Author: The Conversation

Experienced directors of companies are in high demand in countries around the world. For this reason, many hold multiple directorships. There’s an upside to this. Directors with multiple directorships are able to gain more knowledge, experience and access to social networks and resources, thus adding more value to the company. But there’s also a downside. When directors sit on too many company boards they might become what’s referred to as ‘overboarded’. When directors serve on an excessive number of boards, they run the risk of not having the time or capacity to contribute effectively to the work of each board.…

ChatGPT is a powerful language model developed by OpenAI that has the ability to generate human-like text, making it capable of engaging in natural language conversations. This technology has the potential to revolutionise the way we interact with computers, and it has already begun to be integrated into various industries. However, the implementation of ChatGPT in the field of higher education in the UK poses a number of challenges that must be carefully considered. If ChatGPT is used to grade assignments or exams, there is the possibility that it could be biased against certain groups of students. For example, ChatGPT…

You may know nothing about it, but your phone – or your laptop or tablet – could be taken over by someone else who has found their way in through a back door. They could have infected your device with malware to make it a “bot” or a “zombie” and be using it – perhaps with hundreds of other unwitting victims’ phones – to launch a cyberattack. Bot is short for robot. But cyberbots don’t look like the robots of science fiction such as R2-D2. They are software applications that perform repetitive tasks they have been programmed to do. They…

It’s hard to imagine that the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the fourth industrial revolution can be part of the same conversation. But, as a briefing paper by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) points out: Over 70% of the 136 SDG targets could be enabled by technology applications already in deployment. To be achieved, both ideas – sustainable development and the fourth industrial revolution – require innovative thinking and a change of attitude. The fourth industrial revolution is defined by many as a period of rapid evolution caused by digitalisation, globalisation and technological innovation. It has…

China has rapidly become Africa’s most important infrastructure builder, and the footprint of Chinese construction companies is seen in cities, towns and villages across the continent. With the launch of Beijing’s “Go Global” policy in 2000, and President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, the volume of roads, bridges, railways, power stations and other infrastructure built by China has increased markedly. The number of overseas contracts signed by Chinese companies more than doubled from just under 6,000 in 2004 to almost 12,000 in 2019. In 2019, Chinese companies won over US$250 billion of infrastructure contracts around the world,…

From steam power and electricity to computers and the internet, technological advancements have always disrupted labor markets, pushing out some jobs while creating others. Artificial intelligence (AI) remains something of a misnomer – the smartest computer systems still don’t actually know anything – but the technology has reached an inflection point where it’s poised to affect new classes of jobs: artists and knowledge workers. Specifically, the emergence of large language models – AI systems that are trained on vast amounts of text – means computers can now produce human-sounding written language and convert descriptive phrases into realistic images. The Conversation…

Where is the global economy heading in 2023? After all the challenges of last year, it’s a question we ask with trepidation. Just as the economy was dealing with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February ramped up inflation. Significant rises in the cost of vital items such as food and energy created a cost of living crisis that has engulfed households and businesses. Central banks reacted with a raft of interest-rate hikes, while a wave of industrial action saw workers in many countries fighting for pay and conditions to keep pace with this…

Imagine starting your work day with a fresh coconut juice perched by your laptop as you gaze over the ocean or a tropical rainforest. It’s the sort of thing to fantasise about during long, tiresome commutes and days in a claustrophobic, noisy office. But so long as you have the right type of job, and an accommodating employer (not Elon Musk), it could be your reality. The war for talent is no longer just between companies. More than 40 nations or territories now offer “digital nomad” visas to attract those able to be employed in one country while living, and…

By Bomikazi Zeka Debt, in some form or another, is part of our financial profiles whether we like it or not. And it can be a useful way to build wealth if it is managed carefully and wisely. For example, you may borrow money from the bank to buy an asset – a resource of economic value that generates income from its productive use. Investment property is an example. So investing in an income-producing property can be a good idea. If you are already in the property market, the home equity you’ve accumulated – the share of the property value…

Your heart beats around 100,000 times every day. Heart rate is a key marker of cardiovascular activity and an important vital sign. But your pulse is not as steady as a precision clock – nor would you want it to be. As a cardiovascular physiologist, I measure heart rate in nearly every experiment my students and I perform. Sometimes we use an electrocardiogram, such as you’d see in a medical clinic, which uses sticky electrodes to measure electrical signals between two points of your body. Other times we use a chest strap monitor, like ones you might see on someone…