Latest news with #partnership
The Independent
an hour ago
- Business
- The Independent
Why it is time for a new era for global aid and development
Traditional models of aid are no longer fit-for-purpose. The global challenges we face, are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected. The world is shifting rapidly. Our approach to development is changing too. Next week in Seville, Spain, the world will come together for the Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) to set out a new vision for how we can collectively use finance to drive global progress on development over the next decade – tackling the climate and nature crisis, investing in health and education, and creating growth and jobs. It comes at a critical moment. Unprecedented levels of conflict and the impact of climate change are driving record humanitarian needs and threaten to reverse decades of development gains. We must make choices on how we use public funding innovatively and raise greater volumes of finance from all sources, including the private sector. Global South countries want a different relationship, and we are ready to offer a new approach. One based on listening; offering partnership not paternalism; sharing expertise; acting as investors, not donors, supporting countries to raise their own finances and driving reform across the Global Financial System. Global prosperity and security are crucial for delivering on our Plan For Change in the UK too. The summit in Seville must set a clear roadmap towards achieving three major changes. First, we will show we have listened to countries by helping them raise their own revenues. They have told us they want to become self-sufficient so we will offer partnership and expertise to help them build their own tax and economic systems, so that in time, they can thrive without aid. This means tackling money lost through crime and corruption. The UN estimates that Africa loses $90 billion to illicit finance flows, undermining public finances but also public institutions, affecting trust, political stability and national security. This hidden money is a problem for us all. We will work with partners to take urgent action on unsustainable debt. More than 50 per cent of lower-income countries are either in, or at high risk of, debt distress. That is why we are championing reform, so countries with unsustainable debt get quick and effective support. We are also pressing for more responsible and transparent lending, and have championed Climate Resilient Debt Clauses, which pause debt repayments when crises hit. Secondly, we know the costs of solving these challenges cannot be met by governments alone. We need more investment from the private sector. Through the City of London, the UK is a world-leading green financial hub. We are well placed to lead the charge, providing opportunities for UK businesses and investors and ultimately unlocking growth, jobs and trade. Only a small fraction of the money from big investors like pension funds currently goes to low- and middle-income countries. Shifting this by even a small amount would be game-changing for financing development and climate action. That is why the UK has recently set up an industry-led Investor Taskforce - bringing together investors and government to take action that will unlock more private capital for emerging markets and developing economies. We will launch a coalition in Seville that aims to help unlock trillions of pounds in untapped high-quality investment for developing countries through use of public markets. Finally, we must focus on making the international system work better for developing countries, creating a fairer system where they have greater voice and participation to shape the outcomes they need. That is why the UK is calling for just this in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. We also need to ensure countries can better manage climate shocks. Since 2015, 1.7 billion people's lives have been devastated by the climate crisis. Despite the fact that we can predict and model over a third of climate events, just 2 per cent of crisis finance is pre-arranged and ready to go before a disaster strikes. Putting finance in place ahead of disasters means it can be immediately released to countries and communities in moments of crisis. Tackling this is vital to ensure long-term growth and development. The launch of the global coalition in Seville will also enable us to scale up availability of pre-arranged finance, working with the UK insurance industry towards an ambition of increasing it tenfold by 2035. No nation can tackle global challenges alone. Seville must be the beginning of a new chapter in how we work together to deliver global development.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Congo and Rwanda Sign U.S.-Brokered Peace Deal With Trump in DC
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a peace agreement aiming to end the conflict and open a shared stretch of East African mineral wealth to U.S. investment. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
11 hours ago
- Business
- Associated Press
West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Enhances Educators' Ability To Interpret Student Data and Improve Achievement Through New Partnership
CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 27, 2025 /3BL/ - In a first of its kind agreement, New Jersey's West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District (WWP) today announced a new partnership with Otus, the leading K-12 assessment, data, and insights solution, and Discovery Education, the creators of essential PreK-12 learning solutions used in classrooms around the world. Through this collaboration, Otus and Discovery Education are providing new resources that help WWP organize student data into actionable insights and enhance district educators' ability to interpret that data and make informed, strategic decisions that improve achievement. Located in Central New Jersey's Mercer County, WWP is a PreK-12 public school district that educates over 9,300 students and employs over 1,300 staff members in 10 schools across the West Windsor and Plainsboro Townships. Building upon their tradition of excellence, WWP's mission is to empower all learners to thoughtfully contribute to a diverse and changing world with confidence, strength of character, and love of learning. To enhance the district's ability to collect, read, and react to student assessment data, WWP's team sought a digital solution that offered unparalleled insight into student performance. In addition, school administrators sought one resource that would provide both educators and families the tools and insights needed to support student success. Following a careful review of available solutions, WWP selected the Otus platform provided through Discovery Education. Through the Otus platform, WWP educators will: DreamBox Math by Discovery Educationhost of improvementsindependently proven According to Allan Johnson, WWP's Supervisor of Technology, Training, & Media Sources, 'The addition of Otus to the district tech stack improves our educators' ability to easily pull and analyze achievement data and then adjust instruction to improve student outcomes. We look forward to deploying this new resource districtwide.' WWP educators using Otus will receive dedicated professional development from Otus' team of professional learning experts. Through these interactive professional development sessions, participants will learn best practices for integrating their new digital resources into instruction. Effective professional learning increases student engagement and supports the continued academic development of all students. 'Discovery Education is thrilled to continue to support the students and teachers of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District through its unique collaboration with Otus,' said Tori Byrd, Discovery Education's Manager of Educational Partnerships. 'As the first school system nationwide to leverage the unique partnership between Otus and Discovery Education to combine high-quality learning solutions and state-of-the-art data analytics, West Windsor-Plainsboro is setting a new bar for innovation in this space.' To learn about how Otus and Discovery Education have collaborated to support student achievement, visit For more information about Otus, visit and stay connected to Otus on social media through X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. For more information about Discovery Education, visit and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. ### About Otus Otus, an award-winning edtech platform, empowers educators to maximize student performance with comprehensive solutions for K12 assessment, data, and insights. Committed to student achievement and educational equity, Otus combines student data with powerful tools that provide educators, administrators, and families with the insights they need to make a difference. Built by teachers for teachers, Otus creates efficiencies in data management, assessments, and progress monitoring to help educators focus on what matters most—student success. Today, Otus partners with school districts nationwide to create informed, data-driven learning environments. Learn more at About Discovery Education Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art, PreK-12, digital solutions support learning wherever it takes place. Through award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, innovative classroom tools, and strategic alliances, Discovery Education helps educators deliver powerful learning experiences that engage all students and support higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Through partnerships with districts, states, and trusted organizations, Discovery Education empowers teachers with essential edtech solutions that inspire curiosity, build confidence, and accelerate learning. Explore the future of education at Contact Mike Peterson Otus Phone: 651-307-9251 Email: [email protected] Stephen Wakefield Discovery Education Phone: 202-316-6615 Email: [email protected] Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Discovery Education
WIRED
11 hours ago
- Business
- WIRED
OpenAI's Unreleased AGI Paper Could Complicate Microsoft Negotiations
Jun 27, 2025 3:35 PM The partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft in many ways hinges on the definition of artificial general intelligence, creating a tension that has spilled over into OpenAI research that has not been made public. Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Photograph:A small clause inside OpenAI's contract with Microsoft, once considered a distant hypothetical, has now become a flashpoint in one of the biggest partnerships in tech. The clause states that if OpenAI's board ever declares it has developed artificial general intelligence (AGI), it would limit Microsoft's contracted access to the startup's future technologies. Microsoft, which has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI, is now reportedly pushing for the removal of the clause and is considering walking away from the deal entirely, according to the Financial Times. Late last year, tensions around AGI's suddenly pivotal role in the Microsoft deal spilled into a debate within OpenAI over an internal research paper, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Titled 'Five Levels of General AI Capabilities,' the paper outlines a framework for classifying progressive stages of AI technology. By making specific assertions about future AI capabilities, sources claim, the paper could have complicated OpenAI's ability to declare that it had achieved AGI, a potential point of leverage in negotiations. 'We're focused on developing empirical methods to evaluate AGI progress—work that is reproducible, measurable, and useful to the broader field,' OpenAI spokesperson Lindsay McCallum said in a written comment to WIRED. 'The 'Five Levels' was an early attempt at classifying stages and terminology to describe general AI capabilities. This was not a scientific research paper.' Microsoft declined to comment. In a blog post describing its corporate structure, OpenAI notes that AGI 'is excluded from IP licenses and other commercial terms with Microsoft.' OpenAI defines AGI as "a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work.' The two companies have been renegotiating their agreement as OpenAI prepares a corporate restructuring. While Microsoft wants continued access to OpenAI's models even if the startup declares AGI before the partnership ends in 2030, one person familiar with the partnership discussions tells WIRED that Microsoft doesn't believe OpenAI will reach AGI by that deadline. But another source close to the matter describes the clause as OpenAI's ultimate leverage. Both sources have been granted anonymity to speak freely about private discussions. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI has even considered whether to invoke the clause based on an AI coding agent. The talks have grown so fraught that OpenAI has reportedly discussed if it should publicly accuse Microsoft of anticompetitive behavior, per the Journal. A source familiar with the discussions, granted anonymity to speak freely about the negotiations, says OpenAI is fairly close to achieving AGI; Altman has said he expects to see it during Donald Trump's current term. That same source suggests there are two relevant definitions: First, OpenAI's board can unilaterally decide the company has reached AGI as defined in its charter, which would immediately cut Microsoft off from accessing the technology or revenue derived from AGI; Microsoft would still have rights to everything before that milestone. Second, the contract includes a concept of sufficient AGI, added in 2023, which defines AGI as a system capable of generating a certain level of profit. If OpenAI asserts it has reached that benchmark, Microsoft must approve the determination. The contract also bars Microsoft from pursuing AGI on its own or through third parties using OpenAI's IP. Bloomberg previously reported on the existence of the 'Five Levels' paper, and that OpenAI was planning to share the scale with its outside investors, though it was considered at the time as a 'work in progress.' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and chief research officer Mark Chen have spoken about the five levels of AI capabilities in various interviews since. A version of the paper dated September 2024 viewed by WIRED details a five-step scale for measuring how advanced AI systems are, citing other research that claims many of OpenAI's models at that point were at Level 1, defined as 'An AI that can understand and use language fluently and can do a wide range of tasks for users, at least as well as a beginner could and sometimes better.' It notes that some models at the time were approaching Level 2, which the authors define as 'An AI that can do more advanced tasks at the request of a user, including tasks that might take an hour for a trained expert to do.' The paper deliberately avoids giving a single definition of AGI, arguing the term is too vague and binary, and instead opts for using a spectrum of capabilities to describe increasingly general and capable AI systems. The paper doesn't predict when OpenAI's systems will reach each of the five levels, but it does predict how each step up in capabilities could change different facets of society, including education, jobs, science, and politics, warning about new risks as AI tools become more powerful and independent. In a podcast with YCombinator president and CEO Garry Tan in November, Altman said that the company's o1 model could be defined as Level 2, and he expects they'll reach Level 3 'faster than people expect.' Last July, a coauthor of the paper gave a presentation of the research at an internal event where teams highlighted their most important projects for research-wide awareness, according to multiple sources. The research was well received by other staffers, one source added. Sources also believe that the paper seemed to be in final stages, and the company had hired a copy editor to finalize the work late last year along with generating visuals for a blog announcing the paper. OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft was cited internally as one reason to hold off on publishing the paper, according to multiple sources who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity as they were not permitted to speak to the press. Another source says that discussions with Microsoft were often 'mentioned as a blocker for putting the paper out.' McCallum said in a comment to WIRED that 'it's not accurate to suggest we held off from sharing these ideas to protect the Microsoft partnership.' Another source familiar with the matter said that the paper wasn't released because it didn't meet technical standards. 'I think mostly the question of what AGI is doesn't matter,' Altman said at a conference in early June 'It is a term that people define differently; the same person often will define it differently.'
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Cyngn (CYN) Skyrockets Nearly 500%--Thanks to Nvidia's Backing
June 26 - Cyngn (NASDAQ:CYN) shares soared as much as 500% Thursday morning after the industrial automation company revealed a partnership with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) to feature its autonomous vehicles at Automatica 2025. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with CYN. The vehicles, powered by Nvidia's Isaac robotics platform and Cyngn's in-house DriveMod software, are designed to support automation in sectors like logistics and manufacturing. The collaboration aims to improve operational safety and efficiency across commercial sites. Cyngn was one of several robotics firms chosen to demonstrate Nvidia-powered technologies at the global event. Automatica 2025 is viewed as a key venue for showcasing AI-driven systems in real-world industrial environments. The stock's sharp move comes after a challenging 12 months, during which Cyngn lost nearly all its market value. The company faced delisting risks due to prolonged share price weakness and missed earnings expectations across four consecutive quarters. Cyngn regained Nasdaq compliance in March 2025. Nvidia shares were up about 1% in the same session. While it remains to be seen whether the partnership will translate into broader adoption, Thursday's rally reflects investor optimism over Cyngn's tech alignment with a major AI player. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
