Future Beat | The National

Hello there, Countless songs, movies and TV shows have proven time and again that breaking up is hard to do. That goes for relationships, and in the history of corporate monopolies, perceived or real, the same logic applies to regulators seeking to increase competition across industries. Most recently, the US government has sought to increase competition in the technology world and, in turn, the US Justice Department has recommended breaking up Google , forcing the company to carve out its popular Chrome browser into a separate entity. Google's parent Alphabet will, of course, not go down without a fight . When all is said and done, the real question is: by the time Google is forced to do something, will the Chrome browser still be relevant enough to make a meaningful regulatory impact? Again, breaking up is hard to do, especially with corporations. The Big Story In brief | Some of the brightest minds in computer science gathered in Abu Dhabi this week at the Adia Lab symposium to discuss and debate a simple but important question: Can we trust artificial intelligence? Most recent polls indicate that more people around the world are using AI tools, but those same people are also beginning to distrust the technology. There's also increasing concern, and hope, about what artificial general intelligence – which could match or exceed human cognitive thought on several levels - might mean for the world. Why it matters | Most of the computer experts and technologists at the Adia Lab symposium agreed on one thing: the sheer speed at which AI has progressed over the past few years is impressive and undeniable. University of California Berkeley computer science professor Shafi Goldwasser pointed out, however, that even those who have helped to develop AI technology don't quite understand or can explain what makes the various tools so intelligent and what makes them able to continue to evolve. That's amazing and concerning, hence the distrust and the efforts to ensure accuracy going forward. The big takeaway from this symposium among some of the brightest minds in technology was the acknowledgement that there's much work to be done to make these AI tools equally as trustworthy as they are amazing. Quoted | “Remember everything we know about AI has just been trained with data from the Global North, talent and computing capacity. This is not sustainable for trust.” – Carme Artigas , co-chair of the UN's AI advisory body Arabic heritage | Emirati develops AI to capture nation's culture with detail and accuracy Competitive costs | Company launching air taxis in Dubai reveals long-term ambition to compete with regular taxis on price TikTok countdown | Does US president-elect Donald Trump want to save TikTok? Battle of AI assistants | Can Google Gemini take on ChatGPT and Copilot in generative AI race? Smartphone gaming capability continues to rise, but free games are the most popular. Puzzles to solve or lands to conquer, these games come in many forms. The catch is putting up with advertisements. The National 's Faisal Salah recently spoke with someone who says that audio-based adverts are the perfect solution for gamers and advertisers . This is a signal: As we've witnessed in the past when composing this Future Beat newsletter, everything old tends to eventually be new again with technology. Audio ads are rooted in radio, which may seem passe, but let's face it, it's still very relevant and an effective way to reach millions of people. There's a reason why radio stations can make decent revenue by selling audio ads despite the plethora of other advertising options available to companies. In the context of gaming, audio advertisements are a perfect and non-intrusive way to reach audiences who would otherwise be overlooked. There's also the bonus that audio never goes out of style, it's always there and not exactly at risk for disruption. Advertisers like that stability. Deep tech lab edges closer to next-generation contact lenses Play nicely or get tough? Officials play catch-up to rein in social media giants Generation Start Up: UmrahCash aims to fix money issues for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims Will BlueSky eventually dethrone X as the global town square? Why did Donald Trump change his mind on Bitcoin?