TECH ROUNDUP: Payday Halts Mastercard Withdrawals

• Payday said it currently no longer supports withdrawals from its Mastercard

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• Microsoft says that its AI is showing signs of human reasoning

• AI startup, Hippocratic AI has raised million

• Bayobab said it will build a fibre optic network across 10 African countries

Payday sent out a memo to customers telling them that withdrawals from its Mastercard is not only not currently functional but outrightly not supported. It told them to only fund as much as they need for their transactions and not consider withdrawals back to their wallets.

Bayobab, a subsidiary of MTN Group, has announced a collaboration with Africa50 collaboration to build a terrestrial fibre optic cable network that would run across Africa. Called Project East2West and riding on a $320 million investment, the project aims to connect the eastern and western shores of Africa across 10 countries. Project East2West which is scheduled for completion in 2025, aligns with MTN’s Ambition 2025 plans. This investment will contribute to Bayobab’s goal of achieving 135,000km of proprietary fibre within the next three years.

Also Read: TECH ROUNDUP: CBN Launches SabiMONI

Airtel says that the 13.6 million lines barred from its voice services last year has cost it $110 million in annual revenue after it reported a 5% drop in profits.

FCMB Group Plc says that 12.0% of FCMB Group’s gross earnings in Q1 2023, about 10 billion naira came from its digital banking initiatives, including its digital lending solutions. “We continue to leverage our unique group structure to build a technology-driven ecosystem. This strategy enables us to deliver robust performance despite the challenging domestic and global environment,” CEO Ladi Balogun said.

POLITICS

Segun Cole, founder of Fund the Gap Alliance, has called for the president-elect to establish a Ministry of Startups. “Such a ministry would serve as a dedicated point of contact for startups. This would signal the government’s commitment to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria and help attract even more investment and talent to the sector,” he said.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has launched NigComHealth, a virtual health platform. Users can book appointments, receive medical advice and consult with physicians.

SOCIAL MEDIA 

Microsoft says that its AI is showing signs of human reasoning. “I started off being very skeptical — and that evolved into a sense of frustration, annoyance, maybe even fear. You think: Where the heck is this coming from?” Peter Lee, who leads research at Microsoft, said.

Google said that it plans to delete accounts that have remained inactive for two years. The decision is part of the internet giant’s ongoing efforts to strengthen security measures for its vast user base, the company said.

Twitter Inc. and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were sued by the sister of an activist who disappeared in 2018, alleging the social media network allowed the kingdom to target dissidents including her brother by allowing access to the company’s confidential data.

Apple said its App Store prevented over $2 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions last year. The company says it rejected nearly 1.7 million app submissions in 2022 for failing to meet the App Store’s standards for privacy and security.

WORLD 

Hippocratic AI, a startup with a generative AI tool that hopes to lower medical costs and make health care more accessible has received a $50 million investment co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst.

OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman defended the adoption and research into artificial intelligenece during his first day of US Senate hearings. “We believe that the benefits of the tools we have deployed so far vastly outweigh the risks, but ensuring their safety is vital to our work,” he said.

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella said it is “factually not correct” to claim that Microsoft controls its partner OpenAI, in a thinly veilled rebuke of Elon Musk’s April accertion that it did. “OpenAI is very grounded in their mission of being controlled by a nonprofit board. We have a noncontrolling interest in it, we have a great commercial partnership in it,” he said.

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