When Japanese business mogul Masayoshi Son, who founded SoftBank Group, took the stage at his firm's event in October, he spoke passionately about the boom in generative artificial intelligence, and asked a question: "Please raise your hand if you use ChatGPT, GPT-4 almost every day for work?" Seeing that the people who did was less than 10% of the audience, Son castigated the remainder: "This is bad! If you didn't raise your hand, you should be repentant and rethink your life.

Google's slide said its products for JWCC have "embedded AI & ML [machine learning]" capabilities that can accelerate "time to decision by up to 30x" for the Defense Department. Amazon's slide promoted its "advanced data analytics" and "advisory and assistance services," and included graphics of a tank, a submarine and a fighter jet. Microsoft's slide said the company offered "cutting-edge AI and machine learning" and highlighted the company's 165,000 miles of fiber and subsea cables, and its handling of over 8 trillion signals a day. Oracle's slide also mentioned its AI and machine-learning "predictive analysis" capabilities, as well as monitoring and automation.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's administration has made digitalization a top priority in an effort to transform the nation's economy and society, but as far as the medical care sector is concerned, steps toward that goal are not off to a smooth start. Beginning in March, the government started rolling out My Number cards embedded with IC chips that can double as health care insurance cards. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry says use of the new cards, which all Japan residents can apply for, would simplify administrative procedures at hospitals and streamline applications for tax deductions for medical expenses. But the rate of uptake for the cards is low at around 25% and, due to the pandemic, many health care providers are not in a rush to install the facial recognition systems used to scan My Number cards. In order to use their My Number cards as a health insurance card, users must apply for the card and register online, while health care providers need to install proper card-reading equipment and overhaul their computer systems.

New York's first-ever commercial driverless cars got off to a slow start in the Big Apple. Boston-based tech company Optimus Ride's fleet of six autonomous vehicles officially opened to the public Wednesday, transporting passengers along a one-mile loop around the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But the demand for the free robo-shuttle service between the NYC Ferry stop at Dock 72 and Cumberland Gate at Flushing Avenue proved sparse during Wednesday's morning rush. Wednesday, The Post observed roughly 15 people hitch a ride in the driverless vehicles, which can hold six passengers, over the hour. One user, 46-year-old Carey Booth who commutes by ferry from her home in Astoria to her job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard every day, took a ride in the shuttle while on her way to work.