Month: February 2024

Southern Company

ATLANTA, February 27, 2024 /3BL/ – Southern Company ranks as the No. 1 most-admired electric and gas utility worldwide according to Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies list for 2024. A ranking of the world’s most respected and reputable companies, the list is based on a survey of more than 3,700 executives, directors and financial analysts.

“It is an honor to be named the most-admired electric and gas utility by Fortune magazine,” said Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company. “This ranking is a recognition of the 27,000 Southern Company system employees who provide exceptional service each day as we deliver clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy solutions for the benefit of our customers and communities.”

In determining the list, Fortune collaborated with organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry on this survey of corporate reputation. They began with a universe of an estimated 1,500 candidates: the 1,000 largest U.S. companies by revenue, along with non-U.S. companies in Fortune’s Global 500 database that have revenues of $10 billion or more.

To determine the best-regarded companies in 52 industries, Korn Ferry asked executives, directors and analysts to rate enterprises in their own industry on nine criteria, ranging from investment value and quality of management and products to social responsibility and ability to attract talent. A company’s score must rank in the top half of its industry survey to be listed.

More details about the 2024 World’s Most Admired Companies list are available on Fortune’s website.

About Southern Company 
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is a leading energy provider serving 9 million customers across the Southeast and beyond through its family of companies. Providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy with excellent service is our mission. The company has electric operating companies in three states, natural gas distribution companies in four states, a competitive generation company, a leading distributed energy distribution company with national capabilities, a fiber optics network and telecommunications services. Through an industry-leading commitment to innovation, resilience and sustainability, we are taking action to meet customers’ and communities’ needs while advancing our goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our uncompromising values ensure we put the needs of those we serve at the center of everything we do and are the key to our sustained success. We are transforming energy into economic, environmental and social progress for tomorrow. Our corporate culture and hiring practices have earned the company national awards and recognition from numerous organizations, including Forbes, The Military Times, DiversityInc, Black Enterprise, J.D. Power, Fortune, Human Rights Campaign and more. To learn more, visit www.southerncompany.com.

CONTACT: Southern Company Media Relations, 404-506-5333 or 1-866-506-5333, www.southerncompany.com

Unveiled at CES 2024, the hyper-realistic avatar preserves the voice and personality of a 24-year-old woman with ALS to enable unprecedented communication and connection, complemented by a personal, on-device AI from Lenovo to optimize text prediction and output

At CES 2024, global technology leader Lenovo, assistive technology non-profit the Scott-Morgan Foundation, and AI-generated video innovator DeepBrain AI revealed a hyper-realistic AI avatar dedicated to preserving the voice, personality, and physical mannerisms of someone with a degenerative disease. The groundbreaking avatar, created with DeepBrain AI technology and spearheaded by Lenovo, opens new pathways for applying generative AI to accessibility challenges and helps advance Lenovo’s vision of AI for all.

As part of an ongoing collaboration with the Scott-Morgan Foundation, Lenovo proposed developing an AI-powered avatar to leap past traditional voice synthesis and transform communication and connection for people with severe disabilities. The Foundation invited Erin Taylor, a 24-year-old woman recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disorder that typically leads to full-body paralysis, to participate and help pilot a proof of concept for assistive communication.

Lenovo then approached DeepBrain AI, a leader in next-gen avatars and a Lenovo AI Innovator partner, to use its generative AI technology. Sponsored by Lenovo, the DeepBrain AI team captured a detailed full-body video of Taylor in its California studio. The video became the foundational data for her new AI avatar, debuted at CES 2024, and offering 96 percent true-to-life accuracy.

“This is a fantastic example of the untapped potential of generative AI to empower individuals and build a more inclusive future, especially with such visionary collaborators,” said Scott Tease, vice president and general manager of High-Performance Computing and AI at Lenovo. “Leveraging our expansive solutions portfolio and in-house expertise, we love finding these opportunities to reimagine what’s possible and help

Lenovo’s also developed a prototype for a new predictive AI tool to accelerate text input when a traditional keyboard or voice-to-speech technology is not an option—as with advanced ALS. The personal, on-device AI operates entirely offline, leveraging a compressed large language model (LLM) to offer the speed, reliability, and accuracy essential when communicating health information or other urgent needs. This follows Lenovo’s approach to Hybrid AI, operating across public, private, and personal foundation models that the company unveiled at its annual Tech World event in October 2023.

Unlike common predictive text engines that provide a single suggestion, this novel AI solution provides multiple options after each character input to better assist users.

The Scott-Morgan Foundation and Lenovo AI experts are working to integrate the predictive AI into the backend of their integrated communication platform showcased at CES. The platform combines the avatar, an original circular keyboard optimized for eye-gaze tracking, and multimodal inputs to support a wide range of physical capabilities.

“Our vision is built on a commitment to ensuring a universal right to thrive through technology,” said Andrew Morgan, chief executive officer of the Scott-Morgan Foundation. “AI is accelerating work we began years ago, and our brilliant collaborators are helping us completely change the accessibility landscape. Collectively, we are lighting a beacon for what’s possible—not just for people with ALS, but for everyone.”

The DeepBrain AI avatar technology was originally developed to power generative AI humans or assistants—such as the one showcased at a recent Lenovo Formula 1 event—or to create versatile “twins” of celebrities, sports figures, or other influencers. Here, DeepBrain recognized a chance to deploy its proprietary technology as assistive tech.

DeepBrain AI gave Taylor complementary access to its AI Studios, empowering her to create a nearly unlimited stream of digital content.

“We are constantly amazed at how our partners and clients think of new ways to use AI-generated video. Lenovo had the foresight to share their vision on how this technology could be implemented as a component of an assistive technology platform,” said Eric Jang, CEO of DeepBrain AI. “Future developments at DeepBrain will enable hyper-realistic avatars for everyone.”

After a brief series of escalating symptoms, Taylor was diagnosed with ALS in the summer of 2023. Her career in botany, forestry, and related work in the wild was abruptly paused as she and her mother faced countless questions about the progression of the disease. The shock was especially potent given the disease primarily affects people over the age of 40.

“Feeling so devastated and lost, we were grateful to the Scott-Morgan Foundation for inviting us to help build something new and shape the future,” said Taylor, who lives outside Los Angeles with her mother, Lily. “The avatar is incredible, but what matters most to me is that this technology could help change the lives of many more people facing ALS or other diseases—a way of showing how bright the future can still be.”

“I have no doubt this pioneering proof of concept will one day help shape even more staggering innovations,” Morgan said. “Our foundation was built on the dream that technology, and AI especially, can break through severe disabilities and ensure a right to create, connect, and live life joyfully. We’re making that happen.”

Learn more about Lenovo’s vision of AI for all, the Scott-Morgan Foundation’s transformational work, and DeepBrain AI’s avatar technology.

About Lenovo 
Lenovo is a US$62 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #217 in the Fortune Global 500, employing 77,000 people around the world, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company by further expanding into growth areas that fuel the advancement of ‘New IT’ technologies (client, edge, cloud, network, and intelligence) including server, storage, mobile, software, solutions, and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992)(ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

About DeepBrain AI 
DeepBrain AI humanizes digital interactions by utilizing real-time Artificial Intelligence (AI) and video synthesis solutions to generate the world’s fastest and most realistic human-like AI avatars. The company’s proprietary, patent-led technology adds a human touch to all digital content and interactions, reducing the cost and time of video production and improving the quality of digital engagement. DeepBrain AI is at the forefront of modern digital experiences and has significantly impacted various industries, such as media, finance, commerce, hospitality, and education.

About the Scott-Morgan Foundation 
The UK-based Scott-Morgan Foundation focuses on pioneering technology-driven solutions to empower people with severe disabilities. The Foundation develops both bold proof-of-concepts to inspire a brighter future and more immediate, scalable solutions. Learn more about the Scott-Morgan Foundation. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Originally published July 14, 2023 by Mastercard.

The Global Inclusive Growth Summit returns on April 18, 2024. As we look forward to coming back together in person and virtually, we offer these highlights from the 2023 event, hosted by Mastercard and the Aspen Institute. The Global Inclusive Growth Summit 2023 brought together private sector, social impact and government leaders to share ways to make economies more equitable.

The 2024 Global Inclusive Growth Summit, hosted by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, advances real solutions to today’s most pressing challenges through collaboration and candid conversation among entrepreneurs, innovators, policymakers and emerging changemakers. First held in 2019, the Summit assembles a dynamic group of cross-sector leaders who collectively address topics including financial inclusion, data science for social impact, emerging technology such as artificial intelligence, climate and the environment, women’s economic empowerment and place-based development. After a decade of impact, we’re excited to continue the great dialogue and work focused on driving and creating inclusive growth for all.

Get more information about the 2024 Global Inclusive Growth Summit here.

To learn more, visit: globalinclusivegrowthsummit.com

YouTube influencer and philanthropist Lilly Singh and Mastercard’s Shamina Singh took the stage in a packed room in Washington, D.C., to share how we can all encourage greater gender equity.

“We can’t change the issue of gender equality with just money … it’s culture,” Lilly Singh said. “Culture determines how we treat women, how we view women. What is the patriarchy if not just a story that’s been told for a really long time? I believe if you change the stories, you can change the world. We can change culture.”

The topic was just one of many big, thorny issues discussed Thursday at the Global Inclusive Growth Summit, which brought together private-sector and social-sector leaders, government officials, economists, and academics to spark conversation and drive change on the environment, digital inclusion and much more.

A core sentiment of the daylong event, hosted by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and the Aspen Institute, was that of urgency: There’s no more time left to kick the can down the road on climate — we need to address it now. The same with gender equality and financial inclusion.

And if we all manage to drive greater inclusion, many of the speakers said, we could unlock far greater economic prosperity for everyone and build significantly more resilience in communities so they can withstand future challenges.

Here are three takeaways from the event.

01 
There’s no one way to define financial inclusion and inclusive growth: Financial inclusion is, quite simply, the work of bringing more people into the formal financial system, whether that’s giving people access to a bank account, insurance, working capital for their business or the ability to safely send money to family overseas. Inclusive growth, meanwhile, is all about encouraging economic growth that more people can benefit from, not just those at the top of the ladder.

Many speakers at the event shared their takes on both ideas.

Comedian and author Trevor Noah challenged the notion that inclusive growth and financial inclusion are primarily about charity. He said that people being left out of markets is a failing of those markets. When more people are included, that’s not inclusive growth, but really “complete growth,” he said.

Building on that idea, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said during a separate presentation that her administration sees inclusive growth as a balance.

“Yes, we want to grow our population. Yes, we want more businesses. Yes, we want more development,” she said. “Well, we want the people who have lived here in good times and bad times to be able to afford to live. So what that has meant for us is: How do we grow wages? And how do we build more affordable housing?”

In a speech capping the event, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands said a focus on fostering financial health — encouraging people to save money and avoid excessive debt — was essential to true financial inclusion. “Without financial health we will not be able to do it.”

02 
Technology directed in the right way can have a big impact on inclusion: A number of speakers mentioned the potentially negative impacts of artificial intelligence, noting the rapid developments of generative AI models like ChatGPT.

But Microsoft Vice Chairman Brad Smith, whose company has invested in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and provides ChatGPT in its products, shared a much more optimistic view of how AI could be used. He said it could unlock huge benefits for nonprofits, allowing them to deliver programs and measure their impacts much more effectively and at a much lower cost.

During another presentation, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said companies need to consider three factors when developing new technology: Does it solve a problem for people? Is it inclusive? Is it trustworthy?

“If it’s not inclusive, it doesn’t scale. If it doesn’t scale, it doesn’t matter,” he added.

Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, shared how the Ukrainian government created an app that’s grown to include more than 200 government services. That app, called Diia, helped cut down on corruption by increasing government transparency and enabled people to let the government know if they’ve been displaced during the war.

Potential legislation is shared on the platform, and citizens can share positive or negative sentiments with their leaders — not wait for an election to hold them accountable. “It’s the digital and democracy coming together,” she said.

03 
Find ways to make the world work for more people: BBC journalist and Paralympian Ade Adepitan, who uses a wheelchair, asked the audience, somewhat jokingly, “What’s this fixation you able-bodied people have with stairs!”

The idea of adding more ramps and other means of access helps not just people like him, but many others, as well.

Chetna Sinha, founder of the Mann Deshi Foundation, which helps women in rural India access credit and build up their business skills, said that as the pandemic eased she worked with many women who had to start making money after their spouses lost their jobs.

They asked to be armed with smartphones, not feature phones, saying they had better services, especially voice SMS, which could matter because many of them didn’t read or write.

“They said, ‘Never give poor solutions to poor people. We are smart.’”

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates reinforced the point about empowering women.

“Make sure they have a great education. Make sure they can plan and space the first of their children. Make sure they have networks to get into a great job and be part of the banking system to save money,” she told the audience. “You will absolutely accelerate their growth. And guess what? They’re going to accelerate your economy.”

Originally published by Mastercard

Check out more content from The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

Black History Month is a time when people in the United States both celebrate and reflect on the many accomplishments and contributions of Black Americans to the country. As a company driven by a commitment to creating a better world through the power of our chemistry, this month we celebrate the important contributions Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) make – they’re responsible for 40% of the bachelor’s degrees awarded to Black students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields – and how attending HBCUs helped shape some of our talented Chemourians career journeys.

Jasmine Smith, Marketing Leader in our Titanium Technologies business segment attended Delaware State University, where she had the opportunity to be mentored by Black leaders in her field. Jasmine is now providing that mentorship to the next generation of leaders.

“I was fortunate enough to have the mentorship of Black professors like Dr. Hayward and Dr. Winstead who helped me seek out unique research opportunities. With their guidance and encouragement, I had the support to get through the rigorous course load and prepare for a career afterwards.” – Jasmine Smith 

Joel Wallace, Associate Chemist in our Advanced Performance Materials business, credits his time at Fisk University for his in-depth knowledge of scientific principles and the hands-on research experience that shaped his career today.

“Fisk played a pivotal role in shaping my understanding of scientific principles, providing not only hands-on research experience but also laying a robust foundation for my future scientific pursuits.” – Joel Wallace 

Another Fisk University alum, Qutell Adderley, Associate Chemist in our Advanced Performance Materials business, was able to explore her passion for STEM while giving and receiving mentorship that has allowed her to thrive in her career today.

“Attending an HBCU provided me with the motivation and supportive environment to explore my scientific innovations, while receiving mentorship and providing mentorship to others.” – Qutell Adderly

The future of Chemours and delivering the innovative solutions society needs depends on a talented workforce that is representative of the diversity of the communities in which we operate. As Black History Month comes to a close, Chemours continues to celebrate our team members who attended HBCUs and how their educational experience continues to shape their professional lives.