diplomacy

Nvidia to supply 260,000 cutting-edge chips to South Korea

BY CLAIRE LEE AND HIEUN SHIN

  • - Chicken and chips - Huang has sought to forge closer ties with South Korean tech giants in his visit to the country this week.
  • US tech giant Nvidia said on Friday it will supply 260,000 of its most cutting-edge chips to South Korea, as CEO Jensen Huang met President Lee Jae Myung and the heads of Korea's biggest companies on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
  • - Chicken and chips - Huang has sought to forge closer ties with South Korean tech giants in his visit to the country this week.
US tech giant Nvidia said on Friday it will supply 260,000 of its most cutting-edge chips to South Korea, as CEO Jensen Huang met President Lee Jae Myung and the heads of Korea's biggest companies on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
South Korea is home to two of the world's leading memory chip makers -- Samsung Electronics and SK hynix -- which manufacture chips essential for artificial intelligence products and the data centres that the fast-evolving industry relies on.
President Lee has also expressed his hope the country can become a leading AI power.
Nvidia said it was "working with South Korea to expand the nation's AI infrastructure with over a quarter-million Nvidia GPUs across its sovereign clouds and AI factories".
Under Friday's deal, 50,000 of the graphics processing units will go towards a new "AI factory" being built by Samsung Electronics.
"By deploying more than 50,000 Nvidia GPUs, AI will be embedded throughout Samsung's entire manufacturing flow," the Korean tech giant said.
SK Group and Hyundai Motor Group will also receive 50,000 chips for use in AI facilities.
NAVER Cloud -- which operates South Korea's largest search engine -- will receive 60,000 to expand its AI infrastructure.
A further 50,000 will be deployed across Seoul's National AI Computing Center and to cloud service and IT providers.
"Korea's leadership in technology and manufacturing positions is at the heart of the AI industrial revolution -- where accelerated computing infrastructure becomes as vital as power grids and broadband," Nvidia CEO Huang said.

Chicken and chips

Huang has sought to forge closer ties with South Korean tech giants in his visit to the country this week.
He met Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Eui-sun on Thursday for "chimaek" -- a beloved South Korean pairing of fried chicken and beer -- in the capital Seoul.
The restaurant, Kkanbu, was reportedly chosen by Nvidia because the term -- popularised by Netflix's megahit "Squid Game" and meaning "friend" -- was intended to highlight the spirit of friendship underpinning their AI and chip collaborations.
Nvidia in July became the first company to top $4 trillion in market capitalisation, and followed that up by becoming the first to hit $5 trillion following a company event on Tuesday where it announced new ventures building on its AI technology.
Its chips drive much of the global AI industry and even featured in talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Gyeongju this week.
Beijing has ramped up its chip industry to beat Washington's export restrictions on the critical component used to power AI systems.
Nvidia has been caught in the middle of that geopolitical tussle. Its chips are currently not sold in China due to a combination of Beijing government bans, US national security concerns and ongoing trade tensions.
Huang has urged the United States to allow the sale of US-made AI chips in China in order to ensure Silicon Valley companies remain a global powerhouse in providing artificial intelligence.
"We did discuss chips," Trump said after meeting Xi, adding that Huang would speak to Beijing about the dispute.
"We're sort of the arbitrator or the referee," Trump said.
hs-cdl-oho/pbt

film

AI cannot make cinema, director Linklater says

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • - 'No algorithm is gonna do that' - Which brings us back to the question of human genius and art.
  • Can great art be made without human genius and all its flaws?
  • - 'No algorithm is gonna do that' - Which brings us back to the question of human genius and art.
Can great art be made without human genius and all its flaws? It's a vital question at a time when artificial intelligence threatens to subsume Hollywood.
Through new movies "Nouvelle Vague" and "Blue Moon," director Richard Linklater offers an answer--delving into the lives of two brilliant, volatile men whose films and plays shaped French New Wave cinema and Broadway.
His conclusion?
"AI is not going to make a film," the US indie auteur tells AFP.
"Storytelling, narrative, characters? Something that connects to humanity? That's a whole 'nother thing," says the Texan whose notable films include "Boyhood," the "Before" trilogy, "School of Rock" and "Hit Man."
Linklater's "Nouvelle Vague," streaming on Netflix from November 14, charts how young French director Jean-Luc Godard defied all filmmaking convention to create his 1960 classic "Breathless."
It captures the swagger, charisma and impulsiveness with which Godard convinced financial backers and Hollywood starlet Jean Seberg to make a debut feature that had neither a script nor a workable filming schedule.
"He's a little full of shit, but he's a genius. A revolution is going on, but he's the only one who knows it," Linklater says of Godard, an icon of cinema's French New Wave movement in the late 1950s and 60s.
By contrast "Blue Moon," in cinemas now, depicts Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart at the end of his career.
With composer Richard Rodgers, Hart wrote classic songs like "The Lady is a Tramp," "My Funny Valentine" and, of course, "Blue Moon."
But the film captures a single evening, in which it becomes clear Rodgers has moved on to even greater success with new partner Oscar Hammerstein II, with the debut of their hit musical "Oklahoma!"
Within months, Hart will be dead from alcoholism.
"It's become very clear that the times are leaving him behind. They're leaving behind his genius," says Linklater.

'No algorithm is gonna do that'

Which brings us back to the question of human genius and art.
For Linklater, AI is "just one more tool" that artists can use, but it "doesn't have intuitionsor consciousness."
"I think it's going to be less revolutionary than everybody thinks in the next few years," he told AFP in an interview ahead of the Los Angeles premiere of "Nouvelle Vague" at The American French Film Festival (TAFFF).
The French New Wave's trademark documentary-style realism was made possible in part by technology -- the arrival of cheap, light, portable cameras.
But Linklater rejects the claim that the cost savings and flexibility offered by AI could unleash another filmmaking revolution.
"You're gonna see some cool stuff," he concedes.
But "the hardest thing to do is still to tell a compelling story that people want to see and be engaged with," he says.
"That's a lot of points you have to hit -- that's acting, that's story structure, that's pace, style.
"No algorithm is gonna do that. No prompt is gonna do that."

'Authentic'

Among Linklater's future projects is "Merrily We Roll Again," adapted from Stephen Sondheim's musical.
Set over two decades, "Merrily" charts the demise of a friendship between three artists, and is told in reverse chronology.
As if to prove his point about technology, Linklater has decided to shoot the film over a 20 year span, allowing the actors to truly age backward on screen.
It is a more complex variation of his Oscar-winning "Boyhood" -- which he filmed across 12 years.
Of course, AI has recently been used to "de-age" actors, like in Tom Hanks' 2024 film "Here." But Linklater has little interest.
"It's not a visual trick, you know? I really want an actor of a certain age to be playing a character," he explains.
Asking a 25-year-old to play a 45-year-old is "not authentic" because young people "don't know what that even means," he says.
"I want the actors to be that much older and wiser."
So, don't expect to see "Merrily" in theaters any time soon.
"That's my hanging-on-to-humanity approach!" chuckles Linklater.
amz/iv/sla

earnings

Sales of 'services' help Apple beat earnings forecasts

BY GLENN CHAPMAN

  • "Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record," chief executive Tim Cook said in a release.
  • Apple on Thursday reported profit of $27.5 billion in the recently ended quarter, powered by iPhone and services revenue.
  • "Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record," chief executive Tim Cook said in a release.
Apple on Thursday reported profit of $27.5 billion in the recently ended quarter, powered by iPhone and services revenue.
The net income, along with revenue of $102.5 billion, beat market expectations, despite a hefty financial hit from US tariffs and a slight ebbing of revenue in China when compared with the same period a year earlier.
"Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record," chief executive Tim Cook said in a release.
Apple shares were up more than 2 percent in after-hours trade that followed release of the earnings figures.
Overall sales of iPhones, the heart of Apple's business, fell shy of market expectations, bringing in $49 billion in an increase from the same quarter last year.
The slight miss in iPhone revenue was still "encouraging given the successful iPhone 17 line-up launch" in September, CFRA Research vice president Angelo Zino said in a note to investors.
Apple's services business, which sells digital content and subscriptions to users of its coveted gadgets, generated $28.8 billion in revenue, an increase of some $3 billion from the same quarter last year.
Analyst Zino described the performance of Apple's services business as "standout."
"These results come at the close of an extraordinary year for Apple in which we achieved an all-time revenue record of $416 billion for the fiscal year," Cook said.
"We set an all-time revenue record for iPhone, and in services we achieved all-time records across every geographic segment."
Cook predicted that the current fiscal quarter would be the best ever for Apple.
Cook touted the latest Apple devices and the tech giant's custom chips and efforts to enhance products and services with artificial intelligence.
"As we continue to expand our investment in AI, we're bringing intelligence to more of what people already love about our products and services," Cook said on an earnings call.
"At the heart of it all is Apple silicon...these incredibly advanced chips make Apple products the very best place to experience the power of AI."

Smarter Siri?

Apple has been under pressure to show it is not being left behind when it comes to artificial intelligence, with the potential to change how people engage with the internet and computers.
Cook touted new "Apple Intelligence" features such as real-time language translation during iPhone calls and promised to release a more personalized Siri digital assistant next year.
Demand for several iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models outstripped supply, in the quarter, and Apple remains "constrained" on some models, according to executives.
Not being able to meet demand was cited by Cook as among reasons for sales in China coming in lower that the market expected.
Cook expects sales in China to pick up in the current quarter as supply improves.
"That is largely based on the reception of the iPhone there," Cook said.
"I couldn't be more pleased with how things are going (in China)."
Apple Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said the company's gross margin was higher than forecast in the quarter, despite about $1.1 billion in tariff-related costs.
Trump's tariffs have cost Apple near $2 billion in the last two fiscal quarters, according to earnings figures.
Apple kept prices of iPhones unveiled last month unchanged from last year's equivalent models, raising concerns about its profit margin given the added expense.
gc/sla

AI

Amazon shares surge as AI boom drives cloud growth

  • Amazon's major rivals in the cloud computing space, Microsoft and Google, on Wednesday also reported sales increases in their cloud computing business, with all companies pointing to adoption of AI services as the main driver.
  • Amazon's share price skyrocketed by more than ten percent on Thursday after the online retail behemoth reported better than expected earnings, powered by surging demand for its cloud computing services.
  • Amazon's major rivals in the cloud computing space, Microsoft and Google, on Wednesday also reported sales increases in their cloud computing business, with all companies pointing to adoption of AI services as the main driver.
Amazon's share price skyrocketed by more than ten percent on Thursday after the online retail behemoth reported better than expected earnings, powered by surging demand for its cloud computing services.
Quarterly sales rose 13 percent to $180.2 billion across the company, it said. Net income climbed to $21.2 billion from $15.3 billion a year earlier.
Stoking investor sentiment, the company forecast fourth-quarter sales of $206-$213 billion, representing growth of 10-13 percent.
The e-commerce giant's Amazon Web Services division, which recently suffered a global outage, saw revenues jump 20 percent to $33 billion in the third quarter, marking its fastest growth rate since 2022 as companies race to build AI capabilities.
Amazon's major rivals in the cloud computing space, Microsoft and Google, on Wednesday also reported sales increases in their cloud computing business, with all companies pointing to adoption of AI services as the main driver.
The tech giants are all making huge investments to build up their AI computing capabilities, money that the companies insist will be justified by increasing adoption of AI tools and applications by customers across the globe.
While the company did not break out its specific investment in AI capabilities, Amazon said it increased year-on-year purchases of property and equipment by $50.9 billion, which is a massive jump in spending.
"The significant acceleration of AWS growth should help dispel some of the concerns that Amazon has been failing to keep up with (Microsoft) Azure and Google Cloud," said Emarketer principal analyst Sky Canaves.
"A key question will be whether Amazon plans to further increase its already massive (capital expenditure) spending on AI infrastructure in light of the recent announcements from its rivals."
Amazon also said it added 3.8 gigawatts of power capacity over the past year to support AI infrastructure -- more than any other cloud provider -- and launched a massive computing cluster with nearly 500,000 custom AI chips.
AI computing demands enormous amounts of electricity, far more than traditional computing, and can put a strain on local resources, notably water supplies needed for cooling data center activity.
"In our view, Amazon is right to make these investments as they will help provide the company with new avenues for growth and ensure it remains competitively sharp," said Neil Saunders, Managing Director of GlobalData.
Operating income, however, remained flat at $17.4 billion after Amazon took two major charges: $2.5 billion for a legal settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and $1.8 billion in severance costs tied to planned job cuts.
Amazon said Tuesday it was reducing its workforce by 14,000 posts to streamline operations as it invests in artificial intelligence.
The cuts are expected to target areas such as human resources, advertising, and management in a group that has 350,000 office positions, out of a total of more than 1.5 million employees.
The settlement with the FTC was over long-running allegations from the US regulator that it used deceptive practices to enroll consumers in Amazon Prime and made it difficult to cancel subscriptions.
The online retail giant, which admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, paid $1.5 billion into a consumer fund for refunds and $1 billion in civil penalties.
Shortly after the results landed, Amazon's share price was up by 11 percent in after-hours trading.
arp/sla

politics

Independent Macau media outlet says it will close by December

  • The outlet said this month's print edition would be its last, with the rest of its operation to end in December.
  • One of the last independent media outlets in Macau will close operations in December, the platform said on Thursday, citing "increasing pressure and risks".
  • The outlet said this month's print edition would be its last, with the rest of its operation to end in December.
One of the last independent media outlets in Macau will close operations in December, the platform said on Thursday, citing "increasing pressure and risks".
The All About Macau Media (AAMacau) news platform, co-founded by late journalist Ng Sio Ngai more than a decade ago, has often been critical of social issues in the Chinese city.
AAMacau, whose Chinese-language name means "discuss as much as possible", runs digital and print platforms and also has a social media presence.
The outlet said this month's print edition would be its last, with the rest of its operation to end in December.
It said it had been told by Macau officials that it "no longer meets the statutory requirements to engage in relevant activities" under the Chinese special administrative region's media law and that its monthly publication registration number has been revoked.
"Facing resource constraints, mounting external pressures, and the need for our reporters to navigate judicial proceedings, the team found it increasingly difficult to maintain reporting standards," AAMacau said.
It said it "had no choice but to make this difficult decision".
In April, two AAMacau reporters were detained by police while covering an event in the city's legislature, which it said was the first case of its kind in Macau.
It said on Thursday that three of its journalists could face criminal charges over the incident.
The city's Government Information Bureau has not yet responded to an AFP request for comment.

'Swift deterioration'

Macau, which has its own legal system largely based on Portuguese law, enacted national security legislation in 2009 and widened its powers in 2023.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said the closure of AAMacau is "a blow to press freedom and a highly troubling development".
It "marks a swift deterioration" in Macau's media environment, the advocacy group told AFP.
Began as a weekly feature in a local newspaper in 2010, AAMacau established its website about two years later, followed by the first monthly magazine printed in May 2013.
In recent years, the outlet has transitioned into a subscription and donation-based funding model.
AAMacau said its decision came about a year after it started facing restrictions in accessing government events.
Political scientist and veteran journalist Eric Sautede called the outlet's closure an "absolute loss".
He said AAMacau had "helped foster a measure of accountability among those in power -- both in government and in the private sector".
twa/rsc

AI

Universal says struck first licensing deal for AI music

  • AI firms from industry leader OpenAI to music specialists like Udio and competitor Suno have previously been accused by major record companies of using their songs to "train" artificial intelligence models which can produce music that apes human artists.
  • A deal struck between Universal Music Group and AI music creation startup Udio marks a new chapter for a recording industry buffeted by the emergence of artificial intelligence.
  • AI firms from industry leader OpenAI to music specialists like Udio and competitor Suno have previously been accused by major record companies of using their songs to "train" artificial intelligence models which can produce music that apes human artists.
A deal struck between Universal Music Group and AI music creation startup Udio marks a new chapter for a recording industry buffeted by the emergence of artificial intelligence.
"The new platform, which will be launched in 2026, will be powered by new cutting-edge generative AI technology that will be trained on authorized and licensed music," the two companies said in a statement on Thursday.
As yet unnamed, the project will be a "new subscription service" that will allow users to "customize, stream and share music responsibly, on the Udio platform," they added.
The statement did not go into detail about how the new platform will function.
But obvious questions the partners must resolve include whether artists will have to opt in to their music being licensed, how creators will be compensated or how music generated on the platform will be distributed.
Thursday's deal is the first of its kind in the music industry, with heavyweight UMG -- the industry leader with a roster of beloved stars like Taylor Swift, The Weeknd or Lady Gaga -- granting valuable legal access to its catalogue.
UMG chief Lucian Grainge said the tie-up showed the way towards "a healthy commercial AI ecosystem in which artists, songwriters, music companies and technology companies can all flourish," 
"Together, we're building the technological and business landscape that will fundamentally expand what's possible in music creation and engagement," Udio chief Andrew Sanchez said.
The two companies added that they had settled an outstanding copyright infringement case, without specifying the financial terms.

Infringement allegations

The agreement for legal licensing comes as artists, from authors to musicians and video game developers, fear being replaced altogether by AI models trained on decades of human-produced creative output.
Already, music streaming platforms report a rising flood of computer-generated songs.
AI firms from industry leader OpenAI to music specialists like Udio and competitor Suno have previously been accused by major record companies of using their songs to "train" artificial intelligence models which can produce music that apes human artists.
Rightsholders have demanded stricter limits on the AI developers' activities, including transparency on what source material they have used and guarantees for their revenue.
"The world's largest tech companies as well as AI-specific companies, such as OpenAI, Suno, and Udio, Mistral, etc. are engaged in the largest copyright infringement exercise that has been seen," John Phelan, director general of the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP), told AFP last month.
And the Recording Industry Association of America, a US trade group, filed a lawsuit in June 2024 against both Udio and Suno.
For their part, AI firms often argue their work is covered by the American copyright loophole of "fair use", which does not require rightsholders' consent.
Broader talks between music companies and tech firms on how to license works for AI remain under way.
UMG said Thursday that it was also partnering with London-based startup Stability AI to develop new music creation tools.
And independent publisher Kobalt, licensing firm Merlin and AI company Eleven Music struck a deal of their own in August.
jt-fan/tgb/rl

AI

Universal says struck first licensing deal for AI music

  • Universal and Udio said in a statement that their platform, as yet unnamed, "will be powered by new cutting-edge generative AI technology that will be trained on authorized and licensed music".
  • Recording industry giant Universal Music Group said Thursday it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation startup Udio, in an industry-first tie-up aiming to launch an AI creation platform next year.
  • Universal and Udio said in a statement that their platform, as yet unnamed, "will be powered by new cutting-edge generative AI technology that will be trained on authorized and licensed music".
Recording industry giant Universal Music Group said Thursday it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation startup Udio, in an industry-first tie-up aiming to launch an AI creation platform next year.
Universal and Udio said in a statement that their platform, as yet unnamed, "will be powered by new cutting-edge generative AI technology that will be trained on authorized and licensed music".
They added that they had settled an outstanding copyright infringement case, without specifying the financial terms.
The agreement comes as artists, from authors to musicians and video game developers, fear eventual replacement by AI models trained on decades of human-produced creative output, while music streaming platforms already report a rising flood of computer-generated songs.
AI firms from industry leader OpenAI to music specialists like Udio and competitor Suno have previously been accused by major record companies of using their songs to "train" artificial intelligence models which can produce music that apes human artists.
Rightsholders have demanded stricter limits on the AI developers' activities, including transparency on what source material they have used and guarantees for their revenue.
Startups were "engaged in the largest copyright infringement exercise that has been seen," International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) boss John Phelan told AFP last month.
And the Recording Industry Association of America, a US trade group, filed a lawsuit in June 2024 against both Udio and Suno.
By contrast, Thursday's tie-up showed the way towards "a healthy commercial AI ecosystem in which artists, songwriters, music companies and technology companies can all flourish," UMG chief Lucian Grainge said.
Broader talks between music companies and tech firms on how to license works for AI remain under way.
jt-fan/tgb/

computers

Google parent Alphabet posts first $100 bn quarter as AI fuels growth

BY GLENN CHAPMAN WITH ALEX PIGMAN IN WASHINGTON

  • The cloud division, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, has become a key growth engine for Alphabet.
  • Google parent Alphabet reported its first-ever $100 billion quarterly revenue on Wednesday, powered by strong growth across its core search business and rapidly expanding cloud division that was buoyed by artificial intelligence.
  • The cloud division, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, has become a key growth engine for Alphabet.
Google parent Alphabet reported its first-ever $100 billion quarterly revenue on Wednesday, powered by strong growth across its core search business and rapidly expanding cloud division that was buoyed by artificial intelligence.
The tech giant's revenues jumped 16 percent year-on-year to $102.3 billion in the third quarter, beating analyst expectations and marking a milestone for the company founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998.
"Alphabet had a terrific quarter, with double-digit growth across every major part of our business," said CEO Sundar Pichai in a statement.
Net income surged 33 percent to $35 billion, with the company pointing to its ability to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom that is reshaping the tech landscape.
Google's core search and advertising business remained the primary revenue driver, generating $56.6 billion, up from $49.4 billion a year earlier.
YouTube advertising revenues also grew strongly to $10.3 billion from $8.9 billion.
But it was Google Cloud that stole the spotlight, with revenues soaring 34 percent to $15.2 billion. The cloud division, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, has become a key growth engine for Alphabet.
The company's ambitious approach to offering AI "is delivering strong momentum and we're shipping at speed," Pichai said, highlighting the global rollout of AI features in Google Search and the company's Gemini AI models.
The company said its Gemini App now boasts over 650 million monthly active users and that a growing amount of users were using the company's AI Mode for search queries.
However, the results were partially overshadowed by a $3.5 billion fine imposed by the European Commission in September for competition law violations in its ad tech business.
Excluding this penalty, operating income would have increased 22 percent instead of the reported nine percent, the company said.
The strong performance comes as Alphabet ramps up capital spending to meet surging demand for AI infrastructure.
The company now expects 2025 capital expenditures of between $91-$93 billion, reflecting massive investments in data centers and computing power to fulfill its AI ambitions.
It said its spending on capex would grow even more next year, though without providing more details for now.
Microsoft and Meta, which also posted results on Wednesday, showed similar massive expenditures on AI infrastructure, which consume more energy than conventional data centers, strain electric power grids and use local water resources for cooling.
The company also reported having over 300 million paid subscriptions across services like Google One and YouTube Premium.
Despite the robust growth, Alphabet's experimental "Other Bets" division, which includes autonomous vehicle unit Waymo, posted a loss of $1.4 billion on revenues of just $344 million.
Google's shares have surged by nearly 40 percent in the thrid quarter, with investors also buoyed by the company's success in persuading a federal judge to deny a US government request that it sell off its Chrome browser as a solution in an antitrust trial.
The judge was swayed by arguments that Google's world-dominating search engine — the heart of Google's business — faces stiff competition from ChatGPT and other AI chatbots like Perplexity.
Still, Google's search revenue was up nearly 15 percent from the same quarter last year.
arp/des

internet

Meta shares sink as $16 bn US tax charge tanks profit

  • Quarterly revenue however exceeded analyst expectations at $51.2 billion, a 26 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.
  • Meta shares dove more than eight percent in after-hours trading Wednesday after the tech giant reported a US tax charge took a roughly $16 billion bite out of its quarterly profit.
  • Quarterly revenue however exceeded analyst expectations at $51.2 billion, a 26 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.
Meta shares dove more than eight percent in after-hours trading Wednesday after the tech giant reported a US tax charge took a roughly $16 billion bite out of its quarterly profit.
The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp said that its net income would have reached $18.64 billion in the recent quarter had it not been for a one-time tax charge prompted by provisions in President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."
Quarterly revenue however exceeded analyst expectations at $51.2 billion, a 26 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.
Meta also notched up the forecast of how much money it expects to spend this year as it invests heavily in being a leader in artificial intelligence.
The company said it expects capital expenditures to tally somewhere between $70-$72 billion, at the higher end of a range it had previously disclosed.
Costs and expenses in the quarter were $30.71 billion, an increase of 32 percent from the same period last year, with some of that cost going to talent for Meta's AI efforts.
"I am very focused on establishing Meta as the leading frontier AI Lab, building personal super intelligence for everyone and delivering the app experiences and computing devices that will improve the lives of billions of people around the world," chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call.
"We're heads down, developing our next generation of models and products."
Meta's Family of Apps segment, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, saw daily active users reach 3.54 billion in the quarter, up 8 percent from a year earlier.
Meta announced earlier this month that it will begin using people's conversations with its AI chatbot to tailor ads and content they see on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta also recently showed off new smart glasses as it continued to bank on a lifestyle shift toward blending reality and virtual space despite the efforts inflicting heavy financial losses.
Announcements included the debut of Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses that have built-in screens that allow wearers to see messages, photos and more as though looking at a smartphone screen.
Zuckerberg has predicted that AI-infused smart glasses will be the "next major computing platform," eventually replacing the smartphone.
But Reality Labs --  Meta's virtual and augmented reality unit -- has consistently posted big losses.
Meta is locked in a bitter rivalry with other tech behemoths as they invest heavily in AI, aiming to ensure the technology benefits society and generates profits in the not-so-distant future.
Most analysts believe Meta will make the investment pay off by improving its advertising efficiency and creating new opportunities, such as with its smart glasses through a partnership with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica.
gc/des

automobile

Uber plans San Francisco robotaxis in Waymo challenge

  • Waymo robotaxis have grown in popularity in San Francisco, and even become a tourist attraction, since the service began testing here in 2021 and opened to the general public last year.
  • Uber said Wednesday it will launch its own robotaxi service in San Francisco late next year, taking on Google-owned Waymo on the rideshare giant's home streets.
  • Waymo robotaxis have grown in popularity in San Francisco, and even become a tourist attraction, since the service began testing here in 2021 and opened to the general public last year.
Uber said Wednesday it will launch its own robotaxi service in San Francisco late next year, taking on Google-owned Waymo on the rideshare giant's home streets.
The announcement came a day after Uber and Nvidia touted an alliance to deploy 100,000 robotaxis starting in 2027.
"The future is on its way," Uber said in the post on X, adding that on-road development of more than 100 self-driving Lucid vehicles for the robotaxi program is in progress.
Uber currently lets users in a few US cities hail robotaxis operated by Waymo.
Nvidia earlier this week announced it was working with carmakers Stellantis, Lucid, and Mercedes-Benz to deploy 100,000 robotaxis starting in 2027, as the AI chip giant works to put itself at the core of self-driving vehicle systems.
Artificial intelligence, along with super-fast, reliable internet connectivity, promises to be essential for cars to react safely and smartly on the road.
Waymo robotaxis have grown in popularity in San Francisco, and even become a tourist attraction, since the service began testing here in 2021 and opened to the general public last year.
Waymo's fleet in the area is estimated at more than 800 vehicles and the company recently announced plans to launch its robotaxis in London next year.
London would mark the first foray into Europe for Waymo, already present in a growing number of US cities.
Chinese internet giant Baidu earlier this year announced plans to launch robotaxis on the rideshare app Lyft in Germany and Britain in 2026, pending regulatory approval.
Baidu has announced a similar agreement with Uber in Asia and the Middle East as it seeks to take pole position in the competitive autonomous driving field both at home and abroad.
gc/md

telecom

US media mogul John Malone to step down as head of business empire

  • He will also step down as chairman at Liberty Media, which operates Formula 1 racing, MotoGP, and Live Nation entertainment.
  • Billionaire media and telecoms tycoon John Malone will step down as chairman of his multinational companies Liberty Global and Liberty Media after decades influencing the global communications landscape, the businesses announced Wednesday.
  • He will also step down as chairman at Liberty Media, which operates Formula 1 racing, MotoGP, and Live Nation entertainment.
Billionaire media and telecoms tycoon John Malone will step down as chairman of his multinational companies Liberty Global and Liberty Media after decades influencing the global communications landscape, the businesses announced Wednesday.
The 84-year-old American, nicknamed the "Cable Cowboy," is recognized as a pioneering force in the cable television industry who helped shape the trajectory of modern media through his aggressive dealmaking across the globe.
Often compared to Rupert Murdoch or Ted Turner, Malone is renowned for highly-leveraged acquisitions and for implementing complex deal-making to consolidate media assets.
Malone, who is also one of the biggest landowners in the United States, reached the height of global media business when he sold his vast TCI cable group to AT&T in 1999 in a $48 billion deal.
He praised Liberty Global's performance during his chairmanship, citing investments in cable and broadband across 50 countries and more than $200 billion in mergers and acquisitions.
"The return to long-term shareholders has been outstanding -- and getting there has been, like the industry itself, never dull and a lot of fun," Malone said in a company statement.
He will also step down as chairman at Liberty Media, which operates Formula 1 racing, MotoGP, and Live Nation entertainment.
Malone controls approximately 49.5 percent of the voting power in the Formula 1 division through his shareholdings.
Over the years, Malone through Liberty Media has had major stakes in companies like Warner Brothers Discovery, Lionsgate, QVC, SiriusXM, and the Atlanta Braves baseball team.
"Founding Liberty Media and serving as its chairman has been among the most rewarding experiences of my professional life," Malone said.
Malone will remain as a large shareholder and strategic advisor to both companies while reducing his formal board commitments.
arp/mlm

semiconductors

AI chip giant Nvidia becomes world's first $5 trillion company

  • The eyewatering valuations linked to artificial intelligence also include OpenAI becoming the world's most valuable private company, currently valued at $500 billion.
  • AI chip juggernaut Nvidia became the world's first $5 trillion company on Wednesday, as investors remain confident that artificial intelligence will deliver a new wave of innovation and growth.
  • The eyewatering valuations linked to artificial intelligence also include OpenAI becoming the world's most valuable private company, currently valued at $500 billion.
AI chip juggernaut Nvidia became the world's first $5 trillion company on Wednesday, as investors remain confident that artificial intelligence will deliver a new wave of innovation and growth.
The California-based tech giant saw its share price rise by 4.91 percent to $210.90 at the open of trading on Wall Street, pushing Nvidia's market capitalization past the never-before-seen threshold.
By way of comparison, the level was greater than the GDP of France or Germany or higher than that of Tesla, Meta (Facebook), and Netflix combined.
Microsoft and Apple, the two other largest global market capitalizations, only just exceed $4 trillion in valuation each.
The surge in Nvidia's share price follows continued strong sales, a flurry of new deals -- including a partnership with Europe's Nokia announced on Tuesday -- as well as expectations that the company may soon regain access to China.
The company is "largely ahead of any competitor who finds it hard to catch up in the world that Nvidia lives in," Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management told AFP.
"While it's almost unfathomable to think about a company reaching this milestone, it comes from a company with so many operational efficiencies that seems to announce massive deals on a daily or weekly basis."
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is expected in South Korea this week, where he will attend the sidelines of the APEC summit at which US President Donald Trump will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, with issues related to AI development expected to be discussed.
Nvidia chips are currently not sold in China due to a combination of Chinese government bans, national security concerns, and ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China.
The Trump administration favors a more nuanced approach to selling AI chips to Beijing, but faces deep skepticism from China hawks across the US political spectrum who favor tougher bans on AI technology.
Nvidia has announced a series of partnerships in recent weeks, including an intention to invest up to $100 billion in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI over the coming years.
It also said it would invest $5 billion in struggling chip rival Intel, in response to the Trump administration's desire to bring back more manufacturing of semiconductors to the United States.

'Better, not worse'

Nvidia produces the advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) that power most generative AI systems, including those behind ChatGPT and other large language models.
Although it was not the first to develop GPUs, the California-based group made them its specialty in the late 1990s, quickly pivoting from video games to the then-emerging field of cloud computing, and thus has unique experience in the area.
The eyewatering valuations linked to artificial intelligence also include OpenAI becoming the world's most valuable private company, currently valued at $500 billion.
This has sparked talk that the AI frenzy may have entered bubble territory, reminiscent of the 1990s internet investment boom that saw a major reckoning in 2000, when high-flying companies saw their share prices collapse suddenly.
Analyst Sam Stovall of CFRA, a research firm, said Nvidia's expected growth was still very strong and that investors should expect news surrounding the company "will only get better, not worse."
Still, "valuations are elevated... and could therefore be vulnerable to any upsetting news," he added.
ni-arp/mlm

AI

Startup Character.AI to ban direct chat for minors after teen suicide

  • The Character.
  • Startup Character.
  • The Character.
Startup Character.AI announced Wednesday it would eliminate chat capabilities for users under 18, a policy shift that follows the suicide of a 14-year-old who had become emotionally attached to one of its AI chatbots.
The company said it would transition younger users to alternative creative features such as video, story and stream creation with AI characters, while maintaining a complete ban on direct conversations that will start on November 25.
The platform will implement daily chat time limits of two hours for underage users during the transition period, with restrictions tightening progressively until the November deadline.
"These are extraordinary steps for our company, and ones that, in many respects, are more conservative than our peers," Character.AI said in a statement. "But we believe they are the right thing to do."
The Character.AI platform allows users -- many of them young people -- to interact with beloved characters as friends or to form romantic relationships with them.
Sewell Setzer III shot himself in February after months of intimate exchanges with a "Game of Thrones"-inspired chatbot based on the character Daenerys Targaryen, according to a lawsuit filed by his mother, Megan Garcia.
Character.AI cited "recent news reports raising questions" from regulators and safety experts about content exposure and the broader impact of open-ended AI interactions on teenagers as driving factors behind its decision.
Setzer's case was the first in a series of reported suicides linked to AI chatbots that emerged this year, prompting ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies to face scrutiny over child safety.
Matthew Raines, a California father, filed suit against OpenAI in August after his 16-year-old son died by suicide following conversations with ChatGPT that included advice on stealing alcohol and rope strength for self-harm.
OpenAI this week released data suggesting that more than 1 million people using its generative AI chatbot weekly have expressed suicidal ideation.
OpenAI has since increased parental controls for ChatGPT and introduced other guardrails. These include expanded access to crisis hotlines, automatic rerouting of sensitive conversations to safer models, and gentle reminders for users to take breaks during extended sessions.
As part of its overhaul, Character.AI announced the creation of the AI Safety Lab, an independent nonprofit focused on developing safety protocols for next-generation AI entertainment features. 
The United States, like much of the world, lacks national regulations governing AI risks.
California Governor Gavin Newsom this month signed a law requiring platforms to remind users that they are interacting with a chatbot and not a human. 
He vetoed, however, a bill that would have made tech companies legally liable for harm caused by AI models.
arp/iv/aha

politics

German neo-Nazi rappers push hate speech, disinfo on TikTok

BY ELENA CRISAN

  • Fritsch is one of a group of far-right German-language performers who promote extremist views on social media and streaming platforms.
  • Far-right German-language rappers are flouting hate speech rules by spreading extremist rhetoric and disinformation on platforms such as TikTok, an AFP investigation found.
  • Fritsch is one of a group of far-right German-language performers who promote extremist views on social media and streaming platforms.
Far-right German-language rappers are flouting hate speech rules by spreading extremist rhetoric and disinformation on platforms such as TikTok, an AFP investigation found.
In one video, a rapper named MaKss Damage cited the war in Gaza and suggested Adolf Hitler was right to warn of destruction caused by Jews, with the artist's face morphing into an anti-Semitic demonic silhouette.
"Back then it was Germany, today it's Palestine," MaKss Damage, whose real name is Julian Fritsch, rapped in the video he posted on TikTok, displaying a Germanic triangle tattoo synonymous with the far right.
"This time, people are questioning and are disgusted. They listen to old painters talk and understand history," he added in a reference to Hitler, who aspired to be an artist.
In the same song, he referred to an unfounded antisemitic conspiracy theory about September 11, 2001, according to which the Jewish owner of the World Trade Center stayed at home because of prior knowledge of the attacks.
TikTok took down all the rapper's accounts after being contacted by AFP, but did not respond to specific questions about enforcing its policies on hate speech.
Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency identified Fritsch as a right-wing extremist, and the website of far-right party The Third Way has named him as a supporter.

Antisemitic crimes

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has seen its support surge on the back of hardening attitudes to immigration.
The country has also seen a jump in politically motivated crime, including antisemitic offences, according to official figures published in an interior ministry report in May.
Fritsch is one of a group of far-right German-language performers who promote extremist views on social media and streaming platforms.
The rappers are part of a broader neo-Nazi movement online that includes Holocaust deniers.
It has become "significantly more radical in recent years", according to Thorsten Hindrichs, a musicologist at the University of Mainz.
A report by the domestic intelligence agency of the state of Saxony, for example, indicated the scene was expanding there.
Some of the clips seen by AFP remained online despite appearing to breach the apps' policies on hate speech.

Pro-Palestinian twist

Fritsch, who also has a moderate following on Instagram, shares songs about Gaza that reflect a wider ambivalence among the European far right towards the Muslim world, Bernhard Weidinger, an Austrian expert on right-wing extremism, told AFP.
At home, "they agitate against 'Islamisation', portraying Islam as incompatible with Western values", said Weidinger, a researcher at the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance in Vienna.
But when it comes to foreign policy, they "harbour quite the opposite sympathies, especially toward Palestinians", believing they are "also kept down by Jews and Americans", he said.
Another prominent rapper, E.Mar, a self-proclaimed "patriot", has more than 96,000 monthly listens on Spotify with songs attacking Germany's policies on immigration, complaining they are "letting anyone enter the country".
He has racked up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, concealing his face with a black skull mask and dressed in a German flag-design tracksuit top.
In one track, also released on Apple Music and his YouTube channel, he rapped: "We are ready for war here: current politics makes you feel foreign in your own country."
Spotify told AFP it removes songs promoting violent extremism but content may remain online if it "does not explicitly incite violence or hatred against protected groups".
It was among the platforms that rushed to take down "Heil Hitler", a song glorifying the Nazi leader, by US rapper Kanye West earlier this year -- but copies of it remain online.

'Extremist recruitment'

German researchers say German neo-Nazi networks flock to TikTok because of its "live" video function allowing creators to interact with viewers in real time.
These discussions are a "more private, intimate situation", Markus Boesch, a researcher at the University of Muenster, told AFP.
He said it "might turn into some form of extremist recruitment", having seen posts that encouraged users to join related groups on Telegram or Discord -- platforms that typically have fewer content restrictions.
An AFP reporter tried to watch some of the rappers' livestreams, using an account under a pseudonym, but creators regularly rescheduled them, suggesting they are trying to avoid detection.
Tom Divon, a social media researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, described these TikTok communities as not "massive, but nimble", often migrating between accounts.
AFP saw messages promoting such alternative accounts on TikTok.
These users expect to be blocked if they breach content policies, but can "often return to the platform with ease", said Ciaran O'Connor, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think tank.
Some commenters used emojis to signify far-right allegiance while skirting a potential ban, including a blue heart for AfD support, and two lightning bolts referring to the Third Reich's elite SS unit.
AFP, along with more than 100 other fact-checking organisations, is paid by TikTok and Facebook parent Meta to verify videos that potentially contain false information.
ec-am-rhb/rlp/jxb-jj

bullying

Australian police design AI tool to decipher predators' Gen Z slang

  • "Clever AFP members, with Microsoft, are developing a prototype AI tool that will interpret emojis and Gen Z-and-Alpha slang in encrypted communications.
  • Australian police are working on an AI prototype that will help them decipher Gen Z slang and emoji-laden messages written by online predators, a top official said Wednesday.
  • "Clever AFP members, with Microsoft, are developing a prototype AI tool that will interpret emojis and Gen Z-and-Alpha slang in encrypted communications.
Australian police are working on an AI prototype that will help them decipher Gen Z slang and emoji-laden messages written by online predators, a top official said Wednesday.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said social media had become a breeding ground for bullying, sexual exploitation and radicalisation.
Police were working with software giant Microsoft to develop a tool that would unravel sinister messages hidden by seemingly innocuous emojis and slang, she said.
"Clever AFP members, with Microsoft, are developing a prototype AI tool that will interpret emojis and Gen Z-and-Alpha slang in encrypted communications.
"This prototype aims to make it quicker for our teams to save children from harm much earlier."
Barrett also warned about the rise of so-called "crimefluencers" -- online predators who used their social media savvy to target young and vulnerable users.
"They are crimefluencers, and they are motivated by anarchy and hurting others, with most of their victims pre-teen or teenage girls," she said. 
Australia will from December 10 force social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to remove users under the age of 16. 
There is keen interest in whether Australia's sweeping restrictions can work, as regulators around the globe wrestle with the dangers of social media.
sft/djw/mtp

AI

Microsoft holds 27% of OpenAI in revamped partnership

  • This refers to the pursuit of artificial general intelligence, a level of AI development that matches or exceeds human capability and was a crucial aspect in the company's previous agreements. arp-gc/jgc
  • Microsoft and OpenAI announced Tuesday a sweeping overhaul of their landmark artificial intelligence (AI) partnership, giving both companies greater independence while maintaining their close collaboration.
  • This refers to the pursuit of artificial general intelligence, a level of AI development that matches or exceeds human capability and was a crucial aspect in the company's previous agreements. arp-gc/jgc
Microsoft and OpenAI announced Tuesday a sweeping overhaul of their landmark artificial intelligence (AI) partnership, giving both companies greater independence while maintaining their close collaboration.
Microsoft will hold approximately 27 percent of the restructured OpenAI, an investment valued at roughly $135 billion, as the ChatGPT maker transitions to a public benefit corporation structure, according to a blog post on the OpenAI website.
OpenAI has also committed to purchasing $250 billion in Azure cloud services from the tech giant, though Microsoft no longer holds first refusal rights as OpenAI's compute provider.
In the deal, Microsoft's intellectual rights for both OpenAI's models and products are extended through 2032.
"As we enter the next phase of this partnership, we've signed a new definitive agreement that builds on our foundation, strengthens our partnership, and sets the stage for long-term success for both organizations," the companies said in a joint statement.
Regulators have signed off on the arrangement, according to the companies.
Microsoft has been a key investor in the ChatGPT-maker as OpenAI became the major player in the spending frenzy around generative AI, the technology that Silicon Valley believes will soon take over important aspects of everyday life.
But OpenAI, under the leadership of CEO Sam Altman, has increasingly looked to expand its partnerships with other companies, raising questions as to whether its deal with Microsoft was still tenable.
The partnership began in 2019 when Microsoft invested $1 billion in what was then a small AI research organization founded in 2015 by tech luminaries including Elon Musk.
Microsoft deepened its commitment in 2021 with additional funding, and again in January 2023 with a reported $10 billion investment following the explosive popularity of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, which launched in November 2022.
The partnership transformed both companies.
OpenAI evolved from a research lab into one of the world's most valuable startups, while Microsoft initially gained a commanding position in the AI race, integrating OpenAI's technology -- rebranded as Copilot -- across its product lineup from Bing search to Office applications.
The relationship faced turbulence in November 2023 when OpenAI's board abruptly fired Altman, only to reinstate him days later following an employee revolt and pressure from Microsoft.
The episode exposed tensions over OpenAI's governance and direction as it balanced its nonprofit origins with commercial ambitions. The new deal with Microsoft is part of OpenAI's revamp of its company structure to prevent further instability and attract new investors.

Curing ills?

The arrangement will see OpenAI given more flexibility in its future including the ability to develop products with third parties and serve some of its products on competing cloud platforms.
"We really think we can now take this technology -- this sort of framework we built -- and get the whole world to build amazing new companies and services and applications on top of it," Altman said in a streamed chat.
The initial focus of the OpenAI nonprofit that controls the public benefit coporation part of the startup is a $25 billion commitment to helping cure disease and maximizing benefits of generative AI while minimizing its risks, according to Altman.
Microsoft, meanwhile, can independently pursue AGI development alone or with other partners.
This refers to the pursuit of artificial general intelligence, a level of AI development that matches or exceeds human capability and was a crucial aspect in the company's previous agreements.
arp-gc/jgc

internet

Musk launches Grokipedia to rival 'left-biased' Wikipedia

  • Several right-wing figures welcomed the launch of Grokipedia. 
  • Elon Musk's company xAI has launched a website called Grokipedia to compete with online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which he and others on the American right wing have accused of ideological bias.
  • Several right-wing figures welcomed the launch of Grokipedia. 
Elon Musk's company xAI has launched a website called Grokipedia to compete with online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which he and others on the American right wing have accused of ideological bias.
The site, dubbed version 0.1, had more than 885,000 articles by Monday evening after its launch, compared to Wikipedia's more than seven million in English. 
The launch came with the promise of a newer version, 1.0, which Musk said would be "10X better" than the current live site, which he claimed is already "better than Wikipedia."
Musk and the US Republican Party have frequently criticized Wikipedia, accusing a site that has become a living repository of human knowledge of being biased against right-wing ideas. 
Musk, the world's richest person and owner of social media platform X, poured hundreds of millions into US President Donald Trump's election campaign, and claimed Grokipedia would carry "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
"We will never be perfect, but we shall nonetheless strive towards that goal," he said on X following the launch.
The content of Grokipedia is generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and the generative AI assistant Grok.
Grokipedia's release had been slated for the end of September, but was delayed to "purge out the propaganda," Musk said in a separate X post.

Attacks on Wikipedia

In 2024, Musk accused Wikipedia of being "controlled by far-left activists" and called for donations to the platform to cease.
In August, he stopped Twitter from using Wikipedia as a "definitive source for Community Notes, as the editorial control there is extremely left-biased."
Trump-aligned officials have also taken aim at the site since the Republican returned to power in January.
In April, federal prosecutor Ed Martin, who was appointed by Trump but has since been replaced, threatened to investigate whether Wikipedia's parent organization Wikimedia was eligible for the tax exemption granted to foundations, accusing it of carrying propaganda.
And in August, two Republican members of the House of Representatives launched an investigation into "organized efforts... to influence US public opinion on important and sensitive topics by manipulating Wikipedia articles." 
Created in 2001, Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia managed by volunteers, largely funded by donations. Its pages can be written or edited by internet users.
"Unlike newer projects, Wikipedia's strengths are clear: it has transparent policies, rigorous volunteer oversight, and a strong culture of continuous improvement," Gwadamirai Majange, a spokeswoman for the Wikimedia Foundation, told AFP in an email.
She said the site is written to inform "billions of readers without promoting a particular point of view."

Right-leaning content

A Grokipedia article about Musk states that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO "has influenced broader debates on technological progress, demographic decline, and institutional biases, often via X."
It said his ownership of the social media platform "has prioritized content moderation reforms amid criticisms from legacy media outlets that exhibit systemic left-leaning tilts in coverage."
Another example was the page devoted to right-wing journalist and commentator Tucker Carlson, which highlights his role in "challenging systemic biases in traditional journalism."
The citation to that claim, however, links to a Newsweek article where the only corroboration is Carlson describing himself that way. 
Several right-wing figures welcomed the launch of Grokipedia. 
Hardline Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin described the article about him as "neutral, objective, accurate," whereas Wikipedia's page, according to him, was, "totally biased and defamatory."
Asked about the launch of Grokipedia, Wikimedia spokesperson Majange said the organization was "still in the process of understanding how Grokipedia works." 
She highlighted that Wikimedia "is -- and always will be -- human."
"This human-created knowledge is what AI companies rely on to generate content, even Grokipedia needs Wikipedia to exist."
tu/ega/ane/rsc/ksb/aha/dw

eSports

China dreams of football glory at last... in gaming

BY LUNA LIN

  • As the global popularity of football eSports grows, China is vying for success on the virtual pitch, following decades of struggles in the real-life sport.
  • Zhao Yitang had always dreamed of playing football for China and this summer he finally did -- not in boots on a pitch, but on a smartphone.
  • As the global popularity of football eSports grows, China is vying for success on the virtual pitch, following decades of struggles in the real-life sport.
Zhao Yitang had always dreamed of playing football for China and this summer he finally did -- not in boots on a pitch, but on a smartphone.
As the global popularity of football eSports grows, China is vying for success on the virtual pitch, following decades of struggles in the real-life sport.
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has announced plans to form its own national eSports football team, kindling hopes for players like Zhao.
"If I could join the national team I would go all-out in my efforts for the side," the gamer told AFP.
Recent graduate Zhao, 21, reached the final of this year's "eFootball" championship in Tokyo, finishing in second place.
It was China's best international result in the game formerly known as Pro Evolution Soccer, which dominates the football eSports genre along with "EA Sports FC Online".
The CFA says its team will soon compete in eSports events organised by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation.

Not enough money

Despite being massively popular in China real-life football in the country has long been plagued by match-fixing and corruption.
President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup.
But the men's national team languish 93rd in FIFA's rankings and failed again to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Football eSports could deliver glory at last.
China is one of the world's biggest gaming markets and its players are some of the best in other eSports games.
But for top players, striving for glory in football video games is far less lucrative than battling for big prize money in fantasy eSports titles such as "League of Legends" or "Dota 2".
The professionalism of virtual football, unlike other eSports, is at an early stage.
"The prize money is too little. It's difficult to make a living playing professionally, full-time," former pro eSports football player Monaco said, asking to use his screen name to avoid online abuse.
Even winning every tournament would only earn a top player about 70,000 RMB ($9,800) annually before taxes, with regular salaries non-existent, he said.
By contrast, top players in more established eSports titles like League of Legends can earn salaries in the seven figures, alongside sponsorship deals.
"Probably only 10 people in all of China can make a living out of playing" football eSports, said Pan Shuyin, manager of the eSports division of Chinese Super League club Changchun Yatai.

Teacher Ding

Changchun are trying to set themselves apart.
"We are the only football club in the whole Chinese Super League, maybe even the only football club in China, continuously investing in eSports," Pan told AFP.
Other clubs have disbanded their eSports teams or are reluctant to set them up because they are seen as a money-loser.
One reason for the lower exposure and commercial value of football eSports is that "the bar for playing soccer games is higher".
That's because it usually requires knowledge of real-life football, said Pan, whose club aims to attract more young fans through eSports.
While Chinese teams have played football eSports at global tournaments in the past, the country is not on the roster for the upcoming FIFAe World Cup, an "eFootball" tournament in December in Saudi Arabia.
Worldwide, football eSports is becoming a regular fixture.
The ePremier League kicked off in 2018 and eSports -- including football games -- became an official medal event at the last Asian Games held in 2023.
Zhao, nicknamed "Ding" or "Teacher Ding" by the eSports football community, first stumbled upon a football video game in 2018 as a way to unwind between classes and football training.
"If you watch a lot of real-life football matches, or play a lot of real-life football, you will have your own understanding" of how to succeed in eSports, he said.
ll/kaf/pst

children

Meta and TikTok to obey Australia under-16 social media ban

  • Australia will from December 10 force social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to remove users under the age of 16. 
  • Tech giants Meta and TikTok said Tuesday they will obey Australia's under-16 social media ban but warned the landmark laws could prove difficult to enforce. 
  • Australia will from December 10 force social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to remove users under the age of 16. 
Tech giants Meta and TikTok said Tuesday they will obey Australia's under-16 social media ban but warned the landmark laws could prove difficult to enforce. 
Australia will from December 10 force social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to remove users under the age of 16. 
There is keen interest in whether Australia's sweeping restrictions can work, as regulators around the globe wrestle with the dangers of social media. 
Both TikTok and Meta -- the parent company of Facebook and Instagram -- said the ban would be hard to police, but agreed they would abide by it. 
"Put simply, TikTok will comply with the law and meet our legislative obligations," the firm's Australia policy lead Ella Woods-Joyce told a Senate hearing on Tuesday. 
On paper, the ban is one of the strictest in the world. 
But with just over a month until it comes into effect, Australia is scrambling to fill in key questions around enforcement and firms' obligations. 
TikTok warned the "blunt" age ban could have a raft of unintended consequences. 
"Experts believe a ban will push younger people into darker corners of the Internet where protections don't exist," said Woods-Joyce. 

'Vague' and 'rushed'

Meta policy director Mia Garlick said the firm was still solving "numerous challenges". 
It would work to remove hundreds of thousands of users under 16 by the December 10 deadline, she told the hearing. 
But identifying and removing those accounts still posed "significant new engineering and age assurance challenges", she said.
"The goal from our perspective, being compliance with the law, would be to remove those under 16."
Officials have previously said social media companies will not be required to verify the ages of all users -- but must take "reasonable steps" to detect and deactivate underage ones. 
Companies found to be flouting the laws face fines of up to Aus$49.5 million (US$32 million). 
Tech companies have been united in their criticisms of Australia's ban, which has been described as "vague", "problematic", and "rushed". 
Video streaming site YouTube - which falls under the ban -- said this month that Australia's efforts were well intentioned but poorly thought through. 
"The legislation will not only be extremely difficult to enforce, it also does not fulfil its promise of making kids safer online," local spokeswoman Rachel Lord said. 
Australia's online watchdog recently suggested that messaging service WhatsApp, streaming platform Twitch and gaming site Roblox could also be covered by the ban.
sft/djw/tc

internet

Amazon to cut 30,000 office jobs: media reports

  • Amazon will next report earnings on Thursday, and is among the tech titans under pressure to show the merit of huge investments in AI. "AWS will be under pressure to both show revenue acceleration and operating margin improvement in light of its massive AI investments," Emarketer principal analyst Sky Canaves said, referring to Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit.
  • Amazon will lay off tens of thousands of office workers as the e-commerce and tech giant trims costs amid ramped-up investments in artificial intelligence, according to US media reports.
  • Amazon will next report earnings on Thursday, and is among the tech titans under pressure to show the merit of huge investments in AI. "AWS will be under pressure to both show revenue acceleration and operating margin improvement in light of its massive AI investments," Emarketer principal analyst Sky Canaves said, referring to Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit.
Amazon will lay off tens of thousands of office workers as the e-commerce and tech giant trims costs amid ramped-up investments in artificial intelligence, according to US media reports.
Some 30,000 positions will be cut in a belt-tightening move expected to begin on Tuesday, multiple news outlets reported.
The reduction will represent nearly 10 percent of the approximately 350,000 office jobs at Amazon but is reported not to affect the distribution and warehouse workforce that makes up the majority of the company's more than 1.5 million employees.
Seattle-based Amazon did not reply to AFP queries regarding the planned cuts reported by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other outlets citing anonymous sources.
Amazon shares ended the formal trading day up slightly as word of the potential cost-cutting move spread.
Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy has lauded the potential of AI to streamline workplace operations, from engaging with customers online to making offices more efficient.
"Our conviction that AI will change every customer experience is starting to play out," Jassy said during Amazon's last quarterly earnings call.
Amazon will next report earnings on Thursday, and is among the tech titans under pressure to show the merit of huge investments in AI.
"AWS will be under pressure to both show revenue acceleration and operating margin improvement in light of its massive AI investments," Emarketer principal analyst Sky Canaves said, referring to Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit.
Amazon will also likely be pressed for details about a recent AWS outage. 
Popular internet services ranging from streaming platforms to messaging services to banking were offline for hours last week due to an outage in Amazon's crucial cloud network, illustrating the extent to which internet life depends on the tech titan.
The disruption affected streaming platforms, including Amazon's Prime Video service and Disney+, as well as Perplexity AI, the Fortnite game, Airbnb, Snapchat and Duolingo.
Mobile telephone services and messaging apps Signal and WhatsApp were affected in Europe, according to Downdetector.
People also reported problems reaching websites including Amazon's own e-commerce shop.
Some banks such as Lloyd's were also impacted, and pointed to Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing platform as the source.
Amazon said it identified the "trigger of the event" as an issue involving the Domain Name System (DNS), which acts as an internet address book directing data traffic.
AWS leads the cloud computing market, followed closely by Microsoft Azure, with Google Cloud in third place.
Businesses, governments and consumers worldwide rely on their infrastructure for online activities.
bl-gc/sla