This week’s stories are about tech, startup and sustainability, coming from the UK, France and the USA
1-One million UK students to get AI training in new government initiative
The UK government has announced a major skills initiative aimed at preparing students for a future workforce shaped by artificial intelligence. I read this story at Independent and with official forecasts suggesting AI will influence the roles of around 10 million workers by 2035, the new programme will equip one million students with the knowledge and resources needed to pursue careers in technology.
As part of the £187 million “TechFirst” scheme, secondary school students across the country will gain access to AI-focused educational tools, the story noted. A key component of the initiative, known as TechYouth, will invest £24 million to provide AI training in every UK secondary school over the next three years, according to the story.
Speaking at London Tech Week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also revealed a £1 billion investment to boost the UK’s computing capacity twentyfold, reinforcing his vision of the UK becoming a global AI leader. He emphasized that this expansion would help the country become an “AI maker, not an AI taker”.
Starmer also addressed public concerns about AI replacing human jobs, asserting that technology can enhance, rather than diminish, human potential. He encouraged society to embrace AI’s benefits rather than fear them, as the story put it. (By the way I have a story here and a Turkish e-commerce price comparison acquires the UK competitor)
Alongside the educational drive, a new AI tool named ‘Extract’ will be deployed to accelerate planning processes. The software can digitize and analyze planning applications rapidly, supporting the government’s goal to build 1.5 million homes, the story emphasized.
Keir Starmer, Primer Minister of UK, delivering a speech at the London Tech Week (Photo: AP)
2-L’Oréal, NVIDIA Partner to advance AI-driven beauty innovation
L’Oréal Groupe is teaming up with NVIDIA to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across the beauty industry, aiming to transform consumer experiences through cutting-edge technologies.
The partnership will use NVIDIA’s AI Enterprise platform to streamline the development of advanced tools such as 3D digital rendering and generative AI, which L’Oréal plans to integrate into its product design, marketing, and consumer engagement strategies.
“Our goal is to merge creativity with technology to deliver exceptional experiences as generative and agentic AI reshape customer expectations,” said Asmita Dubey, L’Oréal’s Chief Digital and Marketing Officer. “Collaborating with NVIDIA enables us to turn innovative beauty ideas into reality.”
The companies are already working on several joint projects. L’Oréal’s in-house generative AI platform, CREAITECH, uses NVIDIA’s platform to create and scale 3D renderings of products for faster, more creative advertising campaigns across digital channels.
Another initiative, Noli — a L’Oréal-backed AI-powered beauty marketplace — is reshaping how consumers discover and buy beauty products. The platform uses AI diagnostics built on over a million skin data points and thousands of formulations to offer personalized recommendations.
As part of the collaboration, Noli recently launched the AI Refinery, developed in partnership with NVIDIA and Accenture and hosted on Microsoft Azure. The tool is designed to allow fast, responsible AI experimentation and deployment, with the goal of revolutionizing beauty shopping at scale.
L’Oréal, NVIDIA Partner to advance AI-driven beauty innovation (Photo: L’Oréal)
3-Google invests in smart farming to save billions of liters of water
Google is partnering with agricultural technology firm Arable to fund smart irrigation projects across farms in North and South Carolina, with the goal of saving 2 billion liters of water over the next eight years.
I read this story at ESGtoday and Google plans to invest more than $4 million to deploy Arable’s data-driven irrigation systems across 20,000 acres of farmland, the companies announced. The collaboration is part of Google’s broader water stewardship initiative, which aims to replenish more freshwater than the company uses by 2030, according to the story.
Founded in 2014, Arable uses a combination of IoT sensors, machine learning and modeling to give farmers real-time insights into crop health, soil moisture, and weather patterns. Its platform enables growers to make more efficient irrigation decisions, conserving water while improving crop yield and profitability, noted the story.
The initiative is expected to benefit groundwater reserves in some of the region’s most vulnerable river basins and aquifers. Farmers will also receive training on how to use the technology, and the projects are projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to water and energy use.
Google’s involvement builds on its 2021 pledge to become “water positive” by the end of the decade. The company said the partnership would contribute toward its goal of replenishing 120% of the freshwater it consumes, as the story put it.
