Read this Thursday’s edition of the FolhaMercado newsletter (7) – 12/07/2023 – Market

ANDstis the edition of newsletterr FolhaMercado this Thursday (7). Do you want to receive it from Monday to Friday, at 7am, In your email? Sign up below:

---

Turbocharged Bard

Google launched this Wednesday a new version of the “engine” that powers its AI (artificial intelligence). Gemini is already integrated with Bard, the big tech chatbot, in 170 countries – Brazil is among them –, but for now it only works in the English version.

What will be new: Gemini was trained to read, write, listen, speak and see simultaneously. These features should be added to Bard in the future and can be used in the free version of the chatbot, according to big tech.

Google’s main competitor in this area, OpenAI, also offers the possibility of interacting with the robot via audio, text and image, but only in the ChatGPT subscription version, which costs US$20 (about R$99) per month .

Bard x ChatGPT: According to Google, its Gemini-powered chatbot outperforms the free version of the OpenAI robot in reasoning, language, mathematics, programming and general knowledge challenges.

• Bard cannot retrieve users’ previous interactions with the robot, something that exists in ChatGPT and helps it understand contexts.

Three versions of Gemini will be released by Google:

↳Ultra: is the largest model and should reach the first users in early 2024 on Bard Advanced, a new service that will be launched by big tech, which has not clarified whether it will be paid or not.

↳ Nano: smaller and focused on smartphones, it arrived yesterday to owners of Pixel Pro 8 cell phones — a smartphone not sold in Brazil. Google says other Android phone makers will also be able to use the technology.

↳Pro: It’s what’s halfway between the versions. This is the one that has been available to Bard in English since yesterday.

---

Google Ads is used to promote scams

To carry out scams on the internet, criminals have hacked Google accounts and used them to buy ads on the search engine.

The objective is to promote fake websites that promise products at low prices, but which are never actually delivered, shows reporter Pedro S. Teixeira.

As it happens: Scammers log into a real Google Ads account, add themselves as a profile administrator, and remove the original owner.

• They then use this account to promote the sites offering fake promotions.

In a case where the Sheet had access, criminals spent R$72,000 to boost the page lojadobrasil.com, reported for fraudulent offers during Black Friday.

The businessman who owned the original Google Ads account says he contacted big tech as soon as he noticed the invasion of his profile, but the company left the advertisements up for 13 days after being notified.

What Google says: that acts immediately when it identifies suspicious behavior. “The safety of users of our platforms is our priority and we take several measures to preserve it.”

In an annual report, the company stated that it had removed 5.2 billion abusive advertisements and restricted 4.2 billion ads in 2022. In this process, 6.7 million accounts were suspended.

---

Sabesp privatization progresses amid turmoil

The Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo approved this Wednesday the privatization of Sabesp. The score, 62 votes in favor, was considered a victory for governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), who expected around 50 votes – 48 were needed for approval.

• There was only 1 no vote, as the opposition did not participate in the vote and left the plenary in protest after a confrontation between protesters and the Military Police (here in video).

What privatization will be like: the government will make a subsequent share offering (follow-on) in which the State will have its stake diluted from the current 50.3% to “something between 15% and 30%”.

• The share that will remain with the State has yet to be defined, as well as the revenue potential from privatization;

The promises of those who support privatization:

↳ Fare reduction via two instruments: contribution to the company of resources generated from the sale of shares and use of company dividends to keep the price low;

↳ Anticipation of universalization of access to water and sewage from 2033 to 2029 and R$10 billion more in Sabesp’s investment plan, which currently foresees R$56 billion by 2033.

Criticisms from those who are against:

↳ A study that supported privatization does not complete that privatization will lower the tariff. The document, in fact, would signal the possibility of the government subsidizing cheaper prices.

↳ Opponents of privatization say that Sabesp already anticipated reduce the deadline for universal access to water and sewage from 2033 to 2030.

And now? Once the process in the assembly is complete, the governor must sanction the project.

The state management will then meet with the 375 municipalities served by Sabesp and with councils that will represent each region. They will be responsible for approving the internal regulations and the extension of all Sabesp contracts until 2060.

The privatization process itself (the sale of shares) only begins after this stage. It is expected to begin in mid-2024, in a schedule that could extend for another six months.

---

22.3% of young people neither study nor work

Of the total number of Brazilians between 15 and 29 years old, 22.3% (10.9 million) did not work or study in 2022, according to IBGE.

The lowest number in the historical series can be explained by the recovery of the job market, which causes the percentage of employed young people to grow.

Yes but… Inequality is significant among the “neithers”. The lack of study and work mainly affects black or brown women aged 15 to 29, who represented 43.3% of the total number of young people in this condition.

Other data released this Wednesday by the institute point out that labor income inequality has been falling little over the years and that poverty fell considerably last year.

IBGE numbers that show…

…Inequality in labor income: White people received an average of R$20 per hour of work in Brazil in 2022, an amount 61.4% higher than that of black or mixed-race people (R$12.4).

• The biggest difference occurs among those with completed higher education: the hourly income of white people (R$ 35.3) exceeded that of black or mixed race people (R$ 25.7) by 37.6%.

…The fall into poverty: the rate fell from the record level of 36.7% in 2021 for 31.6% in 2022. The drop was thanks to the recovery of the job market and the expansion of Auxílio Brasil.