IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK

[Quantum Technology] When will quantum computers finally break into the market? What the Gartner hype cycle tells us is that there will be plenty of winners in quantum computing but lots of losers too. Right now, though, there is plenty of money going into quantum computing, withestimates from Quantum Insider putting the figure at £3.2bn in 2022. Some firms are even getting product orders. They includeUniversal Quantum, which has baggeda €67m contract with the German Aerospace Center. There’s also ORCA Computing, which wona business-start up award from the Institute of Physics in 2020 and now has an order for its ORCA PT-1 device from the UK’s Ministry of Defence and others from the Israel Quantum Computing Centre.

[AI] ChatGPT can now search the internet in real-time with its new "Browsing" plugin. OpenAI has implemented initial support for plugins in ChatGPT and access is slowly rolling out to early users. In line with their iterative deployment philosophy, they are gradually rolling out plugins in ChatGPT so they can study their real-world use, impact, and safety and alignment challenges—all of which they have to get right in order to achieve their mission. Plugins are tools designed specifically for language models with safety as a core principle, and help ChatGPT access up-to-date information, run computations, or use third-party services.

[Blockchain] UBS has completed its first cross-border intraday repo deal via blockchain. Earlier this week, Swiss bank UBS completed its first cross-border intraday repo deal with a global Asian bank using the distributed ledger repo (DLR) platform of US-based Broadridge Financial Solutions. The transaction is seen as an important step towards more efficient intraday liquidity management since one of the main advantages of DLR is greater flexibility in settlement timing. Previously, most transactions were internal, but now that Broadridge has more users, participants can also execute external bilateral transactions such as UBS's.

[Industrial Metaverse] Promising Outlook for the Digital Twin Market in the Healthcare Sector. According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Digital Twin Market by Application, Industry Vertical, and Region: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021–2030", the global electrical digital twin market size was valued at $149.10 million in 2020, and is projected to reach $556.4 million by 2030, registering a CAGR of 14.2% from 2021 to 2030. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chain, regional landscape, and competitive scenario.

[General technology] U.S. and international law enforcement agencies seize Genesis Market, a notorious hacker marketplace for stolen logins. The FBI announced the takedown, dubbed “Operation Cookie Monster”, on Wednesday. In addition to the FBI, the notice says the takedown involved law enforcement agencies from the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland and Sweden. The operation also saw about 120 people arrested and 200 searches carried out globally. The U.K.’s National Crime Agency said it arrested 19 suspected site users, including two men aged 34 and 36, who are being held on suspicion of fraud and computer misuse.

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OTHER NEWS AND TOP READS

• ​Italy curbs ChatGPT, starts probe over privacy concerns - Reuters
• ​Alphabet’s Google and DeepMind Pause Grudges, Join Forces to Chase OpenAI - The Information
• ​10 Quantum Computing Groups Known for Collaborating With Startups - The Quantum Insider
• ​JPMorgan Chase and QC Ware Evolve Hedging for a Quantum Future - J.P. Morgan
• ​Switzerland planning stablecoin and live wholesale CBDC pilots - Ledger Insights
• ​UAE central bank selects technology and legal partners for CBDC project - Finextra
• ​Fast track to industrial metaverse: Extending Schaeffler's Future Factory - Deloitte
• ​Making retail smarter with digital twins - BCS
• ​Amazon’s Drone Delivery Dream Is Crashing - Wired
• ​Saudi’s Savvy Games Group to acquire mobile games company Scopely for $4.9 billion - TechCrunch

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FEATURED

How Unilever is using robots, AI and testing quantum computing to innovate in beauty.

By: Zofia Zwieglinska

Multinational consumer goods company Unilever, which owns brands ranging from Dove to premium Tatcha and Hourglass Cosmetics, has used machine learning since the 1950s. Now, it’s developing robotics and AI for use in product testing and development.

Unilever’s beauty and wellbeing arm represents 20% of the company’s annual revenue – in 2022, that equated to $13.3 billion, and sales have been on the rise. The company’s 120,000-square-foot Materials Innovation Factory (MIF), opened in 2017 in partnership with the University of Liverpool in Liverpool, U.K.. is run by over 250 researchers.

The MIF has been using robots and AI to test and develop its products for the last five years. In 2022, products that were developed using MIF technologies drove one-third of its tech-derived product sales. They included the Dove Intensive Repair Shampoo and Conditioner, the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo and the Hourglass Cosmetics Red 0 Lipstick, which were all made with AI and robotics.

Source: https://video.universal-robots.com/universal-robots-unilever

“The robots we use in the lab probably exceed the output of three or four people doing the same task,” said Dr. Paul Jenkins, global research director of beauty, personal care science and Technology at MIF. “If a person was doing the same task, it would take them much longer. There are also other complications, like the boredom it would entail after a continuous period, and also the great potential for injury due to the involved repetition.”

Other uses of innovative machines are abundant in the Unilever lab. A rheometer is used to measure the viscosity and acidity of Dove, Sunsilk and Alberto Balsam formulas. It collects 400-500 data points per month. To make the perfect, cruelty-free red pigment for the Hourglass Cosmetics red lipstick, a spectrophotometer was incorporated to measure the pigment’s reflective quality. It took two years to achieve the color without resorting to use of carmine beetles.

The benefits of using robots in a lab setting are obvious. For one, robots can run through the night without experiencing injury due to repetitive tasks. What’s more, they allow for the manipulation of humidity and agitation, as well as speed and force, allowing for thorough trials and experimentation. What’s more, using AI, the data points they provide can be cross-referenced between experiments, increasing the potential for new discoveries and insights.

“We now use AI everywhere,” said Dr. Sam Samaras, global vp of science and technology in Unilever’s beauty and wellness division. “We use AI in our manufacturing plants to make the processes we run more efficient. We also use it to understand the input we get through consumer groups, through active listening and social media. We use it in research whether or not we’re using robotics.”

Read the full article from Glossy: https://www.glossy.co/beauty/how-unilever-is-using-robots-ai-and-testing-quantum-computing-to-innovate-in-beauty/

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