WEBVTT - Israel-Hamas War Latest and Klarna's AI-Powered Tools 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:02.120 From Marhard. 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:06.640 We're Innovation, Money and Power Collie in Silicon Vallet Nbon. 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.440 This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hide. 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:11.080 And Ed Ludlow. 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:28.920 I met Ludlow in San Francisco. Caroline Hides off today. 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:31.480 This is Bloomberg Technology coming up. We'll bring you the 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.720 latest updates in the Israel Hamas war and speak to 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.519 a range of guests on the ground to discuss the 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.280 state of technology, the industry, it's communities in the region, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.120 and we'll sit down with the CEO of payments firm 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.600 Klara to discuss the company's investment in artificial intelligence. Plus 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.160 we'll get a preview of the Bloomberg screen time event 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.920 in Los Angeles that's bringing together executive and industry insiders 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.920 to talk the state of streaming and so much more. 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.640 Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Yahoo and opposition leaders have agreed 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.000 to form a rare emergency government to see the country 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.160 through its war with Hamas joining us now to talk 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.760 through the situation not just in Israel, not just in 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.319 the Gaza Strip, but in West Bank as well. Is 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.200 Mona Steya, a non resident fellow at the Teria Institute 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:22.160 for Middle East Policy. You come to us live from 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:25.400 Ramala in the Central West Bank and that's where I'd 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:30.400 like to start Mona based on your industry connections, the 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.480 work that you're doing. What is the situation in the 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.920 Central West Bank right now for the technology industry. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:40.520 Thank you Ed for having me here. 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.080 So whenever we are talking about tech, as we are 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.120 living in the West Bank, we cannot ignore that Palestinians 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:53.320 are living on their surveillance state where different kinds of 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:58.440 surveillance technologies have been developed. And this said on Palestinians 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:03.040 in an open liberatory in the occupied Palestinian tertory in 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:06.080 the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to stay, but 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.040 not like this is not limited to. We are talking 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:16.440 about CCTV cameras, facial recognition technologies, spywares, mail wars technologies 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.920 such as Blue Wolf, White Wolf, and as well as 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:25.040 red Wolves, drones, among other various technologies that have been 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:29.160 developed by the Israeli government and the Israeli companies testing 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:33.480 that on Palestinians before selling that worldwide to profit from that. 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:40.120 And unfortunately sometimes major tech companies are investing in such 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.799 companies in such surveillance companies to develop certain technologies, as 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:49.120 happened like a couple of years ago with the Microsoft 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.079 that tried to invest seventy five million dollars in any Virgin, 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.600 which is an Israeli company, to develop facial recognition technique, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.560 testing that on Palestinians before start telling that worldwide. 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.280 That like what part of that? Yeah, go ahead say no, 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:07.440 I'm sorry to interrupt human. 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.760 I mean, one reason we've asked you onto the program 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.760 is your expertise in cyber security and emerging technologies. 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.280 That's some of the work that you do. 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.840 THEMEI, based on what you just outlined to us, is 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:24.679 what you think is happening. How operational are technology startups 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.160 in the West Bank? Has their day to day and 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.720 ability to do business, whether they're a software focused company 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.440 or a hardware focused company been impacted. 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.400 Well, whenever we're talking about tech industries in the West Bank, 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.120 it's different than the tech industry industries and Israel because 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:48.520 I've started talking about cyber technologies like surveillance technologies that 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.320 have been used. None of those technologies are basically developed 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.560 or developed by Palestinians or in the Palestinian territory. All 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.720 of those technologies are developed by Israel. A Leechno companies 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.920 as far as I can remember, there are twenty eight 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.840 surveillance companies in is Eight out of them are led 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:12.880 by ex military people in Israel, and like this could 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.479 give us like a clear example on how this is 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.960 a military state. Even if those story, even if those 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:24.760 technology companies are developing that it's also connected with the 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.360 military expertise for their executives or senior executives. In so 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.320 many cases, when it comes to the West Bank, like 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.279 the whole startups scene is different. 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.320 It's more about services. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.560 We've seen like delivery companies, is shopping companies, among other 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.400 kinds of companies that are more about service, not exactly 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:51.679 about developing technologies such as like surveillance technologies as I mentioned, 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.680 whether it's hardware or software. 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.920 Amona, you namechecked and mentioned Microsoft. We will reach out 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.839 to Microsoft comment on that issue of cybersecurity surveillance in 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:03.400 the region. 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:04.479 Bear with me. 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.000 I want to bring our audience another story which broke 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:11.560 on Wednesday morning, and that is the European Union writing 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:16.160 to Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Meta and 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.800 asking the company Meta parent of Facebook of course, to 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:25.760 look into disinformation around the situation in Israel and what 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.200 is happening on the ground. You'll remember as well, Mona 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.200 that the EU and Tel e Breton had already written 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.479 to Elon Musk and asked X to explain what it 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.400 is doing in fighting disinformation. Some of your research and 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:44.120 your background is in social media. What role is social 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.080 media playing there? From the West Bank perspective, we have 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.080 reported on this program that on multiple platforms there are 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:55.520 videos that are sharing being shared on those platforms purporting 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.240 to show one thing, when in fact they are showing another. 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.560 But what role broadly is social media playing here? 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.440 So social media platforms are reflecting what's happening on the 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.760 ground as soon as the escalations on the ground are starting, 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:14.320 or we can witness more activism on social media platforms 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:19.960 as well as more hate speech, insights for incitement, violent speech, 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:24.640 as well as misinformation and propaganda speech on the social 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.599 media platforms. In the current secuation, we can clearly see 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.360 an increase and hate speech, violent speech and incitement against 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:37.200 Palestinians on the social media platforms. And unfortunately, social media 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:43.560 platforms are not investing enough fresources to prevent spreading such 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.080 speech and they are relying on the limited resources ofvice 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.880 society organizations communitory that and ccreate that to them, which 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.920 basically contribute to the real world harm that Palestinians are 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:55.560 exposed to. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:56.640 Now while we. 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.880 Are speaking, while I'm speaking with you, there are is 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:02.760 early settlers or are based in the illegal settlements in 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.560 the West Bank are attacking some Palestinians and some cities, 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.800 and earlier this year they were burning certain cities such 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.840 as Hawaii. Are based on this incitement and hate speech 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.520 on the social media platforms. 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:21.160 And Bloomberg has not verified the incidents that you just 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:23.240 outlined what I would just say, and we showed it 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:23.800 a moment ago. 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:25.040 We can show it again. 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:29.960 Is that Ex's CEO Linda Yakarino senter memos the entire 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:35.480 company overnight saying we are reminded of our consequential responsibility 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:41.560 to protect the public. Conversation and action that shows that 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.840 they are looking into this and taking it seriously. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:45.520 Mona. 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:47.800 Finally, I want to ask you this question that's been 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:53.720 debated on this program by technology industry participants in Israel, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.880 in the West Bank elsewhere, and it's the. 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.160 Sort of symbiosis. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:04.480 Between Israeli tech and Palestinian tech. In other words, they're 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.000 very closely tied. Is that something that you recognize that 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:11.520 they actually act as a much broader but single industry. 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:17.360 Yes, of course, because Ezra lc in the Palestinian workers 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:21.720 as cheap vapor for them, so they could sometimes subcontract 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:25.760 their certain works for Palestinians. And as you know, like 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:31.040 with the limited, with the limited working opportunities for Palestinian 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.360 young people as well as with the limited also access 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:39.239 to the epayment services which basically affect Palestinians from accessing 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.559 to the international market. For example, PayPal is not operating 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.920 for Palestinians who are living in the West Bank, neither 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.079 in the ignoring Godsplustrip. So as a result of that, 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:53.199 Palestinians are not even allowed or able to work as 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:57.320 a freelancers and then get paid by PayPal. As a 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.640 result of that, they are forced sometimes to do contracting 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:06.560 work for Israeli companies who are working on whether software 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:11.040 or hardware technologies. But this is again we can't see 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:16.560 this separately from the situation, from the political economic situation 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.520 that Palestinians are living under, and from the poor asymmetry 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.760 relationship between the Israelis and Palestinians in this region. 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.520 Mena Schteier, a non resident fellow at the Career Institute 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:30.640 for Middle East Policy coming us to us live from 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.520 Ramala in the Central West Bank. 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:32.920 Thank you. 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.040 Coming up on Bloomberg Technology, we will continue the conversation 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.920 on the Israel Hamas conflict and speak to a venture 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:44.959 capitalist who's focused on bringing Palestinian graduates into Israeli tech companies, 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.760 an issue that Mona just touched on there. We're also 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:51.360 looking at shares of Microsoft. This is a company that's 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.920 put out a statement on Wednesday morning saying they have 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:58.360 three thousand staff or personnel in Israel that they say 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:02.960 are impacted by events. It's not doing anything to support 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.320 or hinder the stock really in either direction. But Microsoft 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:19.679 currently up half a percentage point. This is Gomberg technology. 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.199 It turns into why the conflicts, say and that causes 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.080 oil prices to go up. That does have an effect 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.680 on the economies. When you look at the numbers, suppose 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.720 oil prices it went up by around ten percent. Then 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.600 for twelve months later you see inflation going up by 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:42.560 around zero point four percentage points. 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:44.840 Global outputs is low world by. 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:49.280 Point one five percentage points, So it can have these 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:53.280 kinds of effects, but again it's too early to tell. 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:54.439 Exactly what's going to happen. 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:59.520 That was the IMF's first Deputy Managing Director, Geita Goopinaff, 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.640 discussing the economic implications of the Israel hamas War. I 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.439 want to turn to an Israeli entrepreneur who spent the 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.960 last decade devoted to helping build a stronger Palestinian economy 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:15.200 and Israeli tech sector. Joining us now is Yadin Kaufman, 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.560 a founding partner at Veritas Venture Partners who's also the 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:22.719 founder of the Palestinian Internship Program, a professional development nonprofit 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:27.480 that aims to empower Palestinian grads and professionals in developing 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:28.800 and building their careers. 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:30.280 And Yadin, let's start there. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:35.680 Your basic aim has been to take Palestinian graduates or 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.000 professionals as we said, and put them into jobs in 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:43.040 the Israeli tech sector. In the first instance, how have 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.520 you been impacted by the weekend's attack and your ability 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:47.000 to do that? 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:51.000 Okay, well, the first thing, the first thing I want 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.560 to say, just before we get into those specifics, is 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:57.360 you know, I think, like every Israeli have been very 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:01.680 impacted by what's happened here since about morning, since Saturday morning, 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.040 and it's been an absolutely terrible time here. As you know, 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:12.960 twelve hundred people killed, most of them civilians, Terrible atrocities committed, hostage, 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.520 many hostages taken, and just absolute atrocities committed. So it's 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:22.000 very hard to focus about focus on other things. But 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.559 as far as the impact look, I believe that we 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.280 still need to try to build a better future here 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:34.560 and that by definition will involve Israelis and Palestinians working together. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.040 We both live in this part of the world, Neither 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.880 of us is going anywhere, and we have to choose 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.640 do we want a future like the past has been, 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.400 including the events of the last weekend, or do we 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.640 want to try to create something better. So in the 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:55.679 immediate term, it's going to be extremely difficult to advance 0:12:55.800 --> 0:13:01.080 programs that have Israelis and Palestinians working together. Thing Israelies 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.680 in the tech sector, which is where I've been working, 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.640 many of them have been called up to reserve duty. 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.600 Many of them are either zero or one degree of 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:15.160 separation from someone who's been killed, and are very focused 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:20.280 on unfortunately, burying the dead, grieving for the dead, and 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:25.000 having to defend the country. So that's obviously job job 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:29.520 one for everyone Secondly, I think it's important for us 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:35.199 to distinguish between the West Bank and Gaza. The problems 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:40.400 of this past weekend have been from Gaza, and it's 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.439 going to be even more difficult than it has been 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:45.880 until now to do any business between or do anything 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.440 constructive between Israel and Gaza. That's going to take a 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:54.120 while right now, as it rightly should. With the West Bank, however, 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.120 I think things can be different. The West Bank has 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.600 been for the most part quiet during this most recent 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.160 turn of events. Obviously, there's no love lost between the 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:07.560 PA and Hamas, so maybe it's not surprising. The things 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.199 I've been doing have been focused on working with Palestinians 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.640 from the West Bank and East Jerusalem to give them 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.360 opportunities and to give them opportunities in the Israel tech sector, 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.280 because there's really nowhere else for them to get those opportunities. 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:24.080 And I'm happy to. 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:27.360 Talk more about the programs, but you know, I think 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.880 it's important to distinguish between the immediate term and the 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.840 somewhat longer term, and of course that depends greatly on 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:39.400 whether this conflict remains limited to the events of these 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:41.760 past few days. The terrible events of these past few days, 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:44.840 or whether it escalates to involve a broader regional war 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:46.560 and then all bets are off. 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:48.760 Yeah, Dean. 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:53.120 Twenty four hours ago, we were joined by somebody called 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.920 Mahmood kuoas he's the CEO of a company called tech 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.400 Clinic based in East Jerusalem. But what he told us 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:03.160 was that while he had operations in Jerusalem and Ramala, 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.160 he did have a number of staff working from home 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.200 in the Gaza strip, and he was explaining to us 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.360 how they were impacted in their ability to do their 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:12.960 day job. 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:14.960 I just put that. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.520 To you so that I can ask about the talent pools, 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:22.640 the Palestinian technology talent pools that you work with, principally, 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:24.640 where do they come from and in what kind of 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:26.320 roles are you placing them into. 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.800 Okay, so again let's distinguish between the West Bank and 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.200 East Jerusalem on the one hand, and Gaza on the 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:39.080 other hand. Look, the Palestinian tech sector is still very 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:43.680 very small. It's bigger and more advanced than it was 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.240 when I and others started working on this, you know, 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.160 fifteen years ago or so, but it's still very small. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.600 You can't think of it in terms of the Israeli 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.200 startup nation, which is you know, one of the leading 0:15:55.280 --> 0:16:00.840 tech centers in the world. However, there are some young, 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:06.960 for the most part, very talented, ambitious and exceptional Palestinian 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:12.560 tech entrepreneurs. Again, my experience is mainly with people in 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.600 the West Bank, and I think it's extremely important for 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.320 all of us, for Palestinians as well as for israelis 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:23.880 that we encourage those few entrepreneurs so that they'll set 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.560 an example and be able to employ other Palestinians and 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.480 show the way for other young Palestinians to go into 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.960 tech entrepreneurship, which has transformed Israel, and I believe that 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:40.160 it can perhaps similarly transform the Palestinian economy. So we 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.360 have to give them the tools, and the programs I've 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:47.920 started are aimed at giving young Palestinians the tools and 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.600 the experience and the networks and the know how to 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:56.120 go back and build up a robust Palestinian tech sector 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.520 which can help drive the economy there. And I think 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.160 change the regent help change the for all of us. 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.480 We do that through the Internship program, which by the way, 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:08.800 is not aimed at bringing Palestinians to come work long 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.640 term at companies in Israel. The idea is to bring 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:14.520 them for a short period, typically three months. Very often 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.439 they're asked to stay on for an additional period and 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.639 then give them those tools with which they can go 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.080 back and help build the Palestinian economy as far as 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.760 Gaza is concerned. You know, it's I mean, one's heart 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:32.040 is broken here for many reasons. But two months ago 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.680 we had a networking event. We do this once a 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.280 year for the internship program that I started, and we 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.480 bring together many of the Palestinians who've been interns, who've 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:46.119 been in our internship program, who've been in the mentorship program, 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:50.000 and we meet them up with many Israelis from the 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.200 tech sector here and it is just an incredibly heartwarming 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.480 experience every time we do it. As I said, we 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.320 did it two months ago, almost to the day, August eighth, 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.359 and there were about one hundred Palestinians from the West 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.840 Bank and East Jerusalem who came. There were almost an 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.600 equal number of Israeli tech folks, and there were four 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:16.320 young Gozen tech entrepreneurs who managed to get permits to 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:20.399 come to Hurtzlia and participate in this event. And you know, 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:23.439 these are the kind of people that need to be 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.960 given tools to, as I say, to develop their own 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.760 economy for the benefit of all of us. Now, I 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:34.800 obviously am paying to think about, you know, the prospects 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.280 of those young Palestinians, of those young Gozins today, given 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.720 what's going on. I'm sure they will not be having 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.000 an easy time of it. But you know, I think 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.600 we need to ask where one needs to look to 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:52.040 place the blame for that unfortunate situation in the immediate term. 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.240 Yadin Kaufman, founder of the Palestinian Internship Program, thank you 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:01.480 for your time today, much appreciated here on Bloomberg Technology. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.720 Welcome back to Bloomberg Technology, Ed Ludlow here in San Francisco. 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:13.280 Today we're going to take a look at the rise 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.760 of AI image recognition tools and how it's impacting our 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.600 shopping experiences, among other things. Similar to Google Lens, which 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.480 directs users to suggestions based on items they capture on 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.199 their camera, Swedish tech startup Klana is now entering the 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.320 game with its own shopping lens and many other AI 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:36.240 powered products. CEO Sebastian ci mai Atakovski joins us now 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.440 for more. Sebastian, but before we get into the technology conversation. 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:42.800 I want to ask you about Israel and the war 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:47.199 with her mass Klana, if I'm right and saying shut it. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:52.240 It's operations in Tel Aviv in twenty eighteen, but you 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:56.560 still have close ties to the country of Israel, A number. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:57.480 Of staff impacted. 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:00.639 Please, could you just explain the company's re response and 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:02.399 how it has impacted Klana? 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.560 Well, I think you know, it's obviously terrible sad news. 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:12.040 I was in shock myself on Saturday morning. And but 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.840 I mean since we unfortunately don't have an office in 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:18.159 Israela anymore, but we do have fantastic colleagues, many of 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:19.960 us who joined us at the time we had an 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.639 local presence. Obviously, the only thing I think we can 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:27.919 have done is tried to extend you know, our you know, 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.720 try to extend our the sadness and express the support 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:33.919 to all of these colleagues internally. Not at least my 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:39.320 CEO himself is Israeli, so I think on these circumstances, unfortunately, 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.679 maybe that's the only thing we can really do. 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.560 Especially and thank you for discussing that with me. We're 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.359 here to talk about AI and this is a big 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.840 move because not just on the lens product. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:54.760 Google is going for it. 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.480 It's sort of consumer facing generative AI applications across multiple 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:01.680 software use case is why. 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:04.160 Did you do this? Why you so confident in doing 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:05.760 it well? 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:07.879 I think, first of allmost like, it's interesting to observe 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.480 that in the US market, search for products has basically 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:14.480 primarily been dominated by Amazon really not even Google to 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:16.960 that extent. Google Shopping has had some more success in 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:20.280 some European countries, but in twenty twenty one we acquired 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.280 what is one of or maybe the leading and largest 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:28.359 European comparison Product comparison website helps you find, you know, 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.760 pricing the right price to right product with the right chipping. 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:32.080 Time, et cetera. 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.040 And ever since then we've been exploring this opportunity. And 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:38.439 now with the acceleration of AI, we think that the 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:41.560 gap between the content itself, I mean you watching a 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.480 Netflix movie, are you seeing something in a newspaper ad 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.440 or you seeing something in the physical world can actually now, 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:51.680 you know, allow you to basically instantaneously make a purchase. Now, 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:53.359 a lot of people have tried to your point, and 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:55.800 someone failed, I mean Meta the least was trying with 0:21:55.880 --> 0:21:59.280 you know, with Facebook and Instagram shopping and shut that down. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.040 But we see that the technologies. 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.720 There, we have you know, over fifteen million SKUs and 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:06.000 products in our in our data basis, So there is 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:08.680 now a fantastic opportunity to create a very different experience 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.320 than what has been available and really close that distance 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:13.639 between I see something I like and I have it 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:14.399 in my main box. 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:20.520 You're actually releasing thirteen different AI powered products. Are you 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.040 building the foundation model large language models the power that 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.720 yourselves or from a top technology perspective, you're agnostic and 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:31.040 kind of going to established LM builders. 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.000 Well, look, we've had a close relationship with open Ai 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.119 that you know. I had a privilege to speak to 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:40.480 Sam Laid back in February and since then we've had 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:42.520 a great partnership. But we also obviously explore and look 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:46.160 at the other Claude and other opportunities out there. 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:49.520 We looked at Glubus as well. I think we are 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:51.280 at Klana very like pragmatic. 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.119 I see, if we think that we can do something 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:56.119 better than somebody else than we do it ourselves. If 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:58.080 we think that somebody else is doing it better, we 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:00.439 much rather build on that and use that. 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:02.360 And when it comes to a lot of the lms. 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:06.399 I mean, the things that Opening, as an example, you know, 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.680 allows us to do is amazing. What we are thinking about, like, 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:11.520 how do we bring that to consumers to something that 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.800 actually creates value for consumers on a day to day basis, 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:18.760 combining the amazing technology that OPENINGI and others have developed 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:21.040 with you know, the amazing technology that we have internally. 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:23.679 So that's really been our focus primarily. Like there may 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:24.520 be something. 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:25.600 Where you know, you want to build your own LEM 0:23:25.680 --> 0:23:28.440 eventually or you know, specialized, but right now, what can 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:30.879 we bring to consumers to help their lives become better? 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:33.640 Like that's that's the key objective. 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:35.240 Here, Sebastian. 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:38.600 One of the data points that Klan is putting forward 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:41.720 is that seventy six percent of consumers are still shopping 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:44.760 in store. I would say there's probably a number of 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:47.520 third party data sets that are all over the place 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:49.520 in terms of how many people go to a store. 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:51.240 But how high risk is that for you? 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:54.920 What if people just return to online shopping and lens 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:56.000 isn't needed. 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.200