Strengthened Gromov conjecture on simplicial volume

Let $M$ be a closed manifold admitting a metric of nonpositive curvature, and let $x\in M$ be a point at which the Ricci curvature is negative.

Strengthened Gromov conjecture. Then $M$ has positive simplicial volume:

$$\left\|M\right\|>0.$$

This strengthens the preceding conjecture by requiring negative Ricci curvature at only one point rather than throughout the manifold. The paper offers this formulation after discussing partial results and states that the relevant higher-dimensional cases remain unresolved.