Future Beat: Big Tech buoyancy and AI ambitions

Hi there. Big Tech companies Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft reported earnings this week, providing a more tangible peek into their AI ambitions and how they are paying off.

On earnings calls, Google's parent mentioned AI?50? times , Meta referred to it?49? times ?and Microsoft - the current leader in the space -?46 ?times .

With the rise of generative AI, Alphabet faces an existential threat to its core business of online ads, which don't really work in a world where its Bard chatbot is serving up answers. Already its ad business is shrinking as advertisers shift budgets.

So far, Google has cut about 6% of its staff and is underway on a "multi-year" quest to reduce overhead costs.

But looking at the buoyant performance of Meta (and recall that last year it was facing similar growing pains) is a good reminder of how quickly fortunes turn for these companies.

At Zuck's metaverse company, the founder and CEO used Meta's better-than-expected earnings to describe the company's AI ambitions. He kept things vague, but even promising AI developments, which he called a "key theme" of the earnings call, helped spur Meta's stock price.

Microsoft won the week, however. Its investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI is paying off, of course.

And now, with the giants well and truly reaping the rewards of the AI age, regulators are racing to catch up. The EU passed landmark regulation this week. But will it be enough?

Be well,

Kelsey Warner, Future Editor?

The Big Story

In brief?| Japan's ispace says its spacecraft that was carrying the UAE's Rashid rover probably crashed as it tried to land on the Moon on Tuesday.

The next day, the UAE announced plans to embark on a second attempt to land a rover on the Moon.

Quoted?| "We are a country that has not stopped since December 2, 1971. It will not stop. It will not turn around. It will not set small goals for itself.” -Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai

Why it matters?| There's a reason why India's space agency director called landing on the Moon "fifteen minutes of terror". It's tough. India's and Israel's space programmes both attempted soft landings that ended in crashes in 2019.

While the ride Rashid hitched with Japan to the lunar surface didn't pan out, this will remain a historic week for the UAE's decade-old space programme.

Later today, Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi is set to step out of the International Space Station to undertake a six-hour spacewalk. If he succeeds, he will become the first Arab astronaut to do so.

Future in focus

This could take off?|?A robot in Dubai's financial district is helping Emirates passengers ?check in to flights and drop their bags up to 24 hours ahead of departure from DXB.

It's electric?| Hunger-regulating solutions are having a moment, but?a new method introduced by researchers from NYU Abu Dhabi and the the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ?is taking a different tack. The smart electrified capsule, called Flash – which stands for fluid-wicking capsule for active simulation and hormone modulation – is being touted as a promising possible treatment for diabetes and obesity.

App-titude?| The group CEO of the UAE's biggest telco e& is working to transform the traditional phone and internet company into a tech business.?Hatem Dowidar spoke to me on Business Extra this week ?about new deals with Careem and MasterCard and how they fit with the company's longer-term strategy.

Predicting the future?|?Signal or noise??A new?plant-based meat production centre is open in Abu Dhabi , and its products are set to arrive at UAE supermarkets by next month.

This is a signal?| The likes of Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger have not had the mainstream success investors once touted. But even a niche food product has a place at the table — especially in the GCC, where around 85% of food is imported.

In case you missed it

How these eight countries have?already achieved net zero ?carbon emissions.

A new mobile vaccine printer ?has the potential to provide people in hard-to-reach places with protection from the world's deadliest diseases.

And?crypto companies are seeking banking partners ?after a series of collapses.