Amazon has announced plans to bring its drone delivery service to the UK and Italy by the end of 2024, in addition to expanding to a third US location. The specific locations have not been disclosed yet. The company’s new MK30 drone will be used for these deliveries, which has improved range, noise reduction, and weather capability. Amazon aims to integrate the drones into its existing delivery network and work closely with regulators and governments to meet its goal of delivering 500 million packages by the end of the decade.

Amazon has announced that it will now deliver medications via drones in College Station, Texas, as part of its expanding drone delivery operations. Customers can receive free deliveries in less than an hour for over 500 medications, including those for flu, asthma, and pneumonia. This move aims to narrow the crucial “golden window” between diagnosis and treatment, improving patient outcomes. The announcement comes as Amazon integrates its pharmacy division, Amazon Pharmacy, into its operations, following the acquisition of Pillpack in 2018. While drone deliveries are currently limited to College Station, Amazon plans to expand drone operations to additional US cities and countries by the end of next year.

Amazon has announced a partnership with MIT and research firm Ipos to study the effects of robotics and AI on human jobs. As a major employer and long-time user of robotics in its fulfillment centers, Amazon is keen to understand the impact on its workforce. While the company argues that robots reduce physical labor, critics believe they make human jobs more robotic, particularly in highly repetitive tasks. The study aims to explore employee and public sentiment towards the increasing presence of robotics and AI in industrial settings. The research will focus on human-robot interaction and effective collaboration for improved performance.

Amazon has announced that it will start testing Agility’s bipedal robot, Digit, in its warehouse facilities. The testing is in its early stages, and Amazon aims to understand the capabilities and compatibility of the robot with its processes. Despite investing in several robotics firms, including Agility, Amazon has not confirmed whether Digit will be deployed in its warehouses, which currently use over 750,000 robot systems. However, Amazon believes that Digit’s ability to move, grasp, and handle items in warehouses can be beneficial for tasks like tote recycling. The company is also ramping up robot production with a new factory in Oregon.

Nvidia and several other chipmakers experienced a drop in shares as the U.S. implemented stricter restrictions on the export of AI chips to China. The demand for AI products and services has fueled the growth of chip stocks over the past year. The new restrictions, which go beyond previous measures introduced by the Biden administration, prohibit the sale of certain Nvidia chips to China. These measures aim to control China’s access to computing power due to concerns over potential military uses. While Nvidia anticipates a long-term sales decrease, the immediate impact on the company’s financial performance is predicted to be minimal.

Rolls-Royce Holdings is reportedly planning to cut approximately 2,500 jobs globally as part of a cost-cutting initiative led by its new CEO, Tufan Erginbilgic. The job cuts are expected to impact hundreds of staff in the UK. Rolls-Royce has not yet commented on the reported job cuts. The company has been focusing on managing costs to counter inflationary pressures, and in May, it denied making any workforce changes.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has announced that it has laid off nearly 700 employees, predominantly from the engineering division, as well as the finance and human resources departments. The social network has witnessed a slowdown in year-over-year revenue growth for the past eight quarters, with just a 5% growth in the second quarter. The recent layoffs are part of Microsoft’s overall cost-cutting strategy, which included a previous announcement of 10,000 job cuts in January. LinkedIn is now focusing on recruiting in India, while assuring support and respect for affected employees during the transition.

Negotiations between Hollywood studios and the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union have been suspended, prolonging a three-month work stoppage. The breakdown in talks revolves around disputes over streaming revenue, the use of artificial intelligence, and other key issues. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) stated that the gap between the two sides was too great, while SAG-AFTRA accused the studios of presenting an offer worth less than before the strike began.

One major point of contention is SAG-AFTRA’s demand for a share of streaming revenue, which the AMPTP believes would create an economic burden of over $800 million per year. The union also accused studios of refusing to protect performers from being replaced by AI, while the AMPTP claimed they would obtain actors’ consent for the use of digital replicas. Despite the recent Writers Guild of America (WGA) deal raising hopes for a quick resolution, the stalemate continues, impacting the film and television industry and leaving countless crew members without work.

The emergence of generative AI, which can produce humanlike text and images, has led to concerns about job displacement. However, a new wave of jobs is being created that focus on reviewing the inputs and outputs of next-generation AI models. Companies like Prolific connect AI developers with research participants who are paid to assess the quality of AI-generated material. These human reviewers help guide AI models, identify inaccuracies, and prevent the production of harmful content.

Additionally, prompt engineers play a role in optimizing AI responses by determining the best text-based prompts to use. Human oversight is still crucial for tasks like automating reviews of regulatory documents and legal paperwork, as AI models can make mistakes that need to be identified and corrected. As the demand for AI-related jobs continues to rise, it is important to ensure fair and ethical treatment of AI workers and transparency in AI model development.