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Greenland PM visits Denmark as Trump threats loom
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Philippines, US test air defences as China seizes reef
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25 killed, fires still burning in huge Iran port blast
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India and Pakistan troops exchange fire in Kashmir
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Eighteen killed, fires still burning in huge Iran port blast
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No handshake at muted India-Pakistan border ceremony
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Maligned by Trump, White House reporters hold subdued annual gala
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Austria trials DNA testing to uncover honey fraud
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Trump trade war pushes firms to consider stockpiling
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D'Backs' Suarez becomes 19th MLB player to hit four homers in one game
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Continuity or rupture: what direction for the next pope?
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Surridge scores four as Nashville smash seven past Chicago
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Chinese tea hub branches into coffee as tastes change
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Diplomacy likely to trump geography in choice of new pope
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All eyes turn to conclave after Pope Francis's funeral
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Doves, deaths and rations: Papal elections over time
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Progressive Canadians say social issues blown off election agenda
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Liverpool primed for Premier League title party
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Buenos Aires bids farewell to Francis with tears, calls to action
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Thunder sweep past Grizzlies in NBA playoffs, Cavs on brink
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Major blast at Iran port kills 14, injures 750
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'What we live for': Kounde after winning Barca Copa del Rey final
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More McIlroy magic at PGA pairs event but Novak and Griffin lead
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Fire rages after major blast at Iran port kills 14, injures 750
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Denkey wonder-strike keeps Cincinnati on track in MLS
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Barca edge Real Madrid in extra-time to win wild Copa del Rey final
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'Legendary' Eubank Jr beats Benn in grudge bout
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Thunder sweep past Grizzlies into NBA playoffs 2nd round, Cavs on brink
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South Korea's Ryu and Japan's Saigo share LPGA Chevron lead
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Canada leaders make closing pitches in campaign upended by Trump
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De Bruyne's Man City exit 'so difficult' for Guardiola
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'No regrets' for Amorim over Man Utd move
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Lyon and Strasbourg win to close in on Europe, Montpellier relegated from Ligue 1
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Toulouse thrash Castres as Top 14 pursuers stumble
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Djokovic crashes to nervous Arnaldi in Madrid opener, Swiatek advances
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Olympic champs Russell, Davis-Woodhall win at Drake Relays
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Browns end Sanders long draft slide
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Cavs crush Heat, on brink of NBA playoff sweep
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Fire rages after major blast at Iran port kills 8, injures hundreds
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Kiwi Beamish wins Penn Relays 1,500m crown with late kick
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Mbappe on Real Madrid bench for Clasico Copa del Rey final
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England survive France fightback to seal Women's 6 Nations slam
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Palace sweep past Villa to reach FA Cup final
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CAF appoint Moroccan Lekjaa first vice-president
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Major blast at Iran port kills 5, injures hundreds
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Rodgers vows to stay with Celtic after fourth successive Scottish title
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Ipswich relegated as Newcastle, Chelsea boost top five bids
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Canada leaders make final pitches in campaign upended by Trump
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Mullins -- Ireland's national training treasure
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US, Iran say progress in 'positive' nuclear talks

As AI gets real, slow and steady wins the race
In the wake of ChatGPT's dramatic arrival two years ago, companies are excited about generative AI's possibilities but heading into 2025 with careful deliberation rather than rushing to transform their operations.
The Channel Tunnel, one of the world's most strained travel checkpoints, presents a compelling example of AI's current limitations and practical applications.
Each day, 400 of the world's largest locomotives cross the tunnel linking France and Britain, with nearly 11 million rail passengers and 2 million cars carried through annually.
For GetLink, the company managing the 800-meter-long trains, caution around AI implementation remains paramount.
"We're in a highly regulated business. We're not kidding around. These are very strict procedures," explained Denis Coutrot, GetLink's Chief Data and AI officer.
Rather than controlling train operations, their AI primarily handles more mundane tasks like searching through rules and regulations.
The legal sector, initially viewed as prime for AI disruption, tells a similar story.
"ChatGPT is obviously incredible. But it's really quite hard to apply it in your day-to-day workflows in a way that is impactful," noted James Sutton, founder and CEO of Avantia Law.
- 'Verify everything' -
While AI excels at basic tasks like searching legal databases and generating simple summaries, more complex work requires careful human oversight.
Sutton explained that AI's inconsistency remains a challenge: "One contract I can put in and the AI kicks it out perfectly. Another one will be 40 percent right. That lack of certainty means lawyers still have to verify everything."
The tech industry presents a more aggressive adoption curve.
Google reports that 25 percent of its coding is now handled by generative AI.
JetBrains CEO Kirill Skrygan predicts that by next year, AI will handle about 75-80 percent of all coding tasks.
"Developers are using AI as assistants to generate code, and these numbers are growing every day," said Skrygan at the Web Summit in Lisbon.
"The next level is coding agents that can resolve entire tasks usually assigned to developers."
He suggested that over time, these agents could replace virtually all of the world's millions of developers.
Visual design industries, particularly fashion, are seeing significant impact from AI image generators like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion.
These tools are already transforming work habits and shortening time-to-market for new collections.
In healthcare, despite a study showing AI's potential —including one where ChatGPT outperformed human doctors in diagnosis from case histories — practitioners remain hesitant to fully embrace the technology.
"They didn’t listen to AI when AI told them things they didn’t agree with," Dr. Adam Rodman, who carried out the study, told the New York Times.
- 'Very concerned' -
Companies face a complex calculation between innovation, prudence and how much they are willing to spend.
"It will take some time for the market to sort out all of these costs and benefits, especially in an environment where companies are already feeling hesitation around technology investments," observed Seth Robinson, VP for industry research at CompTIA.
Anant Bhardwaj, CEO of Instabase, believed that AI's limitations were real but temporary.
"The real new innovation, like new physics or new ways of space exploration, those are still beyond the reach of AI... If people think that AI can solve every single human problem, the answer today is 'No.'"
While AI excels at processing existing patterns and data, Bhardwaj argued it lacks the human curiosity needed to explore truly new frontiers.
But he predicted that within the next decade, most industries will have some form of AI-driven operations, with humans in the backseat, but complete AI autonomy remains distant.
Still, the disruption caused by AI is coming hard and fast, and countries must be prepared.
"White collar process work is hugely impacted, that's already happening. Call centers is already happening," Professor Susan Athey of Stanford University told a statistics conference at the IMF.
Athey, an economist of the tech industry, expressed worry about regions where a core profession such as call centers risked being swept away by AI.
"Those are ones I would really watch very carefully. Any country that specializes in call centers, I'm very concerned about that country," she said.
J.Oliveira--AMWN