Saudi Arabia to Host First International AI Olympiad

SDAIA will hold the first international edition of the International AI Olympiad (IAIO) between September 8-12
SDAIA will hold the first international edition of the International AI Olympiad (IAIO) between September 8-12
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Saudi Arabia to Host First International AI Olympiad

SDAIA will hold the first international edition of the International AI Olympiad (IAIO) between September 8-12
SDAIA will hold the first international edition of the International AI Olympiad (IAIO) between September 8-12

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) will hold the first international edition of the International AI Olympiad (IAIO) between September 8-12, in which some 25 countries are expected to take part.

The event will be held in collaboration with the International Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Ethics (ICAIRE) and the International Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI) in Slovenia, under UNESCO auspices.

SDAIA aims to establish this international Olympiad as a premier platform for AI competitions, nurturing talent, and fostering skill development. The event will be a forum for scientists and enthusiasts from around the world to exchange ideas, enhance capabilities, and explore the latest advancements in the field.

Moreover, SDAIA envisions IAIO as a catalyst for future global expansions, serving as a powerful motivator for young men and women the world over to engage in activities pertaining to AI.

This initiative aims to cultivate a new generation equipped with a profound understanding of the transformative technologies that have become an integral part of humanity's daily lives and business systems.

In preparation for the Olympiad, SDAIA conducted a series of virtual lectures on AI, on the Olympiad website, designed to qualify international teams for the competition and empower interested students from various countries to expand their knowledge in this crucial domain.

The lectures spanned five weeks and covered diverse topics such as Introduction to AI, Social Impact of AI (ethics, fairness), Kernel Methods, Working with Data, Deployed Deep Generative Models, Supervised Learning, AI-Search, Learning Evaluation, Reinforcement Learning, and Unsupervised Learning.

Each participating country fielded a team of up to four students, who will compete individually over two days during the third edition of the Global AI Summit. The first day is slated to focus on scientific questions, while the second involve solving scientific problems using AI technologies through a specially designed platform.

IAIO aligns with SDAIA's commitment to raising the Kingdom's global standing, making it a leading force in data and AI. It also contributes to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the UN by raising awareness about the significance of advanced technologies and equipping communities with the knowledge and skills necessary to master them.



PayPal Pushes into In-person Payments with Cashback Rewards, Apple Integration

The PayPal logo is seen at a high-tech park in Beersheba, southern Israel August 28, 2017. (Reuters)
The PayPal logo is seen at a high-tech park in Beersheba, southern Israel August 28, 2017. (Reuters)
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PayPal Pushes into In-person Payments with Cashback Rewards, Apple Integration

The PayPal logo is seen at a high-tech park in Beersheba, southern Israel August 28, 2017. (Reuters)
The PayPal logo is seen at a high-tech park in Beersheba, southern Israel August 28, 2017. (Reuters)

PayPal is expanding into US point-of-sale payments by integrating its debit card with Apple's mobile wallet and offering cashback rewards, as the global online payments giant seeks direct competition with tech companies and banks.

The bid to grab a slice of in-person purchases at stores, cafes and restaurants is part of an ambitious turnaround strategy by new CEO Alex Chriss who joined the company from Intuit last year.

While PayPal has long dominated online payments and peer-to-peer payments via its Venmo app, it has not pushed consumers to use its products in person, Reuters reported.

"E-commerce has obviously been one of the fastest growing areas where people are spending their dollars... but it's not everything," Chriss said. "Now consumers can use PayPal for every purchase, everywhere, every time."

The push into point-of-sales includes 5% cash back for certain products up to $1,000 per month and additional rewards from brands like DoorDash and Sephora.

The value of US debit card payments has jumped in recent years, reaching $4.55 trillion in 2021 up from $2.47 trillion in 2015, according to recent US Federal Reserve data.

Chriss said consumers are becoming increasingly cost-conscious and moving towards debit cards, which allow them to keep within their spending limits.

PayPal will also allow customers to use debit cards with Apple Pay, as users take advantage of mobile wallets and "tap to pay" options.

That makes it among the more competitive debit card cash-back products with only 24% of debit cardholders reporting earning cash-back rewards in 2023, compared with 74% of credit cardholders, a report from purchase rewards firm Valuedynamx showed.

While PayPal has enjoyed a long-held first mover advantage, increasing competition from Apple and Google have taken some share in mobile payments, according to analysts.

As part of the push, the company is making its largest-ever marketing investment to promote using PayPal in person. PayPal declined to disclose amount of that investment, but flagged in its quarterly earnings that marketing and brand campaigns would push up expenses in the second half of the year.

Chriss has called 2024 a "transition year" for PayPal, and has promised to grow revenues beyond transaction-related volume. In January, PayPal launched artificial intelligence-driven products and a one-click checkout feature.

PayPal's stock price is up more than 17% since the beginning of the year, but still trails benchmark S&P 500 index's 22% gain.