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How generative AI made Nvidia a giant of the S&P 500

5 May 2023Risk Commentary, TechnologyAI, artificial intelligence, equities, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, semiconductorsNick Dunbar

11 years ago, Geoff Hinton and two grad students used a pair of GPU chips to win an image classification contest. Now these chips are powering the generative AI boom and have doubled Nvidia’s market cap.

ARM and the UK stock market’s addiction to foreign capital

6 February 2023Risk Commentary, TechnologyARM Holdings, equities, regulation, semiconductorsNick Dunbar

The UK government is desperate for Softbank-owned ARM Holdings to have a UK listing. But reversing the long-term trend toward foreign ownership of UK assets requires a rethink of the regulatory and tax obstacles to UK share ownership

Did Bayes’ theorem kill a woman in Arizona?

23 March 2018Technologyartificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, Google, UberNick Dunbar

The death of a pedestrian hit by an Uber self-driving car highlights the need to understand the decision-making of autonomous vehicles. The story goes back 17 years to when the technology was first refined.

Artificial intelligence: boom or bubble?

1 April 2016Articles, Technologyartificial intelligenceNick Dunbar

Artificial intelligence is booming and technology companies are pouring billions into AI research. But has AI really got to a take off point, and what does the history of the field have to tell us about the prospects for success?

Borges, Babel and the race against the machine

8 April 2015Comment, Technologyeconomics, fiction, innovation, MathematicsNick Dunbar

In a world of information, the way we measure combinations of words or ideas is important. Some people say it might even save humanity. Last year, economists Eric Brynolfsson and Andrew McAfee suggested that increasing combinations of business ideas could save us from being supplanted by intelligent machines. Like any powerful algorithm, combinatorics is both…

Disruptive Business Models, Uber and Plane Crashes

30 January 2014Technologyinnovation, technology, transportation, UberNick Dunbar

Disruptive internet-based business models have upended traditional industries like recorded music, newspapers and retailing. The latest flurry of innovation involves start-ups that take a service traditionally provided by a regulated firm - such as a hotel or taxi company - transforming it into commission-paying transactions between buyers and sellers. Accessed via smartphone apps and 'regulated'…