayrıca büyük ölçüde dinin hoşgörüsüzlükten ziyade hoşgörüyü teşvik ettiğini düşünüyorlar. Ancak orta gelirli ülkelerdeki insanların, yüksek gelirli ülkelerdeki insanlara kıyasla dinin hoşgörüyü teşvik ettiğini söyleme olasılıkları daha yüksek. İsveç, Almanya, Hollanda, Birleşik Krallık ve Avustralya’daki küçük bir çoğunluk ise dinin hoşgörüsüzlüğü teşvik ettiğini söylüyor. Dünya genelinde dinin batıl düşünceyi teşvik edip etmediği konusunda insanlar ikiye bölünmüş durumda. 36 ülkenin tamamında ortalama %52’lik bir kesim batıl düşünceyi teşvik etmediğini söylerken, %42’si ise teşvik ettiğini söylüyor. Ulusal liderler ve dinle bağlantıları Birçok ülkede, insanların dinî inançlarını savunan bir lidere sahip olmak, kendi dinî inançlarını paylaşan bir lidere sahip olmaktan daha önemli görülüyor. Bu soruları sorduğumuz 35 ülkedeki katılımcıların ortalama %30’u, dinî inançları olan insanların haklarını savunan bir lidere sahip olmanın çok önemli olduğunu düşünüyor. Ortalama %22’lik bir kesim, bir liderin kendi dinî inançlarını paylaşmasının çok önemli olduğunu düşünüyor. Din ve ulusal kimlik İnsanların dinin ulusal kimlik açısından önemine ilişkin görüşleri büyük ölçüde farklılıklar gösteriyor. Örneğin Tunus’ta ankete katılanların %86’sı gerçek anlamda Tunuslu olmak için Müslüman olmanın çok önemli olduğunu söylerken, İsveç’te ise %3’ü gerçek anlamda İsveçli olmak için Hristiyan olmanın çok önemli olduğunu söylüyor. Orta gelirli ülkelerdeki büyük bir kesim, ülkelerinde tarihsel olarak baskın olan dine mensup olmanın, ulusal kimliği gerçek anlamda paylaşmak açısından çok önemli olduğunu söylüyor. Ancak yüksek gelirli ülkelerde pek çok kişi dinin ulusal kimlik açısından hiç önemli olmadığını söylüyor. İsrail, ankete katılanların en azından üçte birinin baskın dine (bu durumda Yahudilik) bağlı olmanın ulusal kimliğin çok önemli bir unsuru olduğunu söylediği tek yüksek gelirli ülke olarak öne çıkıyor. Ankete katılan diğer yüksek gelirli ülkelerin ise dörtte birinden azı bu görüşe katılıyor. Bazı Avrupa ülkelerinde sağcı popülist partilerin taraftarlarının, taraftar olmayanlara göre dine ulusal kimliğin önemli bir unsuru olarak önem verme olasılıkları daha yüksek. Bunların arasında Fransa, Macaristan, İtalya, Polonya, İspanya ve Birleşik Krallık’taki popülist parti taraftarları da yer alıyor. Orta gelirli ülkelerde bile, tarihsel olarak baskın olan dine mensup olmak genellikle o ülkede doğmak, ülkenin gelenek ve göreneklerini paylaşmak ve özellikle yerel dili konuşmak gibi sorulan diğer faktörlere kıyasla ulusal kimlik açısından daha az önemli görülüyor. Bu görüşler hakkında daha fazla bilgi için [Bir insanı “gerçekten” bir ülkeye ait kılan şey nedir?] makalesine bakabilirsiniz. Diğer yüksek gelirli ülkelerdeki insanlarla karşılaştırıldığında Amerikalılar, gerçek anlamda bir Amerikalı olmak için neyin önemli olduğuna dair değerlendirmeler söz konusu olduğunda ideolojik açıdan özellikle bölünmüş durumdalar. Dinî metinlerin ulusal yasalar üzerindeki etkisi Ankete katılan orta gelirli ülkelerin çoğunda yetişkinlerin çoğunluğu, dinî metnin ülkelerinin yasalarını etkilemesi gerektiğine inanıyor. Bu, farklı ülkelerdeki insanlara farklı metinler hakkında soru sorulmasına rağmen genel olarak geçerliliğini sürdürüyor. Avustralya, Kanada, Almanya, Fransa, İtalya, Hollanda, İspanya, İsveç ve Birleşik Krallık gibi birçok yüksek gelirli ülkede, nüfusun yaklaşık yarısı veya daha fazlası İncil’in ülkelerinin yasaları üzerinde hiçbir etkisi olmaması gerektiğini söylüyor. Çoğu ülkede, tarihsel olarak baskın olan dinin mensuplarının, diğer dinlere mensup insanlara kıyasla kendi dinlerine ait metinlerin ülke yasalarını etkilemesi gerektiğini söyleme olasılıkları daha yüksek. Örneğin Hindistan’daki Hinduların %57’si Hindu öğretilerinin Hindistan yasaları üzerinde büyük bir etkiye sahip olması gerektiğini düşünürken, Hindistanlı Müslümanların sadece %26’sı bu görüşü paylaşıyor. Müslüman İsraillilere (%5) göre daha yüksek oranda Yahudi İsrailli (%19), Yahudi kutsal kitabının İsrail yasaları üzerinde büyük bir etkiye sahip olması gerektiğini söyleme eğiliminde. Ancak Haredi (“ultra Ortodoks”) ve Dati (“dindar”) Yahudilerin yaklaşık yarısı (%52), Yahudi kutsal kitabının İsrail yasası üzerinde büyük bir etkiye sahip olmasını isterken, Masorti (“geleneksel”) Yahudilerin yalnızca %10’u ve Hiloni (“laik”) Yahudilerin %2’si bu görüşte. Dinî metinlere ilişkin görüşler Tarihsel olarak baskın dinin kutsal metninin hukuk üzerinde büyük veya orta düzeyde bir etkiye sahip olması gerektiğini söyleyenlere şu soru soruldu: Dinî metin ile halkın iradesi çatışırsa ülkelerinin yasaları üzerinde hangisinin daha fazla etkiye sahip olması gerekir? Görüşler bölünmüş durumda ancak birçok ülkede ideolojik olarak sağ görüşlü insanlar, sol görüşlü insanlara göre yasa yapma sürecinde dinî metinlerin halkın iradesinden daha öncelikli olması gerektiğini söylemeye daha

“If I was an enterprise CIO, I would not use the hosted version of DeepSeek, from DeepSeek via the API. Their terms of service (ToS) explicitly states that they [DeepSeek] will log all queries, metadata, etc and that will be domiciled in China,” said Greg Ceccarelli, advisor at US-based venture capital firm Tola Capital. While the use of DeepSeek’s models via cloud service providers and other platforms, such as Azure, AWS, Hugging Face, and Snowflake, is widely considered safe given that they don’t send back telemetry to DeepSeek, Eden Digital’s Clifford said that the ban may encompass these companies as well and they may be forced to stop offering the model. However, Bradley Shimmin, chief analyst at Omdia pointed out that model users, be those consumers or enterprises, need to be very careful about where they access this model, whether that’s stateside or overseas. source

By Hailey Konnath ( February 3, 2025, 10:21 PM EST) — An Idaho federal judge on Monday again refused to throw out the Federal Trade Commission’s suit accusing mobile app analytics provider Kochava Inc. of selling consumers’ geolocation data without proper consent, ruling that nothing meaningful has changed since Kochava’s previous dismissal bid…. 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

A German startup plans to jumpstart European EVs with an AI-powered brain. Sphere Energy built the system to simulate battery behaviour. The company then predicts a power source’s lifetime in numerous scenarios, from driving styles to temperatures on the road.  According to Sphere, the insights shrink the battery testing cycle by at least a year. Developing a car, meanwhile, could be completed “at least” twice as quickly. Sphere envisions endless benefits: manufacturers will save millions, car prices will plummet, and innovations will increase at exponential rates. The startup’s co-founder, Lukas Lutz, said the plans are unprecedented. “Nobody right now — not even Tesla — can accurately estimate the lifetime of their battery,” Lutz told TNW. “This is something that will be really groundbreaking.” A lifeline for European EVs? Sphere unveiled the project last month at the IBM Research Lab in Switzerland. In a futuristic facility overlooking Lake Zurich, the startup introduced an AI brain called Batty. Batty was initially trained on years of testing data from over 1,000 batteries. Car manufacturers also mix in their own information. The system then simulates a specific battery’s life under various conditions. Customers can test the effects of speeding down motorways and crawling around mountains, applying fast and slow chargers, driving in searing summers and freezing winters. Every aspect will impact the battery’s degradation. The system’s power derives from the transformer architecture — the founding stone of today’s large language models (LLMs). But Sphere’s approach doesn’t rely solely on text. The startup extends the model’s scope by integrating time-series data. As a result, the system can simulate a battery’s behaviour over years. The approach adds a new twist to the LLM paradigm. While a chatbot predicts the next best word, Batty will predict the next best data point. Car companies have been impressed by the results. According to Sphere, the majority of European manufacturers have already used the tech. Batty could provide a vital boost to the continent’s EV makers, which are rapidly losing market share to their Chinese rivals. “Battery development is a huge pain for them — and it shouldn’t be,” Lutz said. “We really want to take away the burden.” But batteries are just the start of Sphere’s ambitions. The company envisions simulating endless energy applications, from electric boats to grid storage. Alongside IBM, the startup is also exploring new levels of simulating batteries. “With these foundation AI models, we understand atomic level behaviour intrinsically,” Lutz said. “But we want to go sub-atomic — with quantum.” source

As reported by several media outlets and confirmed by SAP CEO Christian Klein during its Q4 2024 earnings call, SAP will offer an additional three years of support for some on-premises ERP (enterprise resource planning) customers beyond the existing extended maintenance support of 2030. This news came as a surprise for many ERP customers globally who have been struggling to plan and complete their ECC to S/4HANA migrations under the RISE with SAP offering before the end of 2027, which is the current mainstream maintenance end date. Many of these customers potentially would not have completed the move even by the end of 2030, the extended maintenance end date. While there has been steady adoption of S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition under RISE with SAP, there were no strong indicators that this adoption was accelerating at a higher rate. Two core reasons contributing to this: There’s significant costs and time associated with the sheer amount of massive transformation and systems migration undertaking. Some customers, struggling with budget issues while running a business under the current tough macroeconomic conditions and geopolitical instability, had reservations about the extended time that it would take them to realize the ROI on the migration investment. The other aspect hampering a higher rate of adoption of S/4HANA is the complex technical and third-party applications landscape that is closely tied with the customers’ ERP systems — each with their own end-of-support deadlines, migration costs, licensing complexity, and technical interdependency with different version of the ERP systems’ underlying tech stack. This makes the case for easy and fast S/4HANA migration severely constrained for customers, even when they engage highly mature systems integrators to assist with multiyear migration programs. SAP has recognized these challenges by what appears to be a selective extension of support — with conditions. Details of the new support announcement are as follows: In the first half of 2025, SAP will announce a cloud subscription transition option designed for ERP customers with large and very complex IT landscapes who need more time to transform on their RISE with SAP journey and move to S/4HANA. This option, the SAP ERP private-edition transition option, will consist of an SAP ERP cloud subscription, complemented with services designed to facilitate the transition to RISE with SAP and maintain customers’ business continuity. The option will be offered for the period from 2031 until the end of 2033. The SAP CEO confirmed that this is not a prolongation of the mainstream maintenance for beyond the 2020-communicated deadlines of the end of 2027 and is also not a prolongation of the extended maintenance end-of-2030 deadline. SAP is to release more information to the market in the first half of 2025, with additional details on the offering. While some media outlets have reported that any customers who sign a RISE with SAP contract are the ones who receive the above offer, Forrester has been unable to confirm these statements, as the official details are still forthcoming. As for now, based on Klein’s answers to investor questions during the earnings call, it is certainly not a blanket offer to all customers who sign up and commit to a RISE with SAP contract but is rather very dependent on certain large-scale customers with highly complex application landscapes and third-party application technical stack footprint dependency that prevents them from effectively moving to S/4HANA faster. SAP appears to be offering the customers an easier pathway to transition these third-party applications to the SAP solutions/product stack. Forrester is looking forward to analyzing this aspect further with the official release of more information from SAP in the coming months. For more insights on SAP, S/4HANA cloud transformations, on-premises ERP support, RISE, GROW, or this specific announcement, clients can book time with me (via an inquiry or guidance session). source