A canopy of parasols clad in bamboo shelters this business school's social hub in southwest India, which local practice The Purple Ink Studio has designed to challenge conventional academic buildings. The Purple Ink Studio's extension of the Tapmi Center business faculty is located on a prominent corner site on the T A Pai Management Institute campus in the town of Manipal, Karnataka, set against a backdrop of lush forested valleys.The Purple Ink Studio has added a social hub to an Indian business schoolIt consists of two white buildings arranged in wings, which provide classrooms, administration space, workshops and a small cafeteria. Sitting at the heart of these structures is a "porous" sunken amphitheatre called Angala.This communal hub was built to address the town's lack of space for its 30,000-strong student community to socialise and gather and is designed to be accessible from the road below, through a series of ramps and staircases.It has a sunken amphitheatre sheltered by parasols"The campus already hosts several academic buildings, but these often follow a conventional, closed design," said The Purple Ink Studio principal Nishita Bhatia."They are rigid blocks that, while functional, fail to engage with their surroundings or the students in a meaningful way. Our approach was to break away from this norm," she added.The parasols are positioned at different heights to mimic a tree canopyDue to the area's heavy rainfall, the amphitheatre required shelter, leading the Bangalore-based studio to design a canopy inspired by traditional Chhatris the sunshades that line the steps of the Ganges riverbanks in Varanasi.Eleven umbrellas sprout above the extension, positioned at different heights to mimic the nearby tree canopy in the valley. Together they form a covering, made of a steel structure held together with trusses, then overlaid with bamboo canes hand-cut on site."The parasols took more time to construct than the building itself. Each bamboo piece was meticulously bent on site to follow the parasol profile," said Bhatia.Read: Nmena Arquitectura and ARE shad school in Bogot with perforated metal panelsMeasuring 12 to 14 metres in diameter, the shades are covered by metal sheets on top and sloped in the central direction to catch rainwater.This is then funnelled into rainwater collection systems in the central core of each column and carried away into a stream.Rainwater is funnelled into collection systems at the core of each columnsAccording to The Purple Ink Studio, the construction of traditional Chhatris is becoming a dying art in India, due to their complex weaving process and a tendency for the materials to degrade.The studio's design for the Tapmi Centre extension was, therefore, aimed to "bring back the memory" of the practice and engage craftsmen on the project, so their skills could be showcased at a larger scale.The parasols are made of steel wrapped in bambooAccording to Bhatia, the Tapmi Centre social hub is hoped to be used by students as well as other citizens in Manipal. To accentuate its openness, the centre has no doors with people able to use the building in the evenings."The academic space responds to the community giving it an after-life," said Bhatia. "The building becomes a symbol of inclusivity, encouraging collaboration between the academic community and the city's residents, fostering creativity, dialogue, and shared experiences."Other academic buildings recently featured on Dezeen include a cuboidal primary school in Austria and a public school with a projecting external staircase and perforated metal facade in Colombia.The photography is by Suryan//Dang.The post The Purple Ink Studio covers Tapmi Centre in India with bamboo parasol canopy appeared first on Dezeen.

Sweden's design scene is shining even as the country's economy struggles, with a trend for innovative, playful pieces marking its most important moment in a generation, Dezeen heard ahead of Stockholm Design Week.Swedish design has long been associated with minimalism or IKEA, whose affordable, practical furniture is now synonymous with the country around the world. But in recent years, Sweden's design scene has become increasingly varied.With a difficult economic environment contributing to an uptick in innovative design, designers are blending traditional craft with new technology and focusing on sustainability."The perception has evolved""People outside Sweden often struggle to distinguish Swedish design from the broader concept of 'Scandinavian design'," Note Design Studio design manager Cristiano Pigazzini said."For many, Swedish design remains synonymous with IKEA. However, for those with a deeper interest or knowledge of design, the perception has evolved. Swedish design is increasingly seen as moving from traditional, production-optimised work to something more playful, artistic, and highly sustainable."In the words of Stockholm Furniture Fair and Stockholm Design Week director Daniel Heckscher, emerging Swedish designers have helped build a scene that is "bold, explorative, conscious and f***ing amazing".Above: Matsson Marnell recently designed a wooden table with unconventional legs. Photo by Andy Liffner. Top: Simon Skinner's Buk lamps are on show in Stockholm. Photo by Gustav Almestl"The scene, as it should be, is way ahead of the audience and the industry in general," he told Dezeen. "It's created by emerging designers, most of them with no means other than an innovative creative mind and a skillset adapted to a world in chaos."A host of newer brands are also challenging the traditional notion of Swedish design, according to Hanna Nova Beatrice, The New Era magazine founder and chief brand officer of retailer NO GA Group."Brands like Teenage Engineering, Hem, Niko June, Gustaf Westman and Massproductions have all played a big part in paving the way for a Swedish design language that is very far removed from the idea of Scandinavian minimalism promoted by mainly Danish brands," she said.Swedish design having a "more interesting moment" than in the '90sThe result, according to Marcus Engman, creative director at IKEA franchisee Ingka Group, is that Sweden is currently experiencing its most important design movement in decades."We had a big Swedish design moment back in the 1990s, but I would argue that we have a far more interesting and diverse moment of design right now," he said. "Whether or not it is a Swedish moment, I don't think it matters.""My line of thinking has always been that you can never be too supportive when it comes to emerging talent," Engman added. "I think it is an obligation to us all in the creative industries to make it possible for a more diverse pool of talent that better represent the people our designs should serve."Read: Ten unmissable exhibitions and installations at Stockholm Design Week 2025Among the most interesting design studios in Sweden right now is Malm-based Lab La Bla, which works with innovative materials such as mining dust and ground-up wine corks. Its founders argue that Swedish designers often turn to innovation to create more sustainable designs."Swedish design seamlessly blends tradition and technology, using innovation as a tool to address ecological and cultural responsibilities," founders Axel Landstrm and Victor Isaksson Pirtti explained. "There's a growing ambition among creatives to reclaim Swedish design on the international stage."The ongoing recession in Sweden has clearly been a factor, with journalist and co-founder of design brand Matsson Marnell Katarina Matsson arguing that the economic downturn has made room for experimentation.Lab La Bla used ground-up corks for its mini-golf course at Stockholm Furniture Fair. Photo byErik Lefvander"The recession has taken a big toll on the traditional design market and brands who are depending heavily on business-to-business, but that also gives room for a younger scene to evolve and expand," she said."There's a lot of new talent to watch, working on a small scale within historic Swedish industries such as wood, glass and ceramics, and innovative handicraft and creative designers focusing on high-end collectibles."But Landstrm and Isaksson Pirtti argue that a tendency towards "gatekeeping and a reliance on safe aesthetics" can also be stifling."Emerging voices struggle to break through entrenched networks, especially in a tough economic climate where risk aversion dominates," they said."Swedish design seems to be in a transitional phase"Nova Beatrice agrees that the economic woes have had a knock-on effect on designers."Many Swedish brands and producers are having a very hard time at the moment," she said. "Due to the economic situation on the market, many brands are forced to cut down on costs and personnel, which affects their self-confidence and strength to invest, which in turn affects the designers. This is not only true for Sweden, but you can really sense it here."Sweden's design scene is now at an "in-between" moment, says Note's Pigazzini.Among Note Design Studio's work is this installation for Vibia. Photo courtesy of Note Design Studio"Swedish design has been one of the strongest voices in the Scandinavian scene for many years, but with the rise of a new Danish era, Swedish design seems to be in a transitional phase," he said."This is also evident in the latest Stockholm Design Week and Furniture Fair. Many well-known Swedish brands chose not to participate in the fair or design week, reflecting a more hesitant approach.""The energy, innovation, and creativity these established Swedish companies traditionally brought were noticeably absent."Read: Dezeen to launch Dezeen Dispatch at Stockholm Design WeekHowever, this has also left an opening for others to take their place, he adds, though the shift is still at an early stage."Swedish designers and creators seem to have stepped in to fill this gap, taking on a bigger role and substituting for the companies. While new brands like Pholc and Verk are emerging, they remain relatively small and cannot yet take on the role of Swedish design ambassadors."Initiatives pairing established brands with emerging designers also remain a significant part of the Swedish design scene. One such example at Stockholm Design Week is Design Collaboration, established by design school Beckmans, which helps young designers get designs onto the market."The Swedish design scene is supportive of emerging designers, but of course, the uncertain economic times globally also affect recent design graduates that struggle to get into the design world," explained Anna Holmquist, a Beckmans tutor and co-founder of design studio Folkform.Design in Sweden "seen as part of larger global trends"Holmquist takes a positive view of the Swedish design scene, which she says is "more interdisciplinary and diversified" than in the past."A new generation of designers in the furniture industry are bringing sustainability, fashion, music and contemporary culture together, and are using sustainable materials, ethical production processes, and innovative approaches," she said.Emerging designer Simon Skinner, who will be showing at Stockholm Furniture Fair this year, concludes that Swedish design continues to be relevant in a changing world.A Stockholm Design Week show curated by Nova Beatrice's The New Era is displaying Mellsa-based designer David Taylor's playful Standing Clock. Photo by David Taylor"I think people outside Sweden view Swedish design differently today than they did 20 years ago," he said. "Unless something has a distinctly Scandinavian expression or execution, Swedish creative work now tends to be seen as part of larger global trends."That said, I believe Sweden plays a significant and unique role in shaping those trends, which reflects the strength of our influence on the global design scene."This article was originally written for the Dezeen Dispatch magazine at Stockholm Design Week 2025.Stockholm Design Week 2025 is taking place at various locations around the city from 3 to 9 February. To see what's on, visit Dezeen Events Guide.The post Swedish design is "bold, explorative, conscious and f***ing amazing" appeared first on Dezeen.

Smartphones are powerful tools that help us stay connected, informed, and productive. Theres almost nothing they cant do these days, except probably keep us from being distracted by them. While there is indeed almost an app for everything, the devices present a never-ending stream of temptations and distractions that keep us from doing what we really need to do. Starting a timer to keep track of our time, for example, might turn into an hour-long journey into the deepest recesses of social media and the Internet.Why would you use your phone instead of a proper timer in the first place? Maybe you dont have such a time-keeping device at hand, or maybe you need some integration with a time-logging app on your phone. Fortunately, you dont have to lose on some of the benefits of a phone-connected timer with his gadget concept that does keep time but, at the same time, lets you keep your phone as far away as possible.Designers: Eduardo Gouffran, Andrea FanelliOne of the most common tips given by productivity gurus for staying in focus is to simply block out 20 to 25 minutes of uninterrupted time to do some deep work. Sounds simple enough, at least until you realize how our brains today seem to have been trained to jump from one thing to the next. It gets even worse when we instinctively reach for our phones to use the timer app, only to end up mindlessly scrolling and tapping away on, ironically, videos and posts about productivity tips.METI, a combination of mind and time, is a design concept for a digital timer that puts itself between you and your phone. Its shaped like an hourglass to indicate its primary function, and it can use a dot matrix grid of lights to show time trickling down like small grains of sand. It has a simple function and a simple interface, not unlike a simple kitchen timer but with a few fun twists.Its main point of interaction is a scroll wheel that lets you set the timer, for example. In a way, it exploits that scrolling habit by associating the action with a different activity, swapping distraction with focus. The device also pairs with your phone, using a rather unusual but fun shaking motion, that lets you set different sessions from the phone. This also opens the door to gathering data and monitoring your use to learn just how focused or distracted you are.In the final analysis, the METI concept is pretty much a glorified physical timer, but one that doesnt completely throw away its digital ties. It brings that familiar or at least iconic behavior of using an hourglass to keep time, while still leaving the door open for integration with apps and services. Its color options also convey a sense of fun and joy, implying that productivity and keeping track of your time shouldnt be such a boring chore after all.The post Hourglass-shaped device concept wants to help save your fingers from doomscrolling first appeared on Yanko Design.

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In the face of seabeds becoming valuable real estate and corroding bombs polluting the oceans, teams are turning to technology to clean up this dangerous and expensive problem.

MacworldFebruary tends to be a pretty slow month for official Apple releases. The big fourth quarter is over, and any new Spring hardware usually launches in March or April. Theres an outside chance that Apple direct to the website launches the M4 MacBook Air this month, ahead of other springtime products were not expecting until March or April, but other than that, the new iOS/macOS betas and scrutiny on Siri is going to be what February is all about.New hardware releasesWeve heard for some time now that the new M4MacBook Air is in production and should ship soon. Bloombergs Mark Gurman suggested Apple could launch the new laptop as a standalone release in February, but might hold it for a bigger event in March to go along with other expected spring products like the iPhone SE 4, new iPads, and maybe that mysterious new HomePad thing we keep hearing about.This is expected to be a relatively minor update, just upgrading the processor to an M4 and probably the camera to the 12MP Ultra Wide Center Stage FaceTime camera like you find in the M4 MacBook Pro.Apps and software updatesApple just released iOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3 (and related updates), but as January closed out, Apple hasnt yet released the first iOS 18.4 or macOS 15.4 betas. We expect them soon (possibly this week) because they will need lots of testing. There will probably be a few minor tweaks, but the big component is the big Siri update.When Apple announced Apple Intelligence at WWDC last June, it showed a coming in a later update Siri that would build a personal profile of you based on the information on your phone, so it can understand your requests and perform actions while understanding your own individual personal context. It also could take actions within apps, thanks to a huge increase in developer hooks called App Intents.Getting this in the hands of developers so they can update their apps to use these new App Intents is critical, so this is probably going to be a long beta test that goes into wide release in April (Apple has already announced that additional language support for Apple Intelligence is coming in April. Just as importantly, it will be our first look at a new smarter Siri, and lets face it, Siri needs big improvements.Apple is also rumored to release an update to the Calendar app that lets you keep track of event invites. It was hidden in the iOS 18.3 beta and could be released this month.ServicesApple TV+Here are the shows, series, and movies we expect to release on Apple TV+ in TK. If you want to know whats coming later, check our full guide to upcoming Apple TV+ content.Love You to Death (A muerte): Tells the story of the cautious Ral, who reconnects with free-spirited and newly pregnant Marta following his heart cancer diagnosis. They resume a friendship that began in childhood, and in a relationship brought together by fate, begin to test their beliefs about love. February 5The Gorge: Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. February 14Surface (season 2): Sophie is a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt. As Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends, she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is in fact the truth she has lived. February 21Berlin ER: A German-language drama about managing a chaotic emergency room in the toughest and most overcrowded hospital in Berlin. February 26Apple ArcadeApple releases most Apple Arcade games on the first Friday of each month. Check our Apple Arcade FAQ for a full list of Apple Arcade games and more details on the service. Occasionally, games are released with no forewarning, but youll usually see next months releases listed in the Coming Soon section.Doodle Jump 2+: The classic endless jumper returns. February 6My Dear Farm+: A youth-oriented cute garden farming game. February 6PGA Tour Pro Golf: A high-end, realistic golf sim with PGA licensing. February 6

MacworldHow long can Apple keep relying on the iPhone? Nobody knows, because theres never been another product quite like it. But the plumpest golden goose in history isnt going to keep laying eggs forever.Apple, to its credit, is fully aware of this. With its enthusiastic hyping of the latest cautious iPhone update, the company might occasionally sound faintly deluded: a little like the man in the old joke who falls out of a building and says to the people on each floor as he passes, Everythings fine so far! But Apple is doing its best to find a cushion to land on.In the companys latest financial results, we got an idea of how the cushion hunt is going, and the answer is pretty well. Tim Cook named Q1 2025 as Apples best quarter ever, with record revenue of $124.3 billion despite a small year-on-year dip in the iPhones fortunes. Who needs the iPhone when you have consistent growth in services to make up for any shortfalls?Its certainly gratifying for the company to record its highest-ever quarterly revenue after launching one of its most boring iPhones (which didnt even have its flagship feature at launch). But there are concerns we should discuss before we break out the champagne.One is that regardless of growth in other areas, the iPhone remains Apples most important product by an unhealthy margin. That burgeoning Services division, a portmanteau category combining various tenuously related revenue streams, brought in a total of $26.3 billion, compared to the iPhones $69.1 billion. Wearables, Home, and Accessories brought in a combined $11.7 billion, the iPad just $8.1 billion, and Macs $7.8 billion. In first place, theres the iPhone. In second place is daylight. And only then do we get to the other products.In that light, it becomes a little clearer that simply growing services isnt the straightforward solution to the iPhones eventual decline that it might sound like. This quarter, solid growth in services and iPads was just about enough to make up for a tiny drop for the iPhone. Were still at a point where if the iPhone sneezes, Apple catches a cold. This wasnt a sneeze. It was barely the first AaahhAt some point, the iPhone will suffer a real setback, and we dont yet know how Apple will handle that. Last week, research found that buyers of premium iPhones are becoming less inclined to pay extra for more storage, which could become a headache if it turns into a long-term trend. Apple has historically made a lot of money from iPhone storage upgrades, but with the rise of music streaming and cloud photo storage, there doesnt seem to be quite the same demand.For a company of Apples size, it isnt easy to pivot, and it should be applauded for trying its best to do so. By building a mixed-reality headset and an AI platform Apple has positioned itself for two possible post-smartphone futures, and by growing Apple TV+ and its other subscription services it has shored up revenues in the short to medium term. These are all positive steps. But the pivot hasnt yet been tested. Dip or not, this was another epic quarter from the iPhone, and we dont yet know what will happen when the good times finally come to an end.FoundryWelcome to our weekly Apple Breakfast column, which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a handy bite-sized roundup. We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of coffee or tea, but its cool if you want to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too.Trending: Top storiesDeepSeek is making everyone look silly except Apple, reckons the Macalope.Have you restarted your MacBook this week? You should, pleads Michael Simon.Stephan Wiesend explains why your VPN isnt as secure as you think.Your next iPhone and Mac might cost a whole lot more thanks to political factors.Apples push into the smart home is a decade late but right on time.Apple should smarten up the HomePod mini 2 with these 5 upgrades.This MacBook Pro was too busted for even AppleCare+ to repair!Apple honors Black History Month with color-morphing Apple Watch band.Podcast of the weekApple released an update to iOS, so what should you expect? In the latest episode of the Macworld podcast we take a look at whats in iOS 18.3, plus talk about the latest Apple news.You can catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify,Soundcloud, thePodcasts app, orour own site.Reviews cornerMullvad review: A VPN thats all about privacy.Mac Backup Guru review: A utility worth looking into.LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5 review: Blazing back-up performance.The rumor millNew leak gives us a clear look at the iPhone SE 4with a notch. It seems rumors of a Dynamic Island were mistaken.Software updates, bugs, and problemsSLAP and FLOP browser vulnerabilities threaten nearly every Apple device since 2021.Whoops! Apple accidentally breaks watchOS updates on older devices.The latest iPhone update patches a security flaw exploited since 2023.We round up 5 small (but still kinda big) changes coming to your iPhone in iOS 18.3.On which subject, some iPhone users will soon get a secret addition after upgrading to iOS 18.3.The latest iPhone update patches a security flaw exploited since 2023.And with that, were done for this weeks Apple Breakfast. If youd like to get regular roundups, sign up forour newsletters. You can also follow uson Facebook, Threads, or Twitter for discussion of breaking Apple news stories. See you next Monday, and stay Appley.

Seven out of 10 US organizations are struggling to find skilled workers to fill roles in an ever-evolving digital transformation landscape, and generative AI (genAI) has added to that headache, according to a new ManpowerGroup survey.The AI skills gap is driven by the rapid growth of AI technologies and the increasing demand for adoption across industries, according to Kelly Stratman, Ernst & Youngs global ecosystem relationships enablement leader.By 2030, companies are expected to spend $42 billion a year on genAI projects such as chatbots, agents, research, writing, and summarization tools. Currently, 50% of companies with over 5,000 employees use AI, with many more planning to do so. Meanwhile, job postings for AI skills surged 2,000% in 2024, but education and training in this area havent kept pace, according to Stratman.As formal education and training in AI skills still lag, it results in a shortage of AI talent that can effectively manage these technologies and demands, she said. The AI talent shortage is most prominent among highly technical roles like data scientists/analysts, machine learning engineers, and software developers.As AI adoption spreads across industries, the skills gap is growing to include IT, cybersecurity, automation, and more, Stratman pointed out. To address the shortage, organizations must partner with AI leaders to access talent, training, resources, and technology solutions.ManpowerGroupA new survey by training platform Revature showed that 77% of US organizations have been negatively impacted by the IT skills gap, and 56% are choosing upskilling or reskilling as their biggest priority for closing that divide. More than eight in 10 decision makers (84%) are concerned about finding tech talent in 2025, and 57% of respondents said IT staffing companies cant deliver talent quickly enough.In Revatures survey, 29% of respondents ranked AI, genAI, and machine learning as the most important hard skill out of seven capabilities. Data and analytics and cloud computing and infrastructure ranked second and third.While the majority of companies have been affected by the IT skills gap, its clear that IT and HR respondents have clear goals and priorities as we head into 2025 but may not have the tools or the knowledge to execute them effectively, said Revature COO Tan Moorthy.Accenture reports that by 2027, 61% of workers globally will need retraining. While 94% are willing to learn new skills, only 5% of organizations are actively reskilling at scale. The demand for skills like AI, machine learning, and cloud computing is growing even faster.A new report from Forrester Research indicated that in the age of AI, CIOs have to invest in three roles to stay competitive: AI developers and engineers, cloud-related roles, and data-specific roles such as data management and data engineers. The stakes are high. Forresters report states that 75% of firms building AI agentic systems in-house will fail, and 25% of AI projects will be stalled by implementation challenges. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?quality=50&strip=all 1200w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=244%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 244w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=768%2C945&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=833%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 833w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=567%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 567w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=137%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 137w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=68%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 68w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=390%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 390w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=293%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 293w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Plauralsight-grphic.png?resize=203%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 203w" width="833" height="1025" sizes="(max-width: 833px) 100vw, 833px">PluralsightA new study from freelance employment firm Upwork shows that 80% of executives prioritize skills over degrees when hiring, with half planning to boost freelance hiring this year to address gaps in AI and other skills. However, the skills needed, particularly for AI, are constantly evolving.The deepening threat landscape and rapidly evolving high-momentum technologies like AI are forcing organizations to move with lightning speed to fill specific gaps in their job architectures, and too often they are stumbling, said David Foote, chief analyst at consultancy Foote Partners.To keep up with the rapidly changing landscape, Gartner suggests that organizations invest in agile learning for tech teams. In the context of todays AI-fueled accelerated disruption, many business leaders feel learning is too slow to respond to the volume, variety and velocity of skills needs, saidChantal Steen, a senior director in Gartners HR practice. Learning and development must become more agile to respond to changes faster and deliver learning more rapidly and more cost effectively.Studies from staffing firm ManpowerGroup, hiring platform Indeed, and Deloitte consulting show that tech hiring will focus on candidates with flexible skills to meet evolving demands. Employers know a skilled and adaptable workforce is key to navigating transformation, and many are prioritizing hiring and retaining people with in-demand flexible skills that can flex to where demand sits, said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup chair and CEO.Another wrinkle? Many organizations dont have a clear idea of what skills their employees have. Online learning platform Pluralsight recently surveyed 1,200 executives and IT professionals to explore AIs impact and how organizations can prepare. The study showed that while AI adoption is speeding up, most organizations dont know what AI skills their employees have or have a plan to upskill them. And with81% of IT professionalsstating they can leverage AI in their roles but only 12% reporting significant experience working with AI, its evident theres a disconnect. Last year, Accenture launched LearnVantage, a platform that enables organizations to discover what tech gaps they have and where to find online learning platforms to upskill employees. A recent partnership with startup Workera has provided Accenture with a worker skills evaluation platform that can be used by both employers and employees to measure their current skills status.Kishore Durg, global lead of Accenture LearnVantage, said clients are worried about how technology will disrupt their workforce and are asking: How many people will be impacted, and where should they focus their learning to stay relevant?Theyre all very focused on certifications. They want their people to be credentialed when theyre doing something. Theyre all getting very, very picky, he said. And our clients are expecting employees to refresh their skills every three to six months.Organizations top priorities in reskilling or upskilling involve AI, cloud data, security, and full stack engineering, according to Durg. For AI, there are multiple skill domains that include regulation, security/privacy, optimization, initialization, tuning, and loss function. Within those domains are additional subcategories, such as AI model simulation.The point? As more AI models are brought to market and others continue to evolve, the skills needed to develop and deploy AI are continually changing.When discovered, however, the ROI can be significant. What may have taken four people to develop a marketing campaign can now be created with two or even one person using AI, Durg said. We are seeing 40% to 50% increase in productivity within that field through the use of AI, he said.And workers who get certified in needed hard skills can earn an average of $10,000 more a year, according to online learning platform JobSkills.I think this process is very iterative. It has to continue to happen, Durg said. Assessments need to happen every year, because as technologies change, you have to keep refreshing yourself. The mindset needs to be one where youre always open to learning new things.

OpenAI has launched a new agent capable of conducting complex, multi-step online research into everything from scientific research to personalized bike recommendations at what it claims is the same level as a human research analyst.The tool, called Deep Research, is powered by a version of OpenAIs o3 reasoning model thats been optimized for web browsing and data analysis. It can search and analyze massive amounts of text, images and PDFs to compile a thoroughly researched report.OpenAI claims the tool represents a significant step towards its overarching goal of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) that matches (or surpasses) humans. It says that what takes the tool tens of minutes would take a human many hours.In response to a single query, such as draw me up a competitive analysis between streaming platforms, Deep Research will search the web, analyze the information it encounters, and compile a detailed report which cites its sources. Its also able to draw from files uploaded by users.OpenAI developed Deep Research using the same chain of thought reinforcement learning methods it used to create its o1 multistep reasoning model. But while o1 was designed to focus primarily on mathematics, coding, or other STEM-based questions, Deep Research can tackle a far broader range of subjects. It can also adjust its responses as it goes in reaction to new data it comes across in the course of its research.This doesnt mean that Deep Research is immune to the same pitfalls as other AI models. OpenAI says the agent can sometimes hallucinate facts and present its users with incorrect information, albeit at a notably lower rate than ChatGPT. And because each question may take between five and 30 minutes for Deep Research to answer, its very compute intensivethe longer it takes to research a query, the more compute required.Despite that, Deep Research is now available at no extra cost to subscribers to OpenAIs paid Pro tier, and will soon roll out to its Plus, Team, and Enterprise users.