Technology

For 70 years, Natural Language Processing (NLP) has evolved from simple rulebooks to powerful neural models that write code, answer questions, and compose poetry. What started with hope and heuristics is now reshaping industries — and conversations. This is how NLP went from naïve to probabilistic to neural.

When it comes to moving people across vast distances, the world remains heavily tilted toward roads. But the degree to which countries rely on roads versus rails varies significantly—and tellingly—across economies.

China’s roads used to hum with the roar of internal combustion engines. Not anymore. In 2024, nearly half of all new cars sold in China—48%—are electric, a figure that dwarfs the global average of 22% and places China well ahead of most advanced economies.

Africa accounts for 19% of the world’s population but only 3% of global GDP. This disparity is starkly visible in its energy investment: while Africa spends 3.6% of GDP on energy, slightly more than the global average of 2.9%—its investment per capita is just USD 68, compared to the global average of USD 402. According to World Energy Investment 2025 - IEA.

Ambition is abundant. Reactors are not. Africa is running out of power—and patience. With a booming population and surging demand, the continent is desperate for reliable electricity. Renewables dominate headlines, but in the background, a more controversial energy source is quietly returning to the agenda: nuclear power. For many African governments, the atom promises clean, steady baseload energy. But while the ambition is bold, actual progress remains uneven—and often p

There was a time—not too long ago—when a letter meant something. A government notice, a birthday card, a bill, even junk mail. The postbox held a kind of daily promise. But in South Africa, the silent box at the gate is fast becoming an antique. According to the 2024 General Household Survey, a staggering 63% of South African households no longer receive any mail at all.

Over the past decade, South Africa has made dramatic strides in connecting its citizens to the internet. But the journey is far from equal. A closer look at the data reveals a digital revolution carried not by fibre-optic cables and home routers, but by mobile phones — and with it, a growing disparity in how people connect.

The growth of AI and digitalization is setting off a power revolution—one that is largely invisible but monumental in scale. At the heart of this transformation are data centers, the physical epicenters of the cloud. These warehouse-sized facilities, filled with blinking servers and high-performance chips, are poised to become one of the largest consumers of electricity in the U.S. economy by the end of this decade.