AI can now design AI chips hundreds of times faster (and better) than humans. Where will this lead? A recent research paper has described how a deep reinforcement learning approach to chip ‘floorplanning’ has led to AI generating chip floorplans that are superior or comparable to those produced by humans.

Floorplans

Chip floorplanning is the term for designing the physical layout of a computer chip.

Why Is It So Important?

The way a chip is designed impacts upon its performance (e.g. power consumption). Also, if a faster way can be found to design chips, this could save the months of effort spent by physical design engineers (and the associated costs) to produce manufacturable chip layouts.

Method

The paper, written by Googlers Azalia Mirhoseini, and Anna Goldie et al, highlighted how the researchers used a deep reinforcement learning approach, coupled with an edge-based graph convolutional neural network architecture.  The object was to design the next generation of Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators, and this method enabled the AI to learn from past experience in chip floorplanning and to become better and faster at solving new instances of the problem.

The Result

The researchers found that in just under six hours, instead of the months it would have taken for human engineers, the AI design method automatically generated chip floorplans that are superior or comparable to those produced by humans in all key metrics, such as power consumption, performance, and chip area.

Also, the researchers believe that in addition to AI’s success in designing chips for AI, more powerful AI-designed hardware is likely to fuel advances in AI itself, thereby creating a kind of symbiotic relationship between the two fields.

AI Being Adopted By More Businesses

A recent Google Cloud (Harris Poll) survey found that the pandemic has led to more businesses adopting AI. The survey of 1,154 senior manufacturing executives revealed that 66 percent of manufacturers now use AI on a daily basis, with over a third (34 percent) saying that the daily use of AI and machine learning (ML) is helpful for their employees.

Challenges

Although these figures indicate that AI is almost mainstream, some of the challenges that business still have in the adoption of AI are finding ways to move from pilot schemes to live adoption (partly due to too much legacy technology on the shop floor), and not having enough people who are trained in deploying AI.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

It is clear that many more businesses are adopting AI to solve real problems, save time and save money but are running up against the problem of a talent gap.  It is particularly interesting, therefore, that in chip design, AI has bridged that talent gap by training itself to be more experienced and knowledgeable than human chip designers, and in doing so has proved (in research) that it could save vast amounts of time and money. Also, in doing so, its continuous learning means that it will not only become better and faster at solving new instances of the problem going forward but will be able to design better hardware that can fuel advances in AI itself, thereby creating a kind of value-adding, symbiotic loop.  This is an example for businesses of how AI can help them bridge skills gaps in a cost-effective way, and create competitive advantages going forward that they may not even have been thought about.

A recent Citizens Advice survey has revealed that 2.5 million people are behind on their broadband bills, with 700,000 of these falling into the red during the Covid pandemic.

Young, With Children Under 18, Or Receiving Universal Credit Most Affected

The survey of 6,001 adults living in the UK revealed that 18 to 34-year-olds and those with children under 18 are three times as likely to be behind on their broadband bills as older groups and households without children.  This may be due to people becoming more reliant on broadband to work and help their children with schoolwork during the pandemic, with UK adults spending an average of 22 hours online each week.  The survey also found that Households on Universal Credit are nine times as likely to be behind on their broadband bill compared to those not on the benefit.

Another Hurdle In The Hunt For Jobs

Citizens Advice points out that being without broadband in today’s society simply creates yet another hurdle in the hunt for jobs, or in being able to help children with their schoolwork, and in being able to access help, information and completing forms online.

Broadband Is An Essential Utility

Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, argues that “Broadband is not a luxury, it’s an essential, like gas and electricity” and has called on Ofcom and the government to ensure that everyone is able to afford their broadband, no matter which provider they are with. The Citizens Advice CE also stressed that “people shouldn’t be penalised simply because their provider isn’t one of the few firms that offers a cheaper tariff.”

February Survey

Back in February, a similar survey by Citizens Advice also revealed one in six people were struggling to afford their broadband during the third lockdown and that poorer people were being locked out altogether. It was already known from previous surveys that groups struggling most with their broadband bills were people with children, disabled people, people from Black, Asian or ethnic minority backgrounds, those who were shielding, young people, and those in receipt of low-income benefits (e.g. Universal Credit) were found to be almost twice as likely to struggle to pay their bill as other customers.

Only Two Offer Cheaper Tariffs

Ofcom urged all providers back in December 2020 to consider offering cheaper broadband tariffs for those on a low income or who are struggling financially.  At the time, Ofcom found that if households were paying the average £37 a month for landline and broadband, this would take around four times the proportion of a low-income household’s budget, compared to an average household.

Only two nationwide and two local providers now offer these tariffs to those on Universal Credit.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The pandemic lockdowns have highlighted just how essential having a broadband connection has now become in society for everything from working online (remotely), study for young people and children, communication, online shopping, job applications or job interviews and more. In fact, broadband is now essential to allow people to participate fully in society and, as Citizens Advice has pointed out, not having a broadband connection (due to being unable to afford it) can put people and their children at a considerable disadvantage going forward. This also highlights another inequality in society based on income. Although broadband companies are businesses, the service they provide is now essential and has a major influence on society and the life chances and opportunities of UK citizens. Despite being urged by the regulator to offer lower tariffs for low-income groups, the lack of action by broadband companies may now mean that, under the European Electronic Communications Code, which is now part of UK law, broadband providers may be forced into offering affordable tariffs to people on low-income benefits.

If you’re switching devices or need to re-install Google Chrome from scratch but don’t want to lose your collection of bookmarks, here’s how to export and import them.

Export

– From Chrome’s ‘More’ menu (the three dots, top right) select ‘Bookmarks’ > ‘Bookmark manager’.

– Go to the three-dot menu (top right) and select ‘Export bookmarks’.

– Save the bookmarks as a html file.

Import

– Follow the same process, but from the menu in ‘Bookmark manager’ select ‘Import bookmarks’ and upload your saved html file.

The ICO has fined the Conservative Party £10,000 for sending unlawful marketing emails to people who did not want to receive them.

Breach

The ICO has decided that after an investigation into emails sent from the Conservative Party, in the name of Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, during the eight days in July 2019 after he was elected Prime Minister, the Conservative Party breached the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) of 2003.

Unsolicited Emails

The breach of PECR occurred because, as the ICO concluded, the Conservative Party did not have the necessary valid consent in cases where marketing emails were received by complainants. Although 51 emails were found to be conclusively in breach of the regulations, the Conservative Party sent out 1,190,280 marketing emails between 24 July and 31 July 2019, and the ICO accepts it is likely that some of those emails would have been validly sent, but that it is not possible to identify what that proportion is. This is because, as stated by the ICO, “the Conservative Party failed to retain clear records of the basis upon which people had consented to receive marketing emails, as required by law.”

More Marketing Emails Sent During The Investigation

The ICO expressed concern that while the investigation into the initial breach was underway before the Conservative Party had addressed the original compliance issues, it “engaged in an industrial-scale marketing email exercise during the December 2019 General Election campaign, sending nearly 23 million emails” which “generated a further 95 complaints”.

Stephen Eckersley, ICO Director of Investigations, said “It’s really concerning that such large-scale processing occurred during the ICO’s ongoing investigation and before the Conservative Party had taken all the steps necessary to ensure that its processing, and database of people who would receive emails, was fully compliant with the data protection and electronic marketing regulations”.

The Fine

There has been criticism from some online commentators that the £10,000 fine may not be enough, when considering that according to newspaper reports, one luxury hamper of organic food delivered to 10 Downing Street recently cost £27,000.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

It is disappointing and concerning that such a big political party (the party now in government) would not check or know about and/or failed to comply with well-publicised data protection laws. As those at the heart of UK law-making, this does not reflect well.

For businesses, this story is a reminder that there are clear laws pertaining to direct marketing (i.e. any communication of advertising or marketing material directed at particular individuals). It is a reminder that consent is vital, and it is important to keep clear records of the basis upon which people consent.  Ignoring the regulations can result in a hefty fine and could prove very damaging to the reputation of a business.

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey has found that half of UK businesses expect to reduce the size of their office space, and one-third expect to reduce it by 30 percent.

Reduce Size of Real Estate Portfolio

The Occupier Survey of 258 of the UK’s largest companies found that half of the organisations surveyed expect to reduce the size of their real estate portfolio and one third believe they will reduce their office footprint by more than 30 percent, while only 10 percent agree that the level of employees working from the office will return to pre-pandemic levels.

Reduction of Nine Million Square Feet

The survey found that major UK employers could reduce their office portfolio by up to nine million square feet, which is equivalent to 14 Walkie Talkie buildings (the 37-floor high rise on London’s Fenchurch Street).

Hybrid Working

The survey concludes that the shift to hybrid working, whereby employees work part of their time at home and part in the office, is now a pattern that is (after the pandemic) embedded in the working culture of many organisations and is the driver for the need to reduce office space.

Increased Productivity?

Results from the Occupier Survey across all sectors showed that just over half of all respondents said that virtual working has had a positive impact on productivity in their organisation.

PwC Post-Pandemic

PwC, who conducted the survey, is one of the ‘big four’ accountancy firms and recently went public with its post-pandemic working arrangements for its employees.  PwC’s accountants and consultants in the UK will now be able to spend an average of just two to three days a week in the office.  This means that staff will typically be spending 40 to 60 percent of their time at its 20 UK offices or at client sites, while the rest of their working week can be spent working remotely. Also, PwC’s staff will now have greater flexibility to decide their working hours, can log on at times that suit them, and many employees will be given a half-day on Fridays in July and August (just for 2021 as an experiment).

Other businesses that have announced a change from the traditional 9 to 5 office working practices include the Nationwide building society (where many staff have the choice of office or remote working) and oil company BP whose staff can spend two days a week working from home.

Not Everyone Agrees

Not everyone is in favour of a post-pandemic hybrid, blended approach to work.  For example, in February, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Soloman, publicly rejected the idea of flexible/hybrid working as an “aberration” because it doesn’t fit with an ‘apprenticeship culture’.

Also, Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently highlighted the benefits of workers actually spending physical time together in the office.

Impact on City Centres and Surrounding Businesses

Reducing office space in city-centres, however, could have a negative impact on many of the surrounding (and dependent) businesses such as sandwich shops, other retailers, cleaners, transport workers, bars, restaurants, and gyms.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This story is really about what post-pandemic working will look like for many big businesses with costly, often city-centre and/or prime location office spaces that have traditionally relied upon everyone coming to work at the office.  The pandemic forced many businesses to look again at their model for the working week and their costs and the signs are that there will be a clear move to hybrid working and a blended approach. This means a reduction of office portfolios for many big business and perhaps other ideas for office space such as flexible space, ‘subleasing’ models and partnerships for shared office space.

In this article, we take a brief look at what a VPN is, how it works, its advantages, plus its disadvantages.

What Is A VPN?

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a service that allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the Internet, thereby creating a secure, protected, encrypted ‘tunnel’. A VPN is a private, secure, way to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if your computing devices are directly connected to the private network.

How Does a VPN Work?

A VPN works by routing your device’s internet connection through your VPN provider’s private server rather than your internet service provider (ISP). This creates an encrypted virtual tunnel. Also, the fact that your traffic is exiting the VPN provider’s server means that your true IP address is hidden, thereby hiding your identity and location.

Why Use A VPN?

There are many reasons why people use VPNs including:

– A general wish to keep data secure, keep online activity private, and feel safer.

– Protection from the risks of using public Wi-Fi networks (e.g. while out and about).

– Maintaining security when working remotely/from home (as many have done during the pandemic).

– As a good way to protect all devices in one go (for example, most paid-for VPNs provide multiple simultaneous connections).

– To escape bandwidth throttling.

– For those living in countries where there are repressive regimes, VPNs can help users stay in touch with the outside without being detected. However, VPNs and proxies have been banned in Russia for several years now, and China has regulated Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) through the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and required developers to seek a license from the government before creating VPNs.

Choosing a VPN

Things to consider when choosing a VPN service include:

– A service with no logging (no keeping of logs) can provide greater privacy.

– Find out where the VPN operator is geographically based.  For example, a VPN company in some countries may be subject to control and interference (enabling logging and adding tracking) by the state.  Many VPN services, for example are based in China.

– Google the VPN service to see if there has been any history of incidents and problems with the service.

– Read reviews about different VPN services (however, you should appreciate that that some may be unreliable, paid-for reviews).

– Make sure that the VPN service you choose has enough ‘exit nodes’ in the location you want to connect from in order to get better speed and service.

– Check whether the service disallows certain protocols e.g., P2P traffic, thereby potentially negatively affecting the service levels at certain times.

Advantages

Some advantages of VPNs include:

– Getting around geo-locking of content.  For example, a VPN can make a user look like they are in a region where content is available, thereby giving the user access to their favourite content wherever they are.

– VPNs provide safety, security, and anonymity e.g., they hide details such as location.

– VPNs are a good way to provide a secure connection for remote workers.

– Convenience. Having a VPN that can easily switched on (e.g., while using a device in public place such as a café) offers a very convenient mobile security and privacy solution.

– If shopping online, using a VPN can help save money by getting around different prices for services based on region.

– VPNs can represent a very cost-effective security measure when compared to the costs of some security software (licensing fees) and firewalls.

Disadvantages

Some of the disadvantages of VPNs include:

– Since a VPN is a virtual connection inside a physical network, slow connection speeds can sometimes be the result. VPN service providers are, however working on ways to minimise this problem.

– VPN blockers can be used by companies looking to charge users based on their geographic location.

– Setting up some VPNs can be complicated, and poor configuration from poor setup could lead to information leaks.

– Dropped connections can be a problem with VPNs. This can mean that a user’s true network information is displayed and can also lead to problems with a user’s ISP if sites have been visited that violate the ISP’s terms of service.

– VPNs may make it more challenging for activities that require bandwidth (e.g. gaming), however this can be easily enabled and disabled.

Popular VPNs

Popular VPN services promoted in the UK include ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, IPVanish, CyberGhost, Hotspot Shield, ProtonVPN, and Private Internet Access.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

A VPN is a convenient and effective security and privacy tool that has become particularly relevant for remote workers over the last year. Choosing a trusted, paid-for VPN solution with a good reputation is advisable for maximum peace of mind and VPNs offer benefits beyond just security (e.g. getting around geo-locking of content). It should always be remembered, however, that a VPN is one of many different tools and tactics that businesses can use as part of a much broader business and cyber security strategy.