G7 Calls for Adoption of International Technical Standards For AI

File photo: Digital and technology ministers attend a photo session during the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers' Meeting in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, on April 29, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS
File photo: Digital and technology ministers attend a photo session during the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers' Meeting in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, on April 29, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS
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G7 Calls for Adoption of International Technical Standards For AI

File photo: Digital and technology ministers attend a photo session during the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers' Meeting in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, on April 29, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS
File photo: Digital and technology ministers attend a photo session during the G7 Digital and Tech Ministers' Meeting in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan, on April 29, 2023, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations on Saturday called for the development and adoption of international technical standards for trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) as lawmakers of the rich countries focus on the new technology.
While the G7 leaders, meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, recognised that the approaches to achieving "the common vision and goal of trustworthy AI may vary", they said in a statement that "the governance of the digital economy should continue to be updated in line with our shared democratic values", Reuters reported.
Generative AI, the subset of AI popularized by the ChatGPT app, found special mention as the G7 leaders said they "need to immediately take stock of the opportunities and challenges of generative AI."



Salesforce Gains as Software Firm Bets on AI Tools to Power Growth

The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Salesforce Gains as Software Firm Bets on AI Tools to Power Growth

The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, US October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Shares of Salesforce gained more than 5% on Thursday as investors cheered the customer relationship management software maker's upbeat quarterly results and its artificial intelligence push to drive growth.

The company has been heavily investing to integrate its AI technologies into existing products, such as its messaging platform Slack, to enhance their capabilities and attract more customers.

"We continue to see Salesforce as an under-appreciated AI winner as its differentiated data and early success in creating/deploying GenAI agents," Reuters quoted Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan as saying.

Wall Street was concerned that tempered cloud spending would affect Salesforce in a tough economy, but the software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm reported better-than-expected revenue, profit and margins in the second quarter.

Salesforce also raised its profit forecast for the year ending January 2025, as margins continue to expand, thanks to its restructuring efforts last year.

The stock is trading at 24.49 times that of Wall Street's profit expectations, compared with 52.11 for SaaS peer ServiceNow and cloud contact center firm Five9's 13.30.

Salesforce is set to add $14 billion to its market capitalization if premarket gains hold. The company's valuation stood at $248 billion as of Wednesday's close.

"We think these results alone are not good enough to drive a sustainable rally from here. For that, we need more catalysts, which could come with the new AI solutions," which are set to be showcased at its event Dreamforce and launched in October, Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow said.

Some analysts believe that sustained growth in the coming quarters can come through customer support platform Agentforce, which is not yet commercially available.