In this study, we examine the Federal Reserve's communication strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic, comparing them with communication during previous periods of economic stress. Using specialized dictionaries tailored to COVID-19, unconventional monetary policy (UMP), and financial stability, combined with sentiment analysis and topic modeling techniques, we identify a distinct focus in Fed communication during the pandemic on financial stability, market volatility, social welfare, and UMP, characterized by notable contextual uncertainty. Through comparative analysis, we juxtapose the Fed's communication during the COVID-19 crisis with its responses during the dot-com and global financial crises, examining content, sentiment, and timing dimensions. Our findings reveal that Fed communication and policy actions were more reactive to the COVID-19 crisis than to previous crises. Additionally, declining sentiment related to financial stability in interest rate announcements and minutes anticipated subsequent accommodative monetary policy decisions. We further document that communicating about UMP has become the "new normal" for the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes and Chairman's speeches since the Global Financial Crisis, reflecting an institutional adaptation in communication strategy following periods of economic distress. These findings contribute to our understanding of how central bank communication evolves during crises and how communication strategies adapt to exceptional economic circumstances.

Your business processes are enhanced by employees who help you achieve your organizational goals. It is important to keep the talent you have, as well as to recruit new talent. As we enter 2022, competition is intensifying in all major industries. All businesses are recovering from the Covid-19 crisis and are looking to hire dedicated and skilled employees to help them get back on track. Your employees will have other options than working for you.

Artificial intelligence is going to the Edge and more so in 2021. Edge Computing refers to on the device closer to where the data is generated at the edge of the network. We'll see AI increasingly inferencing on the devices around us including mobile devices, sensors and smart cameras with Graphical Processing Units (GPUs, or specialised AI chips for sake of simplicity) embedded in the device. Indeed it is interesting to wonder where NVIDIA (arguably the world leader in GPUs) will go next following the acquisition of ARM for $40 billion. Counterpoint Research forecast that the number of mobile devices with GPUs (or AI Chips) will increase from 190 million in 2019 to 1.25 billion by the end of 2022, accounting for 3 out of 4 mobile devices.

"Artificial intelligence (AI)I will automate everything and put people out of work." "AI is a science-fiction technology." "Robots will take over the world." The hype around AI has produced many myths, in mainstream media, in board meetings and across organizations. Some worry about an "almighty" AI that will take over the world, and some think that AI is nothing more than a buzzword.

Despite being a tough year for many, companies are accelerating their approach to artificial intelligence (AI). A quarter of the organisations that participated in the latest AI survey from PwC US reported widespread adoption of AI, jumping from 18 percent last year. Another 54 percent are heading there fast, and they're no longer just laying the foundations. Those investing are reaping rewards from AI right now, in part because it has proven a highly effective response to the challenges brought by the COVID-19 crisis. In fact, most of the companies that have fully embraced AI are reporting major benefits.

On 3 June 2020, the VUB AI Experience Centre published a webinar on the topic of the role of AI in the COVID-19 crisis, focused on macro dynamics predictions in the COVID-19 crisis, explained by micro intentions. This webinar focused on AI reinforcement learning techniques and predictive modelling, decision making in defining prevention, and exit strategies. It was led by Prof. dr. Ann Nowé from the Artificial Intelligence Lab together with Prof. dr Kurt Barbé, member of the Digital Mathematics research group and the cross-faculty Artificial Intelligence Lab, and Prof. dr Tom Lenaerts who is a member of the VUB Artificial Intelligence Lab and the Machine Learning Group of the ULB. The AI Experience Centre is a joint project of 4 VUB research groups: the Artificial Intelligence Lab, Brubotics, SMIT and ETRO, and is located on the VUB campus Etterbeek.

GENEVA – As automation and online work gain ground, organizers of the annual Davos forum are projecting employers will split work equally between machines and people by 2025, with the coronavirus pandemic accelerating changes in the labor market. The World Economic Forum, in a report released Wednesday on the future of jobs, expects that a new division of labor between humans and machines will upend and eliminate some 85 million jobs globally across 15 industries. But it also expects that 97 million new roles will emerge in sectors like artificial intelligence, content creation and "the care economy" involving children and the elderly. Two years ago, the forum predicted more jobs created 133 million -- and fewer lost -- 75 million. "In essence, the rate of job destruction has gone up and the rate of job creation has gone down," said WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi.

If the pace of the pre-coronavirus world was already fast, the luxury of time now seems to have disappeared completely. Businesses that once mapped digital strategy in one- to three-year phases must now scale their initiatives in a matter of days or weeks. In one European survey, about 70 percent of executives from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland said the pandemic is likely to accelerate the pace of their digital transformation. The quickening is evident already across sectors and geographies. Consider how Asian banks have swiftly migrated physical channels online.

The damage from pandemic-induced lockdowns, office and school closures and consumer retrenchment continue to reverberate through the economy. As the crisis drags into its seventh month, it has left businesses facing hard choices in adjusting to what now seems like many permanent changes. Required actions to address the COVID-19 crisis can be divided into three major stages: Respond, Recover and Thrive. These three stages are interspersed with two additional interim stages, and culminate in a long-term operating environment we call the'next normal'. The early months were focused on business survival through a series of reactionary changes, which was followed by mid-term operational stabilization in a world with diminished demand, continued socio-political restrictions and unpredictable events.

Seoul – South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on Wednesday for a regional infectious disease control and public health initiative involving Japan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea to tackle health crises and lay the foundation for peace with Pyongyang. Moon unveiled the so-called Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health during a video address to the U.N. General Assembly. "In the face of the COVID-19 crisis that poses a greater threat to humanity than a war, we came to be acutely reminded that the safety of neighboring countries is directly linked to that of our own," Moon said, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks distributed by his office. Such an initiative would lead North Korea to "engage with the international community," according to Moon. "It is not only Korea's response to COVID-19 but also the invaluable lessons Korea will be gaining from institutionalizing peace that Korea wishes to share with the rest of the world," he said.