Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 19 december 2019
Finland offers crash course in artificial intelligence to EU

By JARI TANNER the continent faces fierce
Associated Press AI competition from digital
HELSINKI (AP) — Finland is giants like China and the
offering a techy Christmas United States.
gift to all European Union The initiative is paid for by
citizens — a free-of-charge the Finnish ministry for eco-
online course in artificial in- nomic affairs and employ-
telligence in their own lan- ment, and officials said the
guage, officials said Tues- course is meant for all EU
day. citizens whatever their age,
The tech-savvy Nordic na- education or profession.
tion, led by the 34-year-old Since its launch in Finland
Prime Minister Sanna Marin, in 2018 "The Elements of AI"
is marking the end of its ro- has been phenomenally
tating presidency of the EU successful — the most pop-
at the end of the year with ular course ever offered by
a highly ambitious goal. the University of Helsinki,
Instead of handing out the which traces its roots back
usual ties and scarves to to 1640 — with more than
EU officials and journalists, 220,000 students from over
the Finnish government 110 countries having taken
has opted to give practi- it so far online, Roos said.
cal understanding of AI to Social democrats minister Sanna Marin speaks to the media after she was elected as Prime A quarter of those en-
1% of EU citizens, or about Minister of Finland, in Helsinki, Finland, on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. rolled so far are aged 45
5 million people, through a Associated Press and over, and some 40%
basic online course by the are women. The share
end of 2021. University of Helsinki, Fin- academic institution, and consultancy Reaktor. of women is nearly 60%
It is teaming up with the land's largest and oldest the Finland-based tech Teemu Roos, a University of among Finnish participants
Helsinki associate professor - a remarkable figure in the
UK watchdog set to challenge in the department of com- male-dominated technol-
puter science, described ogy domain.
Google, Facebook ad dominance the nearly $2 million project Together with Reaktor and
as "a civics course in AI" to local EU partners, the uni-
help EU citizens cope with versity is set to translate it to
Google and Facebook society's ever-increasing the remaining 20 of the EU's
could mean people are digitalization and the pos- official languages in the
already missing out on the sibilities AI offers in the jobs next two years.
next great new idea from market. Megan Schaible, COO of
a potential rival." Lack of The course covers elemen- Reaktor Education, said
proper choice for con- tary AI concepts in a prac- during the project's presen-
sumers and higher prices tical way and doesn't go tation in Brussels last week
for advertises could mean into deeper concepts like that the company decid-
higher costs for flights, coding, he said. ed to join forces with the
electronics, insurance "We have enormous po- Finnish university "to prove
and other online purchas- tential in Europe but what that AI should not be left
es, it said. we lack is investments into in the hands of a few elite
"Most of us visit social me-
dia sites and search on AI," Roos said, adding that coders." q
the internet every day,
This Oct. 23, 2019, file photo shows Facebook CEO Mark Lawsuit: Apple, Microsoft
Zuckerberg testifying before a House Financial Services but how these firms work
Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. can be a mystery," the profit from child cobalt miners
Associated Press authority's Chief Executive
Andrea Coscelli said.
By KELVIN CHAN for the people and busi- "Digital advertising fuels By ASHRAF KHALIL lithium batteries that fuel
Associated Press
AP Business Writer nesses that use them. big businesses like Google many electronic devices.
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Google's 6 billion pounds and Facebook and we WASHINGTON (AP) — A The rise of smartphones in
competition watchdog in search advertising rev- have been building a pic- new lawsuit accuses sev- the past 20 years has cre-
on Wednesday signaled enue last year accounted ture of how this complex eral of the world's largest ated a large demand for
its willingness to push for for more than 90% of the new market works," he technology firms of know- the metal, and the grow-
stricter rules to counter U.K. total, while Face- added. Coscelli said the ingly profiting from children ing popularity of electric
Google and Facebook 's book's 2 billion pounds in authority looked at how laboring under brutal con- cars is expected to further
dominance of online ad- display ad revenue was the big tech platforms ditions in African cobalt increase demand.
vertising. The Competi- equivalent to almost half collect and use personal mines. The lawsuit claims the com-
tion and Markets Author- the U.K. total. data, which lets Google The suit, filed this week in panies are "aiding and
ity said in an interim report Big doesn't necessarily and Facebook more ef- Washington by the non- abetting the cruel and bru-
it's concerned that the mean bad and the two fectively target ads than governmental organization tal use of young children" in
U.S. tech giants have be- companies provide inno- their rivals. They looked at International Rights Advo- cobalt mines in the Demo-
come "entrenched" play- vative and valuable prod- how the companies mon- cates, seeks damages from cratic Republic of Congo.
ers in the U.K.'s 13 billion ucts and services, the au- etized this data, and what Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Tesla The suit is filed on behalf of
pound ($17 billion) digital thority added. it means for rivals as well and Alphabet, the parent 13 anonymous plaintiffs, all
advertising market, with However, it said a "lack as people and businesses company of Google. families with children who
died or suffered serious in-
Cobalt is an essential ele-
"negative consequences" of real competition to that use their services. q
ment in the rechargeable jury while mining cobalt. q