The AI Pulse

Issue #18 — 27 January 2025

Editor: Alan Brown

Welcome to the latest edition of The AI Pulse for Digital Leaders. An expertly curated collection of essential articles, commentaries, and news stories from reputable sources. Do you know anyone who might be interested in AI Pulse. Have some news or looking to partner? Just get in touch at: [email protected]

Highlights in this edition include:

The UK government has issued its blueprint for digital government.

A new series of 9 reports on responsible AI-at-Scale adoption in industry.

Will OpenAI’s latest model change the economics of software?

AI for Good

The Financial Times considers how we can use AI to create a better society by using AI to reduce humanity’s impact on areas such as agriculture, healthcare and the environment.

Can democracy survive AI? A thoughtful essay from Professor Gina Neff in Sociologica examines the fundamental tension between AI and democratic governance.

As reported in UKAUthority, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said the UK Government expects a big increase in the use of AI in schools as part of a modernisation of the education sector in England.

Bias and Ethics

In an opinion piece in ComputerWeekly, critical computing expert Dan McQuillan comments on the proliferation of AI in the public sector and the potential this opens up for a slew of new IT scandals.

The Guardian reports that the Pope has warned those attending the Davos summit that AI could worsen the ‘crisis of truth’.

In a thoughtful essay from Nicholas Carr, he explores why he believes that in a digital world truth doesn’t scale.

Cyber Security

In a frank interview in Wired, former CISA head Jen Easterly asks if Chinese hacks, rampant ransomware, and Donald Trump’s budget cuts threaten US security and argues for her agency’s survival.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has produced a helpful leader’s guide to managing cyber risks from AI adoption.

The UK government has issued a report outlining the capabilities and features that GenAI products and systems should meet to be considered safe for users in educational settings.

Data & Decision Making

The Register reports that agreement has been reached to build a huge UK datacenter in Hertfordshire. No news yet on who’s moving in.

In an article in The Drum, IBM’s Jonathan Adashek asks why 99% of enterprise data is missed by AI – and how to fix it.

Innovation & Collaboration

As reported in the BBC, President Trump announced up to $500 Billion of industry investment in “Stargate”, an US AI infrastructure initiative. This creating lots of comments.

Wired report that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has made a model that rivals OpenAI by training its V3 model (671B parameters) for just $5.5M and releasing it as open source. Forbes argues that this challenges US dominance in AI.

Has China’s AI industry caught up with America’s? The Economist thinks so.

BCG has published a useful report on how to close the impact gap between AI experiments and delivering AI at Scale .

Productivity & Efficiency

The UK government issued its ‘state of digital government review’ describing the current poor state of digital transformation in government and highlighting 5 root causes.

The UK government has followed up with a blueprint for digital government containing a 6-point plan for reform, and defining the role of the new digital centre of government.

An important discussion in The Economist on why OpenAI’s latest model will change the economics of software.

MIT Sloan Management Review looks at how business leaders get real value from LLMs by starting small and working their way up to larger transformations.

UKAuthority reports that the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has announced a new package of AI tools nicknamed ‘Humphrey’ to help drive civil servant efficiency.

Regulation and Compliance

The World Economic Forum has launched a new Industries in the Intelligent Age report series that provides actionable insights into the responsible adoption at scale of AI across critical sectors.

An article in The Conversation argues that the UK government’s AI plan gives a glimpse of how it plans to regulate AI technology.

Sustainability

As reported by MIT News, providing electricity to power-hungry data centres is stressing grids, raising consumer prices, and slowing the transition to clean energy.

The Register reports that Microsoft is spending even more on carbon credits to offset growing AI-fueled carbon dioxide emissions from its data centres.

A new report from the Capgemini Research Institute highlights the environmental impact of GenAI and provides a roadmap for developing sustainable GenAI practices.

User Experience

IEEE Spectrum reports that Meta's new translation AI is like a ‘Babel Fish’ able to do real-time speech-to-speech translation in 101 languages.

A report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) looks at how AI and science-led design are transforming the built environment.

Workforce & Skills

A global study by Workday considers that with AI everywhere, work can never be the same.

The UK Government has issued a useful report on how it sees the responsible use of GenAI in education.

HR Magazine asks if the UK workforce ready for the government's AI action plan.

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