Mobile World Congress (MWC)-2023 downed its curtain on Thursday in Spain’s Barcelona with the call of ‘Join with the advancement of 5G and the data-driven economy’. The gathering drew a huge crowd of experts and telecommunication sector officials from across the world. Organisers of the Mobile World Congress GSMA said on Thursday that the contribution of the mobile telecommunication sector to the world economy will exceed $6 trillion by 2030 in the journey of 5G and data-driven economy. Read more: Huawei scoops up four awards at MWC 2023 In the closing speech, GSMA Chairman Hose Maria Alvarez Palet Lopez said that every country in the world should now prepare themselves for the 5G and data-dependent society and economy. “Because falling behind in this journey will mean holding back its economy from the bright possibility of progress,” he said. The GSMA Chairman also said that this year's Mobile World Congress will be particularly memorable as from this congress, the fast journey of 5G and data dependent future economy started. “Within the next one year, 5G and data technology will bring significant changes in the life journey of common people starting from the society and state management”, said the chairman. Mobile World Congress 2024 will be held in Barcelona from February 26 to 29 in 2024.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t anything new. John McCarthy first proposed the idea of AI, a unique proposition that machines would one day think and interact like a human. This highly conceptualized proposition of AI was a way forward to understanding the limitations of machines and the ability of humans to pass on sentience.  While we’re still far off from sentience, AI has, however, started to transform our lives. From conceptual AI humanoid robots like Sophia to IoT and even chatbots, the application and benefits of AI are visible across the board.  Today we’ll talk about the most accessible form of AI for the general public, chatbots. It's fast, accurate, simple, and in most cases, free. Here’s our take on 5 of the most trending AI chatbots.  Read More: Rakuten Viber launches new chatbot, AI Chat and Create What is an AI Chatbot? Just like AI, the concept of an AI chatbot also isn’t something new. The story of AI chatbots started with ELIZA back in 1994. Joseph Weizenbaum of MIT first introduced a chatting platform where the computer was able to perform basic interaction with the user. It was based on the concept of matching pre-programmed phrases with the user input to generate a somewhat meaningful response.  But the first proper use of AI Markup Language was seen a year later with ALICE, an interactive chatbot created by Richard Wallace in 1995. From then on, there has been no looking back. We had Jabberwacky by Rollo Wacky and Mitsuku by Steve Worswick.  Big companies like Microsoft also jumped into the game with Cortana on their now-defunct Windows Phone. But all of these were limited to a handful of functions. In a sense, they were intelligent with highly limited abilities. But that all changed with OpenAI.  Read More: 7 Top AI Writing Tools, Software to Generate Human-Like Text Best AI Chatbots in 2023 There are probably thousands of chatbots out there catering to different niches. There are specialized chatbots for businesses, industries, and even events. But most chatbots are based on certain NLP tech. We will focus on more primary chatbots that are multifarious in nature or cater to a broad niche.  ChatGPT  If you haven’t heard the name ChatGPT in the last couple of months, then you’re living under the rocks. This universal chatbot gained over 100 million active users in a matter of two months to record the highest number of active monthly users beating any social media platform out there.  ChatGPT is based on the Generative Pre-trained Transformer or GPT 3 module. This natural language processor amalgamates AI and ML to constantly feed information and training to the platform. The result is the most human-like interaction from a chat platform to date.  Read More: ChatGPT by Open AI: All you need to know OpenAI has incorporated 570 GB of internet data along with over 300 billion words into the ML module. With ChatGPT, the interaction is not limited to small conversations. You can create a full-on study routine, fitness regime, and even marketing campaigns from the chatbot. You can even ask it to write a poem or even do entry-level programming.  Surprised? Wait till you find out that ChatGPT has already passed the medical licensing exam in the USA, the regional bar exam, the Google entry-level software engineer interview as well as the AP English Essay test. Pros: ·      Most realistic output to date  ·      STEM integration  ·      Highly interactive.  Read More: Ameca: World’s Most Realistic Advanced Humanoid Robot AI Platform Cons:·      The platform isn’t always available due to the high user base.  ·      Data is available up until 2021 only. 

Canada announced Monday it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices, reflecting widening worries from Western officials over the Chinese-owned video sharing app. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it might be a first step to further action or that it might be it. “I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” Trudeau said. “I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them,” he added. Read: TikTok plans 2 more European data centers amid privacy fears The European Union’s executive branch said last week it has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure. The EU’s action follows similar moves in the U.S., where more than half of the states and Congress have banned TikTok from official government devices. Last week, Canada’s federal privacy watchdog and its provincial counterparts in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec announced an investigation to delve into whether the app complies with Canadian privacy legislation. TikTok is wildly popular with young people, but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to collect data on Western users or push pro-China narratives and misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020 TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny from Europe and America over security and data privacy amid worries that the app could be used to promote pro-Beijing views or sweep up users’ information. It comes as China and the West are locked in a wider tug of war over technology ranging from spy balloons to computer chips. Canadian Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said the federal government will also block the app from being downloaded on official devices in the future. Fortier said in statement the Chief Information Officer of Canada determined that it “presents an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.” The app will be removed from Canadian government issued phones on Tuesday. “On a mobile device, TikTok’s data collection methods provide considerable access to the contents of the phone,” Fortier said. Read: UW System bans TikTok use on system devices “While the risks of using this application are clear, we have no evidence at this point that government information has been compromised.” Recent media reports have also raised concerns about potential Chinese interference in recent Canadian elections, prompting opposition parties to call for a public inquiry into alleged foreign election interference. “It’s curious that the Government of Canada has moved to block TikTok on government-issued devices—without citing any specific security concern or contacting us with questions—only after similar bans were introduced in the EU and the US,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a email. The company is always available to discuss the privacy and security of Canadians, the statement said. “Singling out TikTok in this way does nothing to achieve that shared goal,” the email said. “All it does is prevent officials from reaching the public on a platform loved by millions of Canadians.”  

Nissan is speeding up its shift toward electric vehicles, especially in Europe where emissions regulations are most stringent, the company said Monday. Nissan Motor Co. said in a statement that it will make practically all its offerings in Europe electric or series-hybrids by fiscal 2026, at 98%. That's up from the previous target of 75%. In Japan, the company aims to make 58% of its model offerings, up from an earlier target of 55%. Hybrids have both a gasoline engine and electric motor, but a series hybrid uses the motor to power the vehicle’s wheels, or powertrain. The engine powers a generator for the motor. Parallel hybrids, like Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius, switch back and forth between a gas engine and electric motor. Nissan’s sales target in EVs and series hybrids remain unchanged for the U.S., at more than 40%. In China the target was cut to 35% from 40%. That includes only pure EVs, not hybrids. Nissan's target numbers do not include expected vehicle sales of Nissan’s alliance partners, such as Renault SA of France or Mitsubishi Motors Corp., a smaller Japanese carmaker. The company was an early leader in electric vehicles, with its Leaf, which went on sale in 2010. It has been overtaken since then by newcomers like Tesla and Chinese automaker BYD. Nissan officials say the company, based in Yokohama, have a wealth of knowledge about EV technology, especially about how consumers use the products, and what kind of wear and tear develop on the battery and other knowledge critical for the proliferation of green cars. Nissan plans to roll out 19 electric vehicle models by 2030, up from an earlier 15, it said. Earlier this month, Nissan said it will invest in up to a 15% stake in Ampere, Renault’s electric vehicle and software entity in Europe. Nissan and Renault have been working together on EV technology, with Nissan taking the lead in developing a next-generation battery.

A contingent of Chinese companies led by technology giant Huawei is turning out in force to the world’s biggest wireless trade fair, aiming to show their muscle in the face of Huawei’s blacklisting by Western nations concerned about cybersecurity and escalating tensions with the U.S. over TikTok, spy balloons and computer chips. After three years of pandemic disruption, tens of thousands from the tech industry have descended on Barcelona for Monday's start of MWC, formerly known as Mobile World Congress, an annual industry expo where mobile phone makers show off new devices and telecom industry executives peruse the latest networking gear and software. “China is very much coming,” John Hoffman, CEO of wireless industry trade group and event organizer GSMA, told reporters. Attending are 150 Chinese companies out of 2,000 exhibitors and sponsors, with Huawei Technologies Ltd. having the biggest presence. The smartphone and network equipment maker is expanding its footprint by 50% from last year and taking up almost an entire vast exhibition hall at Barcelona's Fira convention center, organizers said. That is striking considering that Huawei has been at the center of a geopolitical battle over global technology supremacy that's left parts of its business crippled by Western sanctions. Also Read: China's Huawei looks to ports, factories to rebuild sales The U.S. three years ago successfully pushed European allies like Britain and Sweden to ban or restrict Huawei equipment in their phone networks over fears Beijing could use it for cybersnooping or sabotaging critical communications infrastructure — allegations Huawei has denied repeatedly. Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have taken similar action. Huawei declined to comment ahead of the show's opening. The company's supersized presence at the show is a sign of defiance, said John Strand, a Danish telecom industry consultant. Huawei wants to “give Biden the finger,” Strand said of the U.S. president. The company’s message, he said, is: “Despite the American sanctions, we are alive and kicking and doing so well.” U.S.-China tech tensions have only grown. A suspected Chinese spy balloon downed by a U.S. fighter jet sparked acrimony between Beijing and Washington in recent weeks. U.S. authorities have banned TikTok from devices issued to government employees over fears the popular Chinese-owned video sharing app is a data privacy risk or could be used to push pro-China narratives. Also Read: Huawei launches all-band 5G solution series The U.S. also is seeking to restrict China's access to equipment to make advanced semiconductors, signing up key allies Japan and the Netherlands. That followed the MWC expo four years ago becoming a battleground between the U.S. and China over Huawei and the security of next generation wireless networks. In a keynote speech, a top Huawei executive trolled the U.S. over its push to get allies to shun the company's gear. Huawei hasn’t gone away, and the dispute continues to simmer. Washington widened sanctions last month with new curbs on exports to Huawei of less advanced tech components. Still, the company has maintained its status as the world's No. 1 maker of network gear thanks to sales in China and other markets where Washington hasn't been so successful at persuading governments to boycott the company. Strand, who has been attending MWC for 26 years, said Huawei wants to show the world it’s pivoting away from mainly making networking gear — the hidden plumbing such as base stations and antennas connecting the world's mobile devices — and becoming an all-round tech supplier. The company is reinventing itself by supplying hardware and software for cargo ports, self-driving cars, factories and other industries it hopes are less vulnerable to Washington. “Since MWC is a global event, they (Huawei) will want to communicate on this and showcase that they are still a key player in the telecom and high-tech industry,” said Thomas Husson, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. Huawei also makes smartphones but sales outside China cratered after Google was blocked from providing maps, YouTube and other services that usually come preloaded on Android devices. “The Huawei consumer brand has collapsed in Europe,” Husson said. At MWC, “Huawei may well announce new consumer smartphones and new consumer devices, but the brand has lost momentum and these announcements are primarily for fast-growing markets outside the U.S. and Western Europe.” Huawei is just part of the larger Chinese delegation, whose turnout is getting a boost from China lifting all COVID-19 travel restrictions. ZTE, another Chinese tech company that had been sanctioned by the U.S., plans product launches at MWC. Chinese mobile phone makers Honor, Oppo and Xiaomi will have a strong presence, said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. Honor was Huawei's budget brand but was sold off in 2020 in hopes of reviving sales by separating it from the sanctions on its corporate parent. “The removal of COVID restrictions in China has made it possible for these manufacturers to attend the show in force," Wood said. "They are all keen to establish themselves as the ‘third alternative' to Apple and Samsung in European markets and see MWC as a pivotal event to do that.” Pre-pandemic in 2019, MWC drew 109,000 people, with 6% from China. The event was canceled in 2020 and held in limited form in 2021. Last year's event attracted 60,000 visitors but was overshadowed by the omicron COVID-19 variant.

ZTE Corporation,a global leading provider of information and communication technology solutions, has shared its insights with communication technology experts worldwide on the next-generation communication technology for developing smart Bangladesh vision at the "BASIS SOFT EXPO 2023”hosted by BASIS(Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services) in Dhaka. This exhibition is organized under the title 'BASIS SOFT EXPO2023' and held from February 23 to February 26 at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh China Friendship Exhibition Centre. According to BASIS,300 exhibitors have participated in this exhibition, and more than one lakh visitors over the 4 days. During the event, Ma Liang,CTO of ZTE Bangladesh, delivered a speech on the '5G and loT Opportunities for BGD Telecom and software lndustry' seminar of this event. Ma Liang will highlight the role of ZTE in the 12-year journey of Digital Bangladesh. At the same time, he highlighted various aspects of ZTE's ability to provide the most advanced technology and the potential contribution of ZTE as a partner in building Smart Bangladesh. For 5G, technological innovation has continuously broken the ceiling, achieved more possibilities, and even prepared for unknown demands in the future We hope that the evolution of 5G will enable everyoneZTE and the whole society to meet their own development needs. ZTE will first ensure advanced 5G technology in the journey of Smart Bangladesh. At the same time, it will work with various educational institutions and government organizations for the purpose of creating suitable manpower in the field of data science and its other related areas such as artificial intelligence,loT, and machine learning. Through this,ZTE wants to play an active role in ensuring all kinds of smart services in Bangladesh including Smart Citizens, and Smart City.

Russia launched a rescue ship on Friday for two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut whose original ride home sprang a dangerous leak while parked at the International Space Station. The new, empty Soyuz capsule should arrive at the orbiting lab on Sunday. The capsule leak in December was blamed on a micrometeorite that punctured an external radiator, draining it of coolant. The same thing appeared to happen again earlier this month, this time on a docked Russian cargo ship. Camera views showed a small hole in each spacecraft. The Russian Space Agency delayed the launch of the replacement Soyuz, looking for any manufacturing defects. No issues were found, and the agency proceeded with Friday's predawn launch from Kazakhstan of the capsule with bundles of supplies strapped into the three seats. Given the urgent need for this capsule, two top NASA officials traveled from the U.S. to observe the launch in person. To everyone's relief, the capsule safely reached orbit nine minutes after liftoff — “a perfect ride to orbit,” NASA Mission Control's Rob Navias reported from Houston. Read more: North Korea says it test-fired long-range cruise missiles Officials had determined it was too risky to bring NASA’s Frank Rubio and Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin back in their damaged Soyuz next month as originally planned. With no coolant, the cabin temperature would spike during the trip back to Earth, potentially damaging computers and other equipment, and exposing the suited-up crew to excessive heat. Until the new Soyuz pulls up, emergency plans call for Rubio to switch to a SpaceX crew capsule that’s docked at the space station. Prokopyev and Petelin remain assigned to their damaged Soyuz in the unlikely need for a fast getaway. Having one less person on board would keep the temperature down to a hopefully manageable level, Russian engineers concluded. The damaged Soyuz will return to Earth with no one aboard by the end of March, so engineers can examine it. Read more: China calls for Russia-Ukraine cease-fire, peace talks The three men launched in this Soyuz last September on what should have been a six-month mission. They'll now stay in space for a full year, until a new capsule is ready for their crew replacements for liftoff in September. It was their Soyuz that just launched with no one on board. The damaged supply ship was filled with trash and cut loose over the weekend, burning up in the atmosphere as originally planned. “The Russians are continuing to take a really close look” at both spacecraft leaks, NASA's deputy space station program manager Dana Weigel told reporters earlier this week. “They're looking at everything ... to try to understand that." Read more: UN approves resolution calling for Russia to leave Ukraine NASA has a fresh crew of four launching atop a SpaceX rocket early Monday morning from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX's William Gerstenmaier said the four astronauts returning to Earth in a few weeks already have inspected the Dragon capsule that will carry them home and “it all checked out fine."

An AI chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate a conversation with a human. It uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence to understand user input and respond in a meaningful way. AI chatbots can be used for customer service, providing personalized recommendations, or other tasks. Recently an AI chatbot named ChatGPT has taken the world by storm. It is more than a usual chatbot with a huge collection of data and portrays it as a threat to Google. To fight this, Google has announced bringing out their own chatbot named Bard AI. Let's find out the details of Google's AI Chatbot Bard. What is AI Chatbot Bard? At present, there is limited information on Google's AI-powered tool, which can only be accessed by those selected as "trusted testers." However, following the company's demonstration of the product in Paris on February 8, we can now provide answers to some of the most frequent questions posed about Bard AI. A public launch of the tool is expected in the near future. Read More: ChatGPT by Open AI: All you need to know Google Bard is essentially a chatbot that functions using AI, similar to ChatGPT. To enable its conversations, Bard utilizes the Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) model. Initially, a less complex version of this language model will be used during the test phase. Bard strives to bring together the depth of the world's knowledge with intelligence, creativity, and power using Google’s expansive language models. It utilizes data from the Internet to give up-to-date, top-notch results. Bard can be a catalyst for creativity and a platform for inquiry, assisting you in explaining fresh discoveries from NASA's James Webb Telescope to a nine-year-old, or discover more regarding the best strikers in soccer currently and afterward get drills to enhance your abilities. Read More: High Paid Jobs that Will Never be Replaced by AI

Youth-centric brand realme realme has said it will showcase the latest addition to its flagship GT series, GT3, at the upcoming tech show Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023. The Chinese smartphone maker said it will launch GT 3 at the MWC – the industry's largest and most influential connectivity event – in Spain's Barcelona on February 28 at 9pm Bangladesh time. GT3 will come with 240W charging technology, the world's fastest charging power, realme said Monday. The event will also be streamed live on YouTube. Read more: realme 10 Pro Plus: Massive Return of the Classic

Facebook allowed an exiled Moldovan oligarch with ties to the Kremlin to run ads calling for protests and uprisings against the pro-Western government, even though he and his political party were on U.S. sanctions lists. The ads featuring politician and convicted fraudster Ilan Shor were ultimately removed by Facebook but not before they were seen millions of times in Moldova, a small nation of about 2.6 million sandwiched between Romania and war-torn Ukraine. Seeking to exploit anger over inflation and rising fuel prices, the paid posts from Shor's political party targeted the government of pro-Western President Maia Sandu, who earlier this week detailed what she said was a Russian plot to topple her government using external saboteurs. “Destabilization attempts are a reality and for our institutions, they represent a real challenge,” Sandu said Thursday as she swore in a new government led by pro-Western Prime Minister Dorin Recean, her former defense and security adviser. “We need decisive steps to strengthen the security of the country.” The ads reveal how Russia and its allies have exploited lapses by social media platforms — like Facebook, many of them operated by U.S. companies — to spread propaganda and disinformation that weaponizes economic and social insecurity in an attempt to undermine governments in Eastern Europe. Shor's ads have helped fuel angry protests against the government and appear to be aimed at destabilizing Moldova and returning it to Russia's sphere of influence, according to Dorin Frasineau, a foreign policy adviser to former Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita, whose resignation led to the formation of the new government on Thursday. “Even though he is on the U.S. sanctions list, I still see sponsored ads on Facebook,” Frasineau said, saying he had spotted what he believes were fake accounts sharing the posts this week. He said the Moldovan government sought answers from Facebook to no avail. “We have talked with Facebook, but it is very hard because there is no specific person, no contact.” Rules governing the sanctions list prohibit U.S. companies from engaging in financial transactions with listed individuals and groups. The U.S. Treasury Department, which manages the sanctions program, declined to comment publicly when asked about the ads. In a statement to The Associated Press, Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said it removed the posts as soon as it found them. “When Ilan Shor and the Shor Party were added to the U.S. sanctions list, we took action on their known accounts," a company spokesperson said. “When we identified new associated accounts, we took action on those, as well. We adhere to U.S. sanctions laws and will continue working to detect and enforce against fake accounts and pages that violate our policies.” Meta, which recently announced deep layoffs, did not respond to questions about the size of its staff in Moldova, or the number of employees who speak Moldova's languages. Like many big tech firms based in the U.S., Meta has sometimes struggled to moderate content in languages other than English. The ads were identified by researchers at Reset, a London-based nonprofit that researches social media’s impact on democracy, who shared their findings with The Associated Press. Felix Kartte, a senior adviser at Reset, said Meta’s response to disinformation and propaganda in Moldova could have sweeping implications for European security. “Their platforms continue to be weaponized by the Kremlin and Russian secret services, and because of the company’s inaction, the U.S. and Europe risk losing a key ally in the region,” said Kartte, who is based in Berlin. Nine different paid posts from the Shor Party ran on Facebook after the U.S. imposed sanctions. Most were removed within a week after the sanctions announcement, though Shor bought another paid post in January, two months after he was sanctioned. All were clearly identifiable by Shor's name. The posts can be found on Facebook’s online advertisement library, which contains a searchable catalogue. The library confirms the ads placed by Shor and his party were seen millions of times before they were ultimately removed. The most recent ad, taken down a month ago, was pulled because it failed to include a disclaimer about the ad's sponsor, according to a notation attached to one of the videos in the library. The library does not mention the sanctions. The ads weren’t money makers for Meta, generating only about $15,000 in revenue, a pittance for a company that earned $4.65 billion in the last quarter. Nonetheless, they were effective. One ad, which ran on Facebook for just two days — October 29-30 — was seen more than a million times in Moldova. In the post, which cost Shor’s party less than $100 to upload, the oligarch accuses Sandu’s government of corruption and kleptocracy. “You and I will have to pull them out of their offices by the ears and throw them out of our country like evil spirits,” Shor tells the audience. Shor, 35, is an Israeli-born Moldovan oligarch who leads the populist, Russia-friendly Shor Party. Currently living in exile in Israel, Shor is implicated in a $1 billion theft from Moldovan banks in 2014; is accused of bribery to secure his position as chair of a Moldovan bank, and was named in October on a U.S. Treasury Department sanctions list as working for Russian interests. The U.S. says Shor worked with “corrupt oligarchs and Moscow-based entities to create political unrest in Moldova” and to undermine the country’s bid to join the EU. The sanctions list also names the Shor Party and Shor's wife, a Russian pop star. The U.K. also added Shor to a sanctions list last December. Last fall, Moldova was rocked by a series of anti-government protests initiated by the Shor Party, which saw thousands take to the streets in the capital, Chisinau, at a time of skyrocketing inflation and an acute energy crisis after Russia reduced gas supplies to Moldova. Many of the protesters called for early elections and demanded Sandu's resignation. Around the same time, Moldova’s government filed a request to the country’s Constitutional Court to declare the Shor Party illegal, a case that is ongoing. Moldova’s anti-corruption prosecutors’ office also opened an investigation into the financing of the protests, which prosecutors said involved at least some Russian money. On Monday, Sandu went public with what she claimed was a plot by Moscow to overthrow the government using external saboteurs, to put the nation “at the disposal of Russia” and to derail it off its course to one day join the EU. Sandu said the purported Russian plot envisioned attacks on government buildings, hostage-takings and other violent actions by groups of saboteurs. Russia has since strongly denied those claims. Once part of the Soviet Union, Moldova declared its independence in 1991. In recent years, the country has lurched from one political crisis to another, often caught in limbo between pro-Russian and pro-Western sentiments. But in 2021, after decades of largely oligarchic power structures and various Russia-friendly leaders, Moldovans elected a pro-Western, pro-European government, which put it on a more distinctly Western-oriented path. In June, Moldova was granted EU candidate status, the same day as Ukraine. — McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.