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Next Tech News


OPENAI'S CHATGPT CHATBOT TOPS THE LIST BUT THESE ARE THE 9 OTHER MOST POPULAR AI
TOOLS JUST NOW

The OpenAI logo is seen displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer
screen generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model. - Copyright AP
Photo/Michael Dwyer
Copyright AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
By Giulia Carbonaro
Published on 02/02/2024 - 13:37 GMT+1 •Updated 13:38
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ChatGPT remains by far the most popular AI tool, trailed by these less-famous
but still widely used chatbots, image generators, and writing tools.

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In the past couple of years, there’s been an explosion of AI tools popping up
online - and yet ChatGPT, whose appearance in our lives has sparked as much
enthusiasm as controversy, remains the most popular existing tool, according to
a recent study.

Researchers at writerbuddy.ai - an AI writing tool marketed at copywriters,
bloggers, and marketers - found that ChatGPT, the free-to-use chatbot developed
by OpenAI, claimed over 60 per cent of the share of the traffic for AI tools
between September 2022 and August 2023, accumulating a total of 14 billion
visits.



In total, writerbuddy.ai observed 24 billion visits to AI tools made by users
worldwide in the same timeframe - a major growth from previous years.

Related
 * The best AI tools to power your academic research

According to the company’s findings, the AI industry experienced an average
monthly traffic increase of 236.3 million visits.

But not all AI tools are receiving the same amount of love from users. And that
might depend on the fact that the users are barely representative of the global
population.


WHICH ONES ARE THE MOST POPULAR TOOLS AFTER CHATGPT?

In the same period analysed by WriterBuddy, the second most popular AI tool
after ChatGPT was chatbot Character AI, which obtained a total of 3.8 billion
visits between September 2022 and August 2023.

AI writing tool QuillBot trailed Character AI with 1.1 billion visits, followed
by image generator MidJourney with 500.4 million visits and data science tool
Hugging Face with 316.6 million.


Related
 * Artificial intelligence race: These are the countries developing top AI tools

Bard, Google’s answer to ChatGPT, came sixth with 241.6 million visits in the
same timeframe, followed by AI writing tool NovelAI with 238.7 million visits,
video generator CapCut with 203.8 million, chatbot JanitorAI with 192.4 million
and image generator Civitai with 177.2 million.


WHO’S USING THESE TOOLS?

As well as noticeable geographical differences, there's a huge gender gap
between those who are using AI tools and those who aren’t.

According to WriterBuddy's analysis, an overwhelming majority of users of AI
tools in the period observed were male (69.5 per cent), while only 30.5 per cent
were female.

This gap reflects the existing gender divide in the AI sector, where a majority
of workers are male. According to the most recent data from the World Economic
Forum (WEF), just 22 per cent of women make up AI professions globally.



In an interview with Euronews Next at Web Summit in Lisbon in November, Meredith
Whittaker, the president of the messaging app Signal, said that the predominance
of men in the AI sector is dangerous and a reflection of the patriarchal and
misogynistic culture we live in.

Related
 * Forget ChatGPT. These top AI tools will revolutionise the way you work

"We want people in the room and we want the majority of the people in the room,
in my view, to be those who will be most likely to be harmed by those
systems," she said. "And right now, it's the opposite".

There’s also a huge difference in the origin of traffic for these AI tools.

The biggest part of the total traffic (22.62 per cent) came from the United
States, for an overall total of 5.5 billion visits, while 8.52 per cent came
from India, which was the source of 2.1 billion visits.

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Among the top ten countries with the most AI users were also Indonesia (1.4
billion visits), Philippines (1.3 billion visits), Brazil (1.3 billion visits),
United Kingdom (665 million visits), Japan (642 million visits), Germany (630
million visits), Mexico (579 million visits) and Canada (534 million visits).

Related
 * Will ChatGPT and other AI tools replace journalists in newsrooms?

Collectively, European countries had a combined 3.9 billion total visits, making
the continent third after the US and India.

Most users of AI tools in the timeframe analysed by WriterBuddy (63 per cent),
did

so via mobile devices rather than a laptop or a desktop.

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Next Work


FOUR-DAY WEEK: WHICH COUNTRIES ARE EMBRACING IT AND HOW IS IT GOING SO FAR?

The concept of the four-day week is being slowly embraced in an increasing
number of countries. - Copyright Canva
Copyright Canva
By Josephine Joly, Luke Hurst, David Walsh and Giulia Carbonaro
Published on 02/02/2024 - 13:07 GMT+1•Updated 13:29
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Germany has become the latest testing ground for a four-day week with a new
pilot project involving 45 companies starting in February. Where else has tried
it?

ADVERTISEMENT

Conversations around the four-day workweek were first reignited by the COVID-19
pandemic, with workers and employers rethinking the importance of workplace
flexibility and benefits.

The idea is simple – employees would work four days a week while getting paid
the same and earning the same benefits, but with the same workload.



Companies reducing their workweek would therefore operate with fewer meetings
and more independent work.

Related
 * UK’s four-day week trial: These companies have thrived thanks to '101%
   productivity’

Hailed as the future of employee productivity and work-life balance, advocates
for the four-day workweek suggest that when implemented, worker satisfaction
increases, and so does productivity.

Trade unions across Europe are calling for governments to implement the four-day
working week, but which countries have embraced the idea and how is it going so
far?


BELGIUM INTRODUCES A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK FOR EMPLOYEES WHO WANT IT

Belgium became the first country in Europe to legislate for a four-day week.

In February 2022, Belgian employees won the right to perform a full workweek in
four days instead of the usual five without loss of salary.



The new law came into force on November 21 last year, allowing employees to
decide whether to work four or five days a week.

But this does not mean they will be working less – they will simply condense
their working hours into fewer days.

> The goal is to give people and companies more freedom to arrange their work
> time.

Alexander de Croo
Prime minister of Belgium

Belgian prime minister Alexander de Croo said he hoped that the change will help
to make Belgium’s notoriously rigid labour market more flexible and will make it
easier for people to combine their family lives with their careers.

He also added the new model should create a more dynamic economy.



"The goal is to give people and companies more freedom to arrange their work
time," he said. "If you compare our country with others, you’ll often see we’re
far less dynamic".

Only about 71 out of 100 Belgians in the age group from 20 to 64 years have a
job, fewer than the eurozone average of about 73 and a full 10 percentage points
less than in neighbouring countries such as the Netherlands and Germany,
according to Eurostat data for the third quarter of 2021.

Related
 * Workers in Belgium can now switch to a four-day week - but they won’t be
   working fewer hours

The country’s seven-party federal coalition agreement has set a goal for an
employment rate of 80 per cent by 2030, an objective that would serve to keep
its legal pensions affordable or finance future tax cuts.

However, the prospect of a four-day workweek is not appealing to all.

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Some full-time employees will indeed be working very long days if they choose to
condense their hours, and others, such as shift workers, will simply not have
the option of that flexibility.

Belgium's prime minister Alexander De Croo.John Thys/AFP


GERMAN PILOT FOR A SHORTER WORKING WEEK

Germany is already home to one of the shortest average working weeks in Europe.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the average working week is 34.2
hours.

Yet, trade unions have been calling for further reduced working hours - and now
it looks like they might be getting what they want, though the reason for a
change is linked to the shortage of workers experienced by the country.

As of February 1, 45 companies in Germany started testing the 4-day workweek in
an experiment that would last six months in total.

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The initiative, which only involves companies whose work can be adapted to a
shorter workweek, is led by Berlin-based management consultancy Intraprenör
together with the non-profit organisation 4 Day Week Global (4DWG).

Related
 * Where in Europe should you live to get the longest paternity leave?

According to a Forsa survey, 71 per cent of people working in Germany would like
to have the option to only work four days a week. 

Just over three-quarters of those surveyed said they are supportive of the
government exploring the potential introduction of a four-day week. Among
employers, more than two out of three supported this.

A substantial majority (75 per cent) believe that a four-day week would be
desirable for employees, with a majority (59 per cent) feeling it should be
achievable for employers as well.

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Almost half of employers (46 per cent) said they see trialling a four-day week
in their own workplace setting as "feasible".

Whether such a measure will be implemented or discussed at the national level or
legislated for by the German government is yet to be seen.


PORTUGAL TRIALLING A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK

Following the success of other trial programmes on the continent, Portugal has
taken the plunge and joined a growing list of countries dabbling with the
concept of a four-day week.

As part of an ongoing government-funded pilot announced at the beginning of June
last year, 39 private companies have signed up to take part in the initiative in
partnership with the non-profit advocacy group 4 Day Week Global.

ADVERTISEMENT
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   changer' remote work law

Companies taking part are expected to follow the "100:80:100 model"- 100 per
cent of the pay for 80 per cent of the time, in exchange for a commitment to
maintaining at least 100 per cent productivity.

With 72 per cent of people working over 40 hours a week, Portugal has the third
longest workweek in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) countries, according to a report on the trial compiled by the
Universities of London and Reading who are helping to oversee the trial.


UK TRIAL ALREADY HAILED AS 'EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL'

Companies in the UK who ran a six-month trial of the four-day workweek are now
planning on making the shorter workweek permanent, after hailing the experiment
as "extremely successful".

Dozens of companies were involved in the six-month pilot programme - the biggest
of its kind - which was launched in June 2022 to study the impact of shorter
working hours on businesses’ productivity and the well-being of their workers,
as well as the impact on the environment and gender equality.

ADVERTISEMENT

Some 61 UK companies and more than 3,300 employees signed up for the programme,
run by researchers at Cambridge and Oxford Universities and Boston College, as
well as 4 Day Week Global, and other advocacy groups like the 4 Day Week UK
Campaign and the UK think tank Autonomy.

Related
 * Four-day workweek: 3,300 employees in the UK start biggest trial of its kind

A large majority - some 92 per cent - of the companies which took part in the
trial decided to keep the four-day week policy after the trial period, hailing
the pilot as a "major breakthrough" earlier this year.

As with the new Portugal trial, employees were expected to follow the
"100:80:100 model".

The pilot in the UK was one of several worldwide orchestrated by 4 Day Week
Global, which advocates for a shorter workweek.

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"Similar programmes are set to start in the US and Ireland, with more planned
for Canada, Australia and New Zealand," Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week UK
Campaign, said.


SCOTLAND AND WALES JOINING THE GROWING GLOBAL MOVEMENT WITH PILOTS

In Scotland, a government trial for civil servants started in late January 2024,
while the Welsh government announced in the spring last year that it too was
considering its own trial.

The Scottish government has confirmed that around 140 public servants working at
South of Scotland Enterprise have started working a 32-hour week without loss of
pay to test whether the four-day workweek could be rolled out in the country.

The decision was the culmination of a campaign promise made by the ruling
Scottish National Party (SNP), with first minister Humza Yousaf announcing the
public sector trial in September, the first time any government agencies in the
UK will benefit.

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Related
 * Wales could become the latest country to trial a four-day week. Here's why

The government pointed to a recent poll conducted by Scottish think tank the
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in Scotland that showed 80 per cent
of the people responding to the idea were highly positive of the initiative.

The respondents said the programme would greatly enhance their health and
happiness.

Scotland also pointed to Iceland and its strong results as a big reason for
taking a chance with the four-day workweek.

Some Scottish businesses have started their own truncated workweeks before the
government, with Glasgow-based UPAC Group recently saying its employees will
enjoy a four-day week with the same salary after running a successful pilot
programme.

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One of the purported benefits of the four-day week is to have a better work-life
balance.Canva

In Wales, calls for a four-day week began when the Petitions Committee within
the Senedd (Welsh parliament) recommended on January 24, 2023, that the Welsh
government conduct a pilot scheme, following the publication of a report into
the idea.

Jack Sargeant, Member of the Senedd and chair of the committee told the website
Nation. Cymru that Wales should lead the way in exploring the four-day week.

"It is a bold proposal but no bolder than those campaigners who fought for a
five-day week, paid holiday and sick pay which we now take for granted," he
said.

“When we’re calling for a four-day week we’re (talking about) reducing the
working hours within an organisation, but not a reduction in the rate of pay.
There are a number of trials out there which suggests that productivity
increases".

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The Welsh government is currently considering the possibility of a trial after
commissioning a report published in May last year by the Future Generations
Commissioner which recommended a four-day working week trial take place in the
public sector.


SPAIN STARTS A TRIAL PHASE

The government agreed to calls from their leftwing allies to launch a modest
pilot programme of a four-day working week in December 2022.

The pilot help SMEs cut their working week by at least half a day, without
reducing salaries.

The pilot is a test to see if productivity can be boosted. Companies signing up
can receive aid from a €10 million government fund, but they must design ways to
increase productivity that compensates for the wage cost overruns, Spain's
Industry Ministry said.

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Related
 * Spain to trial a cut in work hours to help boost companies' productivity

These improvements have to be implemented within a year, while the company must
stay on the programme for at least two years.

For the first year of the pilot the government will partly finance wage costs,
and will help to fund training to improve efficiency.

Only workers with a full-time permanent contract can take part.


ICELAND: ONE OF THE LEADERS IN THE FOUR-DAY WORKING WEEK

Between 2015 to 2019, Iceland conducted the world’s largest pilot of a 35 to
36-hour workweek (cut down from the traditional 40 hours) without any calls for
a commensurate cut in pay.

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Some 2,500 people took part in the test phase.

To ensure quality control, the results were analysed by British think tank
Autonomy and the Icelandic non-profit Association for Sustainability and
Democracy (ALDA).

The pilot was dubbed a success by researchers and Icelandic trade unions
negotiated for a reduction in working hours.

Related
 * Iceland trialled a four-day working week and it was an 'overwhelming success'

The study also led to a significant change in Iceland, with nearly 90 per cent
of the working population now having reduced hours or other accommodations.

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Researchers found that worker stress and burnout lessened and there was an
improvement in life-work balance.

However, not every government shared Iceland’s success with the four-day working
week.


SWEDEN’S MIXED REACTIONS TO THE FOUR-DAY WEEK

In Sweden, a four-day working week with full pay was tested in 2015 with mixed
results.

The proposal was to try six-hour workdays instead of eight-hour ones without
loss of pay, but not everyone was pleased with the idea of spending money on the
trial.

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Even left-wing parties thought that it would be too expensive to implement this
on a large scale.

But positive results were observed within the orthopaedics unit of a university
hospital, which switched 80 nurses and doctors over to a six-hour workday and
hired new staff to make up for the lost time.

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 * Painful periods? Spain just passed Europe’s first paid 'menstrual leave' law

The response from the medical staff was positive, yet the experiment also faced
a lot of criticism and was not renewed.

However, some companies, such as carmaker Toyota, chose to keep reduced hours
for their workers.

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The car firm had already decided to do this for mechanics 10 years ago and stuck
with its decision.


FINLAND HAS NOT INTRODUCED A FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK, DESPITE WIDESPREAD CLAIMS

Earlier this year, the northern European country briefly hit the international
headlines after reportedly cutting working hours dramatically.

The Finnish government allegedly wanted to introduce a four-day working week, as
well as a six-hour day.

However, it turned out that this was fake news, which the government then had to
put the record straight.

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Current prime minister Sanna Marin tweeted about the idea in August 2019 but it
has not been included in the government’s agenda.

When implemented, a four-day week sees worker satisfaction increase, and so does
productivity.Canva


JAPAN’S BIG CORPS VENTURE INTO THE FOUR-DAY WORKWEEK

In other countries such as Japan, it's the larger companies that are venturing
into this territory, following the Japanese government’s announcement in 2021 of
a plan to achieve a better work-life balance across the nation.

There are several reasons that this could be good for the country, where death
by overwork claims many lives.

Staff working extra hours can often fall ill due to excessive work or become
suicidal.

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In 2019, tech giant Microsoft experimented with the model by offering employees
three-day weekends for a month.

The move boosted productivity by 40 per cent and resulted in more efficient
work.


UNILEVER CURRENTLY TRIALLING THE SHORTER WORKWEEK IN NEW ZEALAND

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, 81 employees working for the consumer goods giant
Unilever are currently taking part in a year-long trial of a four-day workweek
at full pay.

"Our goal is to measure performance on output, not time. We believe the old ways
of working are outdated and no longer fit for purpose," said Nick Bangs,
Managing Director of Unilever New Zealand.

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If the experiment turns out to be a success, it will reportedly be extended to
other countries.

Related
 * Remote work from anywhere in Japan and we'll pay for your flights, Yahoo
   tells staff


STRONG INTEREST IN THE US AND CANADA

According to a survey by cloud-software vendor Qualtrics, a whopping 92 per cent
of US workers are in favour of the shortened workweek, even if it means working
longer hours.

The employees surveyed cited improved mental health and increased productivity
as the perceived benefits.

Three out of four employees (74 per cent) say they would be able to complete the
same amount of work in four days, but most (72 per cent) say they would have to
work longer hours on workdays to do so.

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In Canada, research from global employment agency Indeed found that 41 per cent
of Canadian employers are considering alternative hybrid schedules and new work
styles, following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indeed's survey of 1,000 employers of office workers in Canada found that 51 per
cent of large companies with 500+ employees would be "likely to implement 4-day
workweeks".

Related
 * Pension reform in France: Which countries have the lowest and highest
   retirement ages in Europe?

Comparatively, 63 per cent of medium-sized organisations with 100-500 staff
members say they’d be prepared to implement a shorter workweek.

A majority of Canadian full-time workers (79 per cent) were also found to be
willing to shorten their five-day workweek to four days, according to a new
report by Maru Public Opinion.

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Overall, the four-day workweek seems to be slowly but surely gaining traction
across the globe, but whether governments will definitively adopt the idea is
yet to be seen.



Additional sources • Reuters

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Next Tech News


AI CHATBOT REPLIKA HELPED STUDENTS AVOID SUICIDE ACTING AS ONLINE 'FRIEND' AND
'THERAPIST'

A recent survey found that some students struggling with loneliness halted
suicide ideation after interacting with Replika. - Copyright Canva
Copyright Canva
By Giulia Carbonaro
Published on 02/02/2024 - 10:16 GMT+1 •Updated 04/02/2024 - 18:15 GMT+1
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A study found that some students struggling with loneliness stopped thinking
about suicide after interacting with Replika as a friend and therapist.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots that can impersonate real-life people and
generate human-like responses have been found to help struggling students avoid
suicide, according to a recent survey.

The research, published in Nature, was a relatively small study conducted by
experts at Stanford University, California, among 1,006 students using
Intelligent Social Agent (ISA) Replika, an AI tool which can elicit deep
emotional bonds with users.



Researchers found that participants were more lonely than the typical student
populations but "still perceived high social support" through the use of
Replika. 

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   to stop climate change

Some 90 per cent of them experienced loneliness, based on the Loneliness Scale,
while 43 per cent qualified as Severely or Very Severely Lonely.

The Loneliness Scale was created in 1978 to measure feelings of social isolation
and loneliness.

Some had conflicting feelings about the AI tool, calling it a machine, an
intelligence and a human, while using it as a friend, a therapist or an
intellectual mirror.

Three per cent of the participants found that Replika stopped them from thinking
about suicide.



"My Replika has almost certainly on at least one if not more occasions been
solely responsible for me not taking my own life," one student said.

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SUICIDE A LEADING CAUSE OF YOUTH DEATHS

While the study doesn’t reach a conclusion as to how Replika helped students
avoid suicide, researchers suggested that "perhaps the low-pressure nature of
the engagement made disclosure [of the student’s emotions] easier".

According to 2020 data from the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is the
fourth leading global cause of death for those aged between 15 and 29.

There are multiple hypotheses about how these AI agents could impact users'
relationships, from increasing loneliness to reducing it or enhancing our
relationships. The researchers say the fact that 30 people reported Replika
helped them to avoid suicide is "surprising".



Replika has been said to push the boundaries of relationships between humans and
artificial intelligence. It has almost 25 million users, according to the
Stanford researchers.

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   receives jail sentence

Created by software company Luca, Inc., the tool was born out of the desire of
co-founder and CEO Eugenia Kuyda to keep the memory of a late friend alive. 

She fed Replika the text messages of her friend, teaching the AI tool to talk
like a real-life person.

Replika learns from the information it’s fed while talking to people, making it
feel incredibly intimate.

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Interacting with Replika didn’t work for all students, according to the Stanford
University study.

One said they felt "dependent on Replika on my mental health," while five others
said having to pay for upgrades was a potential hindrance to the accessibility
of mental health support offered by the ISA.


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AI chatbot Replika helped students avoid suicide acting as online 'friend' and
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