BT ‘considering low-cost mobile brand’ as Revolut and Monzo plan launches
BT is reportedly considering the launch of new a low-cost mobile brand, as the telecoms group explores ways to compete with new rivals in the market including the fintech companies Revolut and Monzo.The group is exploring options to enter the budget market, which could involve creating a new brand in-house or buying an existing virtual network operator, according to the Financial Times.The move would mark a strategy shift from the former state-owned company, which now only offers mobile services through its premium EE brand.BT owns Plusnet, but decided last year to use the low-cost brand only for its broadband services.However, it is now looking at how it can stay competitive as new rivals, including from the fintech sector, start taking slices of the UK mobile market as virtual network operators, which piggyback on the existing networks of other mobile services.
Virtual network operators accounted for 16.5% of the UK mobile market last year, and analysts expect that figure to rise in the coming years.The fintech companies Revolut and Monzo both announced plans to launch a mobile service earlier this year, in a move that would help diversify their revenues while also putting pressure on incumbents such as VodafoneThree and EE.The buy now, pay later provider Klarna is also moving into mobile services, as is Fern Trading, which is backed by Octopus Group, the multibillion-pound fund that owns the eponymous energy company.BT is reportedly looking at expanding the use of its BT brand for broadband services in order to win over older customers who are less familiar with its new EE and Plusnet offerings.
The plan is being driven by the BT Group chief executive, Allison Kirkby, and is said to have the backing of the Indian tycoon and billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal,Bharti Enterprises became the largest shareholder in BT Group last year, after agreeing to buy out Patrick Drahi, the art-loving Moroccan-born billionaire founder of the Amsterdam-listed telecoms firm Altice,Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionCommenting on reports that it was considering launching a budget mobile operator, a BT spokesperson said in a statement: “We regularly review our offerings across all our brands to ensure our customers have access to the best products and services on the best network,At present, we have no plans to change our mobile offering,”
Amazon confirms plans to lay off 14,000 corporate workers as part of wave of cuts
Amazon has confirmed plans to lay off 14,000 corporate workers, as part of a wave of cuts expected to hit tens of thousands of jobs.The Seattle-based retail giant, which is vying to reverse a pandemic hiring spree, is attempting to cut costs and slim down its huge operation. This summer, its CEO warned white-collar employees their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence.Beth Galetti, a senior vice-president at Amazon, wrote in a memo to employees on Tuesday: “The reductions we’re sharing today are a continuation of … work to get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”On Monday, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was poised to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, as it tries to undo the vast recruitment drive it embarked on at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, which unleashed an extraordinary – but fleeting – surge in demand for online shopping
Elon Musk launches encyclopedia ‘fact-checked’ by AI and aligning with rightwing views
Elon Musk has launched an online encyclopedia named Grokipedia that he said relied on artificial intelligence and would align more with his rightwing views than Wikipedia, though many of its articles say they are based on Wikipedia itself.Calling an AI encyclopedia “super important for civilization”, Musk had been planning the Wikipedia rival for at least a month. Grokipedia does not have human authors, unlike Wikipedia, which is written and edited by volunteers in a transparent process. Grokipedia said it is “fact-checked” by Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot.Musk said the idea was suggested by the Trump administration’s AI and cryptocurrency czar, David Sacks
‘A good moment in time for us’: Firefox head on AI browsers and what’s next for the web
Do you need an assistant for your online activities?Multiple major players in artificial intelligence are moving on from chatbots like ChatGPT and are now focusing their efforts on new browsers with deep AI integrations. Those could take the form of an agent that shops for you or an omnipresent chatbot that follows you around and summarizes what you’re seeing, looks up related stuff, or answers related questions.Last week alone, OpenAI released the ChatGPT Atlas browser, and Microsoft showed off Edge’s new Copilot Mode, both of which heavily feature chatbots. At the start of October, Perplexity made its Comet browser free. In mid-September, Google rolled out Chrome With Gemini, integrating its AI assistant with the most popular browser in the world
More than a million people every week show suicidal intent when chatting with ChatGPT, OpenAI estimates
More than a million ChatGPT users each week send messages that include “explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent”, according to a blogpost published by OpenAI on Monday. The finding, part of an update on how the chatbot handles sensitive conversations, is one of the most direct statements from the artificial intelligence giant on the scale of how AI can exacerbate mental health issues.In addition to its estimates on suicidal ideations and related interactions, OpenAI also said that about 0.07% of users active in a given week – about 560,000 of its touted 800m weekly users – show “possible signs of mental health emergencies related to psychosis or mania”. The post cautioned that these conversations were difficult to detect or measure, and that this was an initial analysis
Ultra-HD televisions not noticeably better for typical viewer, scientists say
Many modern living rooms are now dominated by a huge television, but researchers say there might be little point in plumping for an ultra-high-definition model.Scientists at the University of Cambridge and Meta, the company that owns Facebook, have found that for an average-sized living room a 4K or 8K screen offers no noticeable benefit over a similarly sized 2K screen of the sort often used in computer monitors and laptops. In other words, there is no tangible difference when it comes to how sharp an image appears to our eyes.“At a certain viewing distance, it doesn’t matter how many pixels you add. It’s just, I suppose, wasteful because your eye can’t really detect it,” said Dr Maliha Ashraf, the first author of the study from the University of Cambridge
Apple Watch Ultra 3 review: the biggest and best smartwatch for an iPhone
The biggest, baddest and boldest Apple Watch is back for its third generation, adding a bigger screen, longer battery life and satellite messaging for when lost in the wilderness.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The Ultra 3 is Apple’s answer to adventure watches such as Garmin’s Fenix 8 Pro while being a full smartwatch for the iPhone with all the trimmings
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BT ‘considering low-cost mobile brand’ as Revolut and Monzo plan launches
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