Category: Young Turks

Startups should be chasing sustainable profitability & not IPOs, says PhonePe CEO

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs famously remarked, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”

CNBC-TV18 annually recognises and applauds this persistence in the pursuit of entrepreneurial visions by honouring two emerging companies at the India Business Leader Awards (IBLA).

At the CNBC-TV18 IBLA 2023, PhonePe was crowned the Young Turk of the Year. The fintech giant, backed by Walmart, serves two out of three Indians, totalling 500 million users. As the leading player in UPI payments, the platform processes a staggering five billion digital transactions each month, facilitating over 35 million merchants in accepting digital payments.

In 2023, PhonePe embarked on a year of new beginnings, expanding its vision beyond payments. The company diversified into hyperlocal e-commerce, insurance, stock broking, lending, wealth management, and even introduced a challenger app to the ubiquitous Google Play Store.

The Young Turk Startup of the Year at CNBC-TV18 IBLA 2023 was awarded to BluSmart. This startup is transforming urban mobility by electrifying its fleet and fundamentally altering the way people move.

Founded just four years ago, BluSmart has completed over 10 million rides, covering a distance of 325 million kilometres and saving more than 21,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Racing towards a greener future, the company aims to double its fleet to 10,000 electric cars by March 2024.

To delve into the journeys and future trajectories of these companies, CNBC-TV18 engaged in discussions with Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO of PhonePe, and Anmol Jaggi, Co-Founder & CEO of BluSmart.

Watch the accompanying video for the entire discussion.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

ChatGPT Turns One: A recap of breakthroughs, backlash, and billion-dollar bets

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

A year ago, on November 30, 2022, OpenAI introduced generative AI, heralded as the greatest technological leap of our times. ChatGPT, a marvel in machine intelligence, swiftly captivated the world, achieving 100 million monthly users within two months of its launch.

Big tech swiftly recognised the signs, and Microsoft boldly made its third and largest investment in OpenAI, pledging a staggering $10 billion, along with more to dare Google.

But not everyone was on board. An open letter, endorsed by Elon Musk and over 30,000 others, urged a halt on training AI systems surpassing GPT-4 for a minimum of six months, advocating a thorough assessment of risks and challenges.

As predicted in the letter, layoffs began and the global workforce stared at the danger of being replaced with AI—even Hollywood went up in protest.

It was clear that governments needed to build guardrails as the technology was too powerful to be left in the hands of corporations. Testifying before the Senate, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman agreed.

The message resonated, prompting the U.S. Senate to summon big tech leaders to talk policy. Meanwhile, Amazon entered the fray, placing a $4 billion bet on OpenAI competitor, Anthropic.

Read Here | View | One year of ChatGPT: The Hits, the misses, and the future

In the intensifying AI race, establishing a responsible framework gained prominence at the AI Safety Summit in Britain. The Bletchley Declaration, signed by over 25 countries, including India, the U.S., E.U., and China, marked a pivotal step forward.

A year since the launch of ChatGPT, regulatory uncertainty remains, but, OpenAI and other frontier AI labs suggest that what we’ve seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg.

Since its launch last year, ChatGPT-like models have globally transformed the AI landscape. So while India ranks first in AI skill penetration, and boasts of a fifth of the world’s AI talent, as per NASSCOM, the country saw just about $3 billion flow into AI startups in 2022 compared to the US where a whopping $47 billion went into newly formed artificial intelligence firms.

To discuss how far we have come, and what our priorities need to be going forward, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Umakant Soni, Chairman at AIFoundry and Co-founder of AI and Robotics Technology Park; Dhrupal Shah, Co-Founder of STEMpedia and Anuruddh Mishra, Founder of August AI.

For full interview, watch accompanying video

Also Read | OpenAI pauses ChatGPT Plus sign-ups amidst soaring demand

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

OpenAI saga raises need for improved communication and disclosures, say experts

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The abrupt ouster of Sam Altman as the CEO of OpenAI on November 17 set off a series of events that have culminated in the return of Altman to the corner office at the company he founded and with a newly curated board of his choosing.

Sam Altman was ready to join Microsoft with co-founder Greg Brockman and most employees from OpenAI, which has left lawmakers wondering if they can rely on visionary leaders and influential companies to keep us safe without regulation.

Altman may have reclaimed his throne at the frontier of the AI world, while the whirlwind saga that played out on social media lasted five days has certainly left us with questions of governance at both the management and board level. The turmoil at OpenAI has also raised questions about complex corporate structures.

This has also cast a spotlight on the dynamics of founder power, the role of investors, and the significance of employees as equal stakeholders in the quest to build businesses of the future.

Read Here | Amid Sam Altman’s dramatic ouster and return to OpenAI, Robin Sharma lists the biggest mistakes leaders make

Dev Khare, Partner at Lightspeed, emphasised the key lessons emerging from this episode, citing the need for discussions on balancing innovation and safety in the AI sector

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Khare said, “The main lessons that we are drawing from this is—there are discussions to be had about innovation in the AI world versus safety. I think there are discussions to be had on corporate governance and structures, government regulation, and finally, the role of open-source models versus proprietary models. I think these are four areas that sort of got highlighted in these last few days.”

Sanjay Nath, co-founder of Blume Ventures, pointed out that the recent situation at OpenAI highlighted the relationship between the board, founders, and tech talent.

Nath said, “If you look at this dynamic between, let us say, the board and founders and the tech talent, it’s only come to the fore more because it is Sam. The fact that the stakes are so high and the employees were, let us say, loyal to Sam in this case was perhaps not seen in this chess move. So I think, like Dev rightly said, the lesson to draw is that when you make these decisions, it’s complex with many moving parts; there are conflicts and disclosures, so all this has to come to the fore and clear communication is needed. It’s a very important dynamic, but this will bring to the fore, even more importantly, the communication and disclosures that will be wanted in many future cases.”

Watch the accompanying video for more

Also Read | Sam Altman is back at OpenAI, but questions remain as to why he was fired in first place

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow