Arvind's Newsletter

1.Indian real GDP grew 7.8% in April-June quarter; lower than RBI's estimates of 8%, while India's eight core sectors posted a growth of 8.0 percent in July vs 8.2% in June.

Meanwhile,India is forecast to clock GDP growth of 6.5% in FY23-24 despite rainfall deficit, according to Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran.

2.All you need to know about OCCRP, the entity behind report claiming Adani associates of trading public shares, according to Mint

The latest report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) against Adani Group has erupted a new political and economic storm in India. The fresh allegations have been refuted by Adani group, but who is OCCRP?

The OCCRP, which is claimed of belonging to a section of the foreign media, is an organisation which is formed by 24 non-profit investigative centres. It is spread across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The organisation was founded by Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu. Its board of directors include Marina Gorbis, David Boardman, Anders Alexanderson, Sue Gardner, Sanita Jemberga, Tifani Roberts, Drew Sullivan, and Paul Radu. The entity was also involved in the coverage of Pegasus spyware as well as Panama Papers leak.

The organisation receives monetary support from organisations like The Bay and Paul Foundations, Dutch Postcode Lottery, European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights,Ford Foundation, Fritt Ord Foundation, German Marshall Fund, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, National Endowment for Democracy, Oak Foundation, Open Society Foundations (George Soros), Puech Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Skoll Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of State, etc.

3.Chinese ChatGPT alternatives just got approved for the general public, reported MIT Technology Review

Baidu, one of China’s leading artificial-intelligence companies, has announced it’s opening up access to its ChatGPT-like large language model, Ernie Bot, to the general public.

Launched in mid-March, Ernie Bot was the first Chinese ChatGPT rival. Since then, many Chinese tech companies, including Alibaba and ByteDance, have followed suit and released their own models. Yet all of them force users to sit on waitlists or go through approval systems, making the products mostly inaccessible for ordinary users.

On August 30, Baidu posted on social media that it will also release a batch of new AI applications within the Ernie Bot as the company rolls out open registration today. But even with the new access, it’s unclear how many people will use the products. Read the full story

In a separate news item in the Financial Times, UAE launches Arabic large language model in Gulf push into generative AI.

An artificial intelligence group with links to Abu Dhabi’s ruling family has launched what it described as the world’s highest-quality Arabic AI software, as the United Arab Emirates pushes ahead with efforts to lead the Gulf’s adoption of generative AI.

The large language model known as Jais is an open-source, bilingual model available for use by the world’s 400mn-plus Arabic speakers, built on a trove of Arabic and English-language data. The model, unveiled on Wednesday, is a collaboration between G42, an AI company chaired by the UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan; Abu Dhabi’s Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI); and Cerebras, an AI company based in California.

4.Recovering from sleep deprivation takes far longer than you think

All of us suffer from sleep deprivation sometime or the other.Research suggests that the only way to recover completely is to get the amount of sleep you need for an extended period of time. Relieving short-term sleep deprivation might take days or even a week. For chronic sleep deprivation, full recovery may take weeks or months.

Sleep researchers sometimes call this process “repaying” one’s “sleep debt.” For example, if a person who needs eight hours of rest per night only gets five hours on a particular night, it will take six days of 8.5 hours of sleep to “repay” those three lost hours. Read on.

5.How the conflict in Ukraine is shaping the future of war.Drones, satellite communication and AI technology is becoming increasingly important.

On august 30th Ukraine launched its biggest drone assault on Russia yet, attacking six regions. Drone attacks targeted multiple regions deep inside Russia. Four Ilyushin Il-76 military transport planes were damaged at an airport in Russia’s northwestern Pskov region, state-controlled media said. Russian air defenses claimed they shot down drones in five other regions including near Moscow, as well as in Sevastopol in occupied Crimea. The strikes came as the Ukrainian military cites progress in a grinding three-month counteroffensive to reclaim territory and steps up attacks far behind the front lines, including deploying sea drones against Russian ships in the Black Sea. Last week it also staged a special-forces raid in Crimea. At the same time, however, Kyiv has seen its heaviest air assault since the spring. But another weapon from the US may change that equation reports Bloomberg.

Ukraine has pioneered the extensive use of drones in warfare, developing new types and strategies for deploying them. Drones are a new consumable of war like ammunition. Every month Ukraine uses 1000 UAVs (drones) in its war with Russia. They will shape how future wars are fought. Listen to this interesting video from the Economist.