Nvidia to become the newest $1 trillion club member

Morning! This Thursday is Global Parents' Day, the ultimate celebration of the fearless warriors who willingly chose to sacrifice sleep and personal space for the joy of cleaning up messes and hearing "Mom" or "Dad" yelled a thousand times a day? Okay, we will shut up.

P.S. Do cat parents count?

In this week’s edition:

💰 How horrible spending habits are universal

🚫 NADRA out of the tax game

😎 The new cool kid in town (Tech Version)

🎓 All-in in AI

- The Itla Squad 💼

Business

Global 🌎️

Matters of debt ceiling found a common ground

President Biden and Republican Kevin McCarthy have finally found some common ground and reached a preliminary deal to raise $31.4 trillion debt ceiling of the federal government.

What is a debt ceiling?

• The debt limit, also referred to as the debt ceiling, is a law that puts a cap on the total amount of money that the government can borrow in order to cover its expenses.

• These expenses include paying federal employees, funding the military, paying interest on the national debt, and issuing tax refunds.

• Periodically, the US Congress holds a vote to increase or temporarily suspend the debt limit, allowing the government to borrow more money when necessary.

How did US get to this point? Turns out the US is just like us: spending way more than it can bring in. As a result, the government needs to borrow funds to cover the shortfall between its expenses and income.

What if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised? Everything would’ve been f*cked.

Short term impact: An analysis says that a four-month default will result in the GDP taking a hit of around 4%, stock prices nosediving by roughly one-third, and the job market being ravaged by job cuts totaling nearly six million.

Long run impact: It could lead to higher borrowing costs for everyone and negatively impact the economy due to the ripple effect on interest rates.

Globally: If the US dollar suddenly loses value, it could create a ripple effect in the treasury market, impacting the worth of those foreign currency reserves that heavily rely on US dollars.

TLDR: Biden and McCarthy reached a preliminary deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling. Failure to do so would have dire consequences, including job cuts, economic impact, and global repercussions.

What else is new in news

✶ Rishi Sunak is planning to have a friendly chat with supermarkets, politely requesting them to put a cap on prices for basic stuff like bread and milk as the inflation in the UK doesn’t seem to go down.

Local 🇵🇰

Taxing times for NADRA in the future

NADRA's starring role in tax enforcement is under scrutiny as the government wants to take away NADRA's authority to decide how much money people owe in taxes if they haven't registered or filed their taxes.

Why the shifting of gears?

• They hope this will get more people to pay taxes.

• The budget planners are thinking about getting rid of all the things NADRA can do under section 175B of the Income Tax Ordinance.

• Right now, NADRA has the power to take action against people who haven't filed their taxes.

• If this change happens, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) could create a new system that uses a database controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan or the FBR to analyze data including banking transactions, using AI based on tax declarations and encourage people who aren't paying taxes to fix that.

• Even if NADRA's power is taken away, the FBR will still be able to use the information that NADRA has.

TLDR: The government wants to take away NADRA's authority in determining tax liabilities for unregistered and non-filing individuals. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) may create a new system using a database controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan or FBR, utilizing AI to analyze data and encourage non-compliant taxpayers to rectify their tax situation.

News Flash

✶ A recent study by the Institute of Policy Studies revealed that soaring electricity prices in Pakistan have pushed consumers to their limits, forcing them to cut back on usage. However, many reported that their bills remained unchanged despite their efforts.

Tech

Global 🌎️

Meet Nvidia: The Future $1 Trillion Club Member

Nvidia is about to join the cool kids' club of companies with a whopping market capitalization of $1 trillion. It is a remarkable achievement shared by just a handful of giants like Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Alphabet (Google's parent company), and Microsoft.

How did Nvidia pull it off? The answer is simple: AI.

• Nvidia, founded in 1993, initially focused on video game GPUs but soon realized their potential in deep learning AI.

• Tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft embraced Nvidia's chips for data processing.

• Nvidia recently unveiled faster GPUs, solidifying its position as an AI leader.

• The launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT sparked the generative AI boom, with companies like Google and TikTok joining in. GPUs played a vital role in accelerating model training.

• Google partnered with Nvidia to provide GPUs for generative AI, and Elon Musk reportedly purchased thousands of GPUs for a new AI project.

• According to Reuters, their stock has soared by over 160% this year, propelling their market capitalization to an astounding increase of $586 billion.

TLDR: Nvidia is poised to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization with its AI ventures. From video game GPUs to deep learning AI, Nvidia's chips are embraced by tech giants. OpenAI's ChatGPT fueled the generative AI boom. The company's stock also surged 160%, adding $586 billion in value.

What else is new in news

✶If you've got a mind-blowing idea to solve the problems of AI governance, OpenAI wants to hear from you. Present your plan and you could snag a cool $100,000 (for real).

Local 🇵🇰 

Pak is going all-in in AI

Pakistan's Ministry of IT & Telecom has drafted a policy to promote the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) in the country, with the aim of producing one million AI-trained IT graduates by 2027.

More:

• The policy aims to transform Pakistan into a knowledge-based economy by investing in AI education and technology.

• It sets 15 targets with specific timelines and intends to establish a National AI Fund using existing resources.

• The policy envisions various applications of AI, including weather prediction, optimizing agricultural supply chains, and improving healthcare services.

• They're also open to hearing what the public thinks about their plan as the government is asking feedback from the public until June 16. (there’s no cash prize for this ☹️ )

TLDR: Pakistan's Ministry of IT & Telecom aims to train one million AI-trained IT graduates by 2027. The policy focuses on transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy, with targets and plans for a National AI Fund. It highlights AI applications in weather prediction, agriculture, and healthcare. Public feedback is sought until June 16.

Tech tour of news

✶Meezan Bank offers interest-free financing for solar panel installation in homes. With monthly installments, clients can benefit from Shariah-compliant services.

More interesting Itla (اطلاع) we consumed:

🧜‍♀️ With The Little Mermaid out and some friends saying interesting (read: racist) remarks on the movie, we want to share this hilarious but very relevant video of Trevor Noah where he unpacks the racist response to the movie.

🥭 We are forever gonna be sad that we didn’t write this literary masterpiece (just Mohsin Ahmed’s brilliant satire about Pakistanis’ love for mangoes).