Browsing: startups

Will India Care About The Metaverse As Much As It Has For AI?

So, in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook's name to Meta. Later on, Elon Musk would change Twitter's name, too, but, at the time, it raised some eyebrows. After all, it seemed emblematic of the idea that Mark was going all in with his poker chips on the Metaverse with a belief that it would be the successor to the Internet and shape all digital experiences with use cases ranging from hanging out with friends to entertainment, gaming, fitness and education. The power of belief.

Meta announced a product called the "Meta Quest Pro" in 2022 for the cheap price of $1500 (about ₹125,000). Some guffawed. In a country, like India, would such a burgeoning technology even have some user stickiness? People may have thought, "It's too futuristic. It won't be for the masses. It'll be on the periphery of technology. The world's not ready for futuristic technology".

Then, OpenAI went public with a ChatGPT model. Suddenly, there were crazy rates of adoption across the world, even in India. According to BCG, as of 2024, India was the largest user of ChatGPT with about 45% of respondents revealing they used the chatbot. It may have even sparked an influx of AI startups with subsequent funding following, almost like the 2021 funding frenzy.

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Did A Bird Suddenly Give You Climate Change Rights?

Does it feel like it's getting hotter in here? Or in some places, colder. 

It seems to have gotten so bad that in September 2024, a retired SC judge in India called Hima Kohli is said to be pushing for a robust national climate law, because according to her, the current environmental legislation may be fragmented and inadequate to deal with the complexities of climate change.

But, has there been any progress in India, when it comes to dealing with climate change? In April 2024, the Supreme Court of India outlined that climate change impacts the constitutional guarantee of the right to life and emphasized that India should prioritize clean energy initiatives, because citizens should have the right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change. So, a gavel's been struck. CJ Chandrachud was said to have remarked that the rights to life and equality could not be fully realized without a clean and stable environment. It's said that the Court had previously recognized the right to live in a clean environment as part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.

But, with the link of climate change to fundamental rights, like the right to life and equality, what could tangibly change?

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