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Tag: IBM

  • Tech Industry Hit By Mass Layoffs: Intel, Cisco, IBM, And Apple Cut Over 27,000 Jobs | Economy News

    Tech companies in August 2024 continued their wave of job cuts with over 27,000 employees from more than 40 companies. This includes major names like Intel, IBM and Cisco facing layoffs. This adds to the growing total of the year with over 136,000 tech workers laid off by 422 companies so far. Here’s a closer look at the major tech layoffs that took place in August.

    1. Intel: Intel is set to lay off 15,000 employees, accounting for over 15 per cent of its workforce as part of a 10 billion dollars cost-cutting plan for 2025. The decision comes after a disappointing second-quarter earnings report. Between 2020 and 2023, Intel’s annual revenue dropped by 24 billion dollars. CEO Pat Gelsinger said, “Intel’s revenue growth shortfall is attributed to high costs and low margins, despite our leadership in the CPU chip revolution 25 years ago.”

    2. Cisco Systems: Cisco Systems is cutting around 6,000 jobs, about 7 per cent of its global workforce as the company refocuses on AI and cybersecurity. This marks the second major round of layoffs for Cisco this year. This marks the company’s second significant round of layoffs this year, with CEO Chuck Robbins commenting that, “Cisco is optimistic about rebounding demand for our networking equipment.”

    3. IBM: IBM has decided to close its research and development operations in China which resulted in over 1,000 layoffs. The company stated that it will now focus on serving private enterprises and select multinational companies within the Chinese market.

    4. Infineon: German chipmaker has announced the layoff of 1,400 employees and plans to relocate another 1,400 jobs to countries with lower labor costs. CEO Jochen Hanebeck explained the move, stating, “The slow recovery in target markets is due to prolonged weak economic momentum and excess inventory levels.”

    5. GoPro: The action camera manufacturer is laying off approximately 140 employees, or 15 per cent of its workforce, as part of an effort to reduce operating costs by 50 million dollars.

    6. Apple: Apple has laid off around 100 employees from its services group which includes teams from the Apple Books app and Apple Bookstore. Earlier this year, the company cut 600 jobs from its Special Projects Group and closed a 121-person AI team in San Diego in January.

    7. Dell Technologies: It has been reported that the company may have laid off around 12,500 employees which accounts for 10 per cent of its global workforce. However, the company has not yet confirmed these layoffs.

  • Wimbledon: IBM And The All England Lawn Tennis Club Launch New Generative AI Feature To Enhance Fans Experience |

    New Delhi: IBM and The All England Lawn Tennis Club today announced a new feature for the Wimbledon digital experience that will leverage match data with generative AI from IBM’s AI and data platform, watsonx, to keep fans updated on the world’s leading players as they advance through The Championships.

    The new ‘Catch Me Up’ feature displays pre- and post-match player cards with AI-generated player stories and analysis via wimbledon.com and the Wimbledon 2024 App. Player cards will be personalised based on user preferences and data such as their location and myWimbledon profile, starting with their favourite players. Pre-match content will include analysis of recent performance and likelihood-to-win predictions, and post-match content will include key statistics and highlights. The feature will also create longer-form daily summaries of play.

    New GenAI Feature:

    ‘Catch Me Up’ was built using IBM’s Granite large language model (LLM) to provide AI-generated text using the capabilities of the watsonx platform. The model has been trained at the Wimbledon editorial style and will be monitored by the All England Club. The new feature is designed to help Wimbledon scale its content to both new and existing tennis fans globally, as well as provide fans access to timelier, curated coverage across ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches, which are often happening simultaneously.

    This year, Wimbledon will also use generative AI to provide coverage of a broader range of matches than was previously available, including wheelchair events, to offer more to Wimbledon’s diverse international audience. This will form part of a redesigned digital match center, known as IBM Slamtracker, available on the Wimbledon App and wimbledon.com. Using generative AI built from watsonx, IBM Slamtracker has been enhanced to provide bullet-point-based match previews and post-match reviews for ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches.

    Majority Of Tennis Fans Surveyed Positive About AI

    The announcement comes as new research from IBM and Morning Consult reveals that 55% of global tennis fans surveyed think AI will have a positive impact on sports. When considering how generative AI could improve their experience, these respondents prioritized real-time updates (36%), personalized content (31%), and unique insights (30%).

    Approximately one-third (31%) of global tennis fans surveyed use multiple devices while watching sporting events, primarily to get more information, watch multiple matches at the same time, and interact with other fans. In addition, nearly half (47%) of them engage with additional content on tennis daily or weekly and rank summarization and personalization as the two most important features of sports content.

    The Championships, Wimbledon will run from July 1-14, 2024. To see the technology in action, visit wimbledon.com or download the Wimbledon App on your mobile device, available on the App Store and Google Play Store.