This week we saw Meta unveil a chip specifically for AI workloads, a government report which found half of UK businesses suffered a cyberattack in 2023, and Google Cloud launch a new AI assistant.

Meta unveils chip designed for AI workloads

Meta has unveiled a new chip specifically designed to handle its AI workloads. 

The company announced the chip on 11 April via a blog post and stated it was part of a wider effort to design the company’s future infrastructure with AI in mind. 

It stated that the chip would help the performance of recommended ads on Meta’s social media platforms Instagram and Facebook. 

The new chip has been deployed in the company’s data centres and has already increased computing efficiency according to the blog post, leaving Meta able to focus on AI. 

Meta stated that it was currently working on other hardware projects related to generative AI and that today’s (11 April) launch was the beginning of its journey. 

Meta’s chip launch has coincided with similar launches from Intel and Google as tech companies seek to become more self-sufficient in AI hardware and infrastructure. 

The value of GenAI deals in the US almost doubling in 2023 as the technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the industry.

According to GlobalData's deal database, GenAI's value totalled $7bn in 2023. This marked a major increase over 2022 when deals totalled $3.3bn.

In 2018, the value of GenAI venture financing deals in the country was just $215m. The volume and value of GenAI deals have been rapidly increasing in the US, driven by the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Half of UK businesses experienced cyberattacks in 2023

Half of UK businesses experienced cyberattacks in 2023 according to the UK government’s cybersecurity breaches survey published on 9 April. 

While half (50%) of all businesses sustained attacks, medium and large businesses were at the highest risk of being targets for cybercriminals. 

Over 70% of large businesses reported that they had been targeted in 2023. 

Phishing was the most reported attack strategy, with 84% of affected businesses reporting phishing attempts. 

In contrast, only 17% of businesses reported that cybercriminals had targeted them using viruses or malware. 

The UK government estimated that each breach cost, medium and large, businesses around £10,000 each. 

The news comes as the value of cybersecurity deals in the UK peaked in 2023, according to GlobalData’s Deals Database.

In 2023, the value of cybersecurity deals totalled $83.6bn, a significant increase over 2022, which saw deals total $47bn.

The value of cybersecurity deals witnessed a peak in 2020 with a total value of

Google Cloud and GFT launch intelligent AI assistant

Google Cloud has launched a generative AI assistant for customer relationship management (CRM) for banks alongside technology service provider GFT.

The assistant, built by GFT, is a conversational platform that could help banks reduce the cost and time spent on CRM. 

Utilising large language models (LLMs) from Google, the assistant can respond to complex and niche customer queries. 

While this provides customers with faster answers to their queries, Google and GFT also stated that using the assistant can help existing bank employees dedicate more time to high value work. 

By providing banking customers with a faster way to retrieve information, Google and GFT’s assistant aims to cut CRM operating costs, saving banks money. 

GFT’s UK chief technology officer, Dean Clark, stated that the announcement was the result of collaboration between leading players in the tech industry. 

The US saw a decrease in the value of cloud deals in 2023, following the industry peaking in investment in 2021.

According to GlobalData's deal database, the value of deals in 2023 totalled $19.1bn. This marked a significant decrease from 2021 when deals totalled $54bn.

According to GlobalData forecasts, the total cloud computing market will be worth $1.4trn in 2027, having grown at a compound annual growth rate of 17.1% from $638.6bn in 2022.