Latest news with #dataaccess
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Model Context Protocol provides the the interconnection for AI work.
Persons hand inserting a USB cable charger into a mobile phone AI needs contextual interconnection to work. Model Context Protocol is an open standard developed by the maverick artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. It is designed to allow AI agents to access and interact with external data, application programming interfaces, software tools and services. Rather like some universal two-way USB-C port for AI (a nickname it has embraced), MCP provides a secured and standardized route for AI models to access information and take action. Given this technology's potential, what do software application developers (and the businesspeople using the AI services above them) need to know about MCP? Anthropic open sourced MCP in November 2024 and the company says that the architecture itself is 'straightforward' to use i.e. developers can either expose their data through MCP servers or build AI applications (MCP clients) that connect to these servers. Just as a standard software connector allows different devices to communicate seamlessly, MCP enables AI systems to access and interpret the right context by linking them with a whole range of software services, tools and data sources. Billed as a game-changer for AI integration, MCP is gaining traction among vendors including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google. 'Instead of maintaining separate connectors for each data source, developers can now build against a standard protocol. As the ecosystem matures, AI systems will maintain context as they move between different tools and datasets, replacing today's fragmented integrations with a more sustainable architecture,' detailed Anthropic itself, on the company's technical blog. But that's not all software developers need to know. Why? Because in most software engineering teams, the issue of integration within context remains the biggest barrier to useful AI. According to Facundo Giuliani, solution engineering team manager at enterprise CMS company Storyblok, this integration disconnect is fundamental because context is everything for AI interactions in terms of the way we will want to use AI-based smart automation services today. 'Whether a software team is building a new app, chatbot or ecommerce engine, the model's performance hinges on its ability to understand the user's intent, history, preferences and environment. Traditionally, AI integrations have relied on static prompts to deliver instructions and context. This can be timely and cumbersome, while undermining the scope for accuracy and scalability. MCP changes this,' enthused Giuliani. Instead of relying on scattered prompts, this new technology standard means that software engineers are now able to define and deliver context dynamically, making integrations faster, more accurate and easier to maintain. By decoupling context from prompts and managing it like any other component, developers can, in effect, build their own personal, multi-layered prompt interface. This is said to transform AI from a black box into an integrated part of your an organization's working technology stack. 'One of MCP's big advantages is how well it fits into typical development workflows. Being API-first by design, MCP plugs into existing tools and frameworks with ease, allowing developers to define, update and reuse context programmatically,' explained Giuliani. ' Think of it in the same way as managing code or data. This new layer of control makes AI behavior more predictable and easier to test, debug and scale across environments.' Importantly, he says, MCP also fits naturally into composable and MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless) architectures by treating context as a modular, API-driven component that can be integrated wherever needed. Just like microservices or headless frontends, using this approach means you can compose and embed AI functionality across different layers of the stack without rigid dependencies. The result is greater flexibility and reusability, faster iteration across distributed systems and full scalability. Having worked with this new AI software services layer internally at Storyblok, the team suggest that there is good news to behold. That good news is that users of all technical abilities (okay, software engineers for now, but these technologies inevitably get more and more abstracted over time and moved towards the hands of so-called citizen developers) don't necessarily need to be a machine learning expert to get started with MCP. What's more important is having a solid understanding of APIs, data structures, and typical application architecture. 'To begin, AI engineering teams need to map out the key context components their AI models need to deliver accurate, relevant responses. They then need to ensure these elements are well-structured, consistently maintained and easily accessible across the system. Since MCP is all about providing context effectively, understanding how AI fits into the end users' software product experiences is essential,' said Giuliani. Because MCP is API-driven, teams can start experimenting with context-aware applications using the tools and languages they already know. In Storyblok's experience, most software developers can have a basic integration up and running in under an hour. Once they are up and running, they can then aim to integrate MCP incrementally within existing workflows. They should then test thoroughly to observe how different context signals influence AI behavior. Most importantly, they should treat context as a living part of the AI software system being created and continuously update and refine it based on real user interactions and feedback to maximize effectiveness over time. 'Like any powerful tool, MCP comes with its own set of pitfalls. One of the most common mistakes is a poorly defined context i.e. either too little data or too much irrelevant data. This can result in inconsistent model behavior or bloated integrations. Another mistake is treating MCP as a plug-and-play solution without tailoring it to the specific needs of an application. Context is inherently tied to the business domain in which this technology is used, so it needs to be structured thoughtfully to specific use cases to get the most out of it,' advised Giuliani. Wider support for MCP is seen far and wide. Image and video platform company Cloudinary has announced its Cloudinary Model Context Protocol Server offering this month. The company says that this MCP service allows AI agents and large language models like Base44, Claude, Cursor and others to interact with Cloudinary's image and video APIs and documentation using natural language. The firm promises that this technology will be accessible through its platform for both 'traditional' software developers and AI builders alike. MCP Server is our latest commitment to ensuring software engineers of all kinds have the tools they need to build visual-first experiences and apps, said Tal Lev-Ami, co-founder and CTO, Cloudinary. He suggests that the new era of LLM-powered code generation underscores the importance of open, API-first platforms and tools like MCP. For his money, this is the route to empowering software engineers to build within flexible and trusted frameworks and models. Enterprise data services company Ctera now offers native support for MCP and claims to be the 'first hybrid cloud platform' to embed an MCP Server for secure AI integration into its stack. This allows enterprises to connect LLMs, including assistants like Claude, AI IDEs (e.g. Cursor) and internally developed agents, directly to private data, without compromising security or compliance. CTO of Ctera Aron Brand says that this development is step toward for LLM-based assistants to work seamlessly with an organization's internal data. 'We're giving their teams a secure and intelligent way to enable real-time decisions, faster workflows and new kinds of automation without introducing security and compliance challenges to the business,' said Brand. The industry is in broad agreement of the proposition that MCP is more than just a new standard; it could change how we think about AI and where we are able to 'inject it' into working business applications. With a short-term roadmap focused on enhanced security, richer developer tooling and broader ecosystem support, the consensus is that MCP will continue to inch even closer to becoming a universal standard for AI integration in just the next one to two years.
Finextra
2 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
UK launches Smart Data Group to bring benefits of open banking to more sectors
The UK is looking to build on the success of open banking through the launch of a government-backed, industry-led Smart Data Group designed to unlock £28 billion in economic value across a variety of sectors. 0 Last week, the Data (Use and Access) Bill passed in parliament, paving the way for the expansion of the open banking model, giving consumers the power to share their data more widely across new use cases in energy, finance, telecoms and retail. By enabling Brits to explicitly consent to secure, standardised sharing of personal data with providers, the aim is to ensure these users can get tailored services, seamless switching, and better deals. Chaired by former Minister for Smart Data, Paul Scully, The Smart Data Group has been tasked with making this a reality, uniting policymakers and industry experts. Open banking veterans Richard Newman and Clare Ambrosino will be in operational charge of the group, with advisory board members including Jonathan Ashworth, Lord Iain McNicol, Lord Martin Callanan, and Sir Robbie Gibb, underscoring strong cross-party support. Business and Trade Minister Justin Madders says: 'Smart Data has the power to transform the way we do business and has potential to supercharge start-ups across the country. 'This new group will play an important role in unlocking that potential, and our modern Industrial Strategy will be a driving force to boost our priority sectors and drive economic growth right across the nation.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk left the fate of your Social Security payments in the hands of a 21-year-old DOGE tech bro
The wealthiest man on earth was so distrustful of the nonpartisan experts at the Social Security Administration that he and his allies insisted on giving a 21-year-old former Silicon Valley intern sweeping access to personal data on hundreds of millions of Americans, living and dead, in hopes of proving his outlandish claims about fraudulent payments passing though the agency. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team made no attempt to understand data the tech billionaire was citing when he began claiming that 'massive fraud' was allowing Social Security payments to flow to 'illegals' in a series of X posts in early February, despite warnings from Social Security officials who told them they did not know what they were talking about, the The New York Times reported. Instead, he ordered 21-year-old Akash Bobba, a former Palantir intern who'd been hired as a programmer for DOGE, be granted access to Social Security data without proper training so he could run his own analysis, the Times reported When the acting commissioner, Michelle King, declined to do so, Musk had her fired and replaced with Leland Dudek. Dudek, brought back from a suspension on the DOGE team's recommendation, got Bobba the access. But according to the Times, Bobba knew the Musk fraud claims were bunk. He reportedly told others at the agency that he'd 'tried to deliverthe accurate context' to the world's richest person, apparently without success. Citing interviews with dozens of people in the agency and throughout the Trump administration, the Times said Musk 'became fixated' on Social Security after he and his team misread government spending data and began to believe, incorrectly, that they'd uncovered fraud at the nation's old-age and disability pension program. Musk's team reportedly became so obsessed and driven to prove the false claims as true that they pushed SSA officials to disregard a court order cutting off DOGE's access to sensitive data including Americans' Social Security numbers, employment history and other sensitive matters, even as the SpaceX and Tesla CEO became a target for administration critics after he referred to the massively popular New Deal program as a 'Ponzi scheme.' One Musk ally, Michael Russo, was installed as the SSA's chief information officer. He pushed the then-acting commissioner to have agency workers analyze the data the Tesla billionaire and his team were claiming to be evidence of fraudulent payments. When the Social Security experts said the payments in question were valid, Russo ignored them and said Musk's team wouldn't accept the conclusions of civil servants. Musk departed government service earlier this month amid a falling-out with Trump, but his outsized wealth and ownership of the X platform mean he could create chaos surrounding the GOP's agenda and its plans for the 2026 midterms. According to the most recent poll by The Economist and YouGov, a full 76 percent of Republicans see Musk favorably while just 18 percent view him unfavorably. According to a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College in late April, 77 percent of Republicans view Musk favorably. The billionaire is more popular than House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, or almost anyone else in the GOP save for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. But at the same time, just fifteen percent of Democrats and 34 percent of independents have favorable views of the tech mogul. A week after he blew up his relationship with Trump by, among other things, accusing him of being a pedophile, Musk took to X to express regret over his war of words with the president and back down by conceding that 'some' of his posts attacking the commander-in-chief had been excessive. 'I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far,' he said, just days after Trump said 'very disappointed' in his former special adviser and campaign donor for criticizing the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' he is attempting to push through the Senate.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Elon Musk left the fate of your Social Security payments in the hands of a 21-year-old DOGE tech bro
The wealthiest man on earth was so distrustful of the nonpartisan experts at the Social Security Administration that he and his allies insisted on giving a 21-year-old former Silicon Valley intern sweeping access to personal data on hundreds of millions of Americans, living and dead, in hopes of proving his outlandish claims about fraudulent payments passing though the agency. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team made no attempt to understand data the tech billionaire was citing when he began claiming that 'massive fraud' was allowing Social Security payments to flow to 'illegals' in a series of X posts in early February, despite warnings from Social Security officials who told them they did not know what they were talking about, the The New York Times reported. Instead, he ordered 21-year-old Akash Bobba, a former Palantir intern who'd been hired as a programmer for DOGE, be granted access to Social Security data without proper training so he could run his own analysis, the Times reported When the acting commissioner, Michelle King, declined to do so, Musk had her fired and replaced with Leland Dudek. Dudek, brought back from a suspension on the DOGE team's recommendation, got Bobba the access. But according to the Times, Bobba knew the Musk fraud claims were bunk. He reportedly told others at the agency that he'd 'tried to deliverthe accurate context' to the world's richest person, apparently without success. Citing interviews with dozens of people in the agency and throughout the Trump administration, the Times said Musk 'became fixated' on Social Security after he and his team misread government spending data and began to believe, incorrectly, that they'd uncovered fraud at the nation's old-age and disability pension program. Musk's team reportedly became so obsessed and driven to prove the false claims as true that they pushed SSA officials to disregard a court order cutting off DOGE's access to sensitive data including Americans' Social Security numbers, employment history and other sensitive matters, even as the SpaceX and Tesla CEO became a target for administration critics after he referred to the massively popular New Deal program as a 'Ponzi scheme.' One Musk ally, Michael Russo, was installed as the SSA's chief information officer. He pushed the then-acting commissioner to have agency workers analyze the data the Tesla billionaire and his team were claiming to be evidence of fraudulent payments. When the Social Security experts said the payments in question were valid, Russo ignored them and said Musk's team wouldn't accept the conclusions of civil servants. Musk departed government service earlier this month amid a falling-out with Trump, but his outsized wealth and ownership of the X platform mean he could create chaos surrounding the GOP's agenda and its plans for the 2026 midterms. According to the most recent poll by The Economist and YouGov, a full 76 percent of Republicans see Musk favorably while just 18 percent view him unfavorably. According to a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College in late April, 77 percent of Republicans view Musk favorably. The billionaire is more popular than House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, or almost anyone else in the GOP save for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. But at the same time, just fifteen percent of Democrats and 34 percent of independents have favorable views of the tech mogul. A week after he blew up his relationship with Trump by, among other things, accusing him of being a pedophile, Musk took to X to express regret over his war of words with the president and back down by conceding that 'some' of his posts attacking the commander-in-chief had been excessive. 'I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far,' he said, just days after Trump said 'very disappointed' in his former special adviser and campaign donor for criticizing the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' he is attempting to push through the Senate.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
China Reviews Impact of US Data Curbs Due to Trump's Budget Cuts
(Bloomberg) -- China's government is reviewing impacts on the nation's scientific research after President Donald Trump's moves to withdraw funding from some US agencies and halt publication of certain categories of data. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future As Part of a $45 Billion Push, ICE Prepares for a Vast Expansion of Detention Space Do World's Fairs Still Matter? NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban As American Architects Gather in Boston, Retrofits Are All the Rage Several Chinese ministries and bodies have in recent weeks started assessing potential disruption to their work, and made efforts to determine the extent to which some activities have become reliant on data published by the US, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified to discuss details that aren't public. Agencies carrying out reviews include the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Meteorological Administration, Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, one of the people said. One area of work facing potential disruption has been studies of coral bleaching in the South China Sea, according to another person. Chinese researchers had used a US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration product that published coastal water temperatures, which was decommissioned last month, the person said. The move comes as Beijing and Washington have been working to get bilateral relations back on track, with negotiators agreeing on a framework to ease trade tensions and revive the flow of sensitive goods between the world's two largest economies. But details are scarce and many issues remain unresolved, including China's massive trade surplus with the US. Reviews being carried out by the Chinese ministries will examine if domestic sources can replace the use of US data that's now unavailable, the people said. Investigations are being conducted quietly to avoid giving the US any potential bargaining chip, according to the people. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Meteorological Administration, Ministry of Natural Resources and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Beijing has sought in recent years to reduce its dependence on foreign sources for critical technology and products. Past US actions have only accelerated China's push for self-reliance, much like how US curbs on chip sales have spurred growth in the country's home-grown semiconductor industry. China views climate science as a geopolitical battleground. President Xi Jinping wants his country to become a weather superpower and have a bigger say in global meteorological governance. Beijing spent nearly 500% more on climate diplomacy from 2013 to 2023, following a familiar strategy of offering financial help to other nations to boost the use of Chinese technology and services. In the US, job losses and funding cuts have impacted the collection and availability of data in fields like climate, weather and health. Hundreds of employees have been fired at NOAA as part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to shrink the federal government. NOAA declined to comment on whether the removal of data products and websites has impacted cooperation with other countries, including China. The agency said coastal water temperature data remains available in other formats. The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. The coastal water temperature guide made data 'easier for scientists or interested lay people to see it and analyze it,' said Craig McLean, an ocean researcher who worked at NOAA for decades before retiring in 2022. Without the original presentation, 'it could be a more complicated journey' for anyone trying to use and make sense of the information, he said. Cuts to research and information sharing in the US will also impact partners from Europe to Australia, across fields such as astronomy, physics, public health and weather monitoring, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said last month. Chinese Data It isn't just the US that has pulled back on the amount of data it makes public. China has drawn criticism for tightening its grip on sensitive details, limiting the ability of economists, think tanks, financial analysts and others to access information. Restrictions have included corporate registries, bond market transactions, official biographies of politicians and academic papers. Domestic data firm Wind Information Co. in 2023 stopped providing detailed information on local companies to overseas clients, while the Ministry of State Security repeatedly warned that foreign entities are obtaining sensitive data, including on food production, geography and weather patterns, through software, non-governmental organizations and unwitting Chinese citizens. China has a history of working with America's federal science agencies, including NOAA, and last year renewed a treaty first signed in 1979 covering cooperation in several fields. Researchers have often praised the accuracy and comprehensive coverage of US data — in 2017, the China Meteorological Administration said the US data prediction was among the best in the world. --With assistance from Mary Hui, Zahra Hirji and Jing Li. 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