Howdy,
An AI apocalypse is within the making.
In response to Prof Geoffrey Hinton, who this 12 months was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work in AI, there’s a ten%-20% likelihood of AI resulting in human extinction inside the subsequent three a long time.
Usually touted as a “godfather” of AI, the British-Canadian laptop scientist shortened the percentages of AI wiping out humanity, warning the tempo of change within the know-how is “a lot quicker” than anticipated.
Nonetheless, the developments proceed.
After specializing in renewable vitality for years, main tech corporations, together with Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta, are turning to nuclear energy for its means to supply large vitality extra effectively and sustainably to maintain up with the vitality calls for of their information centres and AI fashions.
Do you know?: Knowledge centres powering AI and cloud computing may quickly develop so massive that they may use extra electrical energy than whole cities!
Amidst this rising AI competitors, Sundar Pichai has a message for his staff: Stakes are excessive in 2025! Right here’s all that he mentioned.
ICYMI: The worldwide financial system outlook for 2025 in charts.
Lastly, Squid Recreation 2 is out on Netflix, and it opened to combined evaluations. With Season 3 popping out subsequent 12 months, right here’s what critics needed to say!
In at present’s e-newsletter, we are going to speak about
A 12 months of reckoning for fintechsCultural occasions of 2025Inside Manam Theatre Competition
Right here’s your trivia for at present: How a lot confetti drops in Occasions Sq. on New Yr’s Eve?
Yearender
A 12 months of reckoning for fintechs
The Indian fintech area has grown into one of many world’s largest ecosystems, bringing quite a few improvements which have made funds and monetary providers accessible to thousands and thousands. Nonetheless, these developments include appreciable challenges.
The RBI’s supervisory returns reveal a staggering 29,082 situations of credit score/debit card and internet-based fraud in FY23-24—an alarming 334% enhance in comparison with the earlier fiscal 12 months, which reported 6,699 such situations. Measures to handle these points are a piece in progress.
Measured method:
In January, Paytm Funds Financial institution confronted vital regulatory motion when it was barred from onboarding new prospects and compelled to halt all banking providers on account of non-compliance with KYC norms. Paytm’s inventory plummeted instantly and bottomed out at almost Rs 317 per share over the next months.The RBI revised its framework for NBFCs facilitating peer-to-peer lending to curb malpractice and improve transparency within the sector. The up to date rules prohibit NBFC-P2Ps from assuming any credit score danger, both immediately or not directly.In October, the RBI took motion in opposition to DMI Finance and Navi Finserv on account of issues over their pricing insurance policies. Sources point out that Navi’s rates of interest, which had been as excessive as 35%, had been a key level of rivalry.
Yearender
Cultural occasions of 2025
Whereas spiritual festivals function a window to many Indian communities, they barely scratch the floor of what lies beneath. A slew of artwork and cultural immersions supply a sneak peek into the area’s artwork and craft, music, dance, and delicacies.
Questioning the place to move in 2025? Bookmark these cultural festivals throughout India. From Gujarat’s Rann Utsav to Shillong’s Cherry Blossom Competition, and every part in between—a world awaits you!
Key gateways:
Kala Ghoda Arts Competition has turn out to be a preferred open-air artwork gallery to highlight avenue artwork, installations, theatre, and concert events. From heritage walks in south Mumbai to literature occasions within the iconic David Sassoon Library, moreover meals walks and stalls, there’s a lot to discover at Kala Ghoda. Rajasthan’s theatrics get amplified in the course of the Maru Mahotsav, a three-day cultural pageant held in February. Situated within the Sam Sand Dunes, 42 km from Jaisalmer, the occasion is a primer to the state’s distinctive tradition. The Chandrabhaga seaside, in shut proximity to the traditional solar temple of Konark, transforms right into a playground each December for artists internationally to showcase their creativity utilizing sand as a medium. That is what the Worldwide Sand Artwork Competition is all about.
Artwork and Tradition
Inside Manam Theatre Competition
Manam Theatre Competition 2024
An exploration of id throughout totally different segments of society marked the second version of the month-long Manam Theatre Competition in Hyderabad. By solo performances, mythology performs, and kids’s theatre, the pageant explored the central theme of id, based mostly on gender, sexuality, age, conventions, and social milieu.
The choice of performs had one thing for everybody, together with a particular part for youngsters.
Within the limelight:
There have been performances by 5 theatre teams, together with a collaboration with the Hyderabad Youngsters’s Theatre Competition for a week-long efficiency for the youthful viewers. Youngsters’s theatre comprised two performs by the Gillo Repertory Theatre–Mister Jeejeebhoy and the Birds and The Ghost of the Mountains (a narrative from Ladakh). These had been preceded by a workshop by Shaili Sathyu, Barkha Fatnani, and Purva Pathak of Gillo Repertory Theatre on ‘making theatre for youngsters’. The pageant additionally offered He, a movement-based play by El-Salvadorian playwright Rodrigo Calderon, which explored themes of homosexuality, nostalgia and strife.
Information & updates
Licence: The US FAA issued a business area launch license for Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch. Jeff Bezos’ rocket firm entered a extremely aggressive space it has lengthy sought to affix, because the US Division of Protection picked it, together with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boeing-Lockheed JV United Launch Alliance.Halt: US President-elect Donald Trump urged the US Supreme Courtroom to pause implementation of a legislation that will ban widespread social media app TikTok or pressure its sale, arguing he ought to have time after taking workplace to pursue a “political decision” to the difficulty.Obituary: Osamu Suzuki, an ingenious penny pincher who led Japan’s Suzuki Motor for greater than 4 a long time and performed a key position in turning India right into a flourishing auto market, has died aged 94. He died on December 25 of lymphoma, mentioned the corporate, which he steered ambitiously, throughout his time as both chief government or chairman, out of its major market of minivehicles.
How a lot confetti drops in Occasions Sq. on New Yr’s Eve?
Reply: Over 1 tonne.
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