Rest of World: Eager to attract investments, politicians in Brazil, India, and other non-Western nations with nascent AI regulations have warmly welcomed major AI companies — Big AI companies have come out hard against comprehensive regulatory efforts in the West — but are receiving a warm welcome from leaders in many other countries.
Khadija Alam / Rest of World: Analysis: Chinese AI researchers produced ~46K collaborative papers with their US counterparts over the past decade, followed by ~19K with researchers in the UK — Over the past 10 years, the U.S. and China have been the most frequent partners in AI research.
Reeta Raman / Rest of World: Authorities in Singapore, which has a dire shortage of nurses, see the potential in AI tools to assist in preventive illness care, especially for the elderly — The country has a dire shortage of nurses, so to fill the manpower gap, it's using AI for preventive care. — • SINGAPORE
Rest of World: Starlink has disrupted Kenya's existing ISP industry since its launch in July 2023, forcing legacy providers to lower prices and increase internet speeds — In Ghana, Starlink is half the price of the local ISP. — Starlink, launched in 2019 by Elon Musk's SpaceX, has become the leading satellite internet provider in the world.
Rest of World: Sources: Foxconn stops sending Chinese employees to iPhone factories in India and recalls already stationed staff, while China stalls equipment shipments — In addition, equipment shipments are delayed, potentially disrupting next-generation iPhone production in India.
Yvonne Lau / Rest of World: Experts say national security and immigration policies could deprive US companies of AI talent from China, which had 47% of the top AI researchers in 2022 — The West may lose out in the talent race amid U.S. national security and immigration hurdles — The U.S. and China …
John Beck / Rest of World: The White Helmets, UNHCR, UNRWA, and other volunteer organizations describe how apps like WhatsApp have transformed communication in conflict and disaster zones — Meta's messaging app has transformed communication in conflict and crisis areas. — Fidaa Maksour, a dispatcher with the White Helmets …
Lillian Perlmutter / Rest of World: Mexico's Yucatán state says AI-powered app MeMind contributed to a 9% drop in suicides over the past two years by connecting 10,000 at-risk people to treatment — MeMind has connected 10,000 at-risk people with mental health treatment, contributing to a 9% drop in suicides.
Sonia Faleiro / Rest of World: How niche communities globally are repurposing WhatsApp, including broadcasting news and shows, matchmaking, organizing prayers, and finding blood donors — The world's most popular messaging platform is synonymous with the internet for millions of people. — • LAGOS, NIGERIA
Issie Lapowsky / Rest of World: How WhatsApp evolved from a messaging app into a business messaging growth platform, aggressively luring big businesses to its suite of paid messaging products — WhatsApp is already the world's most widely used messaging app. Meta wants it to be a lot more. — • PHILADELPHIA, UNITED STATES
Anisha Sircar / Rest of World: A look at Uber Shuttle, the shared bus service that has rolled out in over 20 cities and completed ~30M trips globally, as Uber awaits approval in Bengaluru — Uber Shuttle, a shared bus ride service, is available in two Indian cities. The company plans to launch in three more cities soon.
Michael Beltran / Rest of World: Call center workers in the Philippines, where an estimated 86% of white-collar workers already use AI, say generative AI tools have made work more demanding — BPO workers say AI tools are monitoring their calls, assisting them with customers, and scoring their performance. — • MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Sandy Ong / Rest of World: Singapore, which has clear AV guidelines, is deploying self-driving buses and more as a way to overcome labor shortages and use its scarce land more efficiently — The tiny country has embraced autonomous vehicles as a way to overcome labor shortages and use its scarce land more efficiently.
Daniela Dib / Rest of World: Research center Bitácora Social estimates that six out of 10 catalog sellers in Mexico now sell products from online platforms, including Shein and Temu — A large community of catalog saleswomen are selling items from the Chinese platform. — • MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
Michelle Anindya / Rest of World: How Grab built GrabMaps by using data from drivers, users, and merchants in 500+ Southeast Asian cities, adding 800,000+ km of missing roads to OpenStreetMap — The super-app uses its own drivers and cameras to create hyperlocal maps in eight countries. — • JAKARTA, INDONESIA
Rest of World: Indian mom-and-pop “kirana” stores are struggling to compete with quick commerce on discounts and delivery; ~200K kirana stores have closed in the past year — Services like Blinkit and Zepto are estimated to put more than 25% of India's neighborhood kirana stores out of business by 2030.
Rest of World: Malaysia's Johor state has drawn ~50 data center projects in the last three years, creating 40,000 jobs but raising concerns about power and water shortages — Data centers for companies like Google, Amazon, and Nvidia are transforming Johor state, with locals bracing for higher real estate costs and resource shortages.
Patrick Kho / Rest of World: Support groups in the Philippines blame GCash, the country's most popular payment app with 90M+ active users, for a rise in gambling addiction in the country — The GCash app is ubiquitous in the Philippines, and is being blamed for rising gambling addiction in the country, particularly among women.
Lizzi C. Lee / Rest of World: Chinese state media has embraced the success of Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese AAA game that has sold 20M+ copies globally, hailing it as a soft power export — China is changing its long-critical stance thanks to the smash hit, according to Chinese game developers and industry analysts.
Joanna Chiu / Rest of World: A look at GFWeb, which tracks millions of domains to uncover the Great Firewall's domain blocklists; GFWeb data reveals China blocked ChatGPT on March 2, 2023 — Rest of World received exclusive access to a platform that tracks patterns and timing of Chinese online censorship.
Viola Zhou / Rest of World: Q&A with Alibaba.com president Kuo Zhang on the enduring importance of the US market, navigating geopolitical tensions, competing with Shein and Temu, and more — • LAS VEGAS, UNITED STATES — E-commerce giant Alibabai .com is setting its sights on America's mom-and-pop businesses.
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid / Rest of World: Startups say Pakistan's new China-like firewall is making it harder for them to raise funds, amid complaints about censorship and internet speeds falling by 40% — Internet speeds in the country have dropped by up to 40% due to the government's efforts to monitor internet traffic, said service providers.
Tianyu Fang / Rest of World: As Chinese EV manufacturers consolidate and close, EV owners say they're losing access to smartphone app updates and features that rely on cloud services — As Chinese EV makers close, drivers of “smartphones on wheels” say software updates and maintenance are in jeopardy.
Stan Alcorn / Rest of World: A look at the consequences of Spotify's disinvestment in podcasts in Latin America, where one survey found 90% of podcast listeners used Spotify — In Latin America, “podcast” and “Spotify” became synonymous; now the audio industry is reckoning with the company's retreat. — • BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA
Joanna Chiu / Rest of World: Citizen Lab: Microsoft censors its Bing translation service more extensively in China than its competitors like Baidu Translate and Tencent Machine Translation — New Citizen Lab study comes as U.S. lawmakers scrutinize Microsoft's willingness to comply with demands from Beijing.
Varsha Bansal / Rest of World: Sources detail struggles at Koo, an Indian rival to X, including laying off ~80% of its workforce in recent months and being unable to raise more funds — The microblogging platform — India's first in over 10 languages — went from booming international expansion to near closure in just four years.
Zuha Siddiqui / Rest of World: How Uber-owned Careem went from Pakistan's ride-hailing leader to a distant third player after deprioritizing the country due to its unstable economy — After falling from dominance, Careem is experimenting — from corporate rides to price bidding — to maintain its presence in Pakistan.
Rest of World: A look at activist groups' efforts to keep Amazon, Google, and Microsoft from building more data centers in Chile, amid a drought expected to last until 2040 — Multiple groups are working to keep Amazon, Google, and Microsoft from doubling the number of centers in the country, fearing environmental devastation.
Viola Zhou / Rest of World: How Threads became a gathering space for young progressives in Taiwan, who now use the app to organize protests against pro-China opposition parties — Despite Meta's promise to crack down on political content in the app, Taiwanese activists are using it to organize.
Rest of World: A test of 11 WhatsApp-based fact-checking “tip lines” during elections in India finds long delays and inconsistencies in responses — Rest of World tested 11 leading WhatsApp-based chatbots that promise to help Indian voters identify misinformation.
Srishti Jaswal / Rest of World: As India's elections run from April 19 to June 1, a look at the BJP's vast WhatsApp operations, including using the app to campaign free from public scrutiny — An analysis of thousands of messages reveals how India's ruling party uses the app to campaign free from public scrutiny. — • MANDI, INDIA
Nicholas Yong / Rest of World: Some Singaporean writers resist the government's request to use their works to train a multilingual LLM, citing little clarity on compensation and other issues — Singapore's literary community is pushing back against an official effort to train LLMs using their published works, part of a growing global resistance.
Ananya Bhattacharya / Rest of World: A look at Disney+ Hotstar's and JioCinema's strategy to beat Netflix and Prime Video in India, including by focusing on sports content and affordable pricing — Mukesh Ambani's Reliance and The Walt Disney Company have joined forces creating a hard-to-beat streaming entity in the country.
Jesusegun Alagbe / Rest of World: Filmmakers, critics, and users detail why Prime Video failed in Africa; Amazon laid off staff and scaled back operations on the continent in January 2024 — Filmmakers, critics, and users blame the platform's struggle in Africa on poor user experience, a lack of local content, and mediocre publicity.
Damilare Dosunmu / Rest of World: A look at Visa's and Mastercard's efforts to stay relevant in Africa, including by funding local startups, as users switch to digital wallets and QR codes — From a startup accelerator to funding startups and even investing in telecom companies, the two U.S. giants are steadily increasing their presence on the continent.
Caiwei Chen / Rest of World: Livestreaming on Douyin and Kuaishou is helping attract out-of-town property buyers to Xishuangbanna in China's Yunnan province, despite a nationwide downturn — Real estate agents turn to Douyin and Kuaishou to show properties virtually through livestreaming, drawing the attention of out-of-town buyers.
Morgan Sung / Rest of World: As Twitch shuts down in South Korea citing high costs due to new “sender pays” network rules, livestreamers struggle to use Korean rivals like AfreecaTV — The streaming giant attributed its departure to high network fees. — On February 27, Twitch officially shut down business in South Korea.
Caiwei Chen / Rest of World: Chinese social platforms like Weibo and Douyin require popular users to reveal their real names, forcing some influencers to either cull their followers or quit — Forced to use real names on platforms like Weibo, Chinese influencers quit social media instead.
Rest of World: An in-depth look at how platforms like Shein, Pinduoduo-owned Temu, and TikTok Shop are heralding a new era for Chinese e-commerce by expanding overseas — China is no longer just the world's factory; now, it's also the world's mall. As online shopping slows within China …
Sultan Quadri / Rest of World: Data: African startups raised only $1.3B in the first nine months of 2023, below the $3.3B and $2.9B raised over the same period in 2022 and 2021, respectively — As funding to Africa's once fast-growing startup ecosystem dries up, industry insiders are worried that the ecosystem is unprepared.
Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World: Ahead of India's 2024 elections, politicians are using voice cloning tools to deliver personalized messages, as AI-generated songs featuring Modi gain traction — AI-generated songs, like the ones featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are gaining traction ahead of India's upcoming elections.
Wanqing Zhang / Rest of World: A look at the rise of online feminism in China, driven by content on apps like Weibo, Douyin, WeChat, and Douban, despite increased scrutiny from the platforms — Lying in bed one night in 2021, Zhang Zirui was swiping through Chinese social media app Weibo when she came across a post that gave her pause.
Andrew Deck / Rest of World: Data-labeling firms like Scale AI and Appen are hiring writers and poets with humanities backgrounds to improve the literary quality and creativity of AI tools — Training data companies are grabbing writers of fiction, drama, poetry, and also general humanities experts to improve AI creative writing.
Rest of World: A profile of Japan-based Soramitsu, which helped build Cambodia's “quasi-digital currency” system and is running CBDC studies in other Southeast Asian countries — Soramitsu, a Japanese company riding the wave of blockchain-based products supporting digital payments, has landed several deals with central banks.
Rest of World: How some Chinese data labeling companies hired by Baidu, Alibaba, and JD.com to train AI are exploiting vocational school students via data labeling internships — As part of China's digital underclass, vocational school students work as data annotators - for low pay and little future prospects.
Andrew Deck / Rest of World: A test of ChatGPT's ability to respond in underrepresented languages like Bengali and Kurdish found translation errors, fabricated words, and illogical answers — Outside of English, ChatGPT makes up words, fails logic tests, and can't do basic information retrieval.
Caiwei Chen / Rest of World: Chinese sextortion scammers have flooded X, harassing political dissidents and influential figures since the platform added paid verification in April 2023 — Scammers are targeting Chinese-language users, harassing political dissidents and influential figures.
Martin K.N Siele / Rest of World: In Kenya, the most active African country on TikTok, creators make money with protest livestreams, which protesters say help them stay safe from police violence — At least 23 people have reportedly been killed as crowds oppose proposed tax increases. — • NAIROBI, KENYA
Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World: Some artists say AI tools have made them anxious about the YouTube thumbnail microeconomy's future; creators like MrBeast pay up to $10K for a video thumbnail — Creators like MrBeast pay up to $10,000 for a single YouTube video thumbnail, but the rise of AI tools have some designers anxious about the microeconomy's future.
Nilesh Christopher / Rest of World: Some designers say AI tools have made them anxious about the YouTube thumbnail microeconomy's future; creators like MrBeast pay up to $10K for a video thumbnail — Creators like MrBeast pay up to $10,000 for a single YouTube video thumbnail, but the rise of AI tools have some designers anxious about the microeconomy's future.