Rishi Kapoor

Had a quick chat with Charlie Taylor in The Business Post, alongside Abeba Birhane, Sean Blanchfield and Alan Smeaton, on whether the public can trust AI firms. There's no shortage of hot takes out there on the hypothetical or existential risks - not least from Sam Altman et al themselves - but it is vital to distinguish the hypothetical from the real (i.e. things for which we have evidence) and focus accordingly (be more Karen Hao, in short!) There is a time and a place for naval gazing to be sure, but the impacts of AI on capitalism, power and labour displacement are very real.

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Tech sector anxiety spread well beyond the battered software sector overnight, with chipmakers and mega-caps drawn into the slipstream of the latest bruising selloff. Advanced Micro Device’s 17% plunge took centre stage along with a 12% drop in Palantir shares. Alphabet's astonishing plan to double its capex spending this year - more than 50% above what analysts had expected - led to steep early losses that, while eventually pared back, still left the Google-parent in the red ahead of Thursday's open. I’ll get into that and more below. But first, check out my latest column on why the Federal Reserve may soon find it impossible to justify further rate cuts. And listen to the latest episode of the Morning Bid daily podcast. Subscribe to hear Reuters journalists discuss the biggest news in markets and finance seven days a week.

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So what did you do today? Well, I spent the day in that there London (after a 4:30am alarm call) ⏰ with a new client who’s raising £5m in the XR space (more will be revealed) We met at one of his partners’ offices to be shown around some really cool technology from AI Holograms, Avatars, XR Headsets, visualisation of what AI actually could look like, talking water patterns and much, much more! (Including a £100k media wall) 👌🏻 Here’s a quick snapshot recorded on my Meta AI Glasses! 🤓 We were shown the possibilities for creators using Virtual Reality (XR) and AI Video Ideation too. Then over to the other side of London to meet another new client. Then trains, planes and automobiles to get home after a 16 hour day. The technology we are raising investment for enables Video Meetings (Teams and the like) to be done virtually using Holograms and XR - as if you’re in the same room together! 🤝 There’s much more to it but I will share that soon with a really cool video! The future is here - just imagine the possibilities!

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UK DC news....... nscale’s Series C – and what it really means for the UK data‑centre market nscale’s $2bn Series C raise, valuing the business at $14.6bn, is rightly being talked about as one of the largest funding rounds ever seen in Europe — and a huge vote of confidence in AI infrastructure built from the UK outward. But beyond the headlines, this feels like a proper inflection point for the UK data‑centre sector. For years, the UK has had the demand — hyperscalers, cloud platforms, financial services, AI research — but has often struggled with power constraints, planning friction, and a lack of truly AI‑native capacity. nscale’s raise signals that global capital now sees the UK not just as a consumer of compute, but as a serious place to build it. What stands out to me is that this isn’t speculative real estate money. It’s capital backing vertically integrated infrastructure — power, cooling, GPU density, software orchestration — the hard, delivery‑heavy end of our industry. That matters. Because the next phase of growth won’t be about shiny announcements, it will be about who can actually energise, cool and operate these assets at scale. For contractors, consultants, planners, utilities and local authorities across the UK, this should be a wake‑up call. The AI data‑centre wave isn’t coming someday — it’s here, funded, and moving fast. The winners will be those who can shorten programmes, de‑risk power, and genuinely understand mission‑critical delivery. nscale’s Series C isn’t just a funding round - It’s a signal that the UK data‑centre market has entered a new, global league #datacentre #smart4epc #Nscale

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C21Media's story on major industry players backing the third Vertical Programming & Microdrama Summit at Content London, is telling. Microdrama is now an industry category. The lineup includes GammaTime's CEO Bill Block, Microhouse Films co-Founder Taye Diggs, aTwist Founders, Susan Rovner, and Jana Winograde. This panel comprises entertainment veterans, actors, producers, executives, platform builders, and financiers moving into vertical storytelling with real infrastructure behind them. Bill Block is building GammaTime around premium vertical storytelling. Taye Diggs is connected to Microhouse Films, a platform focused on giving filmmakers more control over production, distribution, and monetization. Susan Rovner and Jana Winograde are building aTwist with serious Hollywood experience behind it. This is how a market matures. First, people laugh at the format. Then the audience proves the behavior. Then the money starts moving. Then the executives arrive. Then the conferences get built around it. That’s where microdrama is now. The story is that vertical programming now needs platforms, financing, talent pipelines, distribution models, AI workflows, rights systems, and business intelligence. That creates opportunity. For creators. For writers. For producers. For brands. For investors. For anyone paying attention before the category gets crowded. Microdrama isn’t waiting to be accepted by traditional entertainment. Traditional entertainment is already building its vertical version. 9:16 Vertical Intelligence is tracking the market signal layer behind the vertical drama economy and the AI Pipeline. Stay Vertical: https://lnkd.in/gWuKWnhH #Vertical #MicroSeries #MicroDrama

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The UK has been slower than the EU or USA to act in the global pro-competitive digital markets movement, but it may end up being the most open and see drastic changes within months. Two major developments emerged last week. On Friday, Apple lost a £1.5bn antitrust case, with the tribunal ruling its App Store fees "excessive and unfair," awarding damages to 36 million UK consumers. A day earlier, the CMA gave Apple "Strategic Market Status,” allowing regulators to mandate changes like sideloading, alternative payments and external link permissions. Specific policy updates are expected in late 2025 or 2026, likely going as far as - or beyond - EU and US reforms, including: 🍎 Allowing developers to direct users to external payment options without restriction (as in the US) 🍎 Enabling alternative app stores on iOS (as in the EU) 🍎 Improving data portability transparency, and fairness in app reviews Notably, the UK explicitly called Apple’s 30% fee excessive, which most regulators have avoided. Combined with similar movies in Japan, Korea, Brazil and India, it’s a clear signal that mobile D2C is only just starting. Developers should be leaning into D2C now, as new markets open up over every month, and policy shifts make new innovations possible - including on Wednesday, when we're expected to see Google's policy response to the Epic case!

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