The Monetary Authority of Singapore released a report indicting a plan to commit S$150 M to explore and support emerging FinTech solutions like Web3.
This report comes at a time when the MAS has been increasing its efforts in regulating and boosting the blockchain industry in the region and via international cooperation with authorities like UK FCA.
On August 7, 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore released a report announcing that it committed 150 million Singaporean dollars to explore emerging Financial Technology innovations. This plan progresses the efforts by the regulator to foster the growth of the blockchain industry in the region.
Monetary Authority of Singapore to explore Web 3 and other Fintech innovations
The renewed Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme (FSTI 3.0) seeks to accelerate and strengthen the country’s innovative culture by supporting cutting-edge projects.
An excerpt from the report reads:
FSTI 3.0 seeks to accelerate and strengthen innovation by supporting projects that involve cutting-edge technologies or with a regional nexus while doubling down on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s commitment to promoting a vibrant technology ecosystem for the financial sector.
According to the report, the new FSTI 3.0 will include 3 new tracks, namely: “The enhanced Centre of Excellence track, formerly known as Labs Track, Innovation Acceleration Track, and Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) FinTech track.” it will also continue to support the advanced capability development in key areas like Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (AIDA) and Regulation Technology (RegTech).
The blog announcement said that the Monetary Authority of Singapore would mainly “focus on promoting AIDA adoption in smaller financial firms” and support the need of “less digitally mature firms” seeking to acquire RegTech solutions.
It also noted that applicants “will also be required to devote resources to talent developments” to strengthen the Singaporean FinTech talent pool. Regarding the new turn of events, Mr. Ravi Menon, the Managing Director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, explained that it has always been in the interest of MAS to support the FinTech industry, and it looks forward to continuing its vision via the FSTI 3.0.
“Since 2015, the Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF) has awarded $340 million as part of the FSTI program to drive the adoption of technology and innovation in the financial sector.
Transformative technology projects that MAS has piloted with the industry include SGFinDex, Project Orchid’s Purpose Bound Money, Project Veritas’ Responsible AI, green and sustainable finance through Project Greenprint, as well as large payment initiatives such as the cross-border payment linkage with Thailand.
Notably, FSTI 1.0 and 2.0 helped strengthen the digital capabilities of financial institutions, which served them and their customers through the COVID pandemic. With FSTI 3.0, we look forward to continued collaboration with the industry to advance purposeful financial innovation.” He said.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more Fintech-related news and developments.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is preparing to have an edge against its competitors by launching AI chatbots with personalities.
The move is to ensure that the company ‘retains users’ as more competitors grow in the budding industry.
Meta, a social media incorporation company, plans to launch AI chatbots with personalities to retain their user base as competition grows in the budding industry.
Meta takes a step further by developing AI chatbots with personalities
Artificial Intelligence has grown to a whole new level and keeps getting wild developments. As such, AI investors want to introduce new products to edge each other. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is rumored to launch AI chatbots with personalities that make them more human-like to retain users.
An August 1st report by Financial Times indicates that people close to the matter have revealed that prototypes of such chatbots are already underway, with final products being able to carry out the discussion at almost a human level.
These chatbots are reportedly scheduled for initial public releases or tests as early as next month and will come with different human-like personalities. The sources disclosed that the chatbots have been dubbed “personas” and will be different characters. A given source even stated that one of the chatbots has voice capabilities and takes after the famous US President Abraham Lincoln. At the same time, another speaks like a surfer and will be giving travel advice.
Some of the bots’ abilities will be offering recommendations and bearing search functionality along with being a “fun product to play with.” These reports come when tech industry stakeholders are moved by the risks associated with Artificial Intelligence. An open forum is already being signed to try and slow down the development of such technologies till fitting regulatory insight and frameworks are in place.
In the EU, the first comprehensive regulatory framework for AI products is already in place, with the US needing to catch up as talks are in place to develop a fitting regulatory framework for the industry. Whether Meta’s “Personas” will follow the few set regulations in the world and be accepted by governments and regulators is time to be seen. Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on AI and other Tech stories and developments.
Author Sarah Silverman and two others have filed a lawsuit against Meta and Open AI, citing copyright issues.
The three claim that Open AI and Meta used their works to train their Artificial intelligence programs
American comedian and author Sarah Silverman and two other authors, Richard Kadrey and Christopher Golden, have filed a lawsuit against Meta and Open Ai, claiming that the two establishments used their copyrighted works to train their AI models.
Sarah Silverman not happy with OpenAi and Meta’s insensitivity
Meta and OpenAI have been slapped with a lawsuit that claims that they willingly used copyrighted work belonging to three journalists to train their AI models without prior permission. According to the court documents, many of the books that appear in the data set that Meta once admitted to have used to train Llama are copyrighted and belong to the three authors.
Similarly, in the case against OpenAI, Sarah Silverman’s lawsuit alleges that when ChatGPT generates summaries of the plaintiff’s work, it indicates that it had training with copyrighted content.
“The summaries get some details wrong. This is expected since a large language model mixes expressive material derived from many sources. Still, the rest of the summaries are accurate…”
The plaintiffs claim that the above companies retrieved copyrighted data from “shadow libraries” like Library Genesis, Bibliotik, and others. They explain that these libraries use torrent systems to make books available in bulk while overriding all copyright protocols; thus, they are illegal, unlike open-source data sources.
“These shadow libraries have long been of interest to the AI-training community because of the large quantity of copyrighted material they host.”
The lawsuit also said they are carrying out the lawsuit and representing others whose works were used without their permission. This development comes at a time when global economic powers are introducing regulatory frameworks for artificial intelligence development and issuance for commercial purposes.
However, the regulatory steps still need to be introduced properly as the AI industry is young and thus needs more time to be fully regulated. Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other fintech-related developments.
The European Union is going to strike a cooperation deal with Japan in a bid to further the plans on de-risking from China.
E.U. Commissioner Thierry Breton is meeting with representatives of the Japanese government to discuss A.I. and computer microchips
The European Union (E.U.) is pushing its plans to de-risk China’s global supply chain by onboarding Japan as a partner in A.I. and microchip developments. E.U. Commissioner Thierry Breton confirmed these developments on Twitter, revealing his July 3rd meeting with the Japanese government
E.U. seeks out Japan as China’s replacement in A.I. and Chips markets
On Sunday, Breton posted a video on Twitter saying that today’s meeting with the Japanese government would weigh more on cooperation with the E.U. for Artificial Intelligence and micro-chips industries.
“I will engage with [the] Japanese government … on how we can organize our digital space, including A.I. based on our shared value,” Breton said
Konnichiwa! 🎌
I am very glad to be back in Tokyo as part of my #G20DigitalTour
In 1984, I came here to test the very first #AI application in the world with Pr. Kazuhiro Fuchi
He also added that an EU-Japan Digital Partnership council would discuss areas like quantum computing. The European Union has been increasing efforts on this front as it even had a similar meeting with South Korea last week, which saw the two sides agreeing on cooperating on technologies like A.I. and cybersecurity.
In an interview with Reuters, he explained that the E.U. and Japan would cooperate in the semi-conductors field. He stated that Japan is a key country in the semiconductor supply chain and has been looking for new partnerships, which makes it a great fit with the bloc. The E.U. has also been looking to strengthen its semi-conductors industry as they are vital in all hardware-reliant technologies.
At the same time, the U.S. has been increasing efforts to cut off its reliance on China‘s global supply chains, like semiconductors. It is also convincing its allies to join its course of action. Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other FinTech-related developments.
A June 20 post by cyber Security firm, Group-IB reveals that over 100K ChatGPT logins might have been exposed to the Darkweb.
The exposes happened over the past year and have been traded on the darkweb.
Concerns surrounding ChatGPT user credentials being leaked online and traded on the Darkweb are surfacing after a blog post by Singaporean cybersecurity firm Group-IB. The firm alleges that over 101K ChatGPT logins appear to have been stolen over the past year and traded over the dark web between June 2022 and May 2023.
Calls for caution when using AI as ChatGPT appears to be compromised
Concerns surrounding the usage of Artificial intelligence are increasing as the risks associated with the innovation get uncovered. Regulators worldwide have been working on the issue to prevent their citizens from being harmed.
The EU has already passed the world’s first comprehensive artificial intelligence regulatory framework, with the US proposing a bipartisan bill to introduce a national commission to figure out the best approach to regulate Artificial Intelligence there.
The key similarity in these two regulatory approaches is to protect users from data breaches and mishandling by Artificial Intelligence systems. These dreaded events are exactly what Group-IB has brought to light about ChatGPT. According to the firm, May 2023 alone saw around 27,000 ChatGPT-related credentials on online black markets.
According to our findings, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced the highest concentration of ChatGPT credentials being offered for sale. pic.twitter.com/s3TbsntCgX
— Group-IB Threat Intelligence (@GroupIB_TI) June 20, 2023
It added that the Asia Pacific region had the highest number of leaked credentials, making up around 40% of the whole figure, while Indian based credentials accounted for around 12,500.
These developments come at a time when regulating emerging markets and industries is a main issue in the world. As such, it is expected to attract legal consequences and more oversight as such data breaches are often taken seriously. Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on this and other Finance and technology-related stories
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC is opening its first office in East Africa as engine demand grows.
The company has seen increased demand for hydroelectric power generation and other engines like ships and locomotives in the region.
Rolls-Royce is working on setting up its first office in East Africa as demand for locomotive, ship, and hydropower generation engines grows. In a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, the UK engineering firm CEO John Kelly said that the region is growing at an adorable 6.5% rate, and with a population of 174 million, it’s becoming more promising by the day.
Rolls-Royce to seek collaboration with Kenya and other East African countries
Business in East Africa is taking shape in an encouraging way as international investors are seeking to set up camp. As a result, Rolls-Royce is seeking similar success in the East African market as it has had in Nigeria. In his speech, CEO John Kelly said:
“It’s important for us to be in Africa, to understand Africa and to make sure that we optimize our solutions and our offerings for the market and its requirements.”
The company is also in talks with Kenya Railways Corporation on a deal to power its locomotives. John Kelly revealed this without giving further details. He added that the company also seeks to focus on naval solutions and electricity requirements for data centers, a market growing immensely in Kenya and possibly valued at around $100M in the next three years.
Kenya already produces 80% of its electricity from renewable sources like Geothermal and wind. It also considers nuclear generation, which Rolls-Royce considers a key component of powering the world.
“We want to be front and center in terms of providing those power solutions, both on the land, in terms of energy requirements, in the air, in terms of aviation,” Kelly said.
Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on fintech-related developments.
