The Signal Brief

In India, streamers are on a self-censorship overdrive. Netflix and Prime Video have put quite a few finished films on the backburner, presumably because they were deemed too political. In other news, the hunger for instant noodles is growing across the world. The Signal Daily is produced in association with IVM.The episode was researched and written by Dhruv Sharma and Anup SemwalEdited by Roshni...

OpenAI’s board didn’t budge; it stood by its decision to fire its CEO. Sam Altman is now heading to Microsoft, where he will lead a new advanced AI research team. In today’s episode, we discuss where the industry will go from here. In other news, Gautam Singhania, Chairman of the Raymond Group, is splitting from his wife of 32 years, Nawaz Modi. Tune in to find out what will become of their shared...

This was indeed a wild weekend. On Friday, OpenAI’s board fired Sam Altman, only to (reportedly) ask him to come back a day later. Tune in to today’s episode as we discuss what is cooking at the world’s hottest AI startup. In other news, Ahmedabad also saw a wild weekend as World Cup fever sent ticket prices and hotel rates to the moon. With Modi's stadium in the spotlight, the real winner wasn't...

On Tuesday, businessman Subrata Roy died in a private hospital in Mumbai. His is a complicated legacy. Who was he? An altruistic visionary or a megalomaniac with a God complex? In other news, American grandparents don’t like to be called granny or grandpa. They want their grandkids to call them Grams, Glamma, G-Daddy, Big Pop, or pretty much any name you can use as a rapper. And in today’s third s...

In this episode of The Signal Daily, we are bringing back two of our timeless stories. Asia might be in the midst of a myopia epidemic. In other news, we are talking about the world of returned products. According to The New Yorker, the total value of returned goods in the US each year is getting close to a whopping trillion dollars. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Signal Daily, we are bringing back two of our timeless stories. According to the Wall Street Journal, people obsessed with maximising their sleep potential are developing orthosomnia — anxiety about optimising sleep. In other news, Nature reported that a bio-technology company in the USA is testing more complex genome editing than previously performed in humans. So are we an...

In this episode of The Signal Daily, we are bringing back two of our timeless stories. In the art world, Marina Abramovic's latest exhibition requires visitors to walk between two naked models to get in. And now we are wondering what has become of art in the new world? Meanwhile,  Indians are overdosing on salt. According to the latest estimates, Indians consume 8 grams of salt a day against the W...

In this episode of The Signal Daily, we are bringing back two of our timeless stories. For the first story, we are discussing all the absurd mental calculations folks do in a bid to rationalise splurging on things they probably don't need all that badly.— and how businesses exploit this quirky consumer behaviour. And for second story, climate change is now posing a serious challenge in the fight a...

Looks like it. Humane, a secretive tech company, rolled out its first gadget, the Humane AI pin. What's interesting is that it's being touted as a smartphone, but get this—it doesn't have a screen! In other news, we are talking about Sivakasi, a tiny town in Tamil Nadu that's basically the go-to spot for making fireworks and matches in India. And guess what? This year marks a hundred years of this...

Chinese video games are steadily tip-toeing towards the spotlight in the global market, and increasingly edging out American and Japanese games. In other news, Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain-implant startup is looking for its first volunteer for human trials. Tune in to The Signal Daily to know more! The Signal Daily is produced in association with IVM.The episode was researched and written by Dhruv...

India's IT sector is going through its weakest revenue growth in a decade, mainly because the demand for tech services worldwide is slowing down. The reason behind this is that clients are now putting their money into AI rather than the broader IT field. And speaking of AI, it's making waves by replacing human CEOs. Curious to know more? Check out this episode of The Signal Daily for further detai...

Today's episode unfolds the narrative of how the seemingly government-operated Bank of Baroda inadvertently placed its customers in jeopardy of falling victim to scams. Dive right in for all the juicy details. In other news, the Indian Women's Rugby Team grabbed the silver medal at Asia Rugby Sevens. Find out why it's such a big deal on The Signal Daily! The Signal Daily is produced in association...

So, after getting into football and golf, Saudi Arabia is eyeing the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of cricket's most profitable leagues. According to reports from Bloomberg, advisers to Saudi Arabia's de-facto ruler and crown prince have suggested to the Indian government to  shift the IPL into a holding company, opening the door for Saudi Arabia to snag a chunk of it. In other news, there's a...

In a recent Business Standard article, Vanita Kohli-Khandekar shared that Zee, a major media company in India, is using its own AI tool named ScriptGPT to assist in writing scripts. In other news, YouTube is once again cracking down on ad-blockers. What does that mean? Find out more on The Signal Daily! And for our third segment, we talk about how those SEO experts have ruined the internet. Tune i...

Google Registry has introduced something new with the .ing domain, and it's now available through its Early Access program. And for the deep dive we are talking about the money side of horror movies. Hollywood has rolled out a whopping 46 new horror films in 2023, making it the go-to genre for big profits. The burning question is: How do these low-budget horror films end up giving producers a huge...

Yup, you read that right. AI Modi is causing quite a stir on Indian Instagram, underscoring the growing impact of artificial intelligence on future elections. Dive right in, as we talk about the bigger picture. In other news, the value of X (previously known as Twitter) has seen a significant drop, plummeting by more than half following Elon Musk's acquisition, now standing at $19 billion. Tune in...

Credit card companies and international artists are proving to be a winning combination. United Overseas Bank, for example, saw its credit card business soar by 89% year-on-year to $104 million this quarter, thanks to the "Taylor Swift effect." In India, Kotak Mahindra Bank is replicating this success with Ed Sheeran's concert. Meanwhile, Google is placing a significant bet on Anthropic. The big q...

So, last year, around 42,000 Indians entered the U.S. illegally via the Mexico border, and the numbers spiked post-pandemic. Why? Money talks. In other news, North and South Korea had another showdown, but this time it was on the soccer field. Tune in to The Signal Daily to know more! The Signal Daily is produced in association with IVM.The episode was researched and written by Dhruv Sharma and An...

In this special episode, Rajneil Kamath, co-founder of The Signal, sits down for a chat with our guest speaker Saikat Mitra, Vice President and Head of Trust & Safety, APAC at Google.  The discussion delves into Saikat's role as Head of Trust and Safety, the newly announced Digikavach initiative and how it will interface with a daily user. The conversation also covers challenges and the next s...

So, here's the deal - live shopping in India has been a bit of a rollercoaster. BulBul and Moj tried their luck but had to pull the plug on their live shopping features to cut losses. Now, Amazon is giving it a shot, but only time will tell if they'll make it in this tough market. In other news, there's this ongoing showdown between IIMs and the government, both wanting more control. And in today'...

In today’s episode, we are discussing Nightshade, a tool capable of making AI think a dog is a cat, a hat is a cake, and a car is a crow, thus causing image-generating models to malfunction in unexpected ways. We’re also examining the expansion of big oil. This month, two major deals suggest that America’s largest oil companies believe that demand for oil will remain strong, at least until 2050. W...

As of today, there are 19 days left until Diwali, and we are already gasping. The Air Quality Index is plummeting in Mumbai and Delhi as smog engulfs the cities. Meanwhile, in South Korea, a Bible chatbot modelled after ChatGPT is making waves. Will it replace Metatron as the Voice of God? Tune in to today's episode to find out. The Signal Daily is produced in association with IVM.The episode was...

We're asking this question because it's clear that not as many tourists are coming to India. Before the pandemic hit, we had around 11 million foreign visitors in 2019. But now, those numbers have dropped, mainly because of global political issues. Meanwhile, in a popular tourist destination, Himachal Pradesh, a basic crypto scam managed to trick the police officers there. Tune in to this episode...

Reliance Industries' shareholder proxy advisors aren't thrilled about how Mukesh Ambani is handing over control, especially raising eyebrows at the age of the youngest son, Anant Ambani. Listen in to find out what's the deal here. For the deep dive, we have a bunch of Netflix updates. It's currently batting for ads and making a run for sports. And for our third segment, we are talking about 'funfl...

On October 17th, X introduced a new subscription plan, asking users to shell out $1 a year to keep using the platform. So much for free speech, huh Musk?  In other news, Victoria's Secret is trying to bring back the sexy vibes. What does this mean? Tune in to The Signal Daily to know more!  The Signal Daily is produced in association with IVM.The episode was written and researched by Dhruv Sharma...