We’re back! Still with a terribly slow internet connection – slower than ADSL – but managed to do this week’s edition in advance! 🙂 So, let’s dig in! We have then Microsoft executives emphasizing their strategic pivot to AI, highlighting integration across products, partnerships, and competition. This is really transforming technology and enterprise solutions, with tools like AI-driven Copilot+ PCs enhancing user experience. Then there’s the European Digital Identity Regulation which aims to provide a secure digital identity for EU citizens by 2026, promoting digital interactions. Daniel Miessler advises planning careers around problem-solving to ensure stability in an AI-driven world. Finally, it’s subscriptions time and everyone’s jumping between them! Ah! Did you know that Xiaomi’s new production processes allow it to manufacture the SU7 electric vehicle every 76 seconds?
In this issue
5 piecesIn interviews with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CTO Kevin Scott
, they discuss Microsoft’s strategic pivot to AI, emphasizing the integration of AI across Microsoft products, the importance of the OpenAI partnership, and competition with Google. They highlight the development of AI-driven Copilot+ PCs, leveraging local and cloud computing for enhanced user experiences. They also address the significance of aligning internal and external AI efforts and foresee AI as a transformative platform that will redefine technology and enterprise solutions.
It's the second comeback of Microsoft, right after the cloud success. It's a long due comeback too, now betting on ARM CPU's for laptops, taking advantage of the performance, energy efficiency and scalability of these CPU's, in particular for Neural operations, with the inclusion of the NPU now to accelerate AI. If we needed AI for Microsoft to deeply invest in ARM architectures, then we're finally here! I'm a big fan or ARM (since the M1) and do believe that the strategy of decoupling what a GPU means into a SOC (System on a Chip), is quite brilliant and works quite well on removing dependencies of a GPU for daily professional tasks. With Apple we've seen how a M chip is as fast as x86+GPU for video, image editing and other tasks - because they decoupled and accelerated most of the GPU functions into its own components and chips. Now Microsoft has the NPU to accelerate AI. It's a good start. Welcome!
The European Digital Identity Regulation aims to provide EU citizens and residents with a secure and universally accepted digital identity walle
t. This wallet will enable users to authenticate their identity, share personal attributes, and access both public and private services online and offline across the EU. The regulation ensures voluntary use, free e-signatures for personal use, and high security standards. Full implementation is expected by 2026, enhancing digital interactions and reducing reliance on physical documents.
The EU Digital ID isn't something particular new at this moment, but it's final push by the EU is closer and now is broader - as it creates the concept of wallet. This reminds me of the Portuguese Citizen ID card, project I was responsible for almost 20 years ago and now powers all identity infrastructure in Portugal for citizens. Back then it was inspired by the Eevolve ID card and after all these years didn't evolve a lot, not because of the technical capabilities or infrastructure, but because of lagging government wide usage and barriers to adoption when it comes to the private sector. So having an EU law that is applicable to all its members, it's quite well deserved and needed.
Plan Your Career Around Problems
Daniel Miessler’s article “Plan Your Career Around Problems” advises focusing on specific problems rather than vague industry aspirations to ensure career stability in an AI-driven world. He suggests identifying and articulating complex problems you are passionate about, as this approach fosters curiosity, skill development, and competence. This method not only enhances job security but also makes candidates more attractive to employers by demonstrating self-direction and problem-solving abilities.
With GenAI, the cost of 'intelligence' has come down. Meaning that it's easier for people to do hard and complex tasks than ever before. Now we have a proper assistant, a very smart one and we can rely on and build things with it. You don't need to be an expert in Python or Design - it helps, sure, but it isn't needed. What you need to do and focus on from now is addressing problems, solving them and start using these 'smart assistants' to help do drive results. That's what Daniel talks about on its article and I truly believe that it would be the future for everyone in tech.
The New York Times article “ Streaming Subscription Jumping ”
explores the growing trend of consumers frequently switching between streaming services to take advantage of promotional offers and new content releases. This behavior, known as “subscription jumping,” poses challenges for streaming companies striving to maintain subscriber loyalty and consistent revenue streams. Companies are responding by introducing annual plans, bundling services, and enhancing user experience to encourage long-term subscriptions. The trend reflects broader shifts in consumer behavior driven by increasing competition and content diversity in the streaming market.
We're living the subscription world of things. We stopped having things and started renting them. Makes sense - I guess. But for me it's getting weird and quite frankly, stupid. We can't purchase anything anymore now. It's always a monthly, yearly subscription that ties us. This also means that retention is based on the lowest price and benefits, rather than merits.
Xiaomi has achieved a production milestone with its SU7 electric vehicle
, capable of producing one unit every 76 seconds due to advanced manufacturing processes. These innovations include self-developed die-casting technology and large die-casting equipment, which reduce the assembly time and part count significantly. The process enhances vehicle safety, weight, and durability, while also minimizing production time and costs. This efficiency positions Xiaomi competitively in the electric vehicle market.
Amazing! That's the only word to describe how efficient we got to mass produce cars. Congrats to Xiaomi that is clearly leading the way and we in Europe / UK will still have a long way to go and learn from them.
Last Week in AI
- Sal Khan is pioneering innovation in education…again by Bill Gates | gatesnotes.com
- Access the Wikipedia (Wikimedia) LLM | enterprise.wikimedia.com
- Mapping the Mind of a Large Language Model by Anthropic | anthropic.com
- Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul | cnbc.com
- Microsoft’s new Copilot AI agents act like virtual employees to automate task | theverge.com
- Anthropic iPhone AI app, business plan to compete with OpenAI announced | businessinsider.com
- Longterm Memory for Autonomous Agents (on Github) | github.com