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e-sports example Last holiday for Biden White House celebrates 'a season of peace and light'Stock market today: Nvidia drags Wall Street from its records as oil and gold riseBack 2 Back from Two Frogs Games has an ambitious selling point Fancy playing couch co-op on your phone? How does Back 2 Back pull it off, and can it be successful? Couch co-op nowadays seems like one of those relics of the distant past. What with being able to from virtually anywhere, it feels like the days of sitting in front of a split screen playing a shoot 'em up, or duking it out in a fighting game, are long behind us; but Two Frogs Games seems to disagree. They reached out to us with ambitious news, that they've produced what they call a couch co-op, two-player mobile game in the form of Back 2 Back. Billed as perfectly suited for fans of co-op efforts like It Takes Two or Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, it sees both players taking on differing roles they need to switch between. While one player is responsible for driving, the other takes on the job of shooting as you guide a vehicle of your choice through a dense obstacle course of cliffsides, lava and worse. M,eanwhile your co-op co-pilot has to fend off enemies trying to upset your ride. Now, my first thought upon seeing Back 2 Back was probably what you're also thinking right now. This is nice but- can it actually work? After all, a mobile phone's biggest selling point, portability, is also its biggest drawback as the smaller screen is already problematic for a single player, let alone two. Well, fortunately, Two Frogs Games have you covered, sort of. It's a little confusing as to how Back 2 Back actually works, but from what I understand both players use their own phone to control a shared session. It's not the most elegant solution, but it works. I'm optimistic about Back 2 Back's chances, if there's anything has taught me it's that the fun of playing with friends in the same room has never gone away.

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A former operating room director at Tri-City Medical Center was sentenced Monday to four years in state prison on burglary and sex crime-related charges, convicted of going to a staffer’s home intending to drug her with a surgical anesthetic and then sexually assault her. Gary Johnson, 63, was convicted by a Vista Superior Court jury in August on charges of residential burglary and attempted sexual assault of an unconscious person. The verdict followed about a day of deliberations. Judge Kelly Mok cited the “shocking and extremely serious set of facts” in sentencing Johnson, who must also register as a sex offender. On April 14, Johnson showed up at the woman’s Oceanside apartment carrying a condom, a key to her front door, a rag and a bottle of a general anesthetic used in surgeries, according to authorities and testimony. About 3 a.m., as the woman and her boyfriend watched television in the living room of her apartment, their attention was drawn to her patio. Her boyfriend opened the drapes and found a hooded man in dark clothes wearing gloves and a mask. As the intruder ran, he threw aside a bottle of anesthesia typically used before and during surgery. The boyfriend tackled him and police arrested him. Before Mok handed down the sentence, the victim, identified in court as Jane Doe, made a tearful statement, speaking of the “depth of pain, suffering and consequences” she has suffered. She said she has been “crippled with fear” and no longer feels safe living alone. The incident, she said, “stole a sense of normalcy in my life.” “He is truly the worst type of bad guy. He is truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” the victim said in court. Johnson was not her direct supervisor but was higher than her in the hospital hierarchy. The woman has previously testified that in the months leading up to the incident, Johnson had given her pricey gifts, sent her flowers and helped her with groceries. She said that he professed love, but she made it clear they were only friends. Deputy District Attorney Claudia Plascencia said the woman made her boundaries clear in text exchanges with Johnson. Plascencia has also said there was evidence that the anesthesia had been taken from Tri-City. In a lengthy statement Monday, Johnson said he is “deeply sorry,” and that when he pictures himself on the patio that night, he is ashamed and embarrassed. Related Articles Courts | San Diego federal court was ground zero for hashing out Trump’s border policies. A repeat is likely. Courts | San Diego federal judge nominee now a political pawn in run-up to Trump inauguration Courts | Former San Diego federal judge who later mediated Enron settlement dies at 89 Courts | Champion-Cain pushes for early release, citing ‘horrific’ sexual abuse while in prison Courts | April trial set for former National City teacher accused of sex crimes with 2 students “I can neither explain nor justify my actions,” Johnson said, adding he had been “convinced it was OK to put my ill-fated plan into action. I ignored all the alarm bells.” He also apologized to his wife and family, as well as to the Tri-City organization, and said trust was “exponentially ruined when I put my ridiculous plan into action.” Mok cited serious mitigating and aggravating factors as she laid out the sentence for Johnson. She noted that he has no criminal history, suffered abuse as a child and that evaluations found him to be at low risk of committing new crimes. But the judge also weighed “protecting society and punishing the defendant.” The judge noted the thousands of text messages between the defendant and victim in the weeks and months before the incident.

Win Bledisloe every two years: Rugby Australia sets out bold five-year goalsMETRO CHICAGO, Ill. , Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Calamos Investments ®* has announced monthly distributions and sources of distributions paid in December 2024 to shareholders of its seven closed-end funds (the Funds) pursuant to the Funds' respective distribution plans. Fund Distribution Payable date Record date Ex-dividend date CHI (inception 06/26/2002) Calamos Convertible Opportunities and Income Fund $0.0950 12/19/24 12/13/24 12/13/24 CHY (inception 05/28/2003) Calamos Convertible and High Income $0.1000 12/19/24 12/13/24 12/13/24 Fund CSQ (inception 03/26/2004) Calamos Strategic Total Return Fund $0.1025 12/19/24 12/13/24 12/13/24 CGO (inception 10/27/2005) Calamos Global Total Return Fund $0.0800 12/19/24 12/13/24 12/13/24 CHW (inception 06/27/2007) Calamos Global Dynamic Income Fund $0.0500 12/19/24 12/13/24 12/13/24 CCD (inception 03/27/2015) Calamos Dynamic Convertible and $0.1950 12/19/24 12/13/24 12/13/24 Income Fund CPZ (inception 11/29/2019) Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust $0.1400 12/19/24 12/13/24 12/13/24 The following table provides estimates of Calamos Global Total Return Fund's and Calamos Global Dynamic Income Fund's distribution sources, reflecting YTD cumulative experience. The Funds attribute these estimates equally to each regular distribution throughout the year. Distribution Components for December 2024's Payable Date CGO CHW Ordinary Income $0.0000 $0.0000 Short-Term Capital Gains $0.0800 $0.0500 Long-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 $0.0000 Return of Capital $0.0000 $0.0000 Total Distribution (Level Rate) $0.0800 $0.0500 2025 Fiscal YTD Data CGO CHW Ordinary Income $0.0000 $0.0000 Short-Term Capital Gains $0.1600 $0.1000 Long-Term Capital Gains $0.0000 $0.0000 Return of Capital $0.0000 $0.0000 Total Fiscal YTD Distribution (Level Rate) $0.1600 $0.1000 Regarding Calamos' remaining five closed-end funds, which operate under a managed distribution policy: The information below is required by an exemptive order granted to the Funds by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and includes the information sent to shareholders regarding the sources of the Funds' distributions. The following table sets forth the estimated amount of the sources of distribution for purposes of Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and the related rules adopted thereunder. The Funds estimate the following percentages, of their respective total distribution amount per common share, attributable to (i) current and prior fiscal year net investment income, (ii) net realized short-term capital gain, (iii) net realized long- term capital gain and (iv) return of capital or other capital source as a percentage of the total distribution amount. These percentages are disclosed for the current distribution as well as the fiscal YTD cumulative distribution amount per common share for the Funds. The following table provides estimates of each Fund's distribution sources, reflecting YTD cumulative experience. The Funds attribute these estimates equally to each regular distribution throughout the year. Estimated Per Share Sources of Distribution Estimated Percentage of Distribution Per Share Net Short-Term Long-Term Return of Net Short-Term Long-Term Return of Fund Distribution Income Gains Gains Capital Income Gains Gains Capital CHI Current Month 0.0950 - - - 0.0950 0.0 % 0.0 % 0.0 % 100.0 % Fiscal YTD 0.1900 - 0.0950 - 0.0950 0.0 % 50.0 % 0.0 % 50.0 % Net Asset Value 10.52 CHY Current Month 0.1000 - - - 0.1000 0.0 % 0.0 % 0.0 % 100.0 % Fiscal YTD 0.2000 - 0.1000 - 0.1000 0.0 % 50.0 % 0.0 % 50.0 % Net Asset Value 11.13 CSQ Current Month 0.1025 - - - 0.1025 0.0 % 0.0 % 0.0 % 100.0 % Fiscal YTD 0.2050 - 0.1025 - 0.1025 0.0 % 50.0 % 0.0 % 50.0 % Net Asset Value 18.61 CCD Current Month 0.1950 - - - 0.1950 0.0 % 0.0 % 0.0 % 100.0 % Fiscal YTD 0.3900 - 0.1950 - 0.1950 0.0 % 50.0 % 0.0 % 50.0 % Net Asset Value 20.33 CPZ Current Month 0.1400 - 0.1400 - - 0.0 % 100.0 % 0.0 % 0.0 % Fiscal YTD 0.2800 0.0918 0.1882 - - 32.8 % 67.2 % 0.0 % 0.0 % Net Asset Value 17.43 Note: NAV returns are as of November 30, 2024 and Distribution Returns include the distribution announced today. You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's plan. If the Fund(s) estimate(s) that it has distributed more than its income and capital gains, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with 'yield' or 'income'. The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this 19(a) notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for accounting and tax purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099 DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes. Return figures provided below are based on the change in the Fund's Net Asset Value per share ("NAV"), compared to the annualized distribution rate for this current distribution as a percentage of the NAV on the last day of the month prior to distribution record date. Annualized Fund 5-Year Fiscal YTD Fiscal YTD Fiscal YTD NAV Return (1) NAV Dist Rate NAV Return NAV Dist Rate CHI 9.38 % 10.84 % 5.65 % 1.81 % CHY 9.60 % 10.78 % 5.61 % 1.80 % CSQ 15.88 % 6.61 % 6.64 % 1.10 % CCD 10.29 % 11.51 % 6.61 % 1.92 % CPZ 6.76 % 9.64 % 0.32 % 1.61 % (1) Since inception for CPZ Note: NAV returns are as of November 30, 2024, and Distribution Returns include the distribution announced today. While the NAV performance may be indicative of the Fund's investment performance, it does not measure the value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund. The value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund is determined by the Fund's market price, which is based on the supply and demand for the Fund's shares in the open market. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Monthly distributions offer shareholders the opportunity to accumulate more shares in a fund via the automatic dividend reinvestment plan. For example, if a fund's shares are trading at a premium, distributions will be automatically reinvested through the plan at NAV or 95% of the market price, whichever is greater; if shares are trading at a discount, distributions will be reinvested at the market price through an open market purchase program. Thus, the plan offers current shareholders an efficient method of accumulating additional shares with a potential for cost savings. Please see the dividend reinvestment plan for more information. Important Notes about Performance and Risk Past performance is no guarantee of future results. As with other investments, market price will fluctuate with the market and upon sale, your shares may have a market price that is above or below net asset value and may be worth more or less than your original investment. Returns at NAV reflect the deduction of the Fund's management fee, debt leverage costs and other expenses. You can purchase or sell common shares daily. Like any other stock, market price will fluctuate with the market. Upon sale, your shares may have a market price that is above or below net asset value and may be worth more or less than your original investment. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount which is a market price that is below their net asset value. About Calamos Calamos Investments is a diversified global investment firm offering innovative investment strategies including alternatives, multi-asset, convertible, fixed income, equity, and sustainable equity. The firm offers strategies through separately managed portfolios, mutual funds, closed-end funds, private funds, an interval fund, ETFs, and UCITS funds. Clients include major corporations, pension funds, endowments, foundations and individuals, as well as the financial advisors and consultants who serve them. Headquartered in the Chicago metropolitan area, the firm also has offices in New York City , San Francisco , Milwaukee , Portland ( Oregon ), and the Miami area. For more information, please visit us on LinkedIn , on Twitter @Calamos , Instagram @calamos_investments , or at www.calamos.com . *Calamos Investments LLC, referred to herein as Calamos Investments ® , is a financial services company offering such services through its subsidiaries: Calamos Advisors LLC, Calamos Wealth Management LLC, Calamos Investments LLP and Calamos Financial Services LLC. View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/calamos-investments-closed-end-funds-nasdaq-chi-chy-csq-cgo-chw-ccd-and-cpz-announce-monthly-distributions-and-required-notifications-of-sources-of-distribution-302320055.html SOURCE Calamos Investments © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.Homeland Security shares new details of mysterious drone flights over New Jersey A New Jersey lawmaker from part of the state where several mysterious drones have been spotted in recent week says the devices appear to avoid detection by traditional methods. Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia was among state officials who met Wednesday with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security. She says lawmakers were told the drones have dodged detection by helicopters and radio. Fantasia says DHS described the devices as up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights off. The Morris County Republican made the comments in a post on X shortly after she and several other state and local lawmakers met with state police and Homeland Security officials. Juan Soto gets free luxury suite and up to 4 premium tickets for home games in $765M Mets deal DALLAS (AP) — Juan Soto gets free use of a luxury suite and up to four premium tickets behind home plate for regular-season and postseason New York Mets home games as part of his record $765 million, 15-year contract. The Mets agreed to provide personal team security for the All-Star outfielder and his family at the team’s expense for all spring training and regular-season home and road games, according to details of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press. New York agreed to assist Soto’s family for in-season travel arrangements, guaranteed he gets uniform No. 22 and included eight types of award bonuses. Rape allegation against Jay-Z won’t impact NFL's relationship with music mogul, Goodell says IRVING, Texas (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says a rape allegation against rapper Jay-Z won’t impact the NFL's relationship with the music mogul. Jay-Z's company Roc Nation has produced some of the NFL’s entertainment presentations including the Super Bowl halftime show. A woman who previously sued Sean “Diddy” Combs alleging she was raped at an awards show after-party in 2000 amended the lawsuit Sunday to include an allegation that Jay-Z was also at the party and participated in the sexual assault. Jay-Z says the rape allegation made against him is part of an extortion attempt. The NFL teamed up with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2019 for events and social activism. The league and the entertainment company extended their partnership a few months ago. Ohio politician proposes make flag planting a felony after fight in Michigan rivalry game An Ohio politician has seen enough flag planting. Republican state Rep. Josh Williams said Wednesday on social media he's introducing a bill to make flag planting in sports a felony in the state. His proposal comes after the Nov. 30 fight at the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry football game when the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 13-10 and then attempted to plant their flag at midfield. A fight ensued and police had to use pepper spray to disperse the players. Former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield famously planted a flag in the middle of the field at Ohio State after the Sooners beat the Buckeyes in 2017. Gastineau confronts Favre in documentary for his 'dive' on Strahan's record-breaking sack Former New York Jets star Mark Gastineau confronted Brett Favre last year at a memorabilia show and angrily accused the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback of deliberately going down on a record-breaking sack. The tense exchange is shown in the new ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “The New York Sack Exchange." It chronicles the Jets’ fearsome foursome defensive line of the 1980s that included Gastineau. Gastineau set an NFL record with 22 sacks in 1984, but Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan broke the mark when he sacked Favre in 2002 in a game between the Giants and Packers. Many have accused Favre of purposely taking the sack so Strahan could set the single-season record with 22 1/2. What happens next with Alex Jones' Infowars? No certainty yet after sale to The Onion is rejected Lawyers in the Alex Jones bankruptcy case are now in discussions on what could happen next after a federal judge in Texas rejected the auction sale of Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet. The next steps remained unclear Wednesday as the judge ordered the trustee who oversaw the auction to come up with a new plan. Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston rejected the bid late Tuesday, saying there was too much confusion about The Onion’s bid. The bankruptcy case was in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion that courts have ordered Jones to pay for calling the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut a hoax. Sandy Hook families had backed The Onion’s bid. NFL and Nike extend their partnership with a 10-year deal, will focus on growing the sport globally IRVING, Texas (AP) — The NFL’s desire to become a global powerhouse is no secret. Nike is committed to helping the league continue expanding its worldwide reach. The league and the apparel giant announced Wednesday a 10-year partnership extension. The NFL and Nike will focus on working together to grow the game’s global reach, increase participation, develop new talent, and expand the football fan base. Nike, the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel, has been the NFL’s exclusive provider of uniforms and sideline, practice and base layer apparel for all 32 NFL teams for 12 years. George Kresge Jr., who wowed talk show audiences as the The Amazing Kreskin, dies at age 89 NEW YORK (AP) — George Joseph Kresge Jr., otherwise known to TV watchers as the mesmerizing entertainer and mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, has died at age 89. Kreskin’s friend and former road manager, Ryan Galway, says he died Tuesday at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey. Kreskin launched his television career in the 1960s and remained popular for decades, appearing with everyone from Merv Griffin to Johnny Carson to Jimmy Fallon. Fans would welcome, if not entirely figure out, his favorite mind tricks — whether correctly guessing a playing card chosen at random, or, most famously, divining where his paycheck had been planted among the audience. He also hosted a show in the 1970s, gave live performances and wrote numerous books. Albertsons sues Kroger for failing to win approval of their proposed supermarket merger Kroger and Albertsons’ plan for the largest U.S. supermarket merger in history has crumbled. The two companies have accused each other of not doing enough to push their proposed alliance through, and Albertsons pulled out of the $24.6 billion deal on Wednesday. The bitter breakup came the day after a federal judge in Oregon and a state judge in Washington issued injunctions to block the merger, saying that combining the two grocery chains could reduce competition and harm consumers. Albertsons is now suing Kroger, seeking a $600 million termination fee, as well as billions of dollars in legal fees and lost shareholder value. Kroger says the legal claims are “baseless.” Keynote Selena Gomez spotlights prioritizing mental health during Academy Women's Luncheon LOS ANGELES (AP) — While surveying a room packed with Hollywood’s most influential figures, “Emilia Pérez” star Selena Gomez took center stage at the Academy Women’s Luncheon to spotlight a critical issue: Prioritizing mental health and supporting underserved communities often left behind in the conversation. The singer-actor has been public about her mental health struggles, revealing she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Gomez was the keynote speaker Tuesday at the event held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with attendees including Ariana Grande, Olivia Wilde, Amy Adams, Pamela Anderson, Rita Wilson, Ava DuVernay and Awkwafina.

For their last holiday season in the White House, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden decked the halls with a theme of "A Season of Peace and Light." When guests first enter the White House for holiday tours, they're greeted by a massive, rotating starlight above the East Wing. The first tree on the tour is dedicated to Gold Star Families. It's made of six oversized and stacked stars representing the branches of the military. Names of fallen service members are written on gold star ornaments on the four accompanying Christmas trees around the room, according to the White House website . Brass-colored bells suspended from archways down the East Colonnade surround guests with the "peaceful sounds of the holiday season." The White House Library is a forest of vintage ceramic Christmas trees. RELATED STORY | Capitol Christmas tree arrives in Washington after 4,000-mile journey from Alaska The ceiling of the East Room is wrapped in a canopy of reflective medallions that mimic the feeling of a peaceful snowfall. This is where guests will find the Nativity scene that has been displayed during every White House holiday season since 1967. In the Blue Room, guests will find the official White House Christmas Tree, a Fraser fir from North Carolina, on display in the center of a whimsical carousel. Every year the room's chandelier is removed to accommodate the tall Christmas trees. Military families from the USS Delaware and the USS Gabrielle Giffords, Navy vessels that First Lady Biden sponsors, made dazzling paper garlands that wrap around the State Dining Room. One of the most anticipated features every year is the Gingerbread White House. The sugary replica features a large starburst and a cheerful scene of ice skaters this year. The White House said the gingerbread masterpiece took 25 sheets of gingerbread dough, 10 sheets of sugar cookie dough, five pounds of pastillage, 45 pounds of chocolate, 50 pounds of royal icing and 10 pounds of gum paste to come to life. In total, there are 83 Christmas trees throughout the White House adorned with approximately 9,810 feet of ribbon and over 28,125 ornaments. Over 165,075 lights decorate the trees, garlands, wreaths and displays. RELATED STORY | Experts share tips on how to have a bugfree Christmas "It has been the honor of our lives to serve as your President and First Lady. Our hope is for the Nation to be blessed with the peace and light of the holiday season. We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays," the president and first lady wrote in the welcome letter for the commemorative White House Holiday Guide. It took over 300 dedicated volunteers from across the country a full week to decorate the inside and outside of the White House, who the first lady thanked during a special event to mark the holiday season. The first lady invited National Guard families to be the first to experience this year's magical decorations and had their children on stage at the special event.To create a podcast that truly reflects Africa , you need to understand its vibrant cultures, languages, and stories. This article offers key advice for anyone interested in starting an African-inspired podcast. From developing content to connecting with your audience, these tips will help you create a podcast that not only entertains but also educates and inspires listeners about the richness of African heritage. Understand the cultural diversity Africa is not a monolith; it's a vibrant tapestry of over 54 countries, thousands of languages, and distinct cultures. Crafting an African-inspired podcast means diving deep into the specific cultures or regions you're highlighting. Invest time in understanding historical contexts, societal norms, and the pulse of contemporary issues. This way, your content will not only resonate with Africans but also with global listeners who seek genuine African narratives. Engage with local storytellers One surefire way to infuse authenticity into your podcast is by collaborating directly with local storytellers, artists, and experts. These individuals possess a wealth of unique insights and narratives that can't be replicated through secondary research. Working with locals not only enhances your content but also fosters a sense of community by supporting and amplifying African voices. Ensure you treat them as equals, respect their knowledge, and pay them well. Utilize African music wisely Music is a powerful storytelling tool, particularly in African-inspired podcasts, where it holds a central role in many cultures. Leverage local music to establish the tone of your episodes or reinforce themes. However, be conscious of copyright laws; ensure you have permission for any music you use. This practice not only prevents legal complications but also honors the work of the artists you feature, demonstrating respect for their contributions. Focus on quality production The production quality of your podcast is a significant factor in its success. Invest in quality recording equipment. Clear sound quality is fundamental. If you can afford it, hire professionals for editing. They can adjust sound levels, eliminate background noises, and incorporate effects that significantly enhance the listening experience. High production values convey professionalism and commitment to your audience. Promote across multiple platforms Advertise your podcast on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram , Facebook , and LinkedIn . Make sure to target individuals who have an interest in African content. Leverage SEO on YouTube for increased visibility. Interact with the African diaspora through forums or events. By utilizing multiple platforms, you can effectively expand your audience reach.

It feels like you can’t escape AI these days – in one form or another, the technology seems to have permeated most aspects of our lives. If nothing else, it has become the choice du jour of marketing tools for many brands. In the past decade movies like Her (2013) and Ex Machina (2014) have presented, perhaps, extreme visions of a world in which our existence is intertwined with that of non-sentient technologies made of zeroes and ones. But, the truth is, it’s nothing new: AI – or, artificial intelligence – has existed for decades and people have (perhaps unknowingly) used it some capacity almost daily. That sentence your phone finished typing for you? AI. The new show your TV suggested you’d like? AI. All those ads you see on your social media feed that feel strangely relevant to your interests? That’s AI, too. The difference, now, is that technology has advanced to a point where it is allowing brands to super-charge their AI-based products, resulting in popular applications, such as ChatGPT , to be adopted en masse and used by billions of people worldwide, and causing the average person to redefine their expectations of what’s actually possible with AI. All of this has happened in a relatively short space of time, too, the cumulative effect of which is the current cultural fervor around the topic. In October, Microsoft announced the latest version of Copilot , its generative artificial intelligence chatbot launched in 2023. And, earlier this year, the brand revealed the formation of a brand new division, Microsoft AI, which it announced it had hired the British AI-leader Mustafa Suleyman to run. Suleyman, an AI-industry-veteran, had previously co-founded both the artificial intelligence research laboratory DeepMind in 2010 (later selling it to Google in 2014) and the machine learning company, Inflection AI , more recently in 2022 – one that the WSJ valued at $4B USD last year. At 40, Suleyman – the son of a Syrian immigrant taxi driver and NHS nurse – holds the enviable title of EVP and CEO, Microsoft AI . Born in London and raised as a Muslim, Suleyman doesn’t fit the mold of a typical big-tech leader, so his appointment as head of AI at Microsoft – the Washington-based company founded by Bill Gates in 1975, which has been at the forefront of computing for decades – is at once both industrially and culturally significant. (Curiously, he shares a heritage similar to that of another half-Syrian tech leader ). Aided by technology, the world is changing faster than ever. “We’re living through a technological paradigm shift,” Suleyman says, and artificial intelligence is as much a tool as it is an an agent of change. Hypebeast caught up with the new CEO of AI to talk about the technology and its impact on people and culture. What were the first challenges you faced since starting your new role in March? The first thing that we had to do was rebuild the app. T he old version [of Copilot], frankly, was a bit slow, it was a bit ugly, it was kind of hard to read. And I believe that this [new version] is going to be something that a lot of younger will people love, because it is snappy, clean, modern, and it’s beautiful. And that, I think, is what people expect. If you’ve been a digital native, it’s bonkers to you that something would be buggy or brittle or slow. So that’s table stakes: Rebuild it from scratch, new aesthetic, much more humanist. We took out all those bright neons, the electric blues, the kind of old-school greys, and layered it with much softer human colors. Looking forward, we really want to turn this into a proper companion. It’s going to be a friend, it’ll get to know you over time. It’ll have perfect memory. It’ll be very reliable. At the moment there are still some hallucinations , but it’s going to feel much less so – almost to the point where it’s more accurate than a Google search result or a Bing search result, so that you can actually rely on it every day for giving you factual information. It has got access to real time information, so it gives you citations and references – so you can go and check the underlying source if you want to – and it knows what’s happened 15 minutes ago in on the web, like, if there’s a big news event, or if there’s a meme trending, or, you know something’s happened during the day, it’ll be able to talk to you about that. How are you going about attracting a younger audience? The first thing is quality. The product just has to be really high quality and smooth. The second thing is the aesthetic – it looks and feels just a little bit different to your traditional app, at least from a Microsoft perspective. It’s much softer and more calming, and the tone of the AI itself has got personality. It will make a little joke, it will be self deprecating, it will be... I wouldn’t say slang, but it’s not writing in formal adult English. It’s not just regurgitating the encyclopedia. It’s talking to you as I’m talking to you now, as a regular person on the street would. That tone is fresh and it’s different – and it’s how everyday people like to speak. So what I’m really crafting is the personality of the AI as well as the UI. The aesthetic has to look a certain way, but interacting with it has to feel a certain way as well. That’s the balance. It’s going to start living life alongside you. That’s what I’m building. A companion that will really see what you see and hear what you hear. AI has been a buzzword for a couple of years, but how much of the work we see today was actually done over many years previously? I co-founded DeepMind in 2010 and I started working on AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, almost 15 years ago. Then in 2014 we were acquired by Google and I led Applied AI at DeepMind, then AI at Google on the product side for many years. I’ve been working on this for a very long time – and I’ve seen these models get bigger, better and stronger. And, with each year, we’ve managed to put out a new model that is more accurate with less hallucinations, that has more capabilities. There’s been a very steady progression of improvement. And the next wave that is coming is that the AI models will be able to use websites on the front end. It’s going to be able to click around buttons, you know, buy things, book things. It’ll be able to enter things into your calendar. It’ll be able to browse your email, pick out the ones that are useful to you, send you a distilled summary of those emails, let you know that you gotta take an action off the back of it, like cancel your subscription, or remind you that your flight is at this time or that time and tell you that the traffic’s this or that and like. It’s going to start living life alongside you. That’s what I’m building. It’s a companion that will really see what you see and hear what you hear. A few weeks ago, we launched a feature called Copilot Vision , and Vision basically sees everything that you do in the browser. It basically looks at the images, the video, all the content that you’re looking at in real time and it understands it. So, you could say, “Do you think that rug will look good in my apartment?” Or ask it, “How will that poster look like?” You can actually talk about what you’re seeing [and] it is going to feel like you are browsing with a friend or a partner. Like you’re on one laptop, they’re on another, and you’re both looking for something together, talking about the same thing. That’s what a companion is going to feel like. Do you think the technology is taking anything away from our “humanity”? I think technology has made us more connected to each other than ever before. W hat happens is culture gets changed by technology, then we collectively decide whether it feels good or we don’t like it and we evolve. Or we resist and change it. So, there’s this dynamic interaction where we shape technologies that shape our culture, which we then shape. T hat’s going to happen again with the creation of AI companions. We’re all going to have a conversational AI assistant that we live with, that supports us, that we learn from, and that’s... that is a profound shift. So, to come back to your question about what it means for culture? What does it mean for people? It’s going to be a profound transformation. I think it’s going to be incredible, like everyone is going to have a super intelligent teacher, doctor, lawyer, therapist, friend, entertainer, scheduler in their pocket. All those tasks are going to become available to everybody, and that just leaves us with human ingenuity to take advantage of all of those things and create new things, you know? My dad drove a taxi and worked in a sandwich shop for 30 years. My mom was a nurse. There’s just no way, if I’d grown up in the 70s, that I would have had a chance of doing this kind of thing. AI is a relatively young industry and it is still being shaped in many ways. What are you doing to ensure there’s a wide representation of people working on the creation of AI within your organization? As far back as 2015 I started hiring machine learning researchers and engineers – specifically from women’s recruiting conferences like Women in Machine Learning or the Grace Hopper conference . We were the first to to attend that – even before Google. We actually got Google to go to it. It has always been central to my belief and everything that I’ve done, even before getting into technology, [to be] about community organizing and activism. I cared a lot about representation, and still do, so I’ve made it a priority personally to make sure that my teams are as diverse as they can be, that our hiring pipelines are diverse, and that we have broad representation because it makes us smarter and makes us better at our jobs and it makes our products richer. My own presence right here [as CEO of Microsoft AI], doing what I’m doing, is a sign of the times changing a little bit, given my background and how I grew up. I think things are changing – slowly, but surely. I think the good news is that these [AI] tools are going to be widely available at basically zero marginal cost – they’re basically going to be free. Everyone is going to be able to access them. There’s not really going to be an equality of access issue, [but] there’s still going to be an education issue – like knowing how to access and how to take advantage is still a structural privilege that comes from having a calm and supportive family, and having a good education. More than any decade in human history, the gap is narrower. I never would have been able to do what I’m doing today in 1970 – that’s a crazy thought. My dad drove a taxi and worked in a sandwich shop for 30 years. My mom was a nurse. There’s just no way, if I’d grown up in the 70s, that I would have had a chance of doing this kind of thing. Is there something that has surprised you in your career journey with AI? Not to be like difficult about the question, but surprise is a function of your expectation. I haven’t really been surprised. I think it’s been quite predictable partly because I’ve been working on it 15 years, but there’s also a steady march where if you add more compute and more data, tune the algorithms, and focus on what you’re trying to build, you do get there. I think the thing that has definitely surprised me is how quickly people have tried out chat bots and how quickly they’ve become second nature to people. I mean, [it is] the fastest spreading technology in history! We went from zero understanding or access or use, to a billion users in 18 months. No other technology, no matter how useful – not TV or the car or the spread of electricity, even the rise of mobile phones – has spread that quickly in such a short space of time. And people are hungry for more! The crazy thing is, people are like, “it’s not good enough” or “I want this fixed, I want to have real time information” or “why can’t it do generation of video?” And you’re just like, “Dude!” [laughs]. It is already insane. And people are just demanding more and more and more, and that’s kind of amazing. The “Godfather of AI”, Geoffrey Hinton, thinks AI will “take over” within 20 years. Is this something you ever think about? To honest with you, it’s something that I’ve thought about pretty much constantly since 2010. I care very deeply about [AI], so my job is to take that question seriously – even though it sounds wacky. I don’t think we’re on that path in the next 10 years, but I can’t rule out that happening before 2100, you know. I think the problem is most people just don’t think about the far future. Geoffrey Hinton gave that interview after winning the Nobel Prize for his work in AI, and he’s someone who spends his whole life thinking about the long term future. And I’m also one of those people who really thinks decades ahead, so it’s second nature to think about those things. Are we evolving? It’s a good question... it is a good question. I mean, we’ve been evolving for tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of years – or millions of years, if you consider where we really came from. I don’t know. The difference is that we have the intelligence and the self control to steer evolution this time. Evolution has never been steered before.Ormat Announces Pricing Of Public Offering Of Common Stock On Behalf Of Stockholder Orix Corporation