“This can be developed through certifications like those that CompTIA or AWS [Amazon Web Services] provide,” he says. While previously many technology jobs demanded formal certifications, especially in industries such as cybersecurity and networking, today’s high demand for technology talent means many employers have become more lenient in their education requirements, he says. “Now, those hiring for tech talent are more willing to forgo their degree and certification requirements if candidates can demonstrate they have the necessary skills and experience to do the job,” Farnsworth says. “Candidates can showcase these by highlighting their previous relevant roles and projects, freelance work, skills and/or knowledge of specific tools or programs the role requires, or testimonials from their former employers or connections.” Larsen recommends obtaining and staying up to date on relevant certifications, such as those related to the major cloud providers. It’s a good idea to be familiar with common tools such as Git, Kubernetes, and Terraform, as well as Agile practices, she says. But ultimately, success in IT is about having the skills and the ability to perform the work, not necessarily having a particular formal education in IT, she says. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More While the 2024 U.S. election focused on traditional issues like the economy and immigration, its quiet impact on AI policy could prove even more transformative. Without a single debate question or major campaign promise about AI, voters inadvertently tipped the scales in favor of accelerationists — those who advocate for rapid AI development with minimal regulatory hurdles. The implications of this acceleration are profound, heralding a new era of AI policy that prioritizes innovation over caution and signals a decisive shift in the debate between AI’s potential risks and rewards. The pro-business stance of President-elect Donald Trump leads many to assume that his administration will favor those developing and marketing AI and other advanced technologies. His party platform has little to say about AI. However, it does emphasize a policy approach focused on repealing AI regulations, particularly targeting what they described as “radical left-wing ideas” within existing executive orders of the outgoing administration. In contrast, the platform supported AI development aimed at fostering free speech and “human flourishing,” calling for policies that enable innovation in AI while opposing measures perceived to hinder technological progress. Early indications based on appointments to leading government positions underscore this direction. However, there is a larger story unfolding: The resolution of the intense debate over AI’s future. An intense debate Ever since ChatGPT appeared in November 2022, there has been a raging debate between those in the AI field who want to accelerate AI development and those who want to decelerate. Famously, in March 2023 the latter group proposed a six-month AI pause in development of the most advanced systems, warning in an open letter that AI tools present “profound risks to society and humanity.” This letter, spearheaded by the Future of Life Institute, was prompted by OpenAI’s release of the GPT-4 large language model (LLM), several months after ChatGPT launched. The letter was initially signed by more than 1,000 technology leaders and researchers, including Elon Musk, Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak, 2020 Presidential candidate Andrew Yang, podcaster Lex Fridman, and AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell. The number of signees of the letter eventually swelled to more than 33,000. Collectively, they became known as “doomers,” a term to capture their concerns about potential existential risks from AI. Not everyone agreed. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman did not sign. Nor did Bill Gates and many others. Their reasons for not doing so varied, although many voiced concerns about potential harm from AI. This led to many conversations about the potential for AI to run amok, leading to disaster. It became fashionable for many in the AI field to talk about their assessment of the probability of doom, often referred to as an equation: p(doom). Nevertheless, work on AI development did not pause. For the record, my p(doom) in June 2023 was 5%. That might seem low, but it was not zero. I felt that the major AI labs were sincere in their efforts to stringently test new models prior to release and in providing significant guardrails for their use. Many observers concerned about AI dangers have rated existential risks higher than 5%, and some have rated much higher. AI safety researcher Roman Yampolskiy rated the probability of AI ending humanity at over 99%. That said, a study released early this year, well before the election and representing the views of more than 2,700 AI researchers, showed that “the median prediction for extremely bad outcomes, such as human extinction, was 5%.” Would you board a plane if there were a 5% chance it might crash? This is the dilemma AI researchers and policymakers face. Must go faster Others have been openly dismissive of worries about AI, pointing instead to what they perceived as the huge upside of the technology. These include Andrew Ng (who founded and led the Google Brain project) and Pedro Domingos (a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington and author of “The Master Algorithm”). They argued, instead, that AI is part of the solution. As put forward by Ng, there are indeed existential dangers, such as climate change and future pandemics, and AI can be part of how these are addressed and mitigated. Ng argued that AI development should not be paused, but should instead go faster. This utopian view of technology has been echoed by others who are collectively known as “effective accelerationists” or “e/acc” for short. They argue that technology — and especially AI — is not the problem, but the solution to most, if not all, of the world’s issues. Startup accelerator Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, along with other prominent Silicon Valley leaders, included the term “e/acc” in their usernames on X to show alignment to the vision. Reporter Kevin Roose at the New York Times captured the essence of these accelerationists by saying they have  an “all-gas, no-brakes approach.” A Substack newsletter from a couple years ago described the principles underlying effective accelerationism. Here is the summation they offer at the end of the article, plus a comment from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. AI acceleration ahead The 2024 election outcome may be seen as a turning point, putting the accelerationist vision in a position to shape U.S. AI policy for the next several years. For example, the President-elect recently appointed technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist David Sacks as “AI czar.” Sacks, a vocal critic of AI regulation and a proponent of market-driven innovation, brings his experience as a technology investor to this role. He is one of the leading voices in the AI industry, and much of what he has said about AI aligns with the accelerationist viewpoints expressed by the incoming party platform. In response to the AI executive order from the Biden administration in 2023, Sacks tweeted: “The U.S. political and fiscal situation is hopelessly broken, but we have one unparalleled asset as a country: Cutting-edge innovation in AI driven by a completely

On June 28 2023, Microsoft and LinkedIn launched the AI Skills Initiative certificate program, a library of free videos for professionals who are beginners in generative AI. The program aims to teach participants how to apply generative AI to their work. As of December 2024, Microsoft expanded its library to form the AI Skills Navigator portal. What are the Career Essentials in Generative AI program by Microsoft and LinkedIn? The Microsoft AI Skills Initiative, developed with LinkedIn, consists of five modules. Every module includes a video, and some are supplemented with quizzes, a workbook file, or both. Completing all five modules gives the learner a Professional Certificate in Generative AI to display on LinkedIn Learning. The content presented in the AI Skills Initiative certification skews toward Microsoft’s Copilot instead of its major rival, Google’s Gemini. The Professional Certificate on Generative AI training will be available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese and will be free through 2025. SEE: Learn how generative AI is transforming cloud security. (TechRepublic) “We have the opportunity to provide foundational information to everyone, everywhere, to help us all stay ahead of the skills gaps and harness its creativity to retrieve helpful information,” said Naria Santa Lucia, general manager of digital inclusion at Microsoft, in an email to TechRepublic. “As we are learning, the technology is learning from us, too, and we have the power to shape how the technology can best support us.” SEE: 2024 was the year of agentic AI. The LinkedIn training course is part of Microsoft’s Skills for Jobs program, which includes a training module for teachers, trainers, and facilitators exploring artificial intelligence. Note that some of the material focuses on Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI. More must-read AI coverage Generative AI skills are among companies’ top three training priorities More than 75% of companies plan to adopt AI in the next five years, according to the World Economic Forum. Training employees to use AI and big data is the third-highest company skills-training priority companies plan to focus on over this period, as highlighted in the WEF Future of Jobs 2023 report. That statistic includes generative AI and related technologies, such as machine learning, which fall under the same umbrella. The importance of AI in the workplace is further underscored by Microsoft’s May 2024 Work Trend Index, which found that 75% of knowledge workers use AI at work. However, 53% of people surveyed who use AI at work worry that using it makes them look replaceable. Additionally, some workers (45%) are still concerned they will lose their jobs to AI. On the other hand, a proportionate number of hiring leaders (55%) say they’re concerned about not having enough talent to fill roles in 2025. In last year’s Work Trend Index, 49% of people were concerned about AI making their jobs obsolete.  At the same time, 70% are open to the possibility of delegating some tasks to AI to reduce their workloads. To address these challenges and opportunities, Microsoft proposes upskilling in AI to remediate imbalances. One element of skills training somewhat unique to generative AI is the practice of prompt engineering. “Unlike other enterprise software, generative AI tools require the user to train the tool itself,” said Shravan Goli, chief operating officer at Coursera, in an email to TechRepublic in 2023. “Without good prompts, the tool won’t be able to help employees boost productivity in a meaningful way, and increasing productivity is one of the most promising components of generative AI for workers today.” SEE: Download this customizable prompt engineer hiring kit from TechRepublic Premium. He also noted that generative AI skills training requires ethical oversight, which Coursera considers in its own free training modules. “As with any emerging technology, society is still navigating its broader implications and managing guardrails,” Goli said. “In order to leverage this incredibly powerful tool while still ensuring responsible use by employees, I believe organizations need to carefully outline ethical guidelines.” Note: This story was originally published in 2023 and updated for 2024. source

Payments trends in 2024 and beyond are largely impacted by technology and the state of the economy. We’re seeing a decline in discretionary spending, and an increase in the number of ways consumers like to make payments. Plus, AI and biometrics are also impacting payment security and fraud prevention. Below, I’ll walk you through a few digital payment trends​ to watch as you prepare your business for the future of payment processing. 1. Diversified payment methods One of the more well-known global payment trends​ is payment method diversity. There are so many ways to make payments these days. I can choose cash, card, mobile app, QR code, tap to pay, buy now and pay later (BNPL), or even cryptocurrency. According to a survey by Square, preferences are pretty widespread across the board. While 58% of consumers still use cash, 57% prefer mobile wallets, and 53% use QR code payments. Another 44% use traditional credit and debit cards, 44% use touchless card payments, and 43% use BNPL. BNPL is particularly notable, as it’s now being adopted in more industry verticals than before. Groceries, for example, may be available for purchase via BNPL. In fact, BNPL grocery purchases increased by 40% between 2023 and 2024, according to Deloitte. This is a direct response to the current economic and political climate, which is causing a decrease in discretionary spending. The list of payment options will only continue to grow as the economy moves further away from cash and check and towards innovative payment methods like NFC or biometric payments. This also means considering options like subscriptions, cryptocurrency, saved payments, bill splitting, peer-to-peer (P2P), and gift cards. Here’s another interesting stat from Deloitte: 70% of consumers say their store choice is highly influenced by whether or not the store offers their preferred payment method. It is therefore important for businesses to keep up. Related: Best crypto payment gateways Cash vs cashless Today’s consumers like convenience and options. I remember when it was just a cash or credit world—now, consumers can choose to pay for their purchases in many ways. However, according to data from Square, about 58% of shoppers still prefer cash. In fact, some trends are even indicating a move back to cash and away from digitization. So, there’s really no clear winner in a cash vs. cashless debate. The real answer for businesses is to create ways to allow customers to pay with or without cash. Related: What is a cashless society? From speculation to near-reality Mobile payments and digital wallets Mobile payments and digital wallets—like Apple Pay and Google Pay—are another payment trend that has been around for a while but continues to impact businesses everywhere, especially as this technology evolves. Per Deloitte, 57% of consumers prefer to pay with mobile wallet apps. Digital wallets actually made up 37% of transaction value for e-commerce payments and 15% of POS payments in North America in 2023. Contactless pay can also fall under the category of mobile payments. Mobile payments involve the use of NFC technology so a customer can hold up their phone or smartwatch to the reader rather than having to insert a chip or swipe a card. The contactless payment market is also expected to see major growth—at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 113% through 2029, according to Juniper Research. Related: Top mobile payment methods Crypto payments Cryptocurrency payments skyrocketed in popularity when they were first introduced. The trend did lose some steam partly due to regulatory challenges, currency volatility, susceptibility to fraud, and low confidence in the currency’s viability over the long term, perhaps thanks to the FTX scandal and collapse. With this doubt, the crypto payments market is only forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 17% through 2029. However, since Donald Trump’s re-election, crypto and bitcoin have seen a resurgence of popularity in the United States. 2. Biometrics features Biometric payments are experiencing a surge in growth, with forecasts to grow at a CAGR of 113.6% from 2024 through 2028, per Juniper Research. Some forecasts even say it will be the norm within the next decade. These payments incorporate biometric technology—usually in the form of fingerprint or facial recognition—to improve both data privacy and transaction convenience. Security is a top concern for businesses, both themselves and their customers. This is especially important when it comes to payments—there’s lots of sensitive information going around, so businesses are always looking for ways to tighten things up from a security perspective. Biometric payments are another layer of security that can help accomplish this. Not only does biometric authentication help boost security, but it also makes login and connection more efficient. I can’t tell you how many passwords I have to remember—if I can use my fingerprint or my face to authenticate something instead, that’s one less password I have to keep track of. And remember, shoppers love efficiency and convenience. 3. AI to facilitate and fight fraud Fraud is always a threat to businesses and consumers. According to Avidchange’s B2B Payment Security report, more than three-quarters of businesses have experienced payment fraud in the past year alone. Speaking of security, AI is another payment trend to watch. And this can work in businesses’ favor or, in a worst-case scenario, fraudsters’ favor. Globalpayments reports that as many as 43% of businesses have plans to employ AI technology to help with fraud detection. While AI is an amazing tool to detect fraudulent transactions and add a layer of security, it also makes the work of a hacker much more accessible. Rather than manually decoding payment information, hackers can tap into AI technology to make it easier to accomplish their tasks. In fact, Deloitte actually predicts that AI could enable losses to fraud of up to $40 billion by 2027. So, it’s important to use payment technology that integrates the latest and most advanced security features. 4. Instant payments While consumers love the convenience of being able to pay with anything other than cash, this has also added to delays

By Matt Perez ( December 23, 2024, 3:30 PM EST) — Plaintiffs seeking restitution from Thompson Coburn LLP over a data breach filled a motion Friday to consolidate the group’s eight proposed class actions, as well as appoint three attorneys to interim class counsel over the potential master case…. 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 Katryna Perera ( December 20, 2024, 9:41 PM EST) — The private securities litigation bar experienced a busy 2024, with meaningful and significant rulings in almost all of the nation’s leading courts, and corporations, investors, government agencies and executives fighting over pay packages, disclosures, class certifications and mergers…. 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 Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, known for challenging leading AI vendors with its innovative open-source technologies, today released a new ultra-large model: DeepSeek-V3. Available via Hugging Face under the company’s license agreement, the new model comes with 671B parameters but uses a mixture-of-experts architecture to activate only select parameters, in order to handle given tasks accurately and efficiently. According to benchmarks shared by DeepSeek, the offering is already topping the charts, outperforming leading open-source models, including Meta’s Llama 3.1-405B, and closely matching the performance of closed models from Anthropic and OpenAI. The release marks another major development closing the gap between closed and open-source AI. Ultimately, DeepSeek, which started as an offshoot of Chinese quantitative hedge fund High-Flyer Capital Management, hopes these developments will pave the way for artificial general intelligence (AGI), where models will have the ability to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. What does DeepSeek-V3 bring to the table? Just like its predecessor DeepSeek-V2, the new ultra-large model uses the same basic architecture revolving around multi-head latent attention (MLA) and DeepSeekMoE. This approach ensures it maintains efficient training and inference — with specialized and shared “experts” (individual, smaller neural networks within the larger model) activating 37B parameters out of 671B for each token. While the basic architecture ensures robust performance for DeepSeek-V3, the company has also debuted two innovations to further push the bar. The first is an auxiliary loss-free load-balancing strategy. This dynamically monitors and adjusts the load on experts to utilize them in a balanced way without compromising overall model performance. The second is multi-token prediction (MTP), which allows the model to predict multiple future tokens simultaneously. This innovation not only enhances the training efficiency but enables the model to perform three times faster, generating 60 tokens per second. “During pre-training, we trained DeepSeek-V3 on 14.8T high-quality and diverse tokens…Next, we conducted a two-stage context length extension for DeepSeek-V3,” the company wrote in a technical paper detailing the new model. “In the first stage, the maximum context length is extended to 32K, and in the second stage, it is further extended to 128K. Following this, we conducted post-training, including Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) on the base model of DeepSeek-V3, to align it with human preferences and further unlock its potential. During the post-training stage, we distill the reasoning capability from the DeepSeekR1 series of models, and meanwhile carefully maintain the balance between model accuracy and generation length.” Notably, during the training phase, DeepSeek used multiple hardware and algorithmic optimizations, including the FP8 mixed precision training framework and the DualPipe algorithm for pipeline parallelism, to cut down on the costs of the process. Overall, it claims to have completed DeepSeek-V3’s entire training in about 2788K H800 GPU hours, or about $5.57 million, assuming a rental price of $2 per GPU hour. This is much lower than the hundreds of millions of dollars usually spent on pre-training large language models. Llama-3.1, for instance, is estimated to have been trained with an investment of over $500 million.  Strongest open-source model currently available Despite the economical training, DeepSeek-V3 has emerged as the strongest open-source model in the market. The company ran multiple benchmarks to compare the performance of the AI and noted that it convincingly outperforms leading open models, including Llama-3.1-405B and Qwen 2.5-72B. It even outperforms closed-source GPT-4o on most benchmarks, except English-focused SimpleQA and FRAMES — where the OpenAI model sat ahead with scores of 38.2 and 80.5 (vs 24.9 and 73.3), respectively. Notably, DeepSeek-V3’s performance particularly stood out on the Chinese and math-centric benchmarks, scoring better than all counterparts. In the Math-500 test, it scored 90.2, with Qwen’s score of 80 the next best.  The only model that managed to challenge DeepSeek-V3 was Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, outperforming it with higher scores in MMLU-Pro, IF-Eval, GPQA-Diamond, SWE Verified and Aider-Edit. 🚀 Introducing DeepSeek-V3! Biggest leap forward yet:⚡ 60 tokens/second (3x faster than V2!)💪 Enhanced capabilities🛠 API compatibility intact🌍 Fully open-source models & papers 🐋 1/n pic.twitter.com/p1dV9gJ2Sd — DeepSeek (@deepseek_ai) December 26, 2024 The work shows that open-source is closing in on closed-source models, promising nearly equivalent performance across different tasks. The development of such systems is extremely good for the industry as it potentially eliminates the chances of one big AI player ruling the game. It also gives enterprises multiple options to choose from and work with while orchestrating their stacks. Currently, the code for DeepSeek-V3 is available via GitHub under an MIT license, while the model is being provided under the company’s model license. Enterprises can also test out the new model via DeepSeek Chat, a ChatGPT-like platform, and access the API for commercial use. DeepSeek is providing the API at the same price as DeepSeek-V2 until February 8. After that, it will charge $0.27/million input tokens ($0.07/million tokens with cache hits) and $1.10/million output tokens. source

Relay Provider is a fintech platform, not a bank. It provides FDIC insurance and deposit services through a partnership with Thread Bank.  Business Checking is an online banking solution designed to streamline financial management for small businesses. With no monthly fees and robust tools for account organization, budgeting, and integrations, Relay has built a reputation among modern business owners looking for an efficient way to manage finances without a traditional bank. Relay’s fast facts Our rating: 4.7 out of 5 Starting price: Free (no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements) Key features: No fees for basic services. Free access to multiple business accounts. Customizable budgets and sub-accounts. Integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and more. Image: Relay Relay aims to simplify business banking by focusing on digital tools and integrations with accounting platforms. Unlike traditional banks, Relay operates entirely online, providing features that support remote financial management, a major benefit for small businesses and freelancers. Business owners can set up multiple checking accounts for budgeting and have complete control over spending with built-in expense categorization and detailed financial tracking. Relay reviews: What users are saying 4.75/5 Users often highlight Relay’s transparency in pricing, ease of setup, and the convenience of creating separate accounts for budgeting. Freelancers, startups, and small businesses with limited cash deposits find it particularly suitable since Relay eliminates common fees associated with traditional banks. TrustPilot: 4.7/5 stars. G2: 4.6/5 stars. Nerdwallet: 4.5/5 stars. While most users appreciate Relay’s digital-first approach, a few drawbacks have been noted, such as the absence of cash deposit options and limited physical branches, however, for online-based businesses or those that don’t rely heavily on cash, Relay is highly recommended. Relay’s pricing structure 4.9/5 Relay’s standout pricing model is fee-free. It provides a completely free business checking account without hidden costs, monthly maintenance fees, or minimum balance requirements. This makes Relay appealing for startups, freelancers, and small businesses looking to maximize savings and minimize banking expenses. No monthly fees: Completely free account setup and maintenance. Unlimited ACH transfers: No fees for transfers between accounts. Access to digital tools: Users can open up to 20 checking accounts for free. Built-in financial tracking: Categorize transactions and manage expenses easily. Relay also provides access to banking features such as ACH transfers, multiple sub-accounts, and tools for budgeting, allowing business owners to manage cash flow without additional costs. For businesses seeking faster ACH and outgoing wires, the ability to auto import bills from QuickBooks Online or Xero, and multi-step approval rules for bill payment, Relay offers an upgraded account — Relay Pro — starting at $30/month. Relay’s key features 4.9/5 Relay stands out for its user-centric approach and flexible features tailored to business owners looking to streamline their banking. Here’s a deeper look at what Relay offers: 1. Budgeting and sub-accounts Relay allows users to set up multiple checking accounts under a single business entity, providing flexibility in budgeting and managing different expense categories. With up to 20 free sub-accounts, business owners can organize funds for specific purposes, such as payroll, taxes, and operational expenses, all in one place. 2. Accounting integrations Relay integrates smoothly with popular accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and Gusto, allowing users to sync transaction data automatically. This integration helps with real-time financial tracking, seamless bookkeeping, and more accurate tax reporting. 3. Expense management tools Relay’s account features offer built-in tools for tracking expenses and managing team spending. Users can issue individual debit cards with customizable spending limits, enabling better control over business expenditures. 4. No monthly fees or minimum balance requirements One of Relay’s main selling points is its truly fee-free structure. Businesses can avoid monthly maintenance fees, minimum balance requirements, and charges for basic services, making it an ideal choice for small companies looking to save on banking costs. 5. Secure online banking platform Relay operates exclusively online but is FDIC-insured through its banking partners. It utilizes robust security measures, including two-factor authentication and advanced encryption, ensuring business funds are protected. Would our expert use Relay? 5.00/5 Relay suits small business owners, startups, and freelancers who value digital banking and do not require cash deposits or in-person branch services. Its no-fee structure and integrations with leading accounting tools make it a practical choice for those looking to manage finances efficiently without incurring high fees. Our expert’s opinion: Relay’s free, versatile features are great for small businesses or entrepreneurs who want a modern, tech-savvy banking solution. However, for businesses that rely on cash deposits or physical branch interactions, a more traditional bank may be more suitable. Relay’s pros No fees: Truly free banking with no monthly or hidden charges. Multiple checking accounts: Up to 20 sub-accounts for budgeting flexibility. Seamless integrations: Syncs with QuickBooks, Xero, and Gusto for streamlined finances. Expense tracking tools: Manage team spending with individual debit cards. Relay’s cons No cash deposits: Relay does not support cash deposits. No physical branches: Relay operates entirely online. Limited support options: Mostly online support, with no phone service. No lending options: Relay does not offer business loans. Alternatives to Relay If Relay Business Checking doesn’t fit all your needs, here are some alternatives to consider with similar online bank offerings: Bluevine Business Checking Chase Complete Business Checking Novo Business Checking Starting price Free $15/month (waivable) Free Key features 1.5% APY on balances up to $250,000 Free ACH transfers Business line of credit available Nationwide branch network Same-day deposits Mobile payment tools Integrated tax tools Fee-free overdrafts up to $200 Real-time expense tracking Key distinctions Offers interest on deposits Extensive in-person support Fee-free overdrafts Learn more Visit Bluevine Bluevine is a financial technology company, not a bank.Bluevine deposits are FDIC-insured through Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC. Visit Chase Visit Novo Novo is a fintech company; not a bank. Deposit account services provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC. Methodology To create this review, we analyzed Relay’s banking features and compared them to similar platforms while we evaluated user reviews from various sources. We considered the unique needs of freelancers and small business owners

Another realization enterprises had is just how important data is to AI initiatives, especially those composing their AI services.  Organizations are finding they have outdated data or incomplete data sets. Companies tend to invest heavily in the data plane — where data is stored, organized and managed. Now, they need to invest in data engineering to prepare data for grounding and fine-tuning their AI models.  Predictions around future growth and concerns for AI  There is a lot at stake for organizations. AI will reshape enterprises and industries. Within the enterprise, AI will act as an assistant, advisor, agent or all three, changing business processes, applications and daily work tasks. Industries will innovate, engage customers and deliver value in fundamentally new ways. But without a vision and enterprise AI strategy, backed with a use case roadmap and strong business cases, this cannot be recognized. We expect some organizations will make the AI pivot in 2025 out of the experimentation phase. In doing so, they will begin recognizing the exponential benefits of their collective AI use cases starting in 2027. For those organizations that do not pivot in 2025, their experimentation phase will slip into 2026 as they fall behind their competitors. The difference between these two paths will be significant, impacting productivity gains, speed of innovation, customer relationships and financials. It’s crucial to keep moving forward on this journey.  The good news for CIOs is that you have an opportunity to take a leadership role with AI, especially as organizations mitigate risk by keeping AI model development centralized. Don’t forget to consider the support employees will need to adopt AI and develop a change management plan to bring everyone along.  source

Our growing reliance on technology at home and in the workplace has raised the profile of e-waste. This consists of discarded electrical devices including laptops, smartphones, televisions, computer servers, washing machines, medical equipment, games consoles and much more. The amount of e-waste produced this decade could reach as much as 5 million metric tonnes, according to recent research published in Nature. This is around 1,000 times more e-waste than was produced in 2023. According to the study, the boom in artificial intelligence will significantly contribute to this e-waste problem, because AI requires lots of computing power and storage. It will, among other things, lead to more turnover of computer servers used in the data centres that support the extra computational needs of AI systems. This rising tide of e-waste, coupled with the limited lifetimes of hi-tech devices, could affect global sustainability goals. E-waste contain toxic and hazardous substances such as mercury, which can pose serious risks to human health and the environment. E-waste is among the fastest-growing types of solid waste globally: more than 5 billion mobile phones are thrown away each year, according to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment forum. In 2022, e-waste reached a record 62 million tonnes – an 82% increase since 2010 – and accounted for 70% of total global waste. However, less than 20% is formally recycled. Data centres and transmission networks are responsible for more than 1% of global energy use, and 0.6% of global carbon emissions. According to a recent McKinsey report, by 2030, the power consumption of AI applications in the US will rise from 4% to 12% of the total power demand today. Meeting these demands could require investments exceeding US$500 billion (£395 billion) for data centre infrastructure. It is already forcing big tech companies to find novel solutions to satisfy this hunger for energy, such as purchasing electricity from nuclear power providers. The environmental impacts of e-waste are considerable. The toxic chemicals in electronic and electrical hardware can contaminate soil and water. In some parts of the world, e-waste is burned to extract valuable materials, generating air pollution. Even the processes to formally recycle materials pose challenges because of the hazardous materials in waste. Processing e-waste in India. PradeepGaurs / Shutterstock Some factors underlying the rise in e-waste, such as growing energy consumption in data centres, could also hamper efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The rising tide of waste itself could set back progress on sustainability goals, especially those seeking to balance economic development with protecting the environment. There’s particular concern over the effects of e-waste on human health. Discarded devices can contain cancer-causing chemicals such as PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). Exposure to e-waste has also been linked to low birthweight and reproductive problems in adults. Children are particularly vulnerable, because their development can be affected by toxic substances in the environment. The economic impacts of e-waste are also significant. The costs of cleaning it up will rise, and because comparatively little e-waste undergoes formal recycling, it can lead to the loss of economically valuable resources such as gold, platinum and other critical materials used in technology. Sources and trends The Nature study on the effects of AI on e-waste used “material flow analysis” to project the growth in demand for hardware. The researchers came up with four scenarios to predict the future growth of e-waste: “limited”, “conservative”, “moderate” and “aggressive”. A three-year lifespan was assumed for computer servers in data centres, based on historical information. The amount of e-waste was calculated by estimating the numbers of servers being discarded each year. This enabled the projection of cumulative volumes of e-waste for each scenario up to 2030. The results suggest that between 1.2 and 5.0 million tonnes of waste will have been produced between 2020 and 2030. The substantial increase in waste technology underscores the need for intervention strategies. The study backs circular economy approaches to tackle the problem – a model of production and consumption that keeps materials and products in use, preventing them turning into waste. This could involve extending server lifespans, re-using components, optimising AI operations through advanced algorithms (to reduce the computational power needed), and improving the efficiency of computer chips. The study estimates such solutions could reduce e-waste by between 16% and 86%, depending on how they are applied. Integrating green design into electronic products could also benefit the environment. This could include installing more biodegradable parts into hardware, substituting toxic components with less harmful ones, and improving the lifespans of products. Raising awareness among the public is also vital. We will need to switch from a culture of “use it and throw it away” to one where we think twice about whether we actually need new technology. Donating devices to others when we are finished with them, and encouraging the use of certified e-waste recycling centres, where this technology should be disposed, can also help. Local and national governments play essential roles in managing e-waste by creating policies, regulations and strategies to reduce its environmental impact and promote sustainable practices. Governments are tasked with setting standards for e-waste collection and recycling. These help ensure that e-waste is disposed of safely and efficiently. The development of recycling technologies is an area where government investment is crucial, as innovative solutions can improve safety and efficiency. Some e-waste will always exist, as technological advancement is crucial to improving our quality of life. But doing everything possible to reduce how much we generate, and mitigating the impact of the e-waste that is produced, will be vital for protecting the environment, the economy and our health. source