Not surprisingly, I agree. I have been wondering—can an AI-generated piece of music have soul? Yes. I signed an NDA, so I’m not allowed to say, but I’ve seen things that have extremely blown me away. I do worry about the future of art a bit. I think future cities will have low-tech zones, or low-tech schools, and there’ll be boutique analog artists. Would you spend time in a low-tech zone? I like the high-tech zone. I’m a very pro-adventure person. I never would have guessed. I get my joie de vivre from exciting, novel things and experimenting and exploring. If you had an opportunity to go back to, like, any recording session ever, what would you choose? I would go see Beethoven. But that’s not a recording session. I’d try to check if Beethoven was actually deaf. But the Ninth, that’d be sick. That’s what I like. I know it’s basic, but I love, love Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. So I’d probably go see that, I guess. Also, I think I could be wrong about this. But Vivaldi was at a school for girls, writing all this music and getting 10-year-old girls to play it. I like the idea. It seems so aesthetically ridiculous. How about films, are you interested in that? I think cinema is still the best art form, although games can be up there. I do want to make films. A Midsummer Night’s Dream update would be so sick. It maps on to AI really well—what if the fairies were actually made of artificial intelligence? What other themes would you look at? I’m obsessed with inaccurate historical text. The past five years of my life have been super bananas crazy, but not in a manner that I can publicly speak about. So I want to write the Icelandic saga version of my life—a super over-the-top, magical, inaccurate version, like a historical text based on a true story. Like Sofia Coppola did with Marie Antoinette? I’d be even more bananas than that. I want to get to that bananas life … I’ve got NDAs. It’s hard to talk about things very explicitly without saying things about other people’s lives who are very private. Well, I do want to ask about Elon. You get one Elon question. We’ll see. But here’s a question. Both of you are super unique people. I’m curious what you learned from him. And what he learned from you. I learned from him, like, the best internship ever. People don’t like talking about Elon, but it was incredible to be right there watching all that SpaceX stuff happen. That’s a master class in leadership and engineering and makes you understand how rare it is to have a leader of that quality. And Twitter? I know, the stuff on Twitter doesn’t make it look like that. He didn’t build the culture there. And the cultural fit has obviously been very intense. He holds his people to really high standards. Watching him, I understand how difficult it is to be a great general and do something of that magnitude. Elon has an old-world kind of discipline I really respect. And I think it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They don’t want to be in that hardcore zone. If you’re not consenting to being in that hardcore zone, I get it. But he’s challenged me a lot. I learned a lot about running my own team and my own life. I’m now way tougher and smarter than I used to be.

BYJU’S has offered to repay the funds it has availed of from the loan and the interest on that amount, essentially giving Davidson Kempner an exit It has also been reported that Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai has finalised an $80 Mn investment in Aakash to repay Davidson Kempner Even as BYJU’S tries to placate Davidson Kempner, it has scheduled crunch talks this week with the steering committee of its $1.2 Bn Term Loan B to sign new terms BYJU’S and New York-based Davidson Kempner have begun negotiations to settle their dispute over the breach of a loan covenant by the edtech giant’s offline test prep arm, Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL). BYJU’S has offered to repay the funds it has availed of from the loan and the interest on that amount, essentially giving Davidson Kempner an exit from the edtech firm after a prolonged boardroom saga, ET said in a report citing sources. The two parties are some way off still – DK is seeking interest on the entire amount for one to two years, while BYJU’S founder Byju Raveendran has proposed a quarter’s interest. The talks between the two companies are centred on the exact payout and a formal proposal is expected this week by the two parties. Meanwhile, Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai is said to have finalised an $80 Mn investment in Aakash. The investment will be used to repay Davidson Kempner, and Raveendran will transfer Aakash’s shares to Pai in exchange for investment. The Davidson Kempner Saga This May, BYJU’S signed a $250 Mn (around INR 2,000 Cr) structured credit deal with Davidson Kempner against Aakash’s cash flow. However, the edtech has only received INR 800 Cr from the loan. Incidentally, BYJU’S has reportedly used up over INR 600 Cr from the facility. Over the past few weeks, a breach of the loan term covenant triggered the US-based investor to start talks to return the money. At the same time, Davidson Kempner allegedly restructured Aakash’s board of directors. Though neither party commented on the development at the time, media reports were strife with speculation around Aakash’s future. Even as BYJU’S tries to placate Davidson Kempner, it has scheduled crunch talks this week with the steering committee of its $1.2 Bn Term Loan B to sign new terms. Last month, the steering committee, which owns about 85% of the loan amount, said they had agreed to close the terms after discussions with the edtech firm. Per their statement, the terms were to be signed by August 3, but a formal announcement is yet to be made by either party. BYJU’S is also said to have written to Aakash founders – the Chaudhry family – and investment fund Blackstone, asking them to honour the pending stock swap part of the deal announced two years ago. However, the two parties have opposed the demand. The Chaudhrys and Blackstone have reportedly cited a breach of terms, including a delay in furnishing the fiscal 2022 audited financials of BYJU’S parent firm, for the refusal, making it yet another case of delayed financial reporting haunting the edtech giant. In any case, Raveendran and CFO Ajay Goel have promised shareholders that audited financials for FY22 would be filed by September and audited FY23 results by December.

Smugglers often come up with creative ways to bring contraband into foreign countries, but one man’s attempt to smuggle 68 iPhones into China was particularly brazen. On July 31, a man arrived at Qingdao Port in China and tried to pass through customs without declaring the iPhones he was carrying. The venture, while daring, lacked a certain level of ingenuity. The man’s appearance and attire raised suspicions among authorities. Clad in a navy blue shirt, his physical proportions seemed curiously askew. This prompted authorities to subject him to a closer examination. The inspection revealed that he was carrying a total of 68 old iPhones meticulously affixed to various parts of his body—his waist, lower legs, and abdomen. The iPhones, far from being the latest models, were meticulously swathed and secured around his frame using adhesive tape. Subsequently, the man was promptly apprehended, facing charges of smuggling. The motivation behind his elaborate smuggling attempt remains shrouded in mystery. While his intentions are unclear, it’s plausible that he had plans for selling the iPhones on the grey market. There is a huge demand for old iPhones on the grey market as people are often on the lookout for getting their hands on devices on the cheap.Smuggling of Apple products isn’t a new thing as there have been many reports about them. There have been reports about fake AirPods being smuggled into various countries as well. In 2017, a woman was arrested for smuggling 102 iPhones and 15 high-end watches into the country by hiding them in her clothes. And in 2015, a man was caught trying to smuggle 94 iPhones into China by taping them to his body at the Hong Kong border. Many cases do end up coming out of China. In China and most other countries, it is illegal to import goods without paying the appropriate taxes.

One97 Communications has appointed SR Batliboi & Associates as the B2B vertical’s new auditor with immediate effect Paytm said the outgoing auditor has not raised any concern or issue with its B2B arm PwC said its resignation was considering One97’s ‘understandable practice’ to align the auditor of PPSL, being a material subsidiary, with the auditor of the holding company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India resigned as the auditor of Paytm Payments Services on Monday (August 7). The fintech major has appointed SR Batliboi & Associates as the auditor of the B2B vertical with immediate effect. “… we wish to inform you that M/s.Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP… statutory auditors of material subsidiary i.e. Paytm Payments Services Limited (PPSL) have resigned with effect from August 07, 2023,” Paytm said in a regulatory filing with the bourses.  Paytm Payments Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of One97 Communications, offers digital payments solutions and tools for businesses. Paytm said that the outgoing auditor has not raised any concern or issue with its B2B arm, and the resignation of PwC was approved by the company’s board of directors.  The decision comes a week after Paytm informed PwC India that there was a change of auditors at the board level. In its resignation letter to the fintech major, PwC India said that the resignation was necessitated by Paytm’s ‘understandable practice’ to align the auditor of PPSL with the auditor of the holding company’. “…Consequently, keeping in mind your understandable practice to align the auditor of PPSL, being a material subsidiary, with the auditor of the holding company in order to bring in synergies and maintain consistency in the audit process of the Group, we hereby tender our resignation as the statutory auditors of PPSL,” said PwC India in its resignation letter.  PwC furnished financial statements for the year ended March 2023 and a limited review report on the ‘unaudited special purpose interim condensed financial statements’ for the first quarter of financial year 2023-24 (FY24) prior to its resignation.  PwC India was appointed by PPSL as its auditor at its annual general meeting (AGM) held in September 2021. The auditor was appointed for a period of five years till FY26 but its journey was cut short due to considerations around ‘consistencies in the audit process’. PPSL was incorporated as a subsidiary of Paytm in the later half of 2020. PPSL acquired a persona of its own after Paytm transferred its online payment aggregation business to PPSL in 2021. It, however, ran into controversy in 2022 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked it to reapply for a payment aggregator licence. Since then, PPSL has introduced sweeping changes while chasing the central bank for the payment aggregator licence to onboard more merchants on its rolls.  The latest development came on the same day as the fintech giant announced that its CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma would acquire a 10.3% stake in the company from the Netherlands-based Antfin Holdings BV, an arm of Chinese conglomerate Ant Group. The development comes at a time when Paytm has rapidly scaled its loan business and merchants payments verticals. It has also been cutting its losses by focussing on profitability and shoring up its revenue. Paytm’s consolidated net loss narrowed to INR 358.4 Cr in Q1 FY24 compared to INR 645.4 Cr in Q1 FY23. Paytm shares closed 6.95% higher at INR 850.75 on the BSE on Monday (August 7). 

Cybersecurity firm Sophos has released new findings on CryptoRomscams. Such campaigns are designed to trick users of dating apps into making fake cryptocurrency investments (also known as pig butchering). In its latest report, researchers have discovered that CryptoRom scammers are refining their techniques. Hackers have added a new AI chat tool, like ChatGPT, to their toolset.Scammers have also expanded their coercion tactics by telling victims their crypto accounts were hacked and more upfront money is needed. As per the report, scammers were able to sneak seven new fake cryptocurrency investment apps into the official Apple App and Google Play stores. In 2022, investment fraud caused the highest losses of any scam reported by the public to the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center (IC3), totalling US$3.31 billion in the US alone. Frauds involving cryptocurrency, including pig butchering, represented most of these scams, increasing 183% from 2021 to US$2.57 billion in reported losses last year.New tools scammers are using Sophos’s research team first learned of CryptoRom scammers using the AI chat tool (most likely ChatGPT) when a victim reached out to the team. After contacting the victim on Tandem, a language-sharing app that has also been used as a dating app, the scammer convinced the victim to move their conversation to WhatsApp. The victim became suspicious after he received a lengthy message that was partly written by an AI chat tool using a large language model (LLM).The research team also uncovered a new scammer tactic designed to extort additional money. Traditionally, when victims of CryptoRom scams attempt to cash in on their “profits,” fraudsters will tell them they need to pay a 20% tax on their funds before completing any withdrawals. However, a recent victim revealed that after paying the “tax” to withdraw money, the fraudsters said the funds had been “hacked” and they would need another 20% deposit before receiving the funds. Upon further investigation, the research team found seven fake cryptocurrency investment apps in the official Google Play and Apple App stores. These apps have seemingly benign descriptions in the app stores (BerryX, for example, claims to be reading-related). However, as soon as users open the app, they are met with a fake crypto-trading interface.To get past the Apple App Store review process, the app developers use the same technique Sophos first reported on in February 2023. They submit the app for approval using legitimate, run-of-the-mill web content. Then, once the app has been approved and published, they modify the server hosting the app with code for the fraudulent interface.Many of these seven new apps recycled the same templates and descriptions, suggesting the same one or two pig butchering rings are creating the scheme.

Asus has expanded its product portfolio in India with the launch of a new wireless optical mouse, the WT300. This new mouse combines an ambidextrous design with an optical sensor which can go up to 1600 dpi. The mouse is both lightweight and portable. The Asus WT300 wireless optical mouse also promises comfort, even during extended hours of use. Commenting on the launch Arnold Su, Vice President, of consumer and gaming PC, system business group, Asus India, said, “Accessories play a crucial role in enhancing user convenience, and our primary focus is to offer products and experiences that empower users to perform tasks effortlessly and boost productivity. The new innovative WT300 Wireless Optical Mouse has been meticulously designed to not only showcase individuality but also cater to diverse user needs with its efficient utility.”Asus WT300 wireless optical mouse: Price and availability Available in Matte Black with red accents, the mouse has a symmetrical body that can be used by both left- and right-handed users. The WT300 wireless mouse is priced at Rs 649 and is available for purchase at online Asus e-shop/ Amazon/ Flipkart and offline Asus exclusive stores/ ROG stores/Croma/Vijay Sales/Reliance Digital.Asus WT300 wireless optical mouse: Key specsThe WT300 claims to have undergone testing for 3 million clicks. Weighing just 52 grams, it will also offer easy portability. The optical sensor features a PIXART-3212 IC low-current design, providing improved cursor control and reducing input latency.The sensor offers two DPI sensitivity settings – 1000 DPI and 1600 DPI depending on the need. These settings can be changed easily by pressing the click-wheel and right button. Moreover, the WT300 also boasts that its battery can last up to 15 months with 8 hours of everyday use. Its USB 2.0 dongle can be stored within the mouse itself. Specification Connectivity Technology RF 2.4G (10m range) Tracking Optical Resolution 1000/1600 dpi Button 3 buttons Scroll Vertical scroll wheel Mouse Dimensions (mm) Mouse: 104(L)*59(W)*35mm(H)Dongle: 18.5(L)*14.5(W)*6.2mm(H) Weight Mouse: 56g Dongle: 2g OS Requirements Windows 8 and Above Chrome OS

For most people, the idea of using artificial intelligence tools in daily life—or even just messing around with them—has only become mainstream in recent months, with new releases of generative AI tools from a slew of big tech companies and startups, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. But behind the scenes, the technology has been proliferating for years, along with questions about how best to evaluate and secure these new AI systems. On Monday, Microsoft is revealing details about the team within the company that since 2018 has been tasked with figuring out how to attack AI platforms to reveal their weaknesses. In the five years since its formation, Microsoft’s AI red team has grown from what was essentially an experiment into a full interdisciplinary team of machine learning experts, cybersecurity researchers, and even social engineers. The group works to communicate its findings within Microsoft and across the tech industry using the traditional parlance of digital security, so the ideas will be accessible rather than requiring specialized AI knowledge that many people and organizations don’t yet have. But in truth, the team has concluded that AI security has important conceptual differences from traditional digital defense, which require differences in how the AI red team approaches its work. “When we started, the question was, ‘What are you fundamentally going to do that’s different? Why do we need an AI red team?’” says Ram Shankar Siva Kumar, the founder of Microsoft’s AI red team. “But if you look at AI red teaming as only traditional red teaming, and if you take only the security mindset, that may not be sufficient. We now have to recognize the responsible AI aspect, which is accountability of AI system failures—so generating offensive content, generating ungrounded content. That is the holy grail of AI red teaming. Not just looking at failures of security but also responsible AI failures.” Shankar Siva Kumar says it took time to bring out this distinction and make the case that the AI red team’s mission would really have this dual focus. A lot of the early work related to releasing more traditional security tools like the 2020 Adversarial Machine Learning Threat Matrix, a collaboration between Microsoft, the nonprofit R&D group MITRE, and other researchers. That year, the group also released open source automation tools for AI security testing, known as Microsoft Counterfit. And in 2021, the red team published an additional AI security risk assessment framework. Over time, though, the AI red team has been able to evolve and expand as the urgency of addressing machine learning flaws and failures becomes more apparent.  In one early operation, the red team assessed a Microsoft cloud deployment service that had a machine learning component. The team devised a way to launch a denial of service attack on other users of the cloud service by exploiting a flaw that allowed them to craft malicious requests to abuse the machine learning components and strategically create virtual machines, the emulated computer systems used in the cloud. By carefully placing virtual machines in key positions, the red team could launch “noisy neighbor” attacks on other cloud users, where the activity of one customer negatively impacts the performance for another customer.

The chief human resource officer (CHRO), Sumar Gopalan, and the chief marketing officer (CMO), Stacey Epstein, have reportedly put down their papers at NASDAQ-listed SaaS unicorn Freshworks. According to a report by The Captable, the two executives will leave the organisation in the coming days. Confirming the development to Moneycontrol, CHRO Gopalan said, “Having gone through this amazing and intense journey over the last five and half years, I felt it was the right time for me to step out of my comfort zone and embark on a new adventure.”   In a statement, Freshworks noted that the two executives were moving on ‘independently’ of one another, adding that it has been looking at possible replacements. “After years of being an integral part of Freshworks, Suman and Stacey have independently decided to move on from Freshworks. For the last few months, they’ve continued their responsibilities while supporting the searches to find strong replacements and ensure seamless transitions for their teams,” the listed SaaS giant said. Freshworks has already appointed a new CHRO, the company said, without revealing the name of the top-level executive. “We’ve already selected a new CHRO who will start at the end of August and we’re actively evaluating CMO candidates. We are grateful for their years of hard work taking us through IPO and life as a public company, and the foundation Suman and Stacey have established for the future success of Freshworks,” the SaaS major said. Freshworks is now looking to appoint a new CMO in the coming months. The development comes a week after the startup reported a net loss of $35.66 Mn in the quarter ended June 30, 2023, down 48.9% year-on-year (YoY). Freshworks reported an adjusted operating profit for the first time in the January-March quarter of 2023, posting a non-GAAP profit of $3.88 Mn. The development comes nearly a year after the company’s cofounder and CTO Shan Krishnaswamy left the company last September. The company also saw senior-level layoffs towards the end of the June quarter, though it had denied any company-wide layoffs. The retrenchments happened within senior positions in the company’s product, engineering and go-to-market (GTM) teams.

The LegacyTech platform, Mitt Arv has announced its entry into the India market. Mitt Arv aims to empower users with comprehensive legacy planning tools, addressing future complexities and uncertainties, ensuring lasting legacies for future generations. The platform aims to revolutionise the conventional approach to legacy planning in India. It seeks to transcend the boundaries of traditional succession planning and reshape the way individuals, families, and friends strategise for what lies ahead.The platform enables people to express their memories, emotions, and dreams, serving as a connection between the present and the past. Mitt Arv employs this distinctive method to harness technology, empowering individuals to capture the spirit of their dear ones and discover solace in revisiting their treasured instances. At Mitt Arv, the emphasis is on creating a soothing environment where life narratives are honored and cherished. The platform also offers an Asset Vault which offers a secure and user-friendly platform that allows individuals to safeguard and manage their wealth and assets information effortlessly. his innovative tool facilitates seamless sharing of asset details with loved ones, trustees, and friends, ensuring vital awareness and guidance. Users can also confidentially put on record essential details, such as life insurance claims, property ownership, and other valuable assets. Vishal Mehta, founder & director of Mitt Arv, expressed his thoughts, “The brand’s debut is deeply rooted in my personal experience. The Covid-19 pandemic urgency, with my family in India while I was in Singapore, made me realize the need for an “Emotional will.” Overwhelmed with concern, I struggled to convey unsaid words and emotions to my loved ones. This led to the driving force behind Mitt Arv, empowering individuals and families to articulate their emotional legacies. Our unique “Emotional will” concept bridges the gap between the unspoken and heartfelt sentiments, ensuring enduring legacies.

Every business’s relationship to growth has shifted wildly in the last three years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 6 percent of companies canceled their plans to grow in 2020, and 9.7 percent hit “pause” on growth. So, what happens now that we’ve entered a new phase? Should businesses be pushing for growth again? To understand the answer, we have to look more closely at how companies have been thinking and feeling about growth. First, the reason for hitting the pause button has been continued economic insecurity. The economic downturn forced businesses to focus on efficiency, cut costs and prioritize cash flow above all else. This mindset is still guiding business leaders today. Additionally, in order to at least survive the pandemic, businesses had to adapt rapidly. They had to develop new ways to reach customers, translate their services to digital ones, rethink safety and redefine what their brands looked like and stood for. Businesses that have survived sometimes don’t resemble what they once were. Despite what we’ve been through and how we’ve changed, growth is always inseparable from business. It defines us. Post-pandemic growth is a big priority for many businesses. They need to recover lost revenues, capture new opportunities and invest in the customer experience so that they can build loyalty and trust as the economy recovers. The question is: how? Related: The World Is Changing and Your Brand Is Dying. Here’s How to Create and Champion an Evolving Brand What practices should businesses keep from pandemic times? There are still pandemic-era business practices that we should carry over into the new era. We have learned a lot in a short space of time, and much of the knowledge that we acquired will continue to be useful. The most resourceful leaders will be able to repurpose pandemic lessons for the future of their companies. For instance, wise leaders will remember to invest in employee training and development. They will listen to their team members and encourage open communication and feedback because they know it helps them move in the right direction. They also know that digital tools can increase efficiency and collaboration in both good times and bad. Still, some of the practices we relied on during the pandemic definitely need to be ended. The exclusive focus on cost-cutting measures, for instance, no longer makes sense. We have gotten into a habit of hunkering down and prioritizing core processes; now is the time to let the secondary and tertiary concerns back in. We need to stop relegating customer service and satisfaction to the “nice-to-have” bucket and start recognizing how critical it is to success. Before, we generally didn’t have the money or the time to invest properly in tools, employee training or development. Now that we do, we need to invest in anything that will empower our teams to set goals and innovate with confidence. Related: 5 Lessons the Pandemic Has Taught Entrepreneurs How businesses can find their North Star after the pandemic The pandemic era has taught us some valuable lessons and given us a new set of priorities. Consider customer experience as the North Star of post-pandemic business growth. Business leaders need to pay attention to the trends that are currently emerging because they demonstrate what consumers are thinking and how they’re feeling. Here are three ways to accomplish that: 1. Focus on health and wellness needs The pandemic may be winding down and we may be entering a new era, but if the last three years have taught us anything, it’s that health matters. According to McKinsey & Company, the value of the global fitness market exceeds $1.5 trillion, and it’s expected to grow between 5 percent and 10 percent every year. People are really trying to shape their lives around their well-being and placing greater emphasis on preventive health care, healthy eating and fitness. This has led to an increased demand for health and wellness products, supplements, fitness apps and services, self-care tools, therapeutics and any other health-related service. 2. Find local vendors Growth isn’t necessarily about expanding globally. With the pandemic bringing global trade to a standstill, many people have turned to locally sourced products to support local businesses and reduce their environmental footprint. Because the importance of sustainability has become more appreciated by the public — according to a report by Havas Group Worldwide, 73% of consumers believe that brands have a responsibility to act for the good of society and the Earth — customers are looking for sustainable products and services. This includes demand for eco-friendly packaging and sustainable materials. This trend will likely continue as we become more aware of the impact of our buying decisions. Related: What Is Sustainability in Business? 3. Ask questions to and about customers According to a report by Salesforce, 56 percent of customers expect that all of their offers be personalized to them. Because this number will only continue to grow, companies must focus on understanding customer needs, providing a seamless user experience and delivering valuable products and services. In order to know what “valuable” means to customers, ask questions. What customer needs are not being met right now? What customer-centric strategies can be implemented to provide a better experience? How can data be used to make a better decision? By focusing on the customer experience, we can keep the North Star in our sights and let it set a clear path for post-pandemic growth.