[1] Investments in AI are growing at an accelerated pace, according to a new
report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). According to the findings, the global annual value of VC investments in AI startups grew from $3 billion in 2012 to nearly $75 billion in 2020. Funding increased 20% last year alone.
The Paris, France-based group found that the U.S. and China lead the growing wave of funding, taking in a combined 81% of the total amount invested in
AI startups last year. The European Union and U.K. boosted their backing, but lag substantially behind.
OECD's study analyzed VC rounds in 8,300 AI companies worldwide, covering transactions between 2012 and 2020 that were documented by capital market analysis firm Preqin. The report also found that growth in AI investment in U.S.-based firms has been steady since 2012, reaching $42 billion in 2020. Chinese companies experienced a spike in 2017 and 2018, followed by a slump in 2019, and represented $17 billion in 2020.
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Five9, a publicly traded company, failed to gain enough shareholder support to push the deal forward. But the decision also follows
growing scrutiny from U.S. authorities which were looking into Zoom's ties with China – where the company has a major R&D hub. Founder and CEO Eric Yuan was also born in China, although he is a long-time U.S. resident and citizen. Adding fuel to the fire, U.S House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year referred to Zoom as a "Chinese entity."
With a major player like Five9 under its wing, Zoom was hoping to go all in on the enterprise communication vertical to target the
$11.5 billion cloud contact center market. Now that the deal is off, the path forward in the contact center space might be a little rockier for Zoom. But Yuan insisted the company is still committed to that trajectory and will continue its existing partnerships with the likes of Five9, Genesys, Talkdesk, and Twilio. "The contact center market remains a strategic priority for Zoom, and we are confident in our ability to capture its growth potential," Yuan said in a press release. "We are building this new solution with the same scalability and trusted architecture that has made Zoom the platform of choice for businesses around the world."
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[3] Educational institutions are on pace for a
record year of ransomware attacks in 2021, with K-12 schools the primary targets. While contributing to better educational outcomes, successful one-device-per-student and learn-from-anywhere programs have expanded the attack surface for cyber threats of various kinds.
Bad actors prioritize elementary schools because they're underfunded when it comes to cybersecurity staff and systems, and administrators are often impatient to put attacks behind them and resume classes. According to Sophos'
"The State of Ransomware in Education 2021," the typical educational institution pays an average $112,435 ransom payment to get data back and networks running again. In addition, bad actors encrypt the personal identities and financial data of students, parents, and administrators as part of ransomware attacks, at times threatening to publicly release such data to further pressure victims into paying the ransom.
Another fascinating aspect is how school districts' IT and cybersecurity teams are being pulled in multiple directions as they strive to secure the identities of their students, teachers, and administrators. Another
study from Absolute Software
makes it clear that one-device-per-student strategies are a challenge for IT teams. In many cases, Google Chromebooks have dominated new device adoption. CIOs told VentureBeat the ability to lock down selective Chromebooks that are at-risk endpoints is a must-have feature as their online student populations grow. Meanwhile, devices of all kinds can challenge administrators, especially if the devices are overloaded with applications. Overloading endpoints with too much software makes them less secure.
>> Read more here. 
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