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Win Bledisloe every two years: Rugby Australia sets out bold five-year goalsArteris VP Paul Alpern sells $6,165 in stock
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Warriors Refuse to Lose Momentum After Odd Loss
Every Black Friday, there’s a number of viral products that everyone has on their Christmas wish list, and we don’t expect this year to be any different. However, not all of these popular items are going to stay in stock, and we have some insight on the ones that won’t. Black Friday is big business, and last year shoppers spent $222.1 billion during the entire holiday shopping season, according to Queue-it. Sales on Black Friday reached $16.4 billion (online and in stores), and this was a 9% increase from the year before. While it comes as no surprise that electronics are the most sought-after products of the holiday season, Queue-it said this accounts for the majority of holiday sales, jumping to $50.8 billion in 2023. Apparel, furniture, groceries and toys are the other hot sellers of Black Friday. Together, these five categories accounted for 65% of sales during the holidays last year and is only expected to grow in 2024. While many items that sell out over Black Friday are driven by a good deal, we also know that a hot product is just that — a gift that most people want to open on Christmas Day. So, here are our picks for the top 10 hot-ticket items that could sell out over Black Friday. The holidays are ripe for TV deals, and we expect shoppers to buy a ton of them in 2024, especially at Walmart. Consumers are trending toward bigger TVs and the super low-price deals over Black Friday force many models to sell out. This is especially true of popular models from Samsung, Hisense, LG and more favorites. Apple's smartwatches are a top pick among Apple fans. We’ve seen prices on the Apple Watch continue to trend downward, which was only spurred by the release of the new Apple Watch 10 in September. This pushed down prices on earlier models, with the best deals coming on the Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch 9. For Black Friday, we think the prices will drop even lower and sell out due to high demand. Beats Solo3 Amazon.com Wireless headphones are one of the most popular products of 2024, and Beats are one of the top brands. We’re already seeing big markdowns on Beats Wireless Headphones, and we expect these price drops to continue into Black Friday. The Beats Solo3 is likely to be on sale for even cheaper than we’ve already seen, and we think they will sell out for Black Friday, with the possibility of other popular Beats headphones joining them. If you haven’t picked up a pair of Apple AirPods yet, this could be your year to do it. With Apple launching a fourth generation of AirPods earlier this year, the price on prevvious models are creeping lower. We think over Black Friday they’ll be at their cheapest price ever, with the AirPods (3rd Gen) likely to sell out. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Bluetooth speakers are a must-have for many this year, and with the big sound that comes from JBL’s speakers, it’s easy to see why they might sell out for Black Friday. These popular speakers come in a variety of portable sizes and waterproof designs. We expect big deals on JBL’s top-rated Clip 5 and Flip 6 Bluetooth speaker models. Apple iPad (10th Gen) Amazon.com One of Apple’s most sought-after products of the year was the iPad, and we saw the 9th Gen and 10th Gen models drop to their lowest prices ever. We think this year will bring some iPad bliss with even better discounts, but these deals will disappear just as fast as they arrive. We think that mega discounts on the iPad (9th Gen) and iPad (10th Gen) could cause sell outs, especially on Amazon. The Dyson Airwrap just might be the top product of Black Friday, as this is one of the rare times there’s a discount on the beloved hair styling tool. At $600, the Airwrap carries a hefty price tag, so any discount presented is a welcome surprise. But as we’ve seen in the past, any Black Friday deal on the Dyson Airwrap causes a crush of interest that’s followed by a sell out. Ugg Tasman slippers Amazon.com If you’ve tried to scoop up the UGG Tasman Slippers in previous years, you already know they never stay in stock for long. As the “it” slipper of the holiday season, UGG’s Tasman sells out multiple times over the holidays, even without a discount offered. We think that this year will be similar, with popular sizes and colors of the Tasman Slipper snatched up fast over Black Friday. Bissell Little Green Amazon.com The Bissell Little Green carpet cleaner is a popular home product that just can’t seem to stay in stock. With prices falling under $90, this mighty machine can be a blessing for pet owners and parents, as its compact size makes it easy to store and use when needed. We’ve seen the Little Green Machine sell out before, and we’d be surprised if it didn’t do it again over Black Friday. We’d be remiss if we didn’t include a top toy that we think will be hard to find and gift this year. Our pick is the Furby Galaxy Edition. This glow-in-the-dark Furby is based on the original Furby from the late ’90s with even more features, interactive modes and more fun. Making a comeback in 2023, we saw the revival of this popular toy sell out last year, and we expect the new Furby Galaxy Edition to do the same.Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at 100, had deep ties to VirginiaExtensive confidential documents in the lead-up to the collapse of Northern Ireland’s institutions in 2002 have been made available to the public as part of annual releases from the Irish National Archives. They reveal that the Irish Government wanted to appeal to the UK side against “manipulating” every scenario for favourable election results in Northern Ireland, in an effort to protect the peace process. In the years after the landmark 1998 Good Friday Agreement, a number of outstanding issues left the political environment fraught with tension and disagreement. Mr Trimble, who won a Nobel Peace Prize with SDLP leader John Hume for their work on the Agreement, was keen to gain wins for the UUP on policing, ceasefire audits and paramilitary disarmament – but also to present his party as firmer on these matters amid swipes from its Unionist rival, the DUP. These issues were at the front of his mind as he tried to steer his party into Assembly elections planned for May 2003 and continue in his role as the Executive’s first minister despite increasing political pressure. The documents reveal the extent to which the British and Irish Governments were trying to delicately resolve the contentious negotiations, conscious that moves seen as concessions to one group could provoke anger on the other side. In June 2002, representatives of the SDLP reported to Irish officials on a recent meeting between Mr Hume’s successor Mark Durkan and Prime Minister Tony Blair on policing and security. Mr Blair is said to have suggested that the SDLP and UUP were among those who both supported and took responsibility for the Good Friday Agreement. The confidential report of the meeting says that Mr Durkan, the deputy First Minister, was not sure that Mr Trimble had been correctly categorised. The Prime Minister asked if the SDLP could work more closely with the UUP ahead of the elections. Mr Durkan argued that Mr Trimble was not only not saleable to nationalists, but also not saleable to half of the UUP – to which Mr Blair and Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid are said to have laughed in agreement. The SDLP leader further warned that pursuing a “save David” campaign would ruin all they had worked for. Damien McAteer, an adviser for the SDLP, was recorded as briefing Irish officials on September 10 that it was his view that Mr Trimble was intent on collapsing the institutions in 2003 over expected fallout for Sinn Fein in the wake of the Colombia Three trial, where men linked to the party were charged with training Farc rebels – but predicted the UUP leader would be “in the toilet” by January, when an Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) meeting was due to take place. A week later in mid September, Mr Trimble assured Irish premier Bertie Ahern that the next UUC meeting to take place in two days’ time would be “okay but not great” and insisted he was not planning to play any “big game”. It was at that meeting that he made the bombshell announcement that the UUP would pull out of the Executive if the IRA had not disbanded by January 18. The move came as a surprise to the Irish officials who, along with their UK counterparts, did not see the deadline as realistic. Sinn Fein described the resolution as a “wreckers’ charter”. Doubts were raised that there would be any progress on substantive issues as parties would not be engaged in “pre-election skirmishing”. As that could lead to a UUP walkout and the resulting suspension of the institutions, the prospect of delaying the elections was raised while bringing forward the vote was ruled out. Therefore, the two Governments stressed the need to cooperate as a stabilising force to protect the Agreement – despite not being sure how that process would survive through the January 18 deadline. The Irish officials became worried that the British side did not share their view that Mr Trimble was not “salvageable” and that the fundamental dynamic in the UUP was now Agreement scepticism, the confidential documents state. In a meeting days after the UUC announcements, Mr Reid is recorded in the documents as saying that as infuriating as it was, Mr Trimble was at that moment the “most enlightened Unionist we have”. The Secretary said he would explore what the UUP leader needed to “survive” the period between January 18 and the election, believing a significant prize could avoid him being “massacred”. Such planning went out the window just weeks later, when hundreds of PSNI officers were involved in raids of several buildings – including Sinn Fein’s offices in Stormont. The resulting “Stormontgate” spy-ring scandal accelerated the collapse of powersharing, with the UUP pulling out of the institutions – and the Secretary of State suspending the Assembly and Executive on October 14. For his part, Irish officials were briefed that Mr Reid was said to be “gung ho” about the prospect of exercising direct rule – reportedly making no mention of the Irish Government in a meeting with Mr Trimble and Mr Durkan on that day. The Northern Ireland Secretary was given a new role and Paul Murphy was appointed as his successor. A note on speaking points for a meeting with Mr Murphy in April showed that the Irish side believed the May elections should go ahead: “At a certain stage the political process has to stand on its own feet. “The Governments cannot be manipulating and finessing every scenario to engineer the right result. “We have to start treating the parties and the people as mature and trusting that they have the discernment to make the right choices.” However, the elections planned for May did not materialise, instead delayed until November. Mr Trimble would go on to lose his Westminster seat – and stewardship of the UUP – in 2005. The November election saw the DUP emerge as the largest parties – but direct rule continued as Ian Paisley’s refused to share power with Sinn Fein, which Martin McGuinness’ colleagues. The parties eventually agreed to work together following further elections in 2007. – This article is based on documents in 2024/130/5, 2024/130/6, 2024/130/15
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NEW YORK (AP) — A slide for market superstar Nvidia on Monday knocked Wall Street off its big rally and helped drag U.S. stock indexes down from their records. The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, coming off its 57th all-time high of the year so far. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 240 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite pulled back 0.6% from its own record. Nvidia’s fall of 2.5% was by far the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after China said it’s investigating the company over suspected violations of Chinese anti-monopoly laws. Nvidia has skyrocketed to become one of Wall Street’s most valuable companies because its chips are driving much of the world’s move into artificial-intelligence technology. That gives its stock’s movements more sway on the S&P 500 than nearly every other. Nvidia’s drop overshadowed gains in Hong Kong and for Chinese stocks trading in the United States on hopes that China will deliver more stimulus for the world’s second-largest economy. Roughly three in seven of the stocks in the S&P 500 also rose. The week’s highlight for Wall Street will arrive midweek when the latest updates on inflation arrive. Economists expect Wednesday’s report to show the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling remained stuck at close to the same level last month. A separate report on Thursday, meanwhile, could show an acceleration in inflation at the wholesale level. They’re the last big pieces of data the Federal Reserve will get before its meeting next week on interest rates. The widespread expectation is still that the central bank will cut its main interest rate for the third time this year. The Fed has been easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high since September to offer more help for the slowing job market, after bringing inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower interest rates can ease the brakes off the economy, but they can also offer more fuel for inflation. Expectations for a series of cuts from the Fed have been a major reason the S&P 500 has set so many all-time highs this year. “Investors should enjoy this rally while it lasts—there’s little on the horizon to disrupt the momentum through year-end,” according to Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, though he warns stocks could stumble soon because of how overheated they’ve gotten. On Wall Street, Interpublic Group rose 3.6% after rival Omnicom said it would buy the marketing and communications firm in an all-stock deal. The pair had a combined revenue of $25.6 billion last year. Omnicom, meanwhile, sank 10.2%. Macy’s climbed 1.8% after an activist investor, Barington Capital Group, called on the retailer to buy back at least $2 billion of its own stock over the next three years and make other moves to help boost its stock price. Super Micro Computer rose 0.5% after saying it got an extension that will keep its stock listed on the Nasdaq through Feb. 25, as it works to file its delayed annual report and other required financial statements. Earlier this month, the maker of servers used in artificial-intelligence technology said an investigation found no evidence of misconduct by its management or by the company’s board following the resignation of its public auditor . All told, the S&P 500 fell 37.42 points to 6,052.85. The Dow dipped 240.59 to 4,401.93, and the Nasdaq composite lost 123.08 to 19,736.69. In the oil market, a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rallied 1.7% to settle at $68.37 following the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar Assad, who sought asylum in Moscow after rebels. Brent crude, the international standard, added 1.4% to $72.14 per barrel. The price of gold also rose 1% to $2,685.80 per ounce amid the uncertainty created by the end of the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule. In stock markets abroad, the Hang Seng jumped 2.8% in Hong Kong after top Chinese leaders agreed on a “moderately loose” monetary policy for the world’s second-largest economy. That’s a shift away from a more cautious, “prudent” stance for the first time in 10 years. A major planning meeting later this week could also bring more stimulus for the Chinese economy. U.S.-listed stocks of several Chinese companies climbed, including a 12.4% jump for electric-vehicle company Nio and a 7.4% rise for Alibaba Group. Stocks in Shanghai, though, were roughly flat. In Seoul, South Korea’s Kospi slumped 2.8% as the fallout continues from President Yoon Suk Yeol ’s brief declaration of martial law last week in the midst of a budget dispute. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.19% from 4.15% late Friday. AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Jimmy Carter had the longest post-presidency of anyone to hold the office, and one of the most active. Here is a look back at his life. 1924 — Jimmy Carter was born on Oct. 1 to Earl and Lillian Carter in the small town of Plains, Georgia. 1928 — Earl Carter bought a 350-acre farm 3 miles from Plains in the tiny community of Archery. The Carter family lived in a house on the farm without running water or electricity. 1941 — He graduated from Plains High School and enrolled at Georgia Southwestern College in Americus. 1942 — He transferred to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. 1943 — Carter’s boyhood dream of being in the Navy becomes a reality as he is appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. 1946 — He received his naval commission and on July 7 married Rosalynn Smith of Plains. They moved to Norfolk, Virginia. 1946-1952 — Carter’s three sons are born, Jack in 1947, Chip in 1950 and Jeff in 1952. 1962-66 — Carter is elected to the Georgia State Senate and serves two terms. 1953 — Carter’s father died and he cut his naval career short to save the family farm. Due to a limited income, Jimmy, Rosalynn and their three sons moved into Public Housing Apartment 9A in Plains. 1966 — He ran for governor, but lost. 1967 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s fourth child, Amy, is born. 1971 — He ran for governor again and won the election, becoming Georgia’s 76th governor on Jan. 12. 1974 — Carter announced his candidacy for president. 1976 — Carter was elected 39th president on Nov. 2, narrowly defeating incumbent Gerald Ford. 1978 — U.S. and the Peoples’ Republic of China establish full diplomatic relations. President Carter negotiates and mediates an accord between Egypt and Israel at Camp David. 1979 — The Department of Education is formed. Iranian radicals overrun the U.S. Embassy and seize American hostages. The Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty is signed. 1980 — On March 21, Carter announces that the U.S. will boycott the Olympic Games scheduled in Moscow. A rescue attempt to get American hostages out of Iran is unsuccessful. Carter was defeated in his bid for a second term as president by Ronald Reagan in November. 1981 — President Carter continues to negotiate the release of the American hostages in Iran. Minutes before his term as president is over, the hostages are released. 1982 — Carter became a distinguished professor at Emory University in Atlanta, and founded The Carter Center. The nonpartisan and nonprofit center addresses national and international issues of public policy. 1984 — Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter volunteer one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes, until 2020. He also taught Sunday school in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains from the mid-’80s until 2020. 2002 — Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 2015 — Carter announced in August he had been diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain. 2016 — He said in March that he no longer needed cancer treatment. 2024 — Carter dies at 100 years old. Sources: Cartercenter.org, Plains Historical Preservation Trust, The Associated Press; The Brookings Institution; U.S. Navy; WhiteHouse.gov, Gallup
Hunter Sallis poured in 31 points and Wake Forest needed most of those in a 67-57 home victory against Detroit Mercy on Saturday at Winston-Salem, N.C. Davin Cosby had 11 points as the Demon Deacons (6-1) won their second straight since their only loss, which came a week earlier at Xavier. But it wasn't easy as the visiting Titans (3-3) were persistent as they trimmed a 19-point deficit to nine points with plenty of time remaining (5:54). Orlando Lovejoy led the Titans with 15 points and TJ Nadeau had 13 points and nine rebounds off the Detroit Mercy bench despite shooting 1-for-8 on 3-pointers. Jared Lary added 10 points. Wake Forest doubled up the Titans in 3-point production by making 10 compared to Detroit Mercy's five. But the Demon Deacons took more than half of their attempts (61) from beyond the 3-point arc (35). As a result, they were just 9-for-13 on free throws. The Titans also held a 48-31 advantage in rebounding. Some of that might have been attributed to the absence of Wake Forest center Efton Reid III, who has been dealing with migraines. Detroit Mercy trailed 36-23 at halftime, but Wake Forest couldn't put the Titans away. Sallis shot 12-for-18 from the field and made five 3-point shots. He ended up two points shy of his career-high mark. Sallis came through with clutch shots, including a 3-pointer to go up by 12 with 4:59 left. Cosby had three 3-pointers before hitting his lone 2-point basket with 3:33 left to push the lead back to 14. The Titans shot only 5-for-19 on 3-pointers and they checked in at 33.3 percent overall from the field. Detroit Mercy was charged with 14 turnovers compared to only five for Wake Forest. Detroit Mercy was coming off Wednesday night's victory at Ball State. That outcome marked the team's first true road triumph since February 2023, but the Titans couldn't duplicate it. --Field Level MediaBlack Friday will officially start later this week with the biggest bargains expected to begin on November 29. However, if you can't wait that long don't panic as there a swathe of UK retailers who have launched surprise early deals including Argos . The UK store had already slashed costs earlier this month but now they are reducing even more exciting tech such as consoles, fitness trackers, TVs and phones. If you haven't got the time or patience to be scrolling through endless offers, Express.co.uk has been online shopping to help you find the best and biggest discounts. Here is our pick of the top 10 surprise Argos early deals not to be missed. PlayStation 5 Slim NOW £399 - SAVE £60 GOOD DEAL: The PS5 continues to be one of the best consoles on the market and it's now even better thanks to the slimline model getting a massive price drop. It still features oodles of power and a 1TB hard drive but it's design makes it much smaller to pop by the side of your TV. SEE THE PS5 DEAL HERE Xbox One S NOW £199 - SAVE £50 GOOD DEAL: The Xbox One S is a brilliant entry-level console that offers plenty of oomph for the average gamer along with full access to Microsoft's Xbox Games Pass service. SEE THE XBOX DEAL HERE Apple iPhone 12 NOW £399 - SAVE £100 GOOD DEAL: The iPhone 12 might be four years old but this is still a solid smartphone that's half the price of buying the latest iPhone 16. You get a 6.1-inch screen, powerful A14 Bionic processor, dual-lens camera and wireless charging SEE THE iPHONE DEAL HERE Ring Doorbell NOW £64.99 - SAVE £55 GOOD DEAL: Now is a good time to join the revolution with these smart cameras now starting from just £64.99. They offer instant alerts on your phone, will record footage in full HD and you can even chat to whoever is on your drive even if you are on the other side of the world. SEE THE RING DEAL HERE Sonos Era NOW £199 - SAVE £50 GOOD DEAL: One of the best speakers you can buy is now more affordable. The Sonos Era 100 offers great sound, full Alexa support and can link with your other Sonos kit for a multi-room experience. SEE THE SONOS ERA DEAL HERE Fire TV Stick Lite NOW £21.99 - SAVE £12 GOOD DEAL: The Fire TV Stick Lite might not be the most powerful streaming device but it's certainly one of the cheapest. For under £22, you get a device that is powered by Alexa and offers access to all the most popular free and premium streaming services. SEE THE FIRE TV STICK DEAL HERE LG 43-inch HDR TV NOW £179 - 'LOWEST EVER PRICE' GOOD DEAL: If you want to spend even less on a solid TV then this is the deal for you. This LG smart TV is being sold at its lowest ever price according to Argos, with LG's built-in software letting you stream your favourite shows and apps without the need for a Fire TV Stick. Just bear in mind it's not a 4K telly. SEE THE LG TV DEAL HERE Meta Ray-Ban Wayfarer glasses NOW £229 - SAVE £80 GOOD DEAL: These very smart glasses not only let you snap movies and photos without reaching for your phone but also offer hands-free calls and messaging. They are made by Ray-Ban but are powered by the team behind Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. SEE THE RAY-BAN DEAL HERE Meta Ray-Ban Wayfarer glasses NOW £229 - SAVE £80 GOOD DEAL: These very smart glasses not only let you snap movies and photos without reaching for your phone but also offer hands-free calls and messaging. They are made by Ray-Ban but are powered by the team behind Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. SEE THE RAY-BAN DEAL HERE Samsung A25 NOW £179 - SAVE £70 GOOD DEAL: This Galaxy phone from Samsung features a triple-lens rear camera, 6.5-inch SUPER AMOLED screen and plenty of power. It won't beat the Galaxy S24 for performance but it's a cheap way of getting a Samsung phone in your pocket. SEE THE SAMSUNG DEAL HERE Of course, expect more Black Friday bargains in the run-up to the big day on November 29. It's also worth price checking before buying things online and make sure you really need what you are purchasing. Express.co.uk will be bringing you all the best and biggest deals over the coming days so watch this space. Of course, Argos is not the only firm offering early deals with Argos, Currys and John Lewis also dropping prices. There’s money off TVs, iPhones, and laptops, with some devices slashed in price by hundreds of pounds. See all the best deals below • BEST EARLY ARGOS BLACK FRIDAY DEALS • BEST EARLY CURRYS BLACK FRIDAY DEALS • BEST JOHN LEWIS BLACK FRIDAY DEALS • BEST EARLY AMAZON BLACK FRIDAY DEALS • BEST EARLY VERY BLACK FRIDAY DEALS
It feels like you can’t escape AI these days – in one form or another, the technology seems to have permeated most aspects of our lives. If nothing else, it has become the choice du jour of marketing tools for many brands. In the past decade movies like Her (2013) and Ex Machina (2014) have presented, perhaps, extreme visions of a world in which our existence is intertwined with that of non-sentient technologies made of zeroes and ones. But, the truth is, it’s nothing new: AI – or, artificial intelligence – has existed for decades and people have (perhaps unknowingly) used it some capacity almost daily. That sentence your phone finished typing for you? AI. The new show your TV suggested you’d like? AI. All those ads you see on your social media feed that feel strangely relevant to your interests? That’s AI, too. The difference, now, is that technology has advanced to a point where it is allowing brands to super-charge their AI-based products, resulting in popular applications, such as ChatGPT , to be adopted en masse and used by billions of people worldwide, and causing the average person to redefine their expectations of what’s actually possible with AI. All of this has happened in a relatively short space of time, too, the cumulative effect of which is the current cultural fervor around the topic. In October, Microsoft announced the latest version of Copilot , its generative artificial intelligence chatbot launched in 2023. And, earlier this year, the brand revealed the formation of a brand new division, Microsoft AI, which it announced it had hired the British AI-leader Mustafa Suleyman to run. Suleyman, an AI-industry-veteran, had previously co-founded both the artificial intelligence research laboratory DeepMind in 2010 (later selling it to Google in 2014) and the machine learning company, Inflection AI , more recently in 2022 – one that the WSJ valued at $4B USD last year. At 40, Suleyman – the son of a Syrian immigrant taxi driver and NHS nurse – holds the enviable title of EVP and CEO, Microsoft AI . Born in London and raised as a Muslim, Suleyman doesn’t fit the mold of a typical big-tech leader, so his appointment as head of AI at Microsoft – the Washington-based company founded by Bill Gates in 1975, which has been at the forefront of computing for decades – is at once both industrially and culturally significant. (Curiously, he shares a heritage similar to that of another half-Syrian tech leader ). Aided by technology, the world is changing faster than ever. “We’re living through a technological paradigm shift,” Suleyman says, and artificial intelligence is as much a tool as it is an an agent of change. Hypebeast caught up with the new CEO of AI to talk about the technology and its impact on people and culture. What were the first challenges you faced since starting your new role in March? The first thing that we had to do was rebuild the app. T he old version [of Copilot], frankly, was a bit slow, it was a bit ugly, it was kind of hard to read. And I believe that this [new version] is going to be something that a lot of younger will people love, because it is snappy, clean, modern, and it’s beautiful. And that, I think, is what people expect. If you’ve been a digital native, it’s bonkers to you that something would be buggy or brittle or slow. So that’s table stakes: Rebuild it from scratch, new aesthetic, much more humanist. We took out all those bright neons, the electric blues, the kind of old-school greys, and layered it with much softer human colors. Looking forward, we really want to turn this into a proper companion. It’s going to be a friend, it’ll get to know you over time. It’ll have perfect memory. It’ll be very reliable. At the moment there are still some hallucinations , but it’s going to feel much less so – almost to the point where it’s more accurate than a Google search result or a Bing search result, so that you can actually rely on it every day for giving you factual information. It has got access to real time information, so it gives you citations and references – so you can go and check the underlying source if you want to – and it knows what’s happened 15 minutes ago in on the web, like, if there’s a big news event, or if there’s a meme trending, or, you know something’s happened during the day, it’ll be able to talk to you about that. How are you going about attracting a younger audience? The first thing is quality. The product just has to be really high quality and smooth. The second thing is the aesthetic – it looks and feels just a little bit different to your traditional app, at least from a Microsoft perspective. It’s much softer and more calming, and the tone of the AI itself has got personality. It will make a little joke, it will be self deprecating, it will be... I wouldn’t say slang, but it’s not writing in formal adult English. It’s not just regurgitating the encyclopedia. It’s talking to you as I’m talking to you now, as a regular person on the street would. That tone is fresh and it’s different – and it’s how everyday people like to speak. So what I’m really crafting is the personality of the AI as well as the UI. The aesthetic has to look a certain way, but interacting with it has to feel a certain way as well. That’s the balance. It’s going to start living life alongside you. That’s what I’m building. A companion that will really see what you see and hear what you hear. AI has been a buzzword for a couple of years, but how much of the work we see today was actually done over many years previously? I co-founded DeepMind in 2010 and I started working on AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, almost 15 years ago. Then in 2014 we were acquired by Google and I led Applied AI at DeepMind, then AI at Google on the product side for many years. I’ve been working on this for a very long time – and I’ve seen these models get bigger, better and stronger. And, with each year, we’ve managed to put out a new model that is more accurate with less hallucinations, that has more capabilities. There’s been a very steady progression of improvement. And the next wave that is coming is that the AI models will be able to use websites on the front end. It’s going to be able to click around buttons, you know, buy things, book things. It’ll be able to enter things into your calendar. It’ll be able to browse your email, pick out the ones that are useful to you, send you a distilled summary of those emails, let you know that you gotta take an action off the back of it, like cancel your subscription, or remind you that your flight is at this time or that time and tell you that the traffic’s this or that and like. It’s going to start living life alongside you. That’s what I’m building. It’s a companion that will really see what you see and hear what you hear. A few weeks ago, we launched a feature called Copilot Vision , and Vision basically sees everything that you do in the browser. It basically looks at the images, the video, all the content that you’re looking at in real time and it understands it. So, you could say, “Do you think that rug will look good in my apartment?” Or ask it, “How will that poster look like?” You can actually talk about what you’re seeing [and] it is going to feel like you are browsing with a friend or a partner. Like you’re on one laptop, they’re on another, and you’re both looking for something together, talking about the same thing. That’s what a companion is going to feel like. Do you think the technology is taking anything away from our “humanity”? I think technology has made us more connected to each other than ever before. W hat happens is culture gets changed by technology, then we collectively decide whether it feels good or we don’t like it and we evolve. Or we resist and change it. So, there’s this dynamic interaction where we shape technologies that shape our culture, which we then shape. T hat’s going to happen again with the creation of AI companions. We’re all going to have a conversational AI assistant that we live with, that supports us, that we learn from, and that’s... that is a profound shift. So, to come back to your question about what it means for culture? What does it mean for people? It’s going to be a profound transformation. I think it’s going to be incredible, like everyone is going to have a super intelligent teacher, doctor, lawyer, therapist, friend, entertainer, scheduler in their pocket. All those tasks are going to become available to everybody, and that just leaves us with human ingenuity to take advantage of all of those things and create new things, you know? My dad drove a taxi and worked in a sandwich shop for 30 years. My mom was a nurse. There’s just no way, if I’d grown up in the 70s, that I would have had a chance of doing this kind of thing. AI is a relatively young industry and it is still being shaped in many ways. What are you doing to ensure there’s a wide representation of people working on the creation of AI within your organization? As far back as 2015 I started hiring machine learning researchers and engineers – specifically from women’s recruiting conferences like Women in Machine Learning or the Grace Hopper conference . We were the first to to attend that – even before Google. We actually got Google to go to it. It has always been central to my belief and everything that I’ve done, even before getting into technology, [to be] about community organizing and activism. I cared a lot about representation, and still do, so I’ve made it a priority personally to make sure that my teams are as diverse as they can be, that our hiring pipelines are diverse, and that we have broad representation because it makes us smarter and makes us better at our jobs and it makes our products richer. My own presence right here [as CEO of Microsoft AI], doing what I’m doing, is a sign of the times changing a little bit, given my background and how I grew up. I think things are changing – slowly, but surely. I think the good news is that these [AI] tools are going to be widely available at basically zero marginal cost – they’re basically going to be free. Everyone is going to be able to access them. There’s not really going to be an equality of access issue, [but] there’s still going to be an education issue – like knowing how to access and how to take advantage is still a structural privilege that comes from having a calm and supportive family, and having a good education. More than any decade in human history, the gap is narrower. I never would have been able to do what I’m doing today in 1970 – that’s a crazy thought. My dad drove a taxi and worked in a sandwich shop for 30 years. My mom was a nurse. There’s just no way, if I’d grown up in the 70s, that I would have had a chance of doing this kind of thing. Is there something that has surprised you in your career journey with AI? Not to be like difficult about the question, but surprise is a function of your expectation. I haven’t really been surprised. I think it’s been quite predictable partly because I’ve been working on it 15 years, but there’s also a steady march where if you add more compute and more data, tune the algorithms, and focus on what you’re trying to build, you do get there. I think the thing that has definitely surprised me is how quickly people have tried out chat bots and how quickly they’ve become second nature to people. I mean, [it is] the fastest spreading technology in history! We went from zero understanding or access or use, to a billion users in 18 months. No other technology, no matter how useful – not TV or the car or the spread of electricity, even the rise of mobile phones – has spread that quickly in such a short space of time. And people are hungry for more! The crazy thing is, people are like, “it’s not good enough” or “I want this fixed, I want to have real time information” or “why can’t it do generation of video?” And you’re just like, “Dude!” [laughs]. It is already insane. And people are just demanding more and more and more, and that’s kind of amazing. The “Godfather of AI”, Geoffrey Hinton, thinks AI will “take over” within 20 years. Is this something you ever think about? To honest with you, it’s something that I’ve thought about pretty much constantly since 2010. I care very deeply about [AI], so my job is to take that question seriously – even though it sounds wacky. I don’t think we’re on that path in the next 10 years, but I can’t rule out that happening before 2100, you know. I think the problem is most people just don’t think about the far future. Geoffrey Hinton gave that interview after winning the Nobel Prize for his work in AI, and he’s someone who spends his whole life thinking about the long term future. And I’m also one of those people who really thinks decades ahead, so it’s second nature to think about those things. Are we evolving? It’s a good question... it is a good question. I mean, we’ve been evolving for tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years – or millions of years, if you consider where we really came from. I don’t know. The difference is that we have the intelligence and the self control to steer evolution this time. Evolution has never been steered before.