Technology

Swag Kicks, an online platform that sells used clothing, footwear and accessories from renowned global brands, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding to expand its footprint in Pakistan’s thrift and vintage e-commerce, the company announced on Thursday. The funding round was led by i2i ventures, the company said, adding that prominent venture capital firms such as Techstars Toronto, CrossFund …

AdalFi, a digital lending infrastructure provider, announced on Thursday that it has raised $7.5 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by COTU Ventures, Chimera Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures and Zayn Capital alongside angel investors, the startup said in a press release. It is the first major corporate funding announcement since the start of the year as Pakistan …

KARACHI: Jazz Ltd CEO Aamir Ibrahim said on Wednesday the rollout of 5G, which is the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, should be put on hold. Speaking at a business conference organised by Nutshell Group, the CEO of the largest telecom firm with a market share of over 38 per cent said the stakeholders should strive to do …

Microsoft joined forces with Open AI to integrate ChatGPT and Bing browser. The difference between them is that Microsoft’s updated AI stops people from engaging in unethical tasks. Recently, ChatGPT’s Bing version refused to write a cover letter to Singapore-based journalist Huileng Tan citing ethical reasons.  “I’m sorry, but I cannot write a cover letter for you,” Bing’s updated version …

Twitter boss Elon Musk said Wednesday that a new CEO might be running the online platform by the end of 2023, after a “rollercoaster” since he took full ownership last year. “I’m guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company,” he told the World Government Summit conference in …

SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) self-driving vehicle unit, Zoox, said on Monday it has successfully tested a robotaxi with employees as passengers on a public road in a move to bring it closer to commercial service for the general public. The Feb. 11 test, conducted between two Zoox buildings a mile apart at its headquarters in Foster City, California, was part …

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) giant Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer commonly known as ChatGPT will soon be integrated into web browsers now. The Browser maker Opera has jumped into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and will be one of the first browsers to integrate ChatGPT. They have announced plans to update the AI feature in new upcoming releases. The ChatGPT …

PARIS: Users of the Replika “virtual companion” just wanted company. Some of them wanted romantic relationships, or even explicit chat. But late last year users started to complain that the bot was coming on too strong with racy texts and images — sexual harassment, some alleged. Regulators in Italy did not like what they saw and last week barred the …

KARACHI: The gap between the broader use of digital platforms and the prevalence of digital banking tools in Pakistan is one of the largest in the world, said Fernando Morillo, group head of retail banking at Mashreq, a Middle East–based financial institution that’s received a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the banking regulator to start a digital bank in Pakistan. Speaking …

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong woman trying to adopt a kitten online has lost more than $770,000 in a crypto ruse, police said, as figures obtained on Friday showed a sharp rise in scams in the city involving digital currencies. The Chinese finance hub has been encouraging investment in virtual assets to bolster its fintech credentials, but the anonymous nature …