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Yerkin Tatishev and the Kusto Group invest in cutting edge technology to develop agriculture in Kazakhstan

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Kazakhstan is on track to become a leader in the use of modern agricultural technologies thanks to local pioneer and investor, Yerkin Tatishev and the Kusto Group. Tatishev is realizing his lifelong dream of bringing his country into the 21stcentury using cutting edge technologies and international know-how. With wide experience in the manufacturing and mining industries, Tatishev, together with the Kusto Group, has turned its energies to agriculture. The outlook for the beef and dairy industries in Kazakhstan and neighboring Ukraine has never looked better. The group has recently launched a new initiative, known as Kazseed, to develop high quality seeds specifically for the local market.

Investment in the Local Agro-Beef Industry

As part of their commitment to develop local industries, Tatishev and the Kusto Group, in partnership with the government, invest heavily in agriculture. Their focus is the agro-beef industry as it has enormous potential to create jobs, improve the economy, and eventually increase the role Kazakhstan plays in the world beef market.

The government allocated some 80 percent of all Kazakhstan’s land to agriculture, while the Kusto Group built and nurtured the local industry with a company known as Kazbeef. Thanks in large part to the Kusto Group and its Kazbeef initiatives, Kazakhstan’s agro-beef industry has rapidly grown and become a significant player in regional beef production. Today, Kazbeef’s herd in Kazakhstan is 20,000 strong.

The Kusto Group’s agricultural initiatives do not stop there. In an effort to expand the scope of their operation and role in the agriculture business, Kusto Group’s Agro branch has begun construction of a complex of dairy facilities in Lypne, Ukraine. This new project will focus around a 600-herd of free-range milk cows, and the facilities needed to process and commercialize the milk into consumer products. In addition, plans are already in the works to buy Holstein cows; considered la crème de la crème in the dairy industry. The facility will also have space for expansion of breeding programs, birthing and non-dairy industry development. As in all the company’s endeavors, and projects lead by Tatishev, this facility is expected to be equipped with state of the art technology that will allow it to penetrate the industry successfully, create jobs and strengthen the local economy. The project is to be operational by summer 2019.

Future Technologies

Yerkin Tatishev is committed to all aspects and stages of the agro-beef industry and is dedicated to bringing cutting edge technology to every phase of the production, from genetics to seeds to irrigation equipment and technology all the way through to eventual harvests. This goes hand in hand with recognizing and targeting the consumer market for beef products from Kazakhstan, which Tatishev has recognized as the local consumers, as well as Russian and Chinese markets.

One significant area of development for Kazbeef is creating a smart system of traceability for livestock products, allowing the end consumer to trace the product they purchase through all stages of production, processing and distribution. This will be done using a QR code on the packaging, and Kazbeef is proud to be spearheading this tool in Kazakhstan.

Specialized breeding and the introduction of livestock from all over the world is another innovation for the area. Holstein cows for milk production, and Angus and Hereford cattle for beef production, are being imported and subsequently bred locally.

Packing technologies that embrace green approaches such as wind power on feedlots are being introduced by the company. Smart irrigation systems manage water consumption and ensure healthy crops, even with extreme fluctuations in weather and precipitation.

Development of non-GMO seeds by Kazseed specifically for the local climate will mean better, richer crops and will translate into an enhanced end-product. The commitment to non-genetically engineered seeds is an interesting strategy and points to a forward-looking approach. It recognizes the market need for high quality products and integrates innovation that is fully tested and proven to be effective.

Kazseed – The New Technology of Seed Development by Kusto

In partnership with Baumgartner Agriculture Science and Service (BASS), one of the leading non-GMO seed producers in the world, the Kusto group has established a new company called Kazseed. Tatishev is proud to announce that farmers will finally get access to world class seeds, specially selected for the climatic and environmental needs of Kazakhstan.

Kazseed will continue the Kusto Group’s ongoing efforts to introduce cutting-edge technology across their day-to-day operations. The passion is demonstrated by Kusto’s $25m investment in this project. High quality technology has the power to change people’s lives for the better and Kusto is committed to ensure this is the case for Kazakh agriculture.

Tatishev, speaking at a recent conference, remarked, “I am also pleased to see the Kazakhstan government’s support and involvement. This project is being developed in close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture to produce fodder seeds for the benefit of the entire country’s agriculture sector and beyond. It is essential that businesses and companies work together in the interest of society’s wellbeing. It is an attitude I have adopted throughout my career and my door is always open to partnership with like-minded institutions in the many countries in which we operate.”

Kazseed has the potential to significantly boost employment and prosperity in local communities in Kazakhstan. Businesses have a responsibility to uphold these values and they are obviously a core component of the Kusto Group’s thinking.

Business

GPT-6 Astra Could Change How Businesses Think About Employees

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The latest leap in artificial intelligence is forcing businesses to reconsider a question that goes far beyond which chatbot they should use: How much of the work itself still needs to be performed by people?

OpenAI’s newly released GPT-6 Astra is being positioned as a major advance in AI capabilities, particularly in computer use, coding and completing complex multi-step tasks. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has even declared that artificial general intelligence, or AGI, has arrived with Astra — although that claim remains controversial and there is no universally accepted definition of AGI.

For businesses, however, the AGI label may be less important than what these systems can actually do.

The biggest change is the growing ability of AI to complete work rather than simply generate information. Instead of asking an AI to write an email, summarize a report or produce an idea, companies can increasingly give AI a larger objective and allow it to work through multiple steps toward completion.

That changes the economics of automation.

A company could eventually have AI handling portions of customer service, research, administrative operations, sales follow-up, software development and internal analysis with considerably less human intervention. The human role shifts from performing every step to setting objectives, reviewing results and handling the situations AI cannot reliably resolve.

That does not mean businesses should immediately replace employees with AI. It means companies should start examining their workflows differently.

The companies that gain the most from increasingly capable AI may not be the ones that simply purchase the newest model. They will be the ones that redesign their operations around what AI can now accomplish.

This is also why the arrival of more autonomous AI creates a new management challenge. OpenAI’s chief scientist has warned that increasingly capable agents could create consequences that organizations and society are not yet prepared to manage.

For executives, the message is straightforward: AI is moving from a productivity tool toward a potential digital workforce.

Businesses should be asking now which tasks can be automated, where humans must remain in control, and how employees can move toward higher-value responsibilities.

The competitive advantage may no longer come from simply having AI.

It may come from knowing how to reorganize the business around it.

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NVIDIA’s $12.9 Billion Hugging Face Deal Signals the Next Phase of Business AI

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AI infrastructure is becoming the next major battleground as businesses adopt open models and customized AI systems.

NVIDIA is making a massive bet that the future of artificial intelligence will not be controlled solely by a handful of companies selling access to closed AI models.

The chip giant has agreed to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, one of NVIDIA’s largest acquisitions. Hugging Face has become a central platform for developers building, sharing and deploying open-source and open-weight AI models. More than 18 million developers, researchers and creators use the platform, while more than 200,000 companies rely on it for AI development.

For businesses, the deal matters because it points toward a future in which companies have far more choices about how they build AI.

Rather than depending entirely on expensive proprietary models, businesses can increasingly customize open models for specific tasks, run them across different cloud providers and potentially deploy them using their own infrastructure. NVIDIA says Hugging Face will remain open and will continue supporting different models, clouds and computing platforms rather than requiring NVIDIA hardware.

That could eventually make enterprise AI more flexible and less expensive.

But there is another message behind the acquisition: AI infrastructure is becoming the real battleground.

NVIDIA already dominates the chips powering modern AI. By moving deeper into the software and developer ecosystem, the company is positioning itself across more of the AI stack—from the computing hardware to the models and tools businesses use to build applications.

For business owners, this means the AI decision is becoming less about asking, “Which chatbot should we use?” and more about asking, “What AI infrastructure gives our company the greatest control, flexibility and return on investment?”

The companies that begin experimenting with customized models, AI agents and internal AI systems now may have an advantage as these technologies become cheaper and more capable.

The NVIDIA-Hugging Face deal is therefore more than a $13 billion acquisition. It is a signal that the next phase of business AI may be defined by open models, customized systems and control over the underlying AI infrastructure.

And for businesses, that could ultimately mean more powerful AI without being locked into a single vendor.

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Should you trust “finfluencers” regarding cryptocurrency prospects?

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Conducting proper market research when investing in cryptocurrencies is essential to managing risks and seizing opportunities. Starting with reading the whitepaper and analyzing the coin’s profile, you gain a basic understanding of how it could perform in the future. Usually, you can also check social media for opinions or developers’ insights, but this guideline is tricky when making crypto predictions.

That’s because users on social media, from regular investors to influencers, can only offer their limited insight into the future of a cryptocurrency, each considering their own risks and goals. When it comes to crypto influencer advice, you should practice caution before you buy Bitcoin or other coins, as a person with the right experience and knowledge can truly have a positive impact on your journey as an investor, but the wrong one can cause more harm to your portfolio.

On a broader note, these popular users are also known as “finfluencers” who offer financial advice for others to follow. However, they are far from being what accredited advisors are, and can pose serious risks for investors. Let’s learn more about them.

What makes finfluencers appealing?

Influencers in the financial domain have become famous content creators on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok, where GenZ is the majority of viewers. Finfluencers create engaging video posts that leverage storytelling and conversational language to make the content interesting and relatable. Interestingly, the type of content appealing to younger investors has been successful because Gen Z has a greater appetite for risky investments as opposed to older generations, which is why they rely on influencers to hit the right spot.

Unfortunately, finfluencers expose their followers to risks, such as misinformation, which can be particularly dangerous for beginners. They might portray crypto investments as straightforward and without risk, when the truth is that people must thoroughly research the market and make investment decisions with safety in mind.

Moreover, influencers’ content can also lead to scams and risky investments, as they leverage their positions in the online media ecosystem to sell risky products, promote unregulated exchanges, or make pitches for trading platforms that risk bankruptcy at any time.

How do influencers impact companies?

Besides confusing users about the right information, financial influencers can also spread misleading information about a firm to promote personal gain. This is possible by oversimplifying financial topics or misinterpreting a company’s latest announcement, affecting customers’ perception of the company’s image.

Luckily, there are efforts to minimize such impacts, as regulators like the SEC are charging finfluencers for their involvement in stock manipulation schemes or for participating in “pump and dump” activities with new coins. But companies must also practice due diligence when collaborating with influencers and try to promote their products and services in ways that educate retail investors and strengthen investor relationships.

That’s why designing effective communication strategies can help identify the right collaborators who are willing to respect key features such as transparency and consistent messaging for a campaign. Otherwise, working with fake influencers can detrimentally affect a company’s brand image.

However, some investment advisors can be present on social media

While it’s generally unwise to follow every influencer’s approach to cryptocurrency investment, it is not uncommon to find accredited financial advisors making content on social media to expand the range of people who can access genuine, free information.

These advisors work only after achieving specific qualifications that allow them to offer advice, and they must respect their duties to seek the best execution and to offer advice that works in the best interest of the customer. They also know their charging fees and can earn commissions for financial transactions, which allows them to be registered employees, like any of us.

Checking whether a public figure has the right qualifications to serve as an advisor and seeking their collaboration on content they create can be helpful for crypto investors.

Social media has helped bring people together from around the world, but this is becoming a problem for modern cryptocurrency investors due to the risk of fake influencers spreading misinformation. These users are also known as finfluencers, and they can influence investors’ decisions by offering information that lacks proper research, as well as by coercing them into scams. While some financial institutions are starting deals with them, their growing presence on social media is overwhelming, making it people’s responsibility to protect themselves.

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Nvidia’s $13 Billion Hugging Face Deal Signals a New Phase for Business AI

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Teams review open-source AI models on transparent displays in a modern data center workspace following Nvidia's $12.9B acquisition of Hugging Face.

Nvidia is making one of its biggest moves beyond chips, agreeing to acquire AI platform Hugging Face for roughly $13 billion. The deal is significant because Hugging Face has become a major home for open-source AI models, datasets and applications, with more than 18 million developers and 200,000 companies using the platform. Nvidia says Hugging Face will remain open and support multiple cloud and computing platforms.

What It Means for Businesses

The acquisition points to an important shift in the AI market: businesses are increasingly looking beyond simply subscribing to a chatbot.

Open-source AI gives companies more opportunities to customize models, run AI within their own infrastructure and reduce dependence on a single AI provider. Nvidia’s investment could accelerate that trend by combining its computing infrastructure with one of the world’s largest open AI communities.

For smaller businesses, the bigger takeaway is that AI is becoming infrastructure rather than an experimental tool. Companies that build AI into sales, customer service, marketing, operations and internal workflows are likely to have more choices about which models power those systems.

But there is also a warning. Hugging Face has recently faced AI-related security concerns, while businesses are giving autonomous AI agents increasing access to company systems. Security researchers and lawmakers are now pushing for stronger controls around what AI agents can access and execute.

The business opportunity is no longer simply “use AI.” It is building an AI stack that is flexible, secure and capable of changing as better models arrive.

For business owners, that means the companies that avoid locking themselves into one AI model today may have a significant advantage tomorrow.

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Tesla Is Building a Car Without a Steering Wheel. At What Point Does a Car Stop Being a Product and Become a Service?

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Tesla’s steering-wheel-free Cybercab highlights a bigger shift in transportation: the possibility that vehicles may become recurring revenue-generating assets in autonomous ride-hailing networks rather than simply products sold once to individual owners.

Tesla is showcasing its two-seat Cybercab in Austin as it pushes deeper into autonomous ride-hailing, and the vehicle’s most striking feature may be what it does not have: a traditional steering wheel. That design decision matters because it signals that Tesla is not simply introducing another car. It is trying to build a vehicle meant to function primarily as part of a transportation network rather than as a product someone buys, parks in a driveway and drives personally. If that strategy works, the economics of the car business could start to look very different.

For most of automotive history, the business model has been simple. A car company designs a vehicle, manufactures it and sells it once. Revenue is tied largely to unit sales. The company may earn additional money from financing, servicing or software, but the main transaction still happens when ownership changes hands. A robotaxi model changes that completely. Instead of generating revenue one time at the point of sale, the same vehicle could potentially generate revenue over and over again by selling rides throughout the day.

That is why autonomous ride-hailing is such an important idea for Tesla. A privately owned vehicle often spends most of its life parked. A robotaxi, in theory, becomes a productive asset. If it can operate for many hours a day, carrying passenger after passenger, the same car begins looking less like a consumer product and more like infrastructure. The financial value of the vehicle no longer comes only from what someone is willing to pay to own it. It comes from how much transportation revenue the vehicle can produce over time.

This is a very different business model from traditional car manufacturing, and it pushes Tesla closer to something that resembles a hybrid of automaker, software company and transportation platform. The company is no longer just asking how many vehicles it can sell. It is asking how many rides each vehicle can complete, how efficiently the fleet can operate and how much demand exists for driverless transportation. That moves the conversation from hardware margins to utilization, network density and recurring revenue.

The appeal of that model is obvious. A company that successfully operates autonomous vehicles at scale could capture much more lifetime value from each car than a one-time sale would provide. It could also potentially reduce reliance on the normal replacement cycle in which customers buy a new vehicle only every several years. In that sense, the most valuable transformation may not be making a better car. It may be turning the car into a machine that continuously earns money.

But that vision also explains why the path is difficult. Building a robotaxi business involves much more than manufacturing the vehicle itself. The company must prove the safety of the technology, satisfy regulators, manage public trust, secure operating permits, build the ride-hailing system and maintain the vehicles as part of an active fleet. A traditional carmaker mainly needs to persuade a customer to buy the car. A robotaxi operator must persuade cities, regulators and the public to accept an entirely different way of moving through everyday life.

There is also a broader lesson here for other industries. Some of the most powerful business transformations happen when a company stops earning money only when the product is sold and starts earning money from what the product does after it is deployed. Software shifted from one-time licenses to subscriptions. Industrial equipment increasingly includes ongoing monitoring and service contracts. Media moved from individual purchases to recurring access. Tesla’s robotaxi push reflects the same logic in physical form: the biggest opportunity may be turning an owned product into a recurring service.

The Cybercab therefore represents more than an unusual vehicle design. It is a visible example of a much larger economic shift. If autonomous transportation becomes mainstream, the winning company may not simply be the one that builds the most cars. It may be the one that best turns those cars into revenue-generating assets inside a functioning network. At that point, the question is no longer just whether a customer wants to buy the vehicle. It is whether the vehicle itself has become the business.

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