Australian elite forces slaughter helpless Afghans

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Written by northsouth

Category: Australia & Pacific

Published: 20 November 2020

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MELBOURNE - The findings of a four-year military inquiry paint a brutal picture of an Australian special forces culture of rewarding the killing of innocents and prisoners and methodically covering it up, according to the New York Times.

They were the elite of the elite among Australian soldiers, with a record of daring raids in Afghanistan. But a twisted and extreme warrior culture was being instilled, driving the commandos to glorify atrocity as they waged a methodical campaign to kill helpless Afghans and cover it up.

Commanders ordered junior soldiers to execute prisoners so they could record their first “kill.” Adolescents, farmers and other noncombatants were shot dead in circumstances clearly outside the heat of battle. Superior officers created such a godlike aura around themselves that troops dared not question them, even as 39 Afghans were unlawfully killed.

These are among the findings of battlefield misconduct, released on Thursday in a public accounting by the Australian military — a rare admission of abuses that often remain hidden during war.

The four-year examination by the inspector general of the Australian Defense Force is groundbreaking in its scope. It is the first time that a member of the American-led coalition in Afghanistan has so publicly, and at such a large scale, accused its troops of wrongdoing.

The inspector general’s inquiry, which examined the period from 2005 to 2016, stopped short of calling the killings war crimes. But the highly redacted report singles out “possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history,” and calls for the criminal investigation of 19 soldiers.

The country’s military chief, Gen. Angus Campbell, said he accepted the findings and would eliminate an elite unit at the center of the investigation. The report also recommends that the Australian government pay compensation to the families of the Afghan victims.

Australia’s military reckoning presents a stark contrast to how the United States has examined its own actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Trump recently pardoned three service members for war crimes and other unlawful acts. His administration has tried to block the work of an international investigator examining allegations of war crimes. And while there has been no small number of accusations of battlefield atrocities by U.S. service members, few have resulted in formal investigations, with American military officials portraying any such misconduct as rare.

U.S. investigations, when they have occurred, have generally centered not on entire units, but on individuals like Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who pleaded guilty to killing 16 civilians and is serving life in prison without parole. The focus on individuals has allowed special operations groups like the one at the center of the Australian report to avoid broader scrutiny.

The Australian defense ministry, by contrast, went so far as to terminate the 2nd Squadron of the Army’s Special Air Service Regiment, a decision akin to disbanding a component of an elite American commando unit such as SEAL Team 6 or Delta Force.

Australia, a military ally of the United States for over a century, first joined American troops in Afghanistan shortly after they arrived in late 2001. Over the years that followed, more than 26,000 Australians have served in the country, including 3,000 special operations forces. The last combat troops left in late 2013, though several hundred support personnel remained.

Public awareness of potential abuses first emerged in 2017, when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation published allegations of unlawful killings of unarmed Afghan men and children after receiving hundreds of leaked Defense Force documents. This later prompted a raid on the office of the national broadcaster by the federal police and a failed attempt to prosecute the journalist who wrote the article.

The report released on Thursday documents a wide range of misconduct that the country’s defense chief called the product of a “distorted culture” in which “much of the good order and discipline of military life fell away.”

Nvidia becomes world’s most valuable company overtaking Microsoft and Apple

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Written by Super User

Category: Business-Commodities-Banking

Published: 19 June 2024

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NEW YORK - Nvidia has overtaken Microsoft and Apple to become the world’s most valuable company for the first time.

Shares in the US tech company, which makes artificial intelligence (AI) chips, rose by 3.5pc in New York to value Nvidia at $3.34 trillion (£2.63 trillion).

Microsoft, which had been in the lead, was close behind with a market capitalisation of $3.32 trillion, while Apple was worth $3.29 trillion.

Shares in Nvidia have risen by 180pc so far this year and nearly 4,500pc over the past five years, amid a wave of excitement about the possibilities of AI technology.

Nvidia is seen as the front-runner in the development of the high-powered chips that are central to the development of AI.

Despite the huge gains, some analysts believe Nvidia will become far more valuable in future.

Rosenblatt Securities analyst Hans Mosesmann said its share price could rise from its current level of $136 to around $200. That would value the company at nearly $5 trillion.

Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said: “We believe over the next year the race to $4 trillion market cap in tech will be front and centre between Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft.”

He added that Nvidia’s chips should be seen as “the new gold or oil” as companies adopt AI.

Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple have been vying for the title of world’s most valuable company for weeks. Last Wednesday,

Apple briefly overtook Microsoft to claim the title after unveiling updates to its iPhone software that will be powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Microsoft, meanwhile, has been propelled higher after investing in ChatGPI-maker OpenAI and incorporating AI features into Windows.

Nvidia executives have cashed in on the company’s huge stock rally. Bloomberg reported that they have sold about 770,000 shares this year totalling more than $700m. Last week, Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, sold $31m worth of stock, according to a regulator filing.

Nvidia declined to comment on the share sales.

ChatGPT owner OpenAI to go bankrupt in 2024: Report

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Written by northsouth

Category: Business-Commodities-Banking

Published: 17 August 2023

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NEW YORK - OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is facing a dire financial situation, with reports suggesting that the company might face bankruptcy by the end of 2024 if it fails to secure additional funding promptly.

Media sources have highlighted the concerning trajectory, painting a challenging picture for the pioneering AI company.

Analytics India Magazine recently disclosed that ChatGPT’s online platform has experienced a consistent decline in user engagement during the initial half of this year.

Declining user base

The once-vibrant user base has dwindled steadily, with July’s user count slumping to 1.5 billion compared to 1.7 billion in June and 1.9 billion in May, based on data provided by SimilarWeb, a prominent analytics company.

These figures exclude ChatGPT’s APIs and the mobile application.

While various theories have been put forth to explain this decline, two stand out. One hypothesis suggests that the reduced usage in May could be attributed to students being out of school.

Another perspective suggests that users have been shifting towards building their own chatbot models instead of relying on the original ChatGPT offering.

A user took to Twitter to share their experience, stating, “I am no longer allowed to use ChatGPT at work, but we have developed our own internal model based on ChatGPT.”

ChatGPT’s high costs impact OpenAI

OpenAI’s struggles are further compounded by significant financial losses.

After the introduction of ChatGPT, which has sparked concerns over its potential to replace human creativity in various job markets, OpenAI’s losses have reportedly surged to approximately $540 million in the previous year, as indicated by a report from The Information in May.

Ironically, the operational costs of ChatGPT remain staggering. The model incurs a daily expenditure of around $700,000, making it a high-cost endeavour to maintain.

Even OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, acknowledged the financial strain, conceding in a tweet that “compute costs are eye-watering.”

A recent report from Investopedia has cast doubts on the timing of an initial public offering (IPO) for AI-focused companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection.

The report posits that these companies are far from ready to enter the IPO market, citing the need for a minimum of a decade of operation and $100 million in revenue to ensure a successful IPO.

The stakes are raised further as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk joins the scene, claiming to be developing a rival chatbot.

While OpenAI has projected a 2023 annual revenue of $200 million and aims to reach a milestone of $1 billion in 2024, the reality remains grim, with mounting losses.

The company’s survival is heavily dependent on the substantial investment of $10 billion from Microsoft.

The cost of operating ChatGPT is about $700,000 a day.