Can AI build a million dollar business?

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DeepMind’s Bold Prediction on AI’s Million Dollar Entrepreneurial Journey in Two Years

Today:

The Modern Turing Test 🤯 Can AI make $1 million? Mustafa Suleyman of DeepMind, says “within 2 years”

Co-Founder of DeepMind proposes a “Modern Turing Test” that would task and AI to build a business that made $1,000,000 on auto-pilot.

He believes this can be done within the next 2 years.

Here’s a video that goes over what that would entail and why it may not be as crazy as it sounds.

WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

Apple is testing a ChatGPT-like AI chatbot

Apple is working on its own artificial intelligence (AI) tools, giving a nudge to big shots like OpenAI and Google. They’ve cooked up a chatty bot, nicknamed “Apple GPT”, but haven’t figured out yet how to get it in the hands of everyday folks. They’re hoping to make a big splash with an AI reveal next year.

Apple’s got this new setup, codename “Ajax”, for creating huge language models, the kind of systems that power OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. They’ve built Ajax using Google tech and it even runs on Google Cloud.

Apple put the brakes on rolling out this chatbot to their own employees because of worries about AI security. But now, more Apple workers are getting to use it, though only with special approval. It’s being used in-house to help with new product designs, but any chatbot output can’t be used for customer features.

Right now, Apple’s chatbot is pretty similar to what’s already out there, like Bard, ChatGPT, and Bing AI. It doesn’t bring anything new to the party.

Apple has been on the hunt for AI experts, particularly folks who understand this generative AI stuff and big language models.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Google Tests AI Tool That Is Able To Write News Articles

Google’s got a new tool cooking in their kitchen called Genesis, an artificial intelligence (AI) tech designed to help write news articles. They’ve been showing it off to heavy hitters in the news game like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and News Corp, the folks who own The Wall Street Journal.

Genesis, a clever helper, can take current events info and turn it into news articles. Google sees this as a wingman for journalists, taking care of the grunt work and freeing up time for bigger tasks. They’re pitching it as a way to dodge the potholes of AI in publishing.

However, some big wigs found Google’s pitch a bit unnerving. They feel it undervalues the sweat and skill needed to craft accurate, well-written news. But Google says these AI tools aren’t meant to replace journalists, but rather lend a hand with stuff like headlines and different writing styles.

Meanwhile, news organizations worldwide are wrestling with whether or not to let AI tools into their newsrooms. AI could change the game, letting users whip up articles on a grander scale. But without careful editing and fact-checking, there’s a risk of spreading fake news and messing up the reputation of traditional news stories.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE NEW YORK TIMES

Meta, Microsoft Team Up to Offer New AI Software for Businesses

Microsoft and Meta are joining forces to offer a new artificial intelligence (AI) language model called Llama 2. This software will be a free tool for folks building software on Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing platform. Before, Meta had only given Llama to the brainiacs in academia.

Microsoft also plans to peddle a new AI-powered assistant for their workplace software, Microsoft 365, for $30 a month per person. That’s double the cost of their cheapest productivity software. It’s a clear sign that they’re betting big on AI. This news sent Microsoft shares flying 4% on Tuesday to a record $359.49, while Meta’s stock price took a slight dip.

Unlike the previous version, Llama 2 is being released as “open source” software. This means it’s free for everyone to use, change, and share. This move might stoke some rivalry with private, commercial models like GPT-4 by OpenAI, which also powers popular chatbot ChatGPT.

Microsoft’s new pricing for Copilot, its own AI assistant using OpenAI’s tech, is part of a plan to reframe its software offerings around AI. Copilot’s talents include summarizing emails and turning a Word document into a PowerPoint presentation. The exact release date for Copilot remains a mystery, but some big businesses are already testing the tool.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Google is testing AI-generated Meet video backgrounds

Google’s been cooking up a new feature that’ll give your video calls a fancy makeover. Instead of staring at your cluttered office or a boring blurred out background, now you can pretend you’re chatting from a swanky living room or any other place you can dream up.

This isn’t just a bunch of pre-made pictures. Google’s using artificial intelligence to whip up these backgrounds on the fly. Want to set the mood? Just type what you’re after, say, “luxurious living room interior”, and boom! Your video call just got a major upgrade.

The feature’s not ready for everyone yet, Google’s still putting it through its paces in its Workspace Labs. If you’re one of the lucky few with access, changing the background is a cinch. Just click on an icon before you join the meeting, type in what you fancy, and pick from the options that pop up.

If you’re already in a meeting and feel like mixing things up, just head over to the “Apply vision effects” option in the menu.

With all these new AI goodies, Google’s squaring up against Microsoft 365’s AI Copilot suite. And they’re not just stopping at jazzy video call backgrounds. Google’s also testing things like AI-generated summaries and a feature that scans your docs to train itself as your personal assistant.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE

Microsoft launches vector search in preview, voice cloning in general availability

Microsoft’s bringing out some fresh AI goodies at its annual Inspire conference. The headliner is Vector Search, a new feature for Azure. Instead of searching for exact words, it finds what you need based on the ‘essence’ or meaning of words and images. It’s like when you’re playing charades and can’t think of the exact word but you know what it feels like. Imagine that, but for your database.

This tech turns words or pictures into a series of numbers (vectors) that represent their meaning, helping computers understand and find relevant stuff quickly. Several big names like Amazon, Google, and a few others already use this kind of search.

Azure’s Vector Search comes with its own bells and whistles, including the ability to provide personalized responses, recommend products, and find patterns in data. It can also be used to make chat-based apps that can search, convert images into vectors, and dig up useful info from massive piles of data.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Partnership with American Journalism Project to support local news

The American Journalism Project (AJP), a powerhouse in supporting local news, is joining hands with OpenAI, the brains behind ChatGPT, to see how artificial intelligence (AI) can give a boost to local news outlets. OpenAI is ponying up $5 million to aid AJP’s mission, plus up to $5 million in OpenAI API credits to give local news groups the chance to play around with AI tech.

AJP will use the OpenAI funds to experiment with AI in a couple ways:

  1. They’re setting up a Technology and AI Studio to figure out how to use AI in local news. The studio will coach AJP organizations, help them use AI tools, and get everyone talking about how to use AI to support quality journalism and stop the spread of false information. They’ll also be sharing what they learn as they go.
  2. They’ll give grants to about ten organizations to try out AI. The lessons learned from these groups will be shared with the whole local news community to show how AI can be best used.
  3. They’ll use the API credits from OpenAI to create and use tools with the technology.

AJP is all about fixing the local news crisis. They’re supporting a new generation of nonprofit local news groups across the country, and have raised $139 million to tackle the issue. OpenAI, which was founded in 2015, is dedicated to making sure AI benefits everyone.

READ THE ARTICLE ON OPENAI

Thousands of authors sign letter urging AI makers to stop stealing books

Around 8,500 authors are raising a ruckus, accusing big tech firms of using their work to train AI writing systems without permission or pay. These language models like ChatGPT, Bard, LLaMa are kinda like parrots, mimicking and spitting out authors’ styles and ideas. How these AI companies got hold of the books, whether from bookstores, libraries, or from less legit places, is unclear. But they definitely didn’t do the right thing and get licenses from publishers.

According to the authors, these AI writing tools could flood the market with low-quality, machine-written books and harm their livelihoods. This ain’t just hypothetical; there’s already been a surge of subpar AI-generated books on bestseller lists and publisher desks. The authors reckon it’s bad for them and even worse for up-and-coming writers, particularly those from underrepresented communities.

Their demands? Simple. Get permission, pay up for past and future use of their work in AI, and compensate for any use of their work in AI outputs. The authors aren’t threatening to sue yet, but they’re fed up with their work being used as free fuel for AI. As of now, there’s not much motivation for these tech giants to fess up and pay up. Most folks don’t realize that these AI language models are built on what’s essentially stolen goods. The authors, though, are ready to take a stand.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

McKinsey partners with startup Cohere to help clients adopt generative AI

Big shot consulting firm McKinsey has teamed up with AI startup Cohere, aiming to bring AI tools to their corporate customers. This is McKinsey’s first dance with a major AI language model provider. They’re joining a crowd of global consulting firms looking to ride the AI wave started by the well-known, Microsoft-supported ChatGPT.

According to bigwig Ben Ellencweig from McKinsey, Cohere’s model takes into account important stuff like cost, intellectual property protection, user privacy, and how the model is taught, which makes it a top pick. McKinsey’s plan? Work with Cohere to make personalized solutions that boost customer interaction and automate tasks. They’re also looking to use Cohere to speed up their own operations and boost their knowledge system.

Cohere, a company built by some of the head honchos from Google’s AI research team, offers a neutral option for businesses to use AI models that aren’t tied to big cloud providers like Microsoft. They’re directly competing with OpenAI and are all about creating AI tools for businesses.

Cohere had a good run last month, raising a hefty $270 million from investors, and they’re currently valued at $2.2 billion. They’ve also buddied up with Oracle, which will be integrating Cohere’s AI tech into its products.

READ THE ARTICLE ON REUTERS

Futureverse raises $54M to marry AI and the metaverse

Futureverse, a tech whiz dabbling in artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse, has raised $54 million in its latest round of funding, with 10T Holdings leading the dance and Ripple joining the fun. Futureverse’s special sauce is a bundle of AI tools that can jazz up music, characters, and animations in the metaverse.

Futureverse has a grand vision: it wants to blend tech infrastructure and AI content to craft the dream metaverse, making this futuristic concept a practical, hands-on destination everyone can dive into.

The company’s big plan includes blockchain technology, and they’re super excited about this since the court ruling last week. They’ve silently scooped up 11 companies so far to build their strategy.

Recently, Futureverse unveiled an AI-powered game in partnership with FIFA, and another one with Muhammad Ali Enterprises. Aiming to be a top dog in AI gaming and metaverse content, Futureverse plans to use its recent funding to develop more ground-breaking tech, including its Futureverse Platform.

READ THE ARTICLE ON VENTUREBEAT

Teladoc expands Microsoft tie-up to document patient visits with AI

Teladoc Health is beefing up its partnership with Microsoft to use some of that smart AI tech for automating patient visit records on its virtual health platform. This move gave Teladoc’s stock a little 6% pre-market bump.

Teladoc plans to use Microsoft’s voice-powered AI system, Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience, to automatically write down patient visits. This leaves doctors to just review and sign off on ’em.

Teladoc’s top doc, Vidya Raman-Tangella, said that this sorta paperwork and staff shortages are big reasons why many clinicians are quitting the profession.

READ THE ARTICLE ON REUTERS

Meta internal memo: ‘Regulatory debate around AI will intensify in coming months’

Meta, the company behind Facebook, predicts more government heat over how it handles artificial intelligence (AI) safety. This comes after a couple of US Senators quizzed CEO Mark Zuckerberg about a supposed leak of info related to one of their AI models. This juicy info comes from a company memo, written by Meta’s product boss, Chris Cox, which Moneycontrol managed to get their hands on.

Earlier this year, Meta decided to share the inner workings of its AI model, LLaMA, with some trusted AI scientists. But things went sideways when it turned out anyone could get it off the internet from places like BitTorrent. Despite this hiccup, Meta’s still keen on sharing LLaMA’s code with selected researchers, saying it’s a fine line between keeping stuff under wraps and playing open cards.

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley, who hang out in the Senate’s Privacy and Tech Committees, have asked the tech big shot what they’re doing to stop this from happening again or to lessen the impact of the AI model’s wide release.

READ THE ARTICLE ON MONEY CONTROL

UK’s approach to AI safety lacks credibility

The U.K.’s got big dreams to be an AI superstar, splashing the cash and hosting a fancy summit, but a report from the Ada Lovelace Institute suggests it’s all smoke and mirrors. The government’s turning a blind eye to the need for new rules to regulate AI and, at the same time, planning to cut back on data protection.

The report calls for a major rethink, dropping 18 suggestions for how the U.K. can get its act together. Among them, the institute says the U.K. needs a stronger, “expensive” definition of AI safety – focusing on actual harms caused by AI today, not future sci-fi problems.

The Institute sees the U.K.’s plan to let existing regulators handle AI with a set of loose principles, and no new resources, as a piecemeal approach. This is in contrast to the EU, which is busy crafting a solid, risk-based framework for AI.

Among the report’s recommendations are that the government should get a grip on data protection reforms, clarify the law around AI and liability, give regulators more resources to deal with AI harms, and set up an AI ombudsperson to help folks impacted by AI. The Institute also thinks the government needs to be more on the ball with new AI tech, maybe by requiring AI developers to give them a heads up about major new projects.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Microsoft’s AI Tool Copilot, Now at a Premium Price

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Microsoft Reveals Pricing for Its AI-Powered Copilot – A Groundbreaking Tool Set to Revolutionize Office Documents

Today:

Microsoft puts a steep price on Copilot, its AI-powered future of Office documents

Microsoft has slapped a hefty $30/month/user tag on its AI-powered Office tool, Copilot, which could almost triple the current price for some businesses. This new add-on can smartly summarize documents, craft emails, and boost Excel work. Despite being a cool addition, some businesses might backpedal due to the price.

Copilot has been trial run by 600 businesses like KPMG, Lumen, and Emirates NBD. They seem to be falling head over heels with it, according to Yusuf Mehdi, a big wig at Microsoft. However, Microsoft is holding their cards close to their chest about when Copilot will hit the market.

Microsoft’s move comes hot on the heels of Google revealing similar AI features. Zoom and Salesforce have been dabbling in AI too, and all eyes are now on how they’ll handle the price game.

Microsoft’s pricing may seem high, but they’ve been pouring billions into AI, even partnering with OpenAI. They’re also racing to nab Nvidia GPUs to power these features. To cut down on the cost, Microsoft is rumored to be cooking up their own AI chips.

They’re also adding the Copilot experience to Teams, enhancing the calling and chat experience. Alongside the pricing news, Microsoft is unveiling Bing Chat Enterprise, a consumer-grade chat tool with beefed-up data protection. This feature is included at no extra cost in certain Microsoft 365 subscriptions.


READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE

Microsoft’s Bing Chat A.I. bot now lets you search using images

Microsoft has just beefed up Bing Chat, its AI chatbot, letting folks use photos to fish for info. Snap or upload a pic, ask Bing Chat about it, and it’ll spit back details from the web. Imagine being on vacation and curious about a building’s design – Bing Chat can lend a hand. Or, unsure what to whip up for lunch with what’s in your fridge? Bing Chat’s got your back.

This new feature is part of a bigger tug-of-war in AI tech between bigwigs like Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. They’re all hustling to make the snazziest, smartest AI, using text and now images to stay ahead. While chatbots are now responding with pictures, none of the big text-based ones are creating their own images yet. Google’s hinted this is coming soon to its own chatbot, Bard.

Microsoft’s move follows Google, which recently rolled out an image search feature for Bard. You can feed Bard a photo and ask for info, a caption, or even jazz up its responses with relevant pics. As of now, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude 2 are still sticking to the written word only, no photos allowed.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNBC

Midjourney AI: Text To Image Supercharged!

The latest Midjourney AI, a text-to-image software, has been the buzz lately for its quality improvements and ease of use. Compared to Stable Diffusion, a free and similar tool, Midjourney, which requires a subscription, has seen incredible advancements over the past year.

For instance, if you ask it to illustrate a desert scene with camels in front of the Great Sphinx, the latest version of Midjourney outperforms previous iterations, generating more realistic and less repetitive imagery. It also offers more convenience, like the ability to zoom out of an image or pan around it.

Moreover, Midjourney supports permutation prompts – a feature where you can explore different options in the same prompt. For example, if you want a painting of a bird but aren’t sure which bird, you can list multiple bird types in the same prompt, and Midjourney will generate images for all the options.

While Midjourney offers loads of features, it has some competition with Stable Diffusion, which provides a broader range of use and customization options. So, it’s a toss-up between the user-friendliness and quick results of Midjourney, and the more tailored outcomes and complexity of Stable Diffusion.

WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

Tractable snaps up $65M led by SoftBank for car and property damage appraisals using AI

Tractable, a leader in applying artificial intelligence (AI) for car and property damage assessments, is getting a cash boost of $65 million. Leading the charge in this round of fundraising is SoftBank Vision Fund 2, along with old buddies Insight Partners and Georgian.

Right now, Tractable is handling about $7 billion in claims every year through its platform. It’s partnered with some big fish in the insurance pond like Geico, Aviva, and Admiral. With this new funding, the plan is to grow the business further and dive deeper into the Japanese market, one of its largest. They’re also planning to bring more of the latest AI advancements into the mix, not just for damage assessments but also for repairs, maintenance, and sales.

Tractable’s CEO and founder, Alex Dalyac, mentioned that their AI could potentially not only look over your car and home for damage but also give advice on the best ways to repair, protect, or sell your belongings. He also pointed out that property appraisals for natural disaster recovery in Japan are becoming increasingly popular, with an expected growth of tenfold this year.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Will.i.am talks AI, the future of creativity, and his new AI app to ‘co-pilot’ creation

Jack-of-all-trades will.i.am is back at it, this time with his latest brainchild called FYI. Designed to be a one-stop-shop, FYI is all about making collaboration a breeze. Chat with your teammates, share files, or rely on its smart AI to help steer your creative process. Plus, it’s got top-notch encryption to keep your ideas under lock and key.

As will.i.am sees it, FYI streamlines the whole creative process by bundling seven separate tools into one handy platform. It’s all about enabling creatives, especially those working in small teams, to punch above their weight.

FYI isn’t just about messaging and file storage; it’s also about organizing your music, calendar, and even using AI to help your team flow. Also in the works is a collaboration with IBM and WatsonX to let users protect their ideas without needing a lawyer.

Will.i.am argues that we need more diverse folks involved in training AI and creating algorithms. In fact, he’s so passionate about this that he’s already set up a school in East Los Angeles to teach computer science and programming to kids from his community.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE EURONEWS

South Korea’s Naver bets on generative AI as Google encroaches

South Korean tech giant Naver is gearing up to fight off Google with its new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, HyperCLOVA X. With Google taking a bite out of Naver’s search engine pie, they’re betting big on this AI, set to launch this summer.

HyperCLOVA X can handle voice and text, and can be paired with a variety of services like online shopping and travel reservations. Naver’s ace in the hole? Their vast Korean-language content, more than 6,500 times larger than OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The more data, the smarter the AI.

But for that, you need a data cruncher. Enter Naver’s new data center in Sejong, South Korea, coming online this fall. It’s six times larger than their previous one, with a price tag of over $395 million. The plan includes high-tech features like robot operations and generative AI processing.

Naver’s also teamed up with Samsung to make a high-performance chip for their data center servers. The hope? Speedy, power-efficient processing, and maybe getting a leg up in advanced semiconductor design.

READ THE ARTICLE ON NIKKEI

Samsung could be testing ChatGPT integration for its own browser (APK teardown)

Samsung’s Internet Browser app might get a brain-boost soon. Looks like the company’s playin’ around with adding in AI tool, ChatGPT. If you’re not familiar, an APK teardown is like snooping around to find hints about what’s coming next in an app’s code.

Earlier, Samsung had folks at Google sweating bullets ’cause they thought about swappin’ Google Search for Bing on their smartphones. Samsung backed down, but they’re still keen on adding AI. This time, it might be through ChatGPT in their browser.

Found some lines of code that hint at the integration. This might let users ask questions straight to ChatGPT without having to leave the browser. But we’re still not sure what that might look like exactly. Maybe you’ll be able to pull up a quick summary of a webpage?

READ THE ARTICLE ON ANDROID AUTHORITY

Amazon’s in-van surveillance footage of delivery drivers is leaking online

Videos from Amazon’s in-van cameras are popping up on Reddit, and people are none too happy about it. These aren’t just any videos, but clips of delivery drivers going about their workday, every step of the way.

Amazon started putting cameras in their delivery vans back in 2021. They use these fancy “AI-enabled” cameras (made by a company called Netradyne Driveri) to watch drivers as they deliver packages. The point is to catch things like fast driving, possible traffic rules being broken, and other risky moves.

But lately, videos from these in-van cameras have been showing up on Reddit. In one clip, a driver is even seen interacting with a customer’s dog. It seems innocent, but here’s the kicker: this goes against Amazon’s own privacy rules.

Now, here’s the part that’ll really bake your noodle: these videos seem to be coming from somewhere inside Amazon or its partners, not from the drivers themselves. It’s not clear who’s leaking them or why.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE

Most outsourced coders in India will be gone in 2 years due to A.I., Stability AI boss predicts

Stability AI’s boss, Emad Mostaque, predicts that a good chunk of outsourced programmers in India will be jobless in the next couple of years. According to him, smart software or AI is now smart enough to do a lot of the work that coders do, meaning fewer people are needed. However, this won’t affect everyone equally. In countries like France, with stronger job protection laws, the blow won’t be as severe. Mostaque specifically mentioned that up to ‘level three’ programmers in India might be out of work soon, but in France, it would be a different story.

India, with more than 5 million programmers, stands to feel the effects pretty heavily. Big companies like Silicon Valley tech firms, Wall Street banks, airlines, and retailers often hire Indian companies to handle their software work. One of these companies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has embraced AI, training over 25,000 engineers to use AI technology in their work.

Mostaque stressed that in a few years, there might not be “programmers” as we know them today. He believes computers can do a lot of the work that coders currently do, and possibly even do it better. However, he clarified that humans will still have roles, just not the traditional coding roles they’ve had in the past. This shift will play out differently in different areas and industries.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNBC

France and Britain are battling it out for Europe’s A.I. crown

The UK and France are neck and neck in the race to become Europe’s AI hot spot. Both British PM Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron have been talking up their AI game recently. Macron says France is tops in AI in mainland Europe and wants to step on the gas, while Sunak boasts the UK is the epicenter for AI safety rules.

Macron’s promising to splash out $562 million to make France an AI superstar. This is in addition to France’s earlier promise to pump $1.78 billion into AI before 2022. Sunak, on the other hand, promised to throw $1.3 billion into AI research to make the UK a “science and tech superpower.” He also hinted at building a UK version of OpenAI’s chatbot.

But there’s a rub: how to regulate AI. The European Union’s got its AI Act, the first major set of AI laws in the West, and France will have to follow suit. The UK, post-Brexit, is taking a different route, leaning on existing laws and regulators, which some see as a more “pro-innovation” approach.

While some folks reckon France has a good shot at the top spot, it’ll have to fend off stiff competition from Germany and the UK. Ultimately, the battle might come down to which nation can offer the most attractive environment for AI startups. Cooperation across Europe might be key to taking on the US giants, but whether it’s a question of competition or collaboration, the AI landscape is set for a shake-up in the next 10-15 years.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNBC

Build a Website in Minutes with Wix AI

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Discover How AI and Algorithms Replace Traditional Templates, Giving You a Tailor-Made Website in No Time

Today:

Wix will let you build an entire website using only AI prompts

Website building giant, Wix, is betting on AI to shape its next-gen site creation. Soon, you can just type a brief description and answer a few questions to get your website rolling. No more messing with templates! Wix is using a blend of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and their own tech to make it happen, aiming to make website building a piece of cake.

The new feature works like this: the Wix AI asks you about your website plans, like opening a fitness joint. After taking down the specifics, it whips up a design tailored to your needs. All you gotta do is pick your preferred style and say “go.”

As per the demo video, the whole process is swift. You can tweak the final design and style via the chatbot. The result? A website that’s slicker than a greased weasel – professional, stylish, and way better than old school Wix.

However, there’s a catch. It’s unclear how much you can customize your site. You can change text and upload images, but the site still looks template-ish. Plus, given the occasional hiccups with chatbots, ensuring all your details are right might be a slog.

There’s also the sticky issue of copyright. If a lawsuit crops up over your Wix AI-created website, who takes the heat? It seems Wix is willing to shoulder the blame for its own AI (ADI) content, but no word on the ChatGPT bit.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE

Air AI: This conversational AI for customer service can call customers like humans

Meet Air AI, a slick new tool that’s got everyone talking. Imagine being able to gab on the phone, like a real person, for anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes. It can shoot the breeze on 5,000 different topics, all on its own. What’s more, it’s not just for one thing – it can be a salesperson, a customer service rep, an executive, and even a therapist if you need it.

So, a business could have 100,000 reps ready to go, just at the touch of a button. Right now, Air AI is in the trenches, making real calls and pulling in profits for real companies. And we’re not just blowing smoke here – over 50,000 businesses have already lined up to test it out.

It’s still in the testing phase, but it’s set to hit the public soon. The bigwigs at Air are stoked, saying it could revolutionize how companies chit-chat with customers. Why hire and train humans when you have a 24/7 robot that can juggle multiple calls at once?

READ THE ARTICLE ON MSPOWERUSER

Elon Musk Says His xAI Will Use Public Tweets For AI Model Training

Elon Musk’s new brainchild, xAI, plans to put Twitter chatter to good use by training its artificial intelligence (AI) models. Musk, who wears the hats of both Twitter and Tesla owner, sees potential for teamwork between the two, especially boosting Tesla’s self-driving car game.

Musk’s been vocal about his concerns that some AI developers are playing fast and loose, not thinking enough about the possible risks for us humans. He’s aiming to give other big shots like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI a run for their money in the pursuit of creating an AI that thinks like us, known as artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Musk’s also thrown some shade, claiming that other AI companies have been training their models with Twitter data in a way that’s not exactly on the up-and-up. He’s been hitting up bigwigs in both the US and China, pushing for more rules and regs to keep AI development in check.

READ THE ARTICLE ON NDTV

Expedia adds new AI features to improve your travel planning

A few months ago, Expedia introduced a chat feature on their iOS app. You can ask this chatbot any question, and it’ll spit out recommendations for your trip. Think of it like having a personal travel guide right in your pocket.

Starting next month, Android users will also get this chat feature. And that’s not all. Users can save suggested activities in a Trip Planner feature. It’s a one-stop shop for all the cool things you can do on your trip. Later this summer, you’ll also be able to save hotel recommendations there.

The cool thing is, you can dip in and out of your planning. You can go back to your previous chats and pick up right where you left off.

Hotels.com is also upping its game with a smart shopping feature. It gives AI-powered recommendations based on who’s going where and for how long. It’s like having a shopping assistant that knows your travel style.

READ THE ARTICLE ON ZDNET

Intel Capital backs Figure’s Humanoid robot to the tune of $9 million

Bay Area robot maker, Figure, just marked its first birthday with its bot taking its first steps. Thanks to CEO Brett Adcock’s $100 million initial cash injection, they’ve made rapid progress. However, making humanoid robots is an expensive game, so they’ve sought outside funding to keep the dream alive.

In May, they bagged $70 million from Parkway Venture Capital, and now they’re pocketing another $9 million from Intel Capital. Looks like Intel liked what they saw in Figure’s bot, and their investment might soon turn into a strategic partnership.

While there are other players in the humanoid robot space – Tesla, Apptronik, and Open AI-backed 1X to name a few – Figure isn’t trying to be a jack of all trades. Instead, they’re focusing on industrial warehouse applications first.

This partnership with Intel gives Figure the chance to access resources that could help them grow fast. Figure’s team is still small, but they’ve been busy hiring top talents from big names like Boston Dynamics, Tesla, and Apple.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Common Sense Media, a popular resource for parents, to review AI products’ suitability for kids

Common Sense, a known non-profit giving the scoop to parents on the media their kids are consuming, will now give the 411 on AI tech products. They’re cooking up a new system to judge these products based on good AI practices and their kiddo-friendliness. This move came after a survey showed 82% of parents wanted a rating system for AI goods like ChatGPT for their youngsters.

These reviews will zero in on AI products used by kids and teachers. The survey also found 77% of parents were open to AI products to aid their child’s learning, but only 40% knew a trustworthy source to find out if an AI product was right for their child.

They’re getting some big brains from the AI world to help with this, aiming to provide data to future laws and regulations around online safety for the young’uns. The system ain’t ready yet, but they’re stressing the need to get it up and running ASAP.

Common Sense’s previous reviews would give an age-appropriateness rating and evaluate positive or negative content. It’s not known yet how they plan to rate AI. They’ve previously cautioned about AI having little to no “guardrails” and the possibility of biases from their training data. Their goal is to help parents, teachers, and kids know the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI. 

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Google AI helps doctors decide whether to trust diagnoses made by AI

Google’s cooked up a clever AI tool, Complementarity-driven Deferral-to-Clinical Workflow (CoDoC), to make doctors’ lives easier. This new tech steps in when other AI can’t figure out something from medical scans. Basically, it’s the “judge” deciding whether an AI’s confidence is strong enough to trust or if it’s better to call in a human for a second opinion.

CoDoC doesn’t just make things up if it’s unsure, which can be an issue with other AI. The new system plays nice with existing AI tools used to look at medical scans, like X-rays and mammograms. In tests run by the Google team, using CoDoC knocked down the number of false positives from mammograms by a cool 25%.

Here’s how it works: it’s trained on a whole bunch of data, including other AI’s analysis of medical images, how sure the AI was about its analysis, and comparisons to human doctors’ interpretations. Then, it uses this info to decide if a future scan analysis by an AI is trustworthy or needs a human to double-check.

According to Alan Karthikesalingam at Google Health UK, using CoDoC alongside an AI tool and a real-life radiologist results in better accuracy than just using either the human or the AI alone.

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This AI Watches Millions Of Cars Daily And Tells Cops If You’re Driving Like A Criminal

American cops are getting a big helping hand from artificial intelligence, which is being used to sift through massive amounts of license plate data to spot folks who might be up to no good. A recent case in New York has thrown a spotlight on the whole shebang.

Meet David Zayas. In 2022, this guy was cruising down the highway in Scarsdale in his Chevy when the police flagged him. Nothing unusual about his car or speed, but an AI tool used by the Westchester County Police Department thought he was acting fishy. Turns out, the AI had been rifling through billions of license plate records and it figured Zayas’ car was on a drug runner’s route. The cops pulled him over, found a bunch of drugs, a gun, and a stack of cash in his car. Zayas ended up admitting he was a drug trafficker.

Now, this has raised a bunch of questions about privacy and surveillance. License plate recognition tech is usually used to hunt down specific crooks, but in this case, it was used to keep tabs on anyone passing by hundreds of cameras over a two-year period. Zayas’ lawyer said this was like casting a huge net to catch everyone and their mother, which he reckons ain’t right.

The surveillance system that caught Zayas was made by Rekor, a company that sells similar tech to police departments all over the country. But it’s not just the government using this. Businesses and everyday folks can too. Some people are worried about how this kind of wide-scale surveillance could invade privacy. And it seems this is just the start of where this tech could go.

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Meta’s game-changing CM3Leon image generator.

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Meta Introduces CM3Leon, the Revolutionary Image Generator Redefining Artistic Possibilities

Today:

Meta claims its new art-generating model is best-in-class

Meta’s tossed its hat in the ring with a new AI model, CM3Leon, that’s got a knack for generating pictures from words. Basically, you tell it what to create, and it whips up a digital image. This ain’t your average doodle bot though; CM3Leon can even write captions for the pictures it makes. That’s a step up from what’s out there and Meta’s calling it the cream of the crop.

CM3Leon pays attention to the details, taking into account the important parts of the prompt. This makes it faster to train and easier to scale up. Plus, Meta’s boasting that it’s more efficient, needing less computer power and a smaller learning playground than the competition.

To get CM3Leon up to snuff, Meta showed it millions of images from Shutterstock and taught it a trick called supervised fine-tuning (SFT). This helped CM3Leon not just in creating images, but also in caption writing, even following detailed instructions like “change the color of the sky to bright blue”.

But the tool isn’t just a one-trick pony. CM3Leon can tweak existing images, too. Say, adding a bottle to an image of a room with a sink and a mirror. Meta claims it’s got the upper hand here compared to others like DALL-E 2, which sometimes miss the mark. And let’s not forget, it can write captions, even with less text in its training data than other models.

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Character.AI in Talks to Raise Funding as Meta Platforms Tests Rival

Character.AI, a startup that builds chatbots acting like famous folks such as TV’s Tony Soprano or Tesla big boss Elon Musk, is looking to raise more dough, as per someone in the know. Just a few months back, they bagged $150 million, boosting their worth to a cool billion.

This fresh cash injection could help the fairly new company, just a year and a half old, meet the growing hunger for their chatbots. These require a hefty amount of computing power to provide responses. However, they need to keep their millions of fans interested while also dealing with big tech companies, like Meta Platforms, hot on their trail. Meta is currently trying out a similar concept, letting folks chat with virtual characters like Abraham Lincoln.

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Mastercard, eBay and Capital One talk equitable generative AI and innovation

Mastercard, eBay, and Capital One are mulling over the fairness and innovative potential of generative AI at the Women in AI Breakfast event. Emily Roberts from Capital One emphasized the need to build diverse and continuously learning organizations to tackle the challenges of AI. She expressed the importance of having a broad range of voices in the conversation.

eBay’s Xiaodi Zhang suggested building in checks and balances from the start to ensure fair results. She talked about how generative AI is a whole new ballgame, calling for constant learning, flexibility, and a willingness to experiment.

As generative AI finds its way into new fields, the companies are proceeding with caution. eBay had a hackathon solely about gen AI, while Mastercard encouraged internal innovation, but with guidelines to ensure things don’t go sideways. The ultimate goal is to produce unbiased AI applications before they hit the public.

Regulations around generative AI are still a gray area, with companies unsure what will be required for compliance. Zhang urged the need for flexibility to react to new regulations as they come. Roberts reiterated Capital One’s commitment to transparent and well-controlled experimentation and application development.

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The Viral AI App That’s Triggering Baby Fever

The latest app craze, Remini, is giving folks a sneak peek into a future of family life they might not have considered. Remini outstripped Meta Platforms’ Threads to be Apple’s top free app, letting folks picture themselves in bridal gowns or maternity threads. Heck, it’ll even throw together a family snap with you and some AI-created kids.

The app’s got a similar vibe to Lensa. You upload a bunch of selfies, and the app uses some smart tech to create your images. It’s got a three-day free trial, but after that, it’s gonna cost you $10 a week for all the cool editing tools.

Remini started in 2019, focusing on sharpening blurry snaps. But last year, it added AI that lets you create some stylish avatars from your selfies. It’s also got a new feature that lets you check out what your kiddos might look like if you uploaded photos of you and your partner.

But don’t think it’s all roses. It takes a few minutes for the app to create images and some results can look a bit off, with weird hands and sometimes even mixed up races. But the company’s working hard on fixing these bugs.They also assure users they’re taking care of their snaps. Pictures, face data and AI images are deleted from their servers after 30 days. You can also ask the company to delete your data whenever you want.

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Another player heats up generative AI race as China introduces interim laws

JD.com, a big online shopping platform in China, has unveiled a new, bigger and smarter language model, called ChatRhino, upping the ante in the race of artificial intelligence (AI). The system can help in several industries, from healthcare to finance, making tasks easier and faster. ChatRhino outperforms its predecessor, Vega, and even some models from tech bigwigs like Microsoft and Facebook.

Aside from language, ChatRhino can also whip up visuals like marketing posters in no time, saving costs and hours of work. In healthcare, it helps create AI models in minutes, a task that used to take a week and a bunch of scientists.

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Actors say Hollywood studios want their AI replicas

Hollywood actors confirmed they’re striking in response to studios proposing to use and own their AI replicas indefinitely, for free. This revelation was made by Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the top negotiator for the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).

Studios proposed that actors could be scanned, paid for one day, and then the studios could use that digital likeness forever, on any project, without further permission or payment. The studios’ group, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), says that’s not accurate and claims digital replicas of actors could only be used in the film for which they were made, and any further use would need the actor’s agreement and extra payment.

The issue of using AI to generate replicas of actors has become a major bone of contention in the ongoing negotiations. SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, warned that actors risk being replaced by machines if they don’t push back now. The strike kicked off at midnight.

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The EU Urges The US To Join The Fight To Regulate AI 

EU Justice Commissioner, Didier Reynders, is nudging the US to join the fight in regulating artificial intelligence (AI) and safeguarding user data. While the US has big tech, it’s pretty lax on legislation, leading to the EU becoming the watchdog. Reynders has had his fill of the US’s all-talk-no-action approach.

Reynders has been talking shop with US officials like Attorney General Merrick Garland. He’s pushing for stronger data privacy laws, similar to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that’s been running for five years. While tech bigwigs and Congress members have suggested similar measures, they haven’t walked the walk yet.

Despite the US Federal Trade Commission getting tech companies to play nice with user data or face fines, Reynders believes they’re not biting hard enough. He’s worried the same thing will happen with AI regulation, leaving this powerhouse tech unchecked.

Reynders wants the US to help establish international standards on AI, but if the US doesn’t match the EU’s upcoming AI Act, it’ll be tougher to get tech giants to toe the line.

OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, is under the microscope for both privacy and AI-specific regulations. An investigation into its GDPR compliance is due later in the year. While OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, is keen on new AI rules, he’s wary of overregulation. Reynders believes Altman has business reasons to play nice with the EU, but he also wants more AI tech to be open-source, fostering an open market and encouraging new businesses.

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U.S. companies are on a hiring spree for A.I. jobs—and they pay an average of $146,000

The US job market’s thirst for artificial intelligence (AI) skills is skyrocketing, and these roles pack a hefty paycheck, new findings from job search platform Adzuna show. In June, 169,045 job openings in the US cited AI requirements, with a substantial 3,575 specifically seeking generative AI expertise. Typical roles include software engineers, product designers, data scientists, and deep learning architects, but tax managers are also in high demand as firms seek to streamline operations using large language models. AI-oriented tax manager roles average an annual salary of $100,445, while overall, jobs requiring AI skills average $146,244.

According to a recent LinkedIn survey, nearly 70% of top companies already see speed and efficiency gains from AI use, with an additional 32% expecting more benefits in the future. Big players like EY, Wells Fargo, and Kaiser Permanente are highlighting AI as a hiring priority and embedding it into workflows. James Neave, Adzuna’s head of data science, encourages those looking for high-paying roles to focus on AI, as it’s an increasingly sought-after skill across industries.

While the US leads the way with approximately 173,000 AI job ads in June, India and the UK trail behind, posting 25,900 and 16,825 jobs, respectively. Those eager to join this AI wave can explore online certification and training courses from the likes of the University of Michigan, Coursera, and other e-learning platforms.

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China takes major step in regulating generative AI services like ChatGPT

China’s internet watchdog has laid down new rules for AI tech like ChatGPT. They’re one of the first countries to put up guardrails around this exploding industry. These rules kick in on August 15.

The new rules are less tight than an earlier draft, and it looks like China’s seeing a chance to boost its economy and create jobs. Just last week, they hit Ant Group, a huge tech company, with a fine just shy of a billion dollars. Now, big names like Alibaba, Baidu, and JD.com are working on their own AI chatbots.

The rules only count for services available to the public in China. Stuff being cooked up in research labs or for folks outside China gets a pass. They’ve also scrapped some steep fines for breaking the rules.

China’s government is all for using AI in different industries and backs the development of reliable tech stuff, like chips and software. They’re also pushing for a say in setting international rules for AI.

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OpenAI’s Latest Response to Claims of Degrading Performance

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OpenAI Product Leader Clarifies Misconceptions About GPT-4’s Performance Amidst FTC Investigations and Legal Disputes

Today:

OpenAI product leader denies claims GPT-4 has gotten ‘lazier and dumber’

OpenAI, the tech giant known for its artificial intelligence creations, is facing a bunch of legal headaches, including a Federal Trade Commission investigation and a copyright lawsuit from comedian Sarah Silverman. To top it all off, folks on their developer forum have been buzzing about perceived quality drops in OpenAI’s GPT-4 model, which powers ChatGPT. Some users reckon the AI’s gone from star pupil to back-of-the-class, with theories ranging from tweaked learning algorithms to changed training data.

But hold up, says OpenAI’s VP of Product, Peter Welinder. In a tweet, he claims that GPT-4 hasn’t gotten “lazier and dumber”. In fact, each new model’s brainier than the last. He believes that the more users work the system, the more they spot things they didn’t catch before. And if folks think the system’s slipped, he wants examples to check out.

Still, some folks disagree, with one person saying GPT-4’s straight-up worse. And the real stick in the mud? GPT-4’s a mystery machine, with developers in the dark about any changes to the model. So for now, the debate about GPT-4’s smarts rages on.

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Indian tech giant Wipro will invest $1 billion in AI, including training all staff

Indian software powerhouse, Wipro, is putting down a cool billion on AI over the next three years. They’re aiming to make sure every one of their 250,000 workers worldwide knows their way around AI. For the next year, they’re hosting crash courses on AI basics and how to use it responsibly, with more tailored training down the line for folks in AI-focused jobs.

Wipro is a major player in India’s IT and consulting field. The emergence of generative AI – that’s the tech that powers things like this ChatGPT you’re using – is shaking up the world, and they’re keeping up with the trend.

Wipro’s CEO, Thierry Delaporte, sees a big change coming thanks to generative AI. As part of their AI push, Wipro’s rolling out software to incorporate AI into all their platforms and tools, whether they’re for internal use or client offerings.

AI is quickly becoming a go-to for businesses looking to beef up or replace human-led tasks. Just this week, an Indian startup CEO axed about 90% of his support staff, saying a new AI chatbot could handle customer service quicker than human employees.

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Google leaves Canada out of AI chatbot launch

Canada’s been left out in the cold by Google who decided not to launch its AI chatbot, Bard, there. The bot’s now available in almost every other country. The company’s beef with Canada’s Liberal government over new rules is likely the cause.

Bard, Google’s own version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, helps users with stuff like writing letters or planning trips. Its launch was put on hold in the EU over privacy issues, but now it’s even available there.

Google and Canada’s government have been locking horns over the Online News Act. This new law would make Google share dough with Canadian news outlets whose content they use. To sidestep this, Google plans to block news from their platforms in Canada.

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Real-time deepfake detection: How Intel Labs uses AI to fight misinformation

Deepfakes, or artificial videos and images, can be used for harmful stuff like spreading false news or tricking people. To tackle this, Intel Labs has created a tool to spot deepfakes as they happen. They use a fancy process that can spot tiny changes in a person’s skin color that come with every heartbeat – something a deepfake can’t replicate.

This tech is now being used in many places, from newsrooms to social media sites, to stop deepfakes from spreading. Despite the potential for misuse, deepfakes can also be used for good. For instance, people can use deepfake technology to hide their real face online for privacy.

Intel is also making sure this technology is used the right way. They’ve got a team that includes lawyers, social scientists, and psychologists who look for any potential issues, like bias or harm. With deepfakes getting more common and real-looking, technologies like Intel’s could play a big role in keeping us safe.

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Nevia Bio is using AI to early detect “silent killer” ovarian cancer

Nevia Bio, co-founded by Dr. Inbal Zafir-Lavie and Dr. Shlomit Yehudai-Reshef, is applying AI for early ovarian cancer detection. The idea? To analyze vaginal secretions, which Zafir-Lavie claims is as close as they can get to the ovaries without surgery.

Most women get diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late stages due to lack of symptoms, resulting in low survival rates – earning the disease the nickname “silent killer”. Current detection methods are late-blooming blood tests.

Nevia Bio’s tech aims to change this. The plan is to get healthcare providers to offer their tests routinely, but eventually, they hope to offer a home-use kit, making it as easy as ordering off Amazon. This could open doors for women who can’t afford frequent doctor visits or live too far from one.

Right now, they’re kick-starting a U.S. clinical trial and chasing after FDA approval. They’re also looking into using their tech to spot other diseases, like endometrial cancer.

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This CEO replaced 90% of support staff with an AI chatbot

The CEO of Indian startup Dukaan, Summit Shah, axed 90% of his support staff after introducing an AI-powered chatbot that can field customer questions faster. He said on Twitter that the chatbot, whipped up in just two days, could reply instantly, beating his team’s average response time of almost two minutes. The chatbot also cut down problem-solving time by nearly 98%.

This job cull was a “tough but necessary” move, according to Shah. He admitted the layoffs were made last September, around the time when Dukaan shifted its focus from small businesses to consumer-facing brands, reducing the need for live chats or calls.

Shah mentioned that the new tech sliced the cost of customer support by about 85%. It also sorted out a bunch of issues they’d been having, like slow responses and lack of staff when they needed them most.

Despite these layoffs, Dukaan is still on the lookout for fresh talent for several roles in engineering, marketing, and sales. Shah imagines a future where AI and humans play to their strengths, and he’s keen to bring AI into graphic design, illustration, and data science.

The announcement of these layoffs has amped up fears about AI stealing jobs, especially after the public release of AI chatbot ChatGPT by Open AI eight months ago. Its ability to provide detailed answers has folks worried it might boot people out of their jobs. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warns that not just low- and middle-skilled jobs, but also professions like finance, medicine, and law, are at risk of being automated by AI.

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Meta’s New AI Offering to Rival Google, OpenAI

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Exploring the Shift in AI Landscape as Meta Aims to Democratize Access to Advanced AI Technology

Today:

Meta to release commercial AI tools to rival Google, OpenAI

Looks like Meta is stepping up its game in the AI playground, according to a recent Financial Times scoop. The tech giant’s planning to release a new commercial version of their AI model, LLaMa. Though it was initially just for the brainy folks in research and academia, now they’re aiming for the broader market.

Meta’s goal? Shake up the dominance of current big boys on the block, OpenAI and Google. They’re hoping to allow startups and businesses to build their own unique apps and software using their AI technology as the base.

Here’s the twist: Meta’s AI models are currently free and open-source. So, anyone can check out the system’s workings. Unlike the hush-hush approach of OpenAI, this move’s got a certain “open book” vibe to it.

This ain’t gonna be a freebie forever, though. Rumor has it Meta’s mulling over a paid version for big customers. But for now, the commercial model’s release is right around the corner.

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Amazon Web Services Has Launched A New AI Teams As It Scrambles To Compete With Rivals Like OpenAI

Amazon’s gotten wind of the AI rush and they’re not playing catch-up any longer. They’ve hatched a new AI team called “Next Generation Developer Experience,” gunning to help their customers build stuff with generative AI, right there on their cloud. Even with recent cost-cutting, they’re still hiring. So if AI’s your jam, you might want to give ’em a look.

The big cheese at AWS, Peter DeSantis, spilled the beans in an email. He’s psyched about generative AI, reckons it’s gonna shake things up big time, just like the internet did. And he’s betting his bottom dollar that AWS is gonna ride that wave all the way to the bank.

Longtime Amazon guy, Deepak Singh, is gonna steer this new ship. They’re already toying with AI tools like Bedrock and CodeWhisperer to give builders (that’s Amazon lingo for the folks who use their cloud to create stuff) a leg up. The new boss of AWS’s cloud, Adam Selipsky, hinted they’re still gonna add more folks to this AI operation. He’s all about zeroing in on what’s important, and right now, that’s generative AI.

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Viral AI Google Calendar Extension Is Just Like Having a ‘Personal Assistant,’ and Social Media Is Losing It

TikToker Izzy Mignone’s hit video shows how the Reclaim AI extension for Google Calendar can act as your personal organizer. This snazzy tool arranges your schedule based on events you add and their timings, including regular appointments or one-off happenings. Mignone compares it to a personal assistant. This smart tech reads your input in everyday language, and then builds a draft schedule right into your Google Calendar.

@izzym.reviews

The best organization hack ever- let ai do all the work for you. Now all i need is a calendar app with a notion-style notes feature so I can have everything in one #productivity #organizationhacks #organizationtiktok #calendarorganization #googlecalendar #googlecalendartips

♬ original sound – izzy mignone

Mignone’s clip, now seen over 339,600 times, has Google Calendar users stoked. Some were amazed that such a handy tool existed. Google’s own TikTok account tipped their hat to Mignone’s smart find.

There’s a bit of a catch though. While there’s a free version of Reclaim AI, it only plans three weeks ahead for one user. You gotta shell out $18 to plan 12 weeks in advance and cover over 100 users.

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AI Startup Hugging Face Is Raising Fresh VC Funds At $4 Billion Valuation

Hugging Face, an AI startup known for its work with big language models, is gearing up for a big cash boost. They’re looking at getting at least $200 million in their Series D funding round, bringing their total value to a whopping $4 billion. Word on the street is Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures may lead the pack of investors, but Hugging Face’s CEO Clément Delangue isn’t settling just yet as more offers are rolling in.

Hugging Face has been doing pretty well, with revenue hitting between $30 and $50 million this year, more than triple what it was at the beginning of the year. It’s no surprise, since they’re pretty much a one-stop-shop for machine learning, with loads of models that folks can use and adapt for free. They get their dough by offering extra security and business tools on top.

Delangue has warned about the risk of AI companies shelling out big bucks to Big Tech for cloud services. But with AI, you’ve got to spend money to make money. Hugging Face isn’t the only one in the game; other companies like Inflection AI and Anthropic have been raking in millions too. But if Hugging Face secures this funding, they’ll be one of the top dogs in the AI industry, with a value on par with Inflection AI and not too far behind Anthropic.

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Causaly, an AI platform for drug discovery and biomedical research, raises $60M

Causaly, a London-based startup in the AI and medical research arena, just bagged $60 million in Series B funding, with aims to boost its team and R&D efforts. This AI platform aids researchers in speeding up drug development and testing. The cash infusion was led by ICONIQ Growth, bringing Causaly’s total dough to $93 million.

Co-founded by Yiannis Kiachopoulos, the CEO, and CTO Artur Saudabayev, Causaly already has a tight relationship with 12 of the world’s top pharmaceutical giants and big guns in medical research like the FDA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. These heavy-hitters use Causaly’s platform to simplify and speed up various drug development stages, identifying interesting research and development targets, determining specific biomarkers, and helping understand diseases better to figure out possible pharmaceutical solutions.

The startup is all about offering tools for drug discovery to other organizations, rather than doing the drug discovery itself. “Our solution helps biomedical teams, but we are not developing our own therapeutics,” Kiachopoulos said. As AI continues to impact the world of science, Causaly plans to stay in the game, empowering scientists to make big strides in biomedical research.

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Alphabet shares soar after it expands AI chatbot internationally

Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, saw its stocks jump 4.9% yesterday. Why, you ask? Well, they just announced they’re expanding their AI chatbot, Bard, into Europe and Brazil. This comes after lots of back and forth about privacy concerns, but they’ve managed to smooth things over with the folks across the pond.

Alphabet’s stock hit its highest level since mid-June, outdoing the overall market. Wall Street folks reckon this is due to Bard’s launch overseas, and also because it’s learning to talk in new languages. Heck, it’s even giving Microsoft’s AI a run for its money.

The enthusiasm around Alphabet’s AI has been causing quite a stir since February, with its shares shooting up about 41% this year. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s shares aren’t doing too shabby either, with a 42% rise.

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ChatGPT Maker Investigated By US Regulators Over AI Risks

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, a chatbot with artificial intelligence. The FTC wants to know if this chatbot has been spreading false information about people and if OpenAI has been using unfair or sneaky ways to handle privacy and data security.

The FTC has asked OpenAI to share information about how they store user data and what steps they have taken to prevent the chatbot from spreading false or harmful information.

Lina Khan, who leads the FTC, mentioned in a hearing that they are worried about how much data AI services are consuming, with no controls over the type of data being used. The FTC is also concerned about the risk of sensitive personal information being shared inappropriately and false information being spread.

ChatGPT has been criticized for making up names, dates, facts, and even fake links to news websites. This issue, known as “hallucinations” in the AI world, is part of the FTC’s investigation. They also want to know more about any complaints from users and how well users understand the accuracy and reliability of the chatbot.

Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, has admitted that ChatGPT has problems. He posted on Twitter that it’s not perfect and people should not rely on it for anything important.

READ THE ARTICLE ON FINANCIAL TIMES

Harvard Releases First Guidelines for ‘Responsible Experimentation with Generative AI Tools’

Harvard’s top dogs have dropped the first-ever university-wide rules for using nifty AI tools like ChatGPT. Their email is basically a wake-up call for all the Harvard folks to keep their AI shenanigans in check. It’s a big thumbs up for exploring with AI, but they’re insisting on keeping private data under wraps and being on the up and up when it comes to school rules and avoiding any fishy AI scams.

Their new 5-point rundown tells everyone to shield any private info (read: stuff not out there for all to see) and own up to any AI stuff they make. Watch out, because AI can trip on copyright rules and spew baloney. The email basically says, “Hey, give that AI stuff a once-over before you slap it online.”

Now, these aren’t fresh-out-of-the-oven rules. They’re just pulling from existing policies. But, it’s worth noting that there’s no clear-cut policy on how AI mingles with the rules of the school game in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. A recent survey showed almost half the faculty folks think AI might sour the higher ed scene, and more than half said they don’t have a black-and-white rule on using AI in the classroom.

AI’s already making a splash in Harvard’s classrooms, though. Their flagship coding class plans to let students use AI to debug code, get feedback, and answer questions starting this fall. And the higher-ups plan to keep an eye on how things go and tweak the rules based on what they hear from the Harvard crowd.

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OpenAI and AP Join Forces

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How OpenAI and the Associated Press are Collaborating to Shape the Future of Machine Learning and Digital Journalism

Today:

OpenAI strikes deal with AP to pay for using its news in training AI

OpenAI, the brain behind ChatGPT, is shelling out dough to use Associated Press (AP) news articles for training its AI. This marks the first big agreement in a hot debate on whether tech giants should pay creators for the content they pull off the net for AI development.

OpenAI will have the keys to AP’s text story vault dating back to 1985. Plus, AP gets to play around with OpenAI’s tech, testing how it might upgrade their journalism game.

AP has been using automation for local sports and financial reports for years, but it doesn’t use AI to write stories.

A surge of pushback from writers, musicians, news outlets, and social media platforms is happening. They claim this use of their work to train AI is a game changer, as some AI tools already replace human jobs. Recent waves of lawsuits against OpenAI and Google are making waves, alleging wrongful data use.

There’s chat about tech companies and creators hammering out more deals like the AP-OpenAI one to create a “clean database”. But with the truckloads of data needed to train these models, getting enough people on board could be tough.

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Google’s Bard AI chatbot has learned to talk

Google’s chatbot, Bard, just got an upgrade. The latest updates include more language skills, better response controls, and a new spoken word feature. Basically, this bot can now yak in nearly 50 languages including Arabic, Chinese, German, Hindi, and Spanish. Also, it’s accessible from more corners of the globe, like Brazil and Europe.

The neat part? Bard now talks out loud. This will come in handy if you’re trying to nail down the correct pronunciation in one of those new languages. Plus, you can now tweak how Bard chats with you by choosing from five options: simple, long, short, professional, or casual. This feature is only in English right now, but they’re working on rolling it out for the other languages.

Bard also got an upgrade in the ‘seeing’ department. Now, it can understand pictures you drop in the chat and provide more info about the image or even come up with captions. For now, this is an English-only deal too.

Sharing Bard’s wisdom also got a whole lot easier. Users can now export Python code that Bard spits out to Replit, besides Colab. Plus, you can copy and share chat bits with others. They’re also making it easier to keep track of old chats with pinned conversations and the option to rename them. So, if you’re a fan of organized chit-chat, you’re in luck.

READ THE ARTICLE ON ENDGADGET

Stability AI releases Stable Doodle, a sketch-to-image tool

AI whizzkids at Stability AI have whipped up Stable Doodle, a slick new tool that takes your doodles and spits out pretty pictures. They got this tool as part of a shopping spree back in March when they bought Init ML, another AI company started by some old Google hands. This ain’t your regular sketch-to-image tool – it’s got a unique feature that gives you more control over how your final image looks.

Stable Doodle is powered by Stable Diffusion XL, a fancy engine that works with a tech solution called T2I-Adapter from Tencent’s R&D folks. This combo helps Stable Doodle understand your doodles and create images based on them. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to test this baby out before it hit the market. But the samples I saw made my scribbles look like a child’s finger painting.

You can give Stable Doodle some extra directions to help it understand what you want, like “Draw me a comfy chair in an ‘isometric’ style” or “A cat rocking a jeans jacket in a ‘digital art’ style”. At launch, though, you’ve got only 14 art styles to choose from.

Besides drawing your wildest ideas, you can also use Stable Doodle to whip up designs for clients, create killer presentations, or even sketch out logos. In the future, they’re planning to add more practical uses, like sketches for real estate.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Bluehost Unveils AI-Powered WordPress Platform

Bluehost‘s hittin’ the scene with a new product called WonderSuite. It’s like a trusty sidekick that helps folks whip up a website or online store using WordPress, with none of the headaches.

It’s all about simplifying things. Here’s the President of Newfold Digital, Bluehost’s parent company, Ed Jay:

“With WonderSuite, we’re making the building process of a website or store simple, easy, and fast for our customers. They can get their site out there and start seeing results for their business faster.”

WonderSuite has six features that hold your hand from start to finish:

Onboarding: You answer some questions, and the system picks out what you need to start building your website.

Theme: You start off with a basic design and some patterns that you’ll use in the next step.

WordPress Blocks: These are like the Lego bricks of your website. You can personalize your site depending on what you need it for.

WonderHelp AI Guidance: This is a helper module that guides you through each step. It’s like having a built-in, smart tutor.

WonderCart: This is for the folks looking to sell stuff online. It has features that help with promotions and sales.

AI-Powered Content Generation: This helps you create the words for your website, like product descriptions. This feature will be available later in 2023.

Basically, WonderSuite is about making WordPress easier for everyone. It allows anyone to create a snazzy ecommerce site using WordPress, one of the most trusted website publishing platforms out there.

READ THE ARTICLE ON SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL

Microsoft tests an AI hub for the Windows 11 app store

Microsoft’s cooking up a new AI hub for its Windows 11 App Store, currently letting Insiders have a sneak peek in its Preview Build. This hub is a one-stop-shop for AI-based apps from both Microsoft and third-party devs. Also, they’ve got plans to introduce AI-created summaries for app reviews, although that’s still on the back burner for now.

The hub’s got its own special spot on the left-hand menu, right under the Movies & TV tab. It’s tricky to figure out exactly what apps we’ll find there without access to the preview build, but it seems like AI photo editing tools like Luminar Neo might be in the mix.

The Microsoft Store’s also getting a price tracker feature, showing the biggest price drops for an app in the past 30 days. Handy for figuring out whether to snap up an app now or hold out for a better deal. Other updates on the horizon are 3D emojis, promised a couple of years back, and a bug fix for Zune players.

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE

Kakao ups its game in generative AI with Karlo 2.0, an AI image generator

Kakao, the big tech player from South Korea, is getting its game face on in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). They’ve cranked up their AI image generator tool, Karlo, to version 2.0. This tool works like magic, making images from just a few words you type in, and it’s available in English and Korean.

They’re also jazzing up their language model, KoGPT, with a 2.0 version set to roll out later in the year. Plus, they’re setting up a fund worth $7.7 million to support fresh-faced startups working on image generation tech.

Now, this ain’t Kakao’s first rodeo with AI. They’re speeding things up and making upgrades faster than ever, likely feeling the heat from new kids on the block like OpenAI. Their latest tool, Karlo 2.0, can churn out clearer, more diverse images compared to the old version, and they’ve made it easier for developers to use.

They’re also branching out into healthcare. They’re working on AI that can analyze medical images and draft up initial diagnoses. The goal is to give doctors a helping hand and speed up the process.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Vendict emerges with $9.5M in funding to automate security compliance with generative AI

A company called Vendict just stepped into the spotlight with a cool $9.5 million in funding. Their goal? To make life easier for businesses by tackling the headache of security compliance. You know, that super tedious process where companies gotta prove they’re following the rules before they can work with a customer.

So, how’s Vendict planning to do this? By using some snazzy artificial intelligence (AI) tech to auto-fill those mind-numbing questionnaires. They’re saying it could save a truckload of work hours each month and make the whole selling process quicker.

Now, the brains behind Vendict, Udi Cohen and Michael Keslassy, have come up with an AI system that’s got a handle on all that security jargon. In layman’s terms, they’ve made a machine that understands and can talk the talk of security rules and regulations.

How’s it work? Well, Vendict’s got its own language model that’s been trained in security compliance, and they’ve mixed that with other top-notch models, including one from Microsoft Azure.Vendict’s tech not only helps manage risks within a company, but also does internal audits, keeps track of regulations, and provides a one-stop shop for all compliance documents.

READ THE ARTICLE ON VENTUREBEAT

Google’s ChatGPT rival is trained by workers who are under pressure to audit AI answers in as little as 3 minutes, documents show

Google’s chatbot Bard is trained under intense conditions, says Bloomberg. Thousands of contractors, paid as low as $14 an hour, have to check the bot’s answers in a quick-as-a-flash three minutes. They’re under the gun, getting little training for this hot potato task. The spotlight’s on Google, who’s scrambling to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a newcomer that’s shaken things up by drawing in 100 million users within two months.

Humans have a big part in making sure chatbot answers are on the nose, but for Bard, this is getting to be a tall order with the ever-growing and tricky workload. Contractors express fear and stress due to this sweatshop environment.

The contractors’ gig also includes rating chatbot responses based on how helpful and fresh the information is. Google claims that their focus is on high-quality information, saying that their system doesn’t only rely on these ratings but also on a mix of expertise from across Google. The folks at Appen and Accenture, the companies where the contractors are from, haven’t chirped up about it yet.

READ THE ARTICLE ON BUSINESS INSIDER

Prolific raises $32M to train and stress-test AI models using its network of 120K people

Alrighty then, here’s the skinny. Prolific, a London-based tech startup, has scored a cool $32 million bucks in funding. What’s their gig? Well, they’ve rounded up a posse of 120,000 folks who help check out and test AI systems. This helps ensure these AIs are up to snuff and don’t go off the rails.

Who put up the dough? Partech and Oxford Science Enterprises co-led the investment. Seems Prolific has been on the up-and-up since 2014 and they already have a bunch of high-flyers like Google, Stanford, and the University of Oxford using their services.

This latest cash infusion is going to help Prolific expand its operations, but the founder, Phelim Bradley, says they’re not planning to branch out beyond AI. They’re all about giving AIs a good grilling and ensuring they work as they should. And it seems to be working – so far they’ve paid out $100 million to their team of human testers.

In a world that’s all about the rise of the machines, Prolific is keeping it human. Their secret sauce? Using real people to offer up honest, reliable data and test these AIs to the max. They’ve even built some nifty tools to make sure they’re testing the right stuff.

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Google hit with lawsuit alleging it stole data from millions of users to train its AI tools

Google’s found itself in hot water. A lawsuit’s claiming that the big G swiped data from millions of folks to train its AI, all without asking permission. Google and its parent, Alphabet, along with its AI offshoot DeepMind, are being sued by the Clarkson Law Firm, which ain’t their first rodeo – they filed a similar suit against OpenAI not too long ago.

The claim is Google’s been secretly nabbing all sorts of stuff folks have put online and then using it to train its AI tools, like their chatbot Bard. Google’s lawyer, Halimah DeLaine Prado, says it’s a bunch of baloney. She says Google uses info from public sources, like the open web, to train their AI and that’s all fair game.

Google’s been upfront about using public info in its AI training. An update to their privacy policy made that pretty clear. But this suit’s part of a bigger picture: as AI tools get more popular, companies like Google are catching flak over copyright issues and how they use personal info.

The suit’s looking to put a freeze on Google’s AI work and wants damages for those whose data was allegedly taken without asking. The law firm’s got eight plaintiffs lined up, including a kid.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNN

Elon Musk’s New AI Venture, xAI Unveiled

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Introducing xAI, Elon Musk’s latest venture into artificial intelligence, set to shake up the tech world with its ambitious aim of unravelling the true nature of the universe.

Today:

Elon Musk announces a new AI company

Elon Musk, the head honcho of Tesla, is kick-starting a new venture in the AI arena called xAI. This new firm ropes in brainiacs from big shots like OpenAI and Google. Musk, who’s been vocal about throwing some brakes on AI and calling for tighter rules, said this startup is all about getting to grips with “reality”. However, it’s still hush-hush on the funding details, the company’s exact goals, and the kind of AI it’s going to zoom in on.

xAI’s mission, as per its website, is to decode the “true nature of the universe.” More intel on the company’s game plan may spill over a Twitter Spaces chat coming Friday.

Musk’s been a key player in OpenAI, the creators of the popular language model, ChatGPT. However, he’s been butting heads with them over accusations of a liberal bias and its cozy relationship with Microsoft.

The entrepreneur, who earlier this year pushed for a halt on “Giant AI Experiments”, thinks an AI watchdog should be established to ensure public safety. He’s also taken issue with AI companies over their data scraping practices to train chatbots and believes Twitter, which he owns, should get a fair shake for its data.

After Musk took over Twitter, some big-name users like Shonda Rhimes, Gigi Hadid, and Stephen Fry checked out of the platform in protest over the sweeping changes he made.

READ THE ARTICLE ON BBC

Google’s AI-powered notes app is now called NotebookLM, and it’s launching today

Google’s AI-powered notes app, previously dubbed Project Tailwind, has gotten a makeover and a new name: NotebookLM, short for Language Model. Google’s going for a small, US-based audience launch to start. NotebookLM is your own pocket-sized AI assistant, trained on your personal data and notes, to help you make sense of them.

The app begins its life in Google Docs but promises to handle more formats soon. You can select a bunch of docs, then use NotebookLM to fire questions or even generate new content from them. Google gives examples of the app’s usage, like automatically summarizing a long document or transforming a video outline into a script. It’s particularly handy for students, as they can ask for summaries of their weekly class notes or a rundown of what they’ve learned about a certain topic.

Now, Google isn’t alone in this space. Other tech players like Dropbox, Mem, and Notion are also creating hyper-focused AI tools. Google’s trying to make its AI stand out by training it on user-specific data to improve responses and avoid confident but wrong answers. The app also offers citation features for easy fact-checking, but beware – if you feed it wrong info, it’ll regurgitate wrong answers.

As for privacy, Google states that NotebookLM only uses the documents you upload, with no data sharing or use for training new AI models. It’s a delicate dance between surrendering personal info to AI for convenience and guarding private data. 

READ THE ARTICLE ON THE VERGE

8 Microsoft Advertising Updates Including Predictive Targeting And Generative AI For RSAs

Microsoft Advertising is bringing eight new tricks to the table this July.

First, they’re rolling out Predictive Targeting, a clever tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to find and connect with new audiences. It’ll help boost ad conversions, but there’s a risk of wasted money or harm to the brand if the wrong folks see your ads.

Second, they’re using generative AI to create and edit responsive search ads (RSAs). It provides AI-made headlines and descriptions based on the advertiser’s final website address. This tool will even dish out suggestions in 35 languages and allows you to auto-generate ad assets.

Third, they’ve added IF functions for RSAs to help target ads and customize them based on device and audience. This means no need for separate campaigns and tailored messages for specific devices or audience groups.

Fourth, they’re launching automated multimedia ads within Dynamic Search Ads groups. They’ll use AI to create attractive ads optimized for performance using your website’s content.

Fifth, they’re extending Property Promotion Ads to include vacation rentals. These eye-catching ads aim to get potential travelers excited about a property. They also offer advertisers more control over images and callouts.

Sixth, Microsoft Advertising has enhanced its Universal Event Tracking (UET). Now you can troubleshoot and monitor UET events in real-time, and the UET overview tab offers a longer lookback period.

Seventh, data-driven attribution (DDA) reporting is now generally available. It uses machine learning to measure the real contribution of each ad interaction on conversion, a departure from the traditional Last Click Attribution model.

Lastly, they’re dropping several old features in Keyword Planner due to their outdated nature and incompatibility with the system, effective August 21, 2023.

So, it seems like Microsoft Advertising is making moves to provide smarter and more efficient ad services. They’re giving advertisers a chance to reach more customers more effectively and at a lower cost. Advertisers should stay tuned for more improvements and not forget to leave feedback.

READ THE ARTICLE ON SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL

Sapphire Ventures plans to invest over $1B in enterprise AI startups

Big shot investment firm Sapphire Ventures is lookin’ to plow over a billion bucks into startups all about that AI, which is artificial intelligence, for businesses. It’s pullin’ the dough from its existing money pot, which holds $10 billion, with about $3 billion ready for some action.

They’re mainly eyein’ companies that create business software, but the cool part is, it uses AI to predict outcomes better. They’re also backing AI projects to beef up earnings in specific areas like manufacturing and healthcare.

Sapphire’s big boss, Nino Marakovic, believes AI is a game-changer. He’s stoked to support this new generation of business trailblazers. They’re also working on creating an “AI Community” for company bigwigs in their portfolio.

But Sapphire ain’t the only one playin’ this game. A bunch of others like Salesforce Ventures, Workday, OpenAI, Dropbox, and AWS are also putting some serious green into AI startups. The business consulting giants Accenture and PwC are also stepping into the ring with billions in AI investments.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Nvidia invests $50 million in biotech company Recursion for A.I. drug discovery

Nvidia, the chip-making big gun, is pumping $50 million into Recursion Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company using artificial intelligence (AI) for new drug discovery. After this news hit the street, Recursion’s stock flew to the moon with an 80% increase, and Nvidia’s stock saw a small but neat uptick of over 2%.

Recursion uses AI to hunt down and design new treatments, and its services are already in use by major players like Roche and Bayer. With its base in Salt Lake City, Utah, Recursion will use its mountain of over 23,000 terabytes of biological and chemical data to get its AI models smart on Nvidia’s cloud platform.

The end game? Nvidia could license these AI models on BioNeMo, its cloud service aimed at AI in drug discovery. Recursion is hoping to use this to push its own drug pipeline, and those of its partners. It’s already got five drugs being tested on humans.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNBC

Voice cloning platform Resemble AI lands $8M

Resemble AI, a company that makes tech that copies voices, just bagged $8 million in funding. This cash will help the company make more products and double its team to more than 40 folks by year-end.

This company’s technology is being used by big-name media companies to make content that was never possible before. Founded in 2019, it began with a focus on video game voices but has grown to include a bunch of other cool stuff. For instance, their tech can “transfer” voices into other languages, make personalized messages from voice actors, and even create chatbots.

Resemble AI tries to keep things on the up and up. They make users give clear permission to clone their voices and have rules to prevent the tech from being used for no-good purposes. They also have tech to validate whether audio is real or fake and to add hidden, identifying tones to the voices they create. With over a million users and a huge amount of audio created, the company sees these tools as key to their success.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Bill Gates explains why we shouldn’t be afraid of A.I.

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, sees potential in artificial intelligence (AI) – like that used in ChatGPT. Despite acknowledging potential issues like fake videos (deepfakes), biased computer programs, and academic cheating, Gates is optimistic we can fix these issues. He highlights that no one has all the answers about AI risks, but insists that AI’s future isn’t as scary or rosy as people make it out to be.

His balanced perspective might sway the conversation about AI, moving it away from end-of-the-world fears and towards reasonable regulations addressing present risks. With governments globally scratching their heads about how to control AI and potential pitfalls, Gates’s voice could be a game-changer. After all, he’s not just anyone – he’s heavily linked to Microsoft, a company with hefty investment in AI.

In his blog post, Gates notes how society has adapted to major changes in the past, like the rise of handheld calculators and computers in classrooms, and argues we can do the same for AI. His vision for AI regulation? Something like “speed limits and seat belts.” He uses the automobile as an example, stating that after the first car crash, we didn’t outlaw cars, but instead introduced safety standards and rules.

While recognizing the challenges AI might pose, such as how it might affect jobs and the tendency for AI systems like ChatGPT to make up facts, he remains hopeful. Citing the problem of deepfakes, he suspects people will improve at spotting them, and gives a shout-out to deepfake detectors being developed by Intel and DARPA, a government funding agency. He suggests a clear regulatory framework to dictate what kinds of deepfakes can be legally created.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNBC

Google AI health chatbot passes US medical exam: Study

Google’s AI-powered medical chatbot, Med-PaLM, scored a passing grade on the tough US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), a crucial test for future doctors. While promising, the bot’s responses are still playing second fiddle to human physicians, says a fresh study.

Med-PaLM, however, isn’t yet public. Google boasts it’s the first of its kind to pass the USMLE, a test where a pass is around a 60% score. In comparison, Med-PaLM scored a 67.6%.

Yet, the bot’s got room for improvement. It still dishes out ‘hallucinations’, or false info, leading Google to create a new check system.

In the future, Med-PaLM might be a support system for doctors, offering fresh solutions. As for now, it’s being tested at the renowned US Mayo Clinic for more routine, lower-stakes tasks, steering clear of direct patient contact.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CHANNEL NEWS ASIA

AI Could Quickly Screen Thousands of Antibiotics to Tackle Superbugs

Scientists are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to help develop new antibiotics for fighting superbugs, those bacteria that are resistant to most drugs. A recent study from MIT and McMaster University used an AI program to pinpoint an antibiotic that could kill a tough bacterium, which often leads to serious illnesses like meningitis and pneumonia.

The great thing about AI is that it can speed up the process of creating new antibiotics and cut down the cost, by figuring out which compounds might work without having to run tons of experiments. This is particularly important because we’re in a fix right now – antibiotic resistance is growing, but we’re running out of new antibiotics.

Using AI, the scientists were able to test thousands of potential drug compounds against the stubborn bacterium, and they found nine potential antibiotics, including one called abaucin. The cool thing about abaucin is that it’s “narrow spectrum,” meaning it only kills specific bacteria. That’s good because it doesn’t mess with other bacteria and doesn’t throw off the balance of bacteria in our bodies.

READ THE ARTICLE ON SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Cyber Attackers Can Disable AI Systems By ‘Data Poisoning’: Google AI Expert

Google Brain’s Nicholas Carlini is sounding the alarm: cyber attackers can mess up AI systems using a trick called “data poisoning.” By tinkering with a small piece of the AI’s learning data, these baddies can make the AI go haywire.

This ain’t just some science fiction anymore – it’s real, Carlini warned at a recent AI conference. In a nutshell, “data poisoning” is when folks slip some rotten samples into the AI’s study materials. It’s like a bad apple spoiling the bunch, making the AI act all sorts of wrong.

Carlini says it only takes messing up 0.1% of the data to throw the whole AI off track. This used to be considered a mind game for nerds, but it’s time we wake up and smell the coffee – it’s a genuine threat with serious real-world effects.

For the uninitiated, “data poisoning” is when someone sneaks into an AI’s learning database and plants false or confusing info. The AI, like a student studying from a tampered textbook, learns wrong stuff, leading to all sorts of unforeseen, and often harmful, results.

READ THE ARTICLE ON NDTV

GPT-4 details are leaked

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In-Depth Leak Reveals Exclusive Information on GPT-4, the Fourth Generation of OpenAI’s Powerful Language Model

Today:

GPT-4 details are leaked

An expensive write up on most of the secret details behind GPT-4 was leaked. How it was built, how much the training cost as well as most other details that we’ve been speculating about since it’s release.

One interesting reveal is that GPT-4 is not one model like we’ve been led to believe. As well as a look into why gpt-4 seems to be getting dumber (or “getting a lobotomy” as some put it).

Is this the beginning of the end for OpenAI? Will we see an open-source GPT-4 model hit this year?

WATCH THE VIDEO THAT EXPLAINS ALL THE LEAKED DATA

Anthropic releases Claude 2, its second-gen AI chatbot

Anthropic, an AI startup, has unveiled Claude 2, their second-generation AI chatbot, now available in beta in the U.S. and U.K. This new and improved version outperforms its predecessor in several areas, like tackling the bar exam, coding in Python, or solving math problems. It can also format outputs in JSON, XML, YAML, and markdown.

Claude 2 uses “constitutional AI,” a technique developed by Anthropic, guiding the model’s behavior through set principles. The aim is to make it easier to tweak and adjust the AI’s behavior as needed. But, the company admits as the AI gets smarter, it gets trickier to predict its behavior.

The company’s ultimate goal is to create a self-teaching AI algorithm that could revolutionize virtual assistants and the way they perform tasks, like answering emails or generating art. Claude 2 is a stepping stone towards this goal, but there’s still a long way to go.

Anthropic is in competition with OpenAI, Cohere, AI21 Labs, and others in the AI landscape. Despite being a new kid on the block, it has already raised significant capital but estimates needing $5 billion more over the next two years to fully realize their ambitious chatbot vision.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

eBay acquires AI-powered product authentication company Certilogo

eBay‘s been on a shopping spree, but it ain’t for knick-knacks or collectibles. They’ve just snagged Certilogo, a tech company from Italy that uses fancy AI to make sure the clothes and fashion items you’re buying aren’t knock-offs. The folks from Certilogo will keep doing their thing, under the watchful eye of their big boss, Michele Casucci.

Certilogo’s tech helps brands keep tabs on their products from the factory to your closet, and gives shoppers a way to double-check that their new threads are the real deal. This buyout shows that eBay’s keen on making sure used fashion sold on their site is legit.

eBay’s VP, Charis Marquez, sounds stoked about the new deal. She says this’ll help brands keep their products safe from counterfeiters and will give buyers peace of mind knowing they’re not getting ripped off with fakes.

Back in May, eBay hinted that they were planning to invest in the secondhand fashion market. They reckon that snagging Certilogo will make them a go-to spot for folks looking for used clothes. They also think it’ll help buyers feel good about making more eco-friendly purchases.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Microsoft rolls out AI-generated ad headlines and descriptions

Microsoft’s rolling out a new tool that writes ad headlines and descriptions using artificial intelligence (AI). This tool will make it easier for marketers to come up with catchy headlines without needing to scratch their heads for hours. It’ll also suggest ways to improve your ads and save you time.

Here’s how it works. The AI tool is available in 35 languages and it can figure out what language to use based on your website. You find the tool under the “Create an Ad” tab. Once there, you type in your final web address (URL) and the tool will offer several headline ideas based on that URL. You can then pick the best option with a single click.

Microsoft is also launching two more features to help advertisers. The first, auto-generated assets, helps reduce the work of creating separate ad campaigns for different devices and audiences. The second, called IF functions, lets you change the ad based on the device or audience. These two features are expected to roll out over the next month.

READ THE ARTICLE ON SEARCH ENGINE LAND

Amazon charts its own course on A.I., leaning on its strengths in cloud and e-commerce

Amazon is zigging while others zag, doubling down on AI tools for developers and businesses rather than going all in on customer-facing tech like chatbots. They’re using their heavy-hitter, Amazon Web Services (AWS), to make it happen. 

Don’t get it twisted, Amazon is also investing a cool $100 million in an AI innovation center for free training. Plus, they’ve got AI code generators like CodeWhisperer to help developers speed up their work. And while the stock market’s been all about Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet this year, some analysts think Amazon is just quietly flexing for the next big wave in AI.

Keep in mind, AWS isn’t just an AI playground – it’s also a dominant player in the cloud storage and computing market. And even though growth has slowed a bit due to competition and cost-cutting, it’s still a cash cow. Meanwhile, Amazon’s also using AI to power its e-commerce and advertising game, making searches and ads more relevant to users.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNBC

Shutterstock expands deal with OpenAI to build generative AI tools

Shutterstock is doubling down on its partnership with OpenAI to make AI better and smarter. OpenAI will use Shutterstock’s pictures, videos, and music to train its AI, and in return, Shutterstock will get early access to OpenAI’s latest gadgets and new ways to jazz up images in its library. They’re also going to bring this AI tech to folks on their phones through Giphy, a GIF library Shutterstock recently scooped up.

Shutterstock’s move might seem odd, considering the ongoing tug-of-war between stock image galleries and AI startups. These AI companies can whip up customized stock images like hotcakes, which makes some folks in the image gallery biz pretty nervous. In fact, there were heated protests from artists and photographers who believe AI startups are making a buck off their work without giving credit where it’s due.

Unlike Getty Images, Shutterstock decided not to risk a long-winded court fight. Instead, they’ve buddied up with OpenAI to create a picture-making AI. Shutterstock has also cut deals with other big names like Nvidia, Meta, and LG to make even more AI tools.

Trying to keep the peace with artists, Shutterstock has set up a “contribitor fund” to pay artists for using their work to train their AI. Artists also get a cut of the pie whenever their work is used to make new content.

READ THE ARTICLE ON TECHCRUNCH

Dashworks launches AI assistant to streamline internal knowledge for enterprises, raises $5M

AI startup Dashworks, straight outta San Francisco, just raised another cool $5M, bumping their total funding up to $9M. They’re gearing up to make waves with Dash AI, their smart assistant, which is like a turbo-charged filing cabinet for big companies.

Why? ‘Cause right now, workplace knowledge is scattered from here to Sunday, across apps like Slack, Google, Asana, and Notion. It’s a hot mess and a royal pain for employees trying to track down specific info.

Dashworks’ head honcho, Prasad Kawthekar, said their goal is to help teams reach their full potential by bringing some order to this chaos. Dash AI is their answer – an assistant that can find, summarize, and understand all that scattered data in real time. From drafting emails to debugging code, it’s got your back.

Their customers, including Swiggy, are loving it so far. The company’s also planning to keep making the assistant smarter and more helpful by integrating more apps and improving its ability to answer questions.

READ THE ARTICLE ON VENTUREBEAT

Prompt engineering startup Vellum.ai raises $5M as demand for generative AI services scales

Vellum.ai, an AI startup, has bagged $5 million in seed funding from multiple investors including Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, and Eastlink Capital. The company’s getting attention for improving generative AI, essentially teaching computers to write content that sounds human. Given the rapid progress of AI and how many businesses could use these skills, folks are keen on what Vellum’s got cooking.

The founders, all former employees of another startup Dover, saw a huge amount of work in fine-tuning AI applications for tasks like writing job descriptions and emails. They thought there had to be a better way, so they created Vellum to develop tools that make AI work better and faster.

Generative AI, like the kind Vellum specializes in, means you can get an AI model to spit out results based on normal, everyday language. Basically, it can understand your question and give you a pretty good answer. This doesn’t just change AI, it opens it up to a whole new audience – from product managers to software engineers.

Vellum’s got tools to help companies check AI output, add context to prompts, and make sure their AI’s saying the right stuff. It’s not just about getting an AI system up and running – it’s about refining it to handle all sorts of curveballs.

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KPMG Plans $2 Billion Investment in AI and Cloud Services

KPMG is laying down $2 billion for AI and cloud services through a beefed-up partnership with Microsoft, a sign that big accounting firms are pushing hard into tech. This move is set to rake in over $12 billion in revenue across five years, about 7% of KPMG’s total annual income. KPMG’s big plan? To streamline its tax, audit, and consulting services, giving its team the chance to focus more on strategic advice.

KPMG’s boss, Bill Thomas, is clear that this tech move isn’t about cutting jobs. Instead, it’s about beefing up the workforce with AI know-how. KPMG also gets an early peek at Microsoft’s AI assistant, Microsoft 365 Copilot, as part of the deal.

A chunk of KPMG’s investment will go to generative AI, a tech that businesses are keen to use for better financial management. It’ll help KPMG tackle environmental, social, and governance tasks by wrangling big data sets for tax reporting and speeding up audits.

This bold move comes at a time when growth in consulting businesses has taken a hit. But KPMG isn’t new to AI – they’ve been using it to help clients for a decade. Other big-name firms have also poured billions into tech to boost their services, and like KPMG, they’re also cozying up to Microsoft for its AI offerings.

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AI tools are designing entirely new proteins that could transform medicine

Smart cookies at the University of Washington are using an AI tool, RFdiffusion, to make proteins in ways Mother Nature never did. These ain’t your typical proteins – they could revolutionize medicine, with big potential in stuff like vaccines and drugs.

The AI’s way of work is pretty much like how a program creates realistic pictures. This approach helps the AI shape proteins quickly and have ’em snugly bind to other biomolecules. And guess what? They’re not just cool on paper – they deliver in real-life tests too.

In just a year, these AI tools have totally shaken up the protein-making scene. Now, scientists can design proteins that perform just right. It’s like tailor-making proteins for specific problems.

Making proteins wasn’t always a breeze. It used to be like putting together a jigsaw puzzle in the dark. But AI tools like AlphaFold came in and changed the game, predicting how proteins look with spot-on accuracy.

But there’s room to get even better. Some techniques can only handle small proteins or can’t make diverse ones. That’s where RFdiffusion comes in. It whips up a random mix of protein building blocks (amino acids) and then tidies it up to produce realistic, but brand-new proteins.

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Meta’s Move Towards AI Governance

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A Detailed Analysis of Meta’s Democratic AI Experiment and How It Promises to Transform the Future of Global Tech Governance

Today:

Meta Ran a Giant Experiment in Governance. Now It’s Turning to AI

Meta ran a pretty grand democratic experiment recently, pulling together around 6,000 folks from across the globe to chat about the company’s responsibility in the metaverse they’re building. Most folks liked the idea, saying it’s a good way for Meta to make decisions. Now, they’re looking to run a similar shindig for generative AI, following other tech heavyweights who are also looking into more democratic ways to guide AI.

The process wasn’t without its hiccups, though. Some folks felt like they were part of a data collection experiment rather than a democratic process. They had limited ways to interact and didn’t get a chance to talk directly with the decision-makers at Meta. Also, Meta’s been a bit slow on detailing what actions it’ll take based on the feedback they received.

Moving forward, Meta’s got to iron out these wrinkles. When they do the same for generative AI, they should look at the best practices from similar government-run processes. The aim is to create a more informed, democratic decision-making process for tech companies, especially when dealing with stuff that affects folks worldwide.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but continuing to refine these decision-making processes seems like the best way to navigate the challenges brought on by rapidly advancing AI technology.

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Netflix’s AI-assisted green screen bathes actors in eye-searing magenta

Netflix has put a spin on the old trick of using a green screen for movie magic, but now they’re bathing actors in a vibrant shade of magenta. This quirky method helps to fuse the actor and background more neatly. Normally, actors are positioned against a bright green backdrop, which gets digitally replaced with anything from city skylines to mythical creatures. This method, called “chroma keying,” is simple and inexpensive, but it’s not perfect. It struggles with see-through objects, fine details like hair, and anything that’s similarly colored to the green screen.

Netflix’s new method, as explained in a recently published study, involves lighting the actors with a combination of red and blue, resulting in a magenta hue, against a bright green screen. This approach simplifies the task of separating the actor from the background, but makes it tricky to restore the green color to the magenta-lit subjects.

This is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in. The Netflix team trained a machine learning model to quickly restore the missing green color in a smart way by comparing magenta-lit scenes to scenes lit normally.

There’s a catch, though. While this technique can restore colors accurately in post-production, the actors and set have to be lit in a pretty ghastly way. The study suggests flickering the lights really fast to make it appear nearly constant, but this would need some fancy footwork with the camera.

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Urtopia Fusion installs chatGPT in its e-bike to answer riders’ travel questions while cycling

Urtopia Fusion’s latest e-bike ain’t just any ol’ bike, it’s got ChatGPT built right in. Unveiled at EUROBIKE 2023, this fancy rig comes with built-in speakers so you can ask the bike travel-related questions and get answers on the fly. Think of it like having your own personal tour guide on the go. The only snag is ChatGPT’s last update was in 2021, so it ain’t the best for real-time stuff like traffic or weather.

The bike’s got other whiz-bang features too, like GPS navigation, anti-theft measures, and safety tech. Plus, it’s all voice-activated. They’re calling this the first e-bike with a built-in AI chat feature. It’s like riding with a know-it-all buddy, only this one doesn’t get tired.

And it’s not just about looking pretty. The Urtopia Fusion e-bike plays nice with Apple Health and Strava. That means you can keep tabs on your heart rate while you ride and even share your rides on social media. It’s all about making your rides better and getting more folks into cycling.

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Huawei Cloud team says AI model produces faster, more accurate weather forecasts

Chinese tech giant Huawei’s researchers claim to have cooked up a super-fast and smart weather-predicting AI, which they’ve named Pangu-Weather. According to them, this smart tool cranks out forecasts in a heartbeat, detailing all sorts of stuff like temperature, wind speed, humidity, and even a heads up on potential natural disasters.

What sets Pangu-Weather apart is that it’s outperformed the old-school, number-crunching prediction methods used by most weather services worldwide. This puppy was put to the test and came out a whopping “10,000 times faster” than the current top-dog forecasting tool, the one from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

The magic of Pangu-Weather lies in its focus on medium-range forecasting, looking forward up to two weeks. This type of forecasting is crucial for dodging disasters. Up until now, AI hasn’t been able to outdo the traditional number-based prediction for this medium- and long-term forecasting, which basically works by breaking down weather conditions into little squares on a map and then playing the numbers game to predict changes.

Pangu-Weather’s new trick is its ability to handle the Earth’s quirky 3D weather data by adapting to our planet’s coordinate system. The Huawei team also used new computational strategies that do fewer iterations (repetitions of a process), cutting down on mistakes that add up over time. They trained the model using weather data from 1979 to 2021, repeating the process (an epoch) 100 times, each time using hourly weather data.

Impressively, Pangu-Weather can whip up a 24-hour global weather forecast in just 1.4 seconds using a single graphics card, which is a heck of a lot faster than the old number-crunching way. What’s more, this tool isn’t just fast, it’s also pretty accurate. It’s been put through its paces with tricky extreme weather events like typhoons and did a bang-up job. In fact, Pangu-Weather correctly predicted the path of Typhoon Mawar, this year’s strongest tropical storm so far, five days before it showed up.

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Gamercraft raises $5 Million for AI-powered skill- gaming platform

Gamercraft, a gaming company from Miami, just got $5 million to level up their gaming platform. They’re gonna use that cash to boost their tech, create new games, and amp up their marketing game. Big names like Alienware co-founders and others chipped in for this funding round.

Gamercraft is all about skill-based gaming where players can bet on their own matches. They’re even cooking up ways to keep cheating to a minimum. They’ve already got a following of over 300,000 gamers from North America, Latin America, and Europe.

This isn’t just your regular gaming platform though. Gamercraft is mixing things up with a combination of AI and blockchain tech, which allows for transparent and unchangeable records of transactions. This means they can keep track of player performance and dish out insights, using AI to make sure it’s all fair play.

READ THE ARTICLE ON VENTUREBEAT

Wildfire detection startup Pano AI extends its $20M Series A with another $17M

Wildfire detection company, Pano AI, has added $17 million to its Series A funding, building on its original $20 million. Their smart system uses high-def cameras that constantly scan for fire signs. If the AI spots trouble, it rings the alarm bell. Pano AI is ahead of the game, getting the news out even before the first 911 call hits. The cameras are placed strategically so they can cross-check fire spots and give accurate coordinates, something a 911 call can’t provide.

Pano AI’s system allows emergency responders to get a jump-start on wildfires or keep expensive equipment idle if there’s no real danger. It’s like having a scout on the ground 24/7. They’re all about giving the firefighters a head-start.

Despite a dip in the venture capital market, the company has pulled in this extra funding at a higher valuation than before, with the likes of Valor Equity Partners, T-Mobile Ventures, and Salesforce chipping in. The tie-in with T-Mobile is handy because Pano AI uses their 5G network and even their masts for camera placement.

Pano AI’s customers are a mix of power utilities, private landowners, and government fire agencies. They don’t sell the cameras, instead, they keep the hardware and rent out the software. The typical cost for this service? About $50,000 a pop, per year. The company’s growth isn’t slowing down, with plans to add hundreds more units by year-end, on top of the existing 100. Pano AI has its eye on both the U.S. and Australia and is also starting to look towards Europe.

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AI transforms the humble chest X-ray into a better diagnostic tool

Researchers have jazzed up your typical chest X-ray with some fancy AI, making it a better tool for spotting heart issues. Normally, to really get a handle on heart health, doctors have to use an echocardiogram – or ‘echo’ – to check how well the heart’s pumping and if its valves are in good nick. If not, that can spell serious trouble, like heart failure or even sudden death. But echos need a specially trained tech to run them.

That’s where a team from Osaka Metropolitan University stepped in, training an AI to jazz up the common chest X-ray. This smart system was schooled using over 22,000 chest X-rays linked to their matching echos, taken from about 17,000 patients across four clinics. The researchers then tested the AI, finding it could spot six kinds of heart valve disease pretty darn well.

This newfangled AI system could be just the ticket when doctors need a fast diagnosis or don’t have enough techs on hand. It might even be used when no specialists are around, during late-night emergencies, or for patients who can’t handle an echo.

Lead researcher Daiju Ueda reckons this could be a game changer in terms of helping doctors diagnose heart issues and fill in the gaps where specialists aren’t available. This groundbreaking work was published in the medical journal, The Lancet Digital Health.

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OpenAI’s Mysterious New Headquarters Features Nap Rooms And A Two-Story Library

OpenAI, the world-renowned AI company, has moved into a swanky four-story, 59,000 square foot headquarters in San Francisco’s Mission District. They finished a ritzy $11 million renovation and expansion earlier this year, and they’re keeping the details hush-hush.

We’ve caught wind of some cool stuff inside though, thanks to some peeped architectural plans and documents. This place has got it all: open space, snooze zones, mini-kitchens, lounges where you can catch both the sunrise and sunset, and a towering two-story library. There’s even a reception desk made from cool burl wood, a “walk in the park” area flanked by live indoor trees, and a place for a giant 20-foot screen.

But OpenAI ain’t just playing at home, they’re also going global and plan on opening an office in London. What we know about this new HQ might just be the tip of the iceberg, though, because the company’s been pretty silent about the final build. But if the plans are anything to go by, OpenAI is pulling out all the stops.

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That Google memo about having ‘no moat’ in AI was real — and Google’s AI boss disagrees with it

Well, ain’t this a pickle? A few months back, someone from Google seemingly threw a bit of a stink bomb, saying Google has no strong edge (“no moat”) in the AI game. It seemed like a big deal, but now Google’s AI head honcho, Demis Hassabis, has confirmed the memo’s authenticity, but shrugged off its gloomy predictions.

The leaky memo, found in a public chat room, basically said that Google and its pal OpenAI ain’t got the goods to top the AI leaderboard. In its place, a third player, open-source AI models, is sneaking in for the win. According to the memo, these upstarts are speedier, more flexible, more private, and basically doing a better job for the money.

But Hassabis, chief of Google’s DeepMind, ain’t buying it. He’s pretty bullish about Google’s future in AI. He thinks the company’s competitive researchers and the merging of Google Brain and DeepMind (under his leadership) will bring more wins to the table. He points to the past and says, “Just look at what we’ve done before, and I bet we’ll keep doing it. Heck, I reckon we’ll do even better in the coming decade.” So, for him, it’s onwards and upwards, folks.

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Senators to receive first ever classified briefing on artificial intelligence

Senators are getting their first-ever peek behind the curtain on artificial intelligence. This hush-hush meeting, set for 3 p.m., is called by the big shots, like the National Intelligence Director Avril Haines and some other top-level folks. They’re gathering in a super-secure part of the Capitol.

The big aim? To learn about how the U.S. is using AI to keep the country safe and to suss out what the competition’s up to in the AI world. This briefing is just part of a series organized by a mixed bag of senators, including both Democrats and Republicans. So, it’s about time our lawmakers get in the know about AI, don’t you think?

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Generative AI could add up to $4.4 trillion annually to global economy

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, can help make big decisions based on data and free up time, getting work done faster. Generative AI, a type of AI, could really shake things up, giving companies and their employees more time to focus on important stuff. It might even replace some of the work we do every day.

McKinsey, a big-name consulting firm, did a deep dive and found out some eye-opening things. They believe generative AI could pump between $2.6 and $4.4 trillion each year into the world economy. For context, that’s more than the whole UK made in 2021!

Here’s something that might make you sit up straight: generative AI could take over tasks that we spend 60-70% of our time on. That’s because AI’s getting better at understanding human language, a big part of many jobs.

In fact, if things keep going this way, half of all work could be automated by somewhere between 2030 and 2060, a decade earlier than expected. That could mean big productivity boosts but also means we need to help workers adapt.

But before you get too excited, remember we’re just at the starting gate with this AI stuff. There are still risks to manage, and we need to figure out what new skills workers will need. And most importantly, we need to figure out how to help people transition to new roles or tasks.

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