Latest news with #Meeker
Euronews
11-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Big Tech emissions rose 150% in 3 years as AI booms, UN body says
Four of the world's biggest artificial intelligence (AI) companies saw the indirect carbon emissions of their work grow by over 150 percent in the last three years, according to a report from a United Nations agency for digital technolgoies. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) tracked the emissions, energy use, and climate commitments of 200 leading digital companies between 2020 and 2023 using public databases. The report found that Amazon, Microsoft, Google's parent company Alphabet, and Meta have seen a rise in emissions that is either produced or purchased by the companies because of "expanding data infrastructure and energy use". Indirect emissions are those that come from purchased electricity, heat, steam, or electricity use, like in data centres, telecommunication networks, or office buildings. Amazon saw the highest emissions increase at over 182 per cent in 2023 compared to 2020, followed by Microsoft at 155 per cent, Meta at 145 per cent, and Alphabet at 138 per cent, according to the report. The consumption of data centres, which power the AI models that these companies are working on, also rose 12 percent year over year from 2017 to 2023, which is four times faster than global energy growth. The report "underscores the urgent need to manage AI's environmental impact," the ITU said in a statement. Euronews Next reached out to the relevant technology companies regarding this report but did not receive an immediate reply. The report also found that half the assessed companies in their report had committed to reaching net-zero by at least 2050 if not earlier. Despite these actions, the report found that overall emissions still rose meaning that net-zero targets "have not yet translated into real-world reductions". The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in our lives is officially unprecedented, according to the woman dubbed the "Queen of the Internet". Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist known for her internet trend insights, released a 340-page report titled 'Trends - Artificial Intelligence,' where copious research and charts show what she characterises as the 'unprecedented' pace of change in which AI is being invested in, developed, adopted, and used. Meeker ran capital firm Kleiner Perkins' growth practice during the 2010s, where she invested in future tech giants like Facebook, Spotify, and Canva. A profile in Forbes credits her with predicting the rise of Apple, Google, and the digital economy with her previous trend reports. 'To say the world is changing at unprecedented rates is an understatement,' Meeker, now the co-founder of venture capital fund Bonds, writes in the new report's introduction. One of the staggering charts of the report shows that ChatGPT, OpenAI's AI chatbot, reached 800 million users by April 2025, a couple of years after its initial launch in October 2022. The company's revenue also skyrocketed in a similar fashion; from zero in 2022 to just under $4 billion (€3.5 billion) by 2025. Based on user data, the rise of ChatGPT, in particular, is history's biggest 'overnight success,' nine years after the company was founded in late 2015, Meeker wrote. "And, unlike the Internet 1.0 revolution, where technology started in the USA and steadily diffused globally - ChatGPT hit the world stage all at once growing in most global regions simultaneously," according to the report. The report shows that ChatGPT reached 100 million global users in less than 2 months after its launch, the fastest technology to do so. In comparison, it took Facebook 4.5 years to reach the same number of users after its launch in the early 2000s. Meeker estimates in the report that it will take three years for a majority of households to adopt AI technology, down from the 12 years it took for households to start using desktop internet regularly. There are various factors at play for the 'rapid and transformative' rise of AI, Meeker writes in the report. There's general buy-in from new AI company founders and more traditional companies for AI adoption, Meeker contends, demonstrated by cash flows being "increasingly directed" towards AI "in efforts to drive growth and fend off investors". The report notes that technology's biggest players, including NVIDIA, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and China's Baidu have all increased the mentions of AI in their corporate earnings reports to shareholders since 2022. That, paired with a new wave of AI company founders that are "extremely aggressive" with all stages of the AI product development - from innovation, to product releases, acquisitions, cash burn, and capital raises - means that AI 'user and usage trending is ramping materially faster' than before. The report also noted that the number of new AI models has gone up 167 percent year over year since 2020, and the size of the data sets they are using is up 260 percent in the same period. Meeker notes that the decrease in costs to develop new models is also unprecedented. Citing Stanford research, the report shows inference costs for those that use the tech have dropped 99 per cent over two years, even though the cost of training a model is up to $1 billion dollars (€850 million). The pace at which competitors can match each other on the market is unparalleled. For instance, Meeker notes that NVIDIA's 2024 Blackwell GPU chip, which helps train AIs to do what users expect, has 105,000 times less energy per token than the 2014 Kepler model. "It's a staggering leap, not just of cost reduction, but of architectural and materials innovation that is reshaping what's possible at the hardware level," she writes.
Euronews
11-06-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Pace of AI revolution 'unprecedented' in human history, report finds
The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in our lives is officially unprecedented, according to the woman dubbed the "Queen of the Internet". Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist known for her internet trend insights, released a 340-page report titled 'Trends - Artificial Intelligence,' where copious research and charts show what she characterises as the 'unprecedented' pace of change in which AI is being invested in, developed, adopted, and used. Meeker ran capital firm Kleiner Perkins' growth practice during the 2010s, where she invested in future tech giants like Facebook, Spotify, and Canva. A profile in Forbes credits her with predicting the rise of Apple, Google, and the digital economy with her previous trend reports. 'To say the world is changing at unprecedented rates is an understatement,' Meeker, now the co-founder of venture capital fund Bonds, writes in the new report's introduction. One of the staggering charts of the report shows that ChatGPT, OpenAI's AI chatbot, reached 800 million users by April 2025, a couple of years after its initial launch in October 2022. The company's revenue also skyrocketed in a similar fashion; from zero in 2022 to just under $4 billion (€3.5 billion) by 2025. Based on user data, the rise of ChatGPT, in particular, is history's biggest 'overnight success,' nine years after the company was founded in late 2015, Meeker wrote. "And, unlike the Internet 1.0 revolution, where technology started in the USA and steadily diffused globally - ChatGPT hit the world stage all at once growing in most global regions simultaneously," according to the report. The report shows that ChatGPT reached 100 million global users in less than 2 months after its launch, the fastest technology to do so. In comparison, it took Facebook 4.5 years to reach the same number of users after its launch in the early 2000s. Meeker estimates in the report that it will take three years for a majority of households to adopt AI technology, down from the 12 years it took for households to start using desktop internet regularly. There are various factors at play for the 'rapid and transformative' rise of AI, Meeker writes in the report. There's general buy-in from new AI company founders and more traditional companies for AI adoption, Meeker contends, demonstrated by cash flows being "increasingly directed" towards AI "in efforts to drive growth and fend off investors". The report notes that technology's biggest players, including NVIDIA, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and China's Baidu have all increased the mentions of AI in their corporate earnings reports to shareholders since 2022. That, paired with a new wave of AI company founders that are "extremely aggressive" with all stages of the AI product development - from innovation, to product releases, acquisitions, cash burn, and capital raises - means that AI 'user and usage trending is ramping materially faster' than before. The report also noted that the number of new AI models has gone up 167 percent year over year since 2020, and the size of the data sets they are using is up 260 percent in the same period. Meeker notes that the decrease in costs to develop new models is also unprecedented. Citing Stanford research, the report shows inference costs for those that use the tech have dropped 99 per cent over two years, even though the cost of training a model is up to $1 billion dollars (€850 million). The pace at which competitors can match each other on the market is unparalleled. For instance, Meeker notes that NVIDIA's 2024 Blackwell GPU chip, which helps train AIs to do what users expect, has 105,000 times less energy per token than the 2014 Kepler model. "It's a staggering leap, not just of cost reduction, but of architectural and materials innovation that is reshaping what's possible at the hardware level," she writes. Apple showcased its latest technology at its annual developers conference on Monday, showing off a new 'Liquid Glass' software design, a solution to screen out spam texts, and demonstrated it was in no rush to bring out more artificial intelligence (AI) features. But the latest software features will not be available for several months until iOS 26 (rebranded from iOS 19) is officially released. Here is our roundup of the latest announcements from WWDC 2025. At last year's conference, Apple announced a more personalised AI-powered Siri. However, this year Apple only mentioned Siri very briefly. 'As we've shared, we're continuing our work to deliver the features that make Siri even more personal,' said Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of Software Engineering. 'This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar, and we look forward to sharing more about it in the coming year'. However, Apple did say that AI would be integrated into some products with a focus on making our lives easier. Apple's WWDC comes just after Google unveiled AI updates at its developer conference last month. Samsung may also announce new phones in July. 'While it might seem others are leading the AI race, it is not a sought-after feature among users and there's no revenue uplift (for now),' tech analyst Paolo Pescatore told Euronews Next. 'Considering the negative perception, Apple needs to tread carefully not to frustrate and disappoint its loyal base of iPhone users'. But he said that the latest updates provide a more coherent feel and 'Apple remains in an enviable position' given its large installed base of users. Apple is expected to reveal its latest iPhones later this year. Apple Watch is getting a new, AI-enhanced 'Workout Buddy' feature. The new tool analyses users' exercise and fitness data, such as pace and distance to then make personalised recommendations. The demo showed a runner having data such as their heart rate during each kilometre and the distance they run that year at their fingertips. The feature will include other sports too. The biggest design update is a glass-inspired aesthetic to all Apple products. Called 'Liquid Glass' it makes icons and menus partially transparent. Apple said it retracts light and dynamically reacts to your movement with specular highlights. Apple announced users would soon be able to screen out new senders in its messaging app. 'Unknown senders appear in a dedicated area where you can decide if you want to mark the numbers as known, ask for more information, or delete,' said Darin Adler, a vice president at Apple. 'Until you accept, messages from unknown senders will remain silenced and won't appear as notifications'. Apple also announced that you will soon be able to create in-message polls. The tech giant also announced that its users will soon be able to converse with people in different languages with a Live Translation feature. 'Live Translation can translate conversations on the fly. It's integrated into messages, FaceTime and phone,' said Leslie Ikemoto, an engineering director at Apple. It will work in phone calls, even with a non-Apple responder; your words can be translated as you talk, and the translation is spoken out loud for the call recipient. And when the person you are speaking to responds in their own language, you'll hear a spoken translation of their voice. In messages, it automatically translates the text for you as you type and deliver while the response can be instantly translated. On FaceTime, Apple Translate provides live captions in your preferred language. Apple has not said how many languages it will support. Overall, the 'subtle addition of Apple Intelligence across key services will help grow awareness and provide users with confidence to drive further engagement,' said Pescatore. 'The tight integration between hardware, software and services really stands out with this latest move'. 'It looks like Apple has done enough in what promises to be a year of transition as it further builds out its AI capabilities,' he added.
Mint
08-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Mary Meeker's AI report: Decoding what it signals for India's tech future
India is mentioned less than five times, and only once in a headline, in Mary Meeker's 340-page Trends: Artificial Intelligence report. Yet, it has been making waves in the technology community since its release in May. One reason for its popularity is that Meeker, an influential technology analyst since the early days of the internet, has released such a report after a four-year hiatus. Another is that she offers sharp insights on the themes relevant to India—AI adoption, pricing, impact on the labour market, and the country's position in an ever-shifting AI landscape. Global spread The launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT kick-started the current interest in AI. The speed at which ChatGPT's users grew was unprecedented. It took ChatGPT just two months to reach 100 million users compared to Instagram's 2.5 years, WhatsApp's 3.5 years, and Facebook's 4.5 years. Equally important is the speed of its international reach. The ChatGPT app reached a point where 90% of its users were outside North America in its third year, a milestone that took the internet 23 years to achieve. Also Read: The brain behind Generative AI has his sights set on India India played a key role—it accounts for 13.5% of global ChatGPT mobile app users as of April 2025, compared to the US' 8.9%, driven by India's 886 million internet users, mostly via smartphones. Over 153 million smartphones were shipped in 2024 alone, according to Counterpoint Research. Besides, ChatGPT supports many Indian languages, including the top six. India also accounts for 6.9% of DeepSeek mobile app users, the third largest after China and Russia. Pricing power Major AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, and Perplexity, all offer a free tier for users, which explains India's share in the mobile apps. The premium versions of these platforms are about $20 per month, and more advanced versions could cost $100 to $250 per month. The pricing is global and doesn't take into account purchasing power. (Low prices are key to capturing the Indian market. India's telecom tariffs, for example, are among the world's lowest.) For AI companies, subscription and developer API fees are key. However, the report points out that the AI landscape is competitive, with well-funded tech incumbents, emerging challengers, and a growing open-source movement all vying for market share. Besides, the performance gap between closed-source and open-source models is narrowing, putting pressure on pricing power. Whether this would lead to telecom-style lower costs is not clear yet. Labor market Mary Meeker highlighted a clear shift in demand away from traditional IT roles toward those requiring AI skills. While AI-related IT job postings in the US increased by 448% between January 2018 and April 2025, non-AI IT job postings declined by 9% over the same period. The cumulative number of new global job titles containing AI terms grew by 200% between Q2 2022 and Q2 2024. Beyond creating new titles, companies are integrating AI skills as a core competency for their entire workforce. Also Read: AI Tool of the Week | How to use Google Stitch to design apps even if you have zero coding skills Companies like Duolingo and Shopify state that AI use is now a "baseline expectation" and will be factored into hiring and performance reviews. This shift is especially important for Indian IT services companies, which grew by offering US tech skills at a lower cost. The changing job market must be reflected in their workforce too, validating their recent investments in AI training for employees. AI factories While Indian IT services companies are "right-skilling" their employees, the big tech companies in the US are investing in "AI factories", as the report describes the data centres. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta spent $228 billion on CapEx in 2024, a 55% increase year-over-year. CapEx of the Big Six (including Apple and Nvidia) has grown at a 21% annual rate over the last decade and now represents 15% of their total revenue, up from 8% a decade ago. Also Read: Devina Mehra: Yes, AI is coming for our jobs; it's the old story of new tech A significant portion has gone into building hyperscale data centres, faster network infrastructure, and acquiring specialised hardware like GPUs and custom AI accelerators. They've also increased R&D spending to 13% of revenues in 2024, up from 9% a decade ago. This spending is fueled by immense financial strength—these companies collectively generated $389 billion in free cash flow in 2024 and held over $443 billion in cash. They are using these resources to invest aggressively in what they see as the next fundamental wave of technology. Indian companies lack this financial capacity, partly explaining the AI pessimism in India. The two-power race These investments have positioned the US as the leader in AI systems, followed by China, with both far outpacing the rest of the world. China has dramatically accelerated its AI capabilities through national initiatives like 'Made in China 2025". Chinese AI models from DeepSeek, Alibaba (Qwen), and Baidu (Ernie) are rapidly closing the performance gap with US counterparts, often at lower training costs. AI now underpins China's nationally strategic areas, including battlefield logistics and cyber operations, raising US concerns. The report quotes Microsoft's Brad Smith, noting that China recognises that if a country standardizes on its AI platform, it will likely rely on that platform in the future. The US response, therefore, should be 'not to complain about the competition but to ensure we win the race ahead". Other countries are taking notice. More nations, including India, are increasingly pursuing 'Sovereign AI" policies to build domestic computing capacity using their own infrastructure and data. is a database and search engine for public data.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Week in AI: Mary Meeker Drops 340 Slides on the Revolution
Today's article and video will focus on just one-fifth of what you'll get in our new X Space around noon Eastern every Friday. I'll share that link further rapid-fire show, co-hosted by my colleague Ethan Feller, is where we each give you our Top Six events, reveals, and innovations of the AI revolution -- from just the past few days!That's how fast things are moving right Meeker's Monster Slide DeckThe bulk of the video that accompanies this article goes over a dozen graphs and datapoints produced by the infamous Bond Capital research team in their annual Trends report.I rely primarily on a great X thread by Jason Lemkin, founder of SaaStr, which summarizes his "Top 10 Points for B2B and enterprise founders." He can be found on X @jasonlk and SaaStr is the world's largest community of SaaS (software as a service) executives, founders, and wrote "Mary Meeker has been doing extremely well researched, deep analyses of internet trends since the earliest days the web took off. First at Morgan Stanley, then at Kleiner Perkins, and since then, at her own growth VC fund, Bond Capital."In the video, I run through Jason's top 10 picks and I also highlight another excellent thread by a VC at Menlo Ventures, who goes by Deedy @deedydas on pulls out 20 graphs and datapoints from the Meeker/Bond report and the bottom line is that these two guys make it easy: they read the report we probably never would have and give us useful intel from it at our Week in AI is Live on X, But Also RecordedIf you come live or catch the recording of our X Space -- Friday's at NOON Eastern -- you'll also see me put all these links in the comments section of the Space so you can easily access them.I keep a separate Bookmarks folder for this show, but it's getting so full I might have to make a separate one for each of full, all of our brains are overloaded with news and noise about stocks and technology, that it's easy to lose sight of the big trends and the I also do a cool thought experiment at the end of today's Would You Put on the Mount Rushmore of Physics?First, I review my February info-graphic that explains why I believe we are 5 years into the 5th Industrial I share an X post where a physicist created a beautiful AI rendition of Mt. Rushmore with four great physicists: Galileo, Newton, Einstein, and he also asks us if we would do it any different. I had to chime in, and as much I dig me some Feynman, he had to step down for someone who even Einstein would probably vote for: James Clerk Maxwell, who did key research and calculus on electromagnetism and its wave functions in the point of this thought experiment is to get us to think about the AI revolution in the same way the electrical one changed the world five generations AI is transforming the world even faster, it's the big trend and signal we want to stay focused on. It's why I've taught my fellow investors in TAZR Trader to always hold, and never sell, our NVIDIA NVDA shares that we last purchased at $12.50 in late I just wrote an article about the European industrial company ABB ABBNY which is making plans to spin-off its robotics division. In that article, I share "big trend" insights from Marc Andreessen about the robotics revolution because he's closer to it than I thought as an investor in Tesla's TSLA Optimus platform.I suggest that the ABB spin-off next year will "chart a path" for the dozens of start-up humanoid robot companies all vying for funding and sure to watch the video above and try to join us in the X Space today, or at least catch the replay which is available immediately. I'll be addressing one skeptic's views of the "AI hype" that make him sound like the detractors of automobiles and airplanes at the turn of the 20th Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report ABB Ltd (ABBNY) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
USA Today
06-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
BarkBox employee compared Pride to MAGA in leaked memo. The CEO apologized.
BarkBox employee compared Pride to MAGA in leaked memo. The CEO apologized. "I do not agree with the content of the message," BarkBox founder and CEO Matt Meeker said. "It wasn't good, it doesn't reflect our values and I'm deeply sorry that it happened." Show Caption Hide Caption Organizers say political pressure is motivation to continue celebrating Pride Organizers say political pressure is motivation to continue organizing and celebrating Pride, although some corporate support dwindles. Less than a week into Pride Month, BarkBox is receiving backlash for a leaked memo that compares an LGBTQ+ themed pet collection to the Make America Great Again movement. Now the monthly dog subscription service's CEO is looking to make amends. The memo, shared to Reddit this week, informed a group of employees that the monthly dog subscription service would cease advertisements for its Pride collection, which includes several Pride and rainbow accessories. The memo was shared by one employee to a small group of others, BarkBox confirmed to USA TODAY. "While celebrating Pride is something we may value, we need to acknowledge that the current climate makes this promotion feel more like a political statement than a universally joyful moment for all dog people," the memo shared on Reddit reads. "If we wouldn't feel comfortable running a promotion centered around another politically charged symbol (like a MAGA-themed product), it's worth asking whether this is the right moment to run this particular campaign." BarkBox CEO: 'It wasn't good' In a social media statement shared on June 4, BarkBox founder and CEO Matt Meeker apologized for the leaked memo. "I do not agree with the content of the message," Meeker wrote. "It wasn't good, it doesn't reflect our values and I'm deeply sorry that it happened." As of June 6, BarkBox's Pride collection was promoted on the BarkBox website. Since the leaked memo, Meeker shared that 100% of the proceeds from the collection will be donated to the LGBTQ resource, Kaleidoscope Youth Center in Columbus, Ohio. DEI: What fueled the Target DEI boycott? The answer may surprise you Pride Month: What are the safest places for gay and trans people? See where your state ranks What else did the BarkBox memo say? "After some thoughtful discussion today with leadership, we've made the decision to pause all paid ads and lifecycle marketing pushes for the Pride kit effective immediately," the memo shared on Reddit begins. "This isn't about backing away from support − it's about tone and ensuring our marketing remains inclusive and welcoming to everyone in our community. Right now, pushing this promo risks unintentionally sending the message that 'we're not for you' to a large portion of our audience," the memo concludes. BarkBox did not confirm when the memo was sent, or by who. What is BarkBox's Pride collection? BarkBox's Pride collection features more than 25 LGBTQ+ themed toys, including a rainbow tug toy, "slay the drag queen" plush and "gaylien," an alien plushy with a T-shirt that reads, "Take me to your leather," a reference to the queer leather community. These items an be added to any BarkBox for an upcharge. A typical BarkBox, which is $24 a month, includes two toys and two treats each month. More Pride Month: Trump's actions on LGBTQ+ issues in Pride Month criticized as 'bullying' by advocates Memo leak follows other national brands moving away from DEI The memo follows a string of companies who have eradicated or pulled back on DEI − diversity, equity and inclusion − programs, including Target, Walmart, Amazon and McDonald's. The DEI rollbacks began after President Donald Trump took office. As soon as he could, the president issued executive orders to dismantle DEI by putting pressure on federal contractors to end "illegal DEI discrimination" and direct federal agencies to draw up lists of companies that should be investigated for their DEI policies. And while Trump has been successful in part during his first 100 days in office, there are still countless major companies publicly backing DEI, including Costco, American Express, Apple and Levi's. Contributing: Jessica Gunn, USA TODAY Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@
