News/New Launches
2 New AI Institutes Launch to Help Astronomers Decode the Cosmos
NSF and Simons Foundation collaborate on AI-powered astronomy: The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Simons Foundation have launched two new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes focused on advancing astronomical sciences through AI technologies. Each institute will receive $20 million over five years, with equal contributions from NSF and the Simons Foundation. These institutes are part of the broader NSF-led National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes program, which now includes 27 AI institutes across the United States. The initiative aims to harness AI's capabilities to assist and accelerate humanity's understanding of the universe. Addressing the data deluge in astronomy: The...
read Sep 18, 2024A Tsunami of AI-Generated Videos Is Coming to YouTube Shorts
AI-powered video creation comes to YouTube: Google is set to introduce an AI feature in the YouTube app that will enable users to generate 6-second video clips using text prompts, marking a significant advancement in content creation on the platform. The new feature, slated for release in 2025, will leverage Google's Veo model to produce short-form videos based on user-provided text descriptions. This development builds upon Google's existing AI tools for YouTube, such as Dream Screen, which allows for AI-generated backgrounds in videos. Sarah Ali, senior director of product management at YouTube, emphasizes that the tool is designed to enhance...
read Sep 18, 2024Bose Challenges Apple and Sonos with New AI-Powered Audio Gear
Bose Unveils New Audio Products: Bose has announced two new products aimed at competing with Apple and Sonos in the earbud and soundbar markets, respectively. QuietComfort Earbuds: A More Affordable ANC Option: Bose's new QuietComfort Earbuds offer active noise cancellation (ANC) at a competitive price point of $179, directly challenging Apple's AirPods 4. The in-ear buds feature Bose-tuned audio, user-adjustable controls, and voice command capabilities. With six microphones in total, the earbuds prioritize noise cancellation and call quality. Users can choose between three listening modes: ANC, transparency, and off. The earbuds boast an IPX4 water resistance rating, making them suitable...
read Sep 18, 2024YouTube is Introducing New AI Features to Streamline Content Creation
AI-powered creation tools revolutionize YouTube: YouTube is introducing a suite of AI features aimed at streamlining and enhancing the content creation process for its creators. Inspiration tab in YouTube Studio: The platform is rolling out a new AI-powered tool to help creators generate ideas and content. The Inspiration tab suggests video concepts, titles, thumbnails, and even provides outlines and introductory lines for videos. This feature is designed to serve as a brainstorming tool but can potentially be used to develop entire projects. The AI-generated ideas are likely optimized to perform well within YouTube's algorithm, potentially influencing content trends on the...
read Sep 18, 2024Twitch Boosts Stream Quality with AI-Powered Broadcasting Tool
Twitch revolutionizes streaming with AI-powered Enhanced Broadcasting: Twitch, the popular gaming-focused streaming platform, is launching a new feature called Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting that leverages AI technology to improve streaming quality and accessibility. Key features of Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting: Allows streamers with modern NVIDIA GeForce RTX or GTX GPUs to broadcast up to three resolutions simultaneously, with a maximum of 1080p Supports HEVC (H.265) encoding, offering 25% improved efficiency and quality compared to H.264 Launching in beta this month, with sign-ups available at twitch.tv/broadcast Future enhancements for beta testers: Higher input bit rates Up to 4K resolutions Capability to stream up...
read Sep 18, 2024Snapchat Just Got an AI-Powered Makeover — Here’s What’s Inside
Snapchat's major overhaul: Snap Inc. has unveiled significant changes to its popular social media app, Snapchat, including a streamlined redesign and innovative AI features aimed at enhancing user experience and engagement. App redesign simplifies navigation: The new Snapchat layout consolidates the app's functionality into three main tabs, offering a more intuitive user interface. The camera remains at the center, maintaining Snapchat's core focus on visual content creation. A chat tab on the left provides easy access to communication features. A new discovery tab on the right, reminiscent of TikTok's "For You" page, combines Stories and Spotlight videos in a vertically...
read Sep 17, 2024Mistral AI Introduces Free Tier, Reduced Prices to Encourage AI Prototyping
Mistral AI expands AI accessibility: Mistral AI, a leading artificial intelligence company, has announced significant updates to its product lineup, including free offerings, reduced pricing, and enhanced model capabilities. Free tier introduction: Mistral AI has launched a free tier on its serverless platform, la Plateforme, allowing developers to experiment with and prototype AI models at no cost. Users can upgrade to a commercial tier with full data isolation and higher rate limits as needed. The platform offers deployment options across various cloud providers or on the user's own infrastructure. Pricing overhaul: The company has implemented substantial price reductions across its...
read Sep 17, 2024Hugging Face Launches SQL Console for Advanced Dataset Exploration
Revolutionizing dataset exploration on Hugging Face: Hugging Face has introduced a powerful new SQL Console feature for datasets, enabling users to directly query and analyze data within their web browser. The SQL Console is now available for all public datasets on the Hugging Face Hub, accessible via a dedicated badge on each dataset page. This tool leverages DuckDB WASM technology, allowing users to perform complex queries without any backend dependencies or setup requirements. The console supports full DuckDB syntax, which is similar to PostgreSQL, providing a wide range of capabilities for data manipulation and analysis. Key features and functionality: The...
read Sep 17, 2024What to Know About Microsoft Copilot+ PCs
Microsoft's new AI-focused initiative: Copilot+ PC is a new category of Windows laptops designed specifically for artificial intelligence tasks, announced by Microsoft in May 2024. Understanding Copilot and Copilot+: Copilot is Microsoft's generative AI chatbot, while Copilot+ refers to the hardware specifications required for PCs to efficiently run AI-powered features. Copilot+ PCs must meet strict hardware requirements set by Microsoft, including an AI processor capable of 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS), 16 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of solid-state storage. Initially, only Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chipset met these requirements, but AMD Ryzen AI 300 series and Intel...
read Sep 17, 2024Pipedrive Adds AI-Powered ‘Pulse’ Feature to Its CRM Offering
AI-powered lead management revolutionizes Pipedrive's sales CRM: Pipedrive, a New York-based sales CRM platform provider, has launched the beta version of Pipedrive Pulse, an AI-driven tool designed to transform lead sorting and scoring for its 100,000 small business customers worldwide. Key features of Pipedrive Pulse: The new AI-powered tool automatically identifies and prioritizes high-potential leads, enabling sales professionals to focus on closing deals more efficiently and accurately. Pipedrive Pulse simplifies lead management with an intuitive interface, facilitating timely and impactful actions. The tool offers auto-generated AI emails for leads and prospective deals. It sorts recommended actions, leads, and deals-in-progress into...
read Sep 17, 2024Finic Launches Cloud Platform to Bring AI Agents to Your Browser
Browser-based automation simplified: Finic has introduced a cloud platform designed to streamline the deployment and management of browser-based automation agents, with a focus on fault-tolerant execution. Finic caters to developers looking to quickly launch bots, scrapers, RPA integrations, and other jobs that rely on multiple authenticated web services The platform utilizes Playwright for DOM element interaction and recommends BeautifulSoup for HTML parsing Finic's cloud-based approach aims to simplify the often complex process of setting up and maintaining browser automation tools Key features and capabilities: Finic offers a range of features to enhance the development and deployment of browser-based automation agents....
read Sep 17, 2024Snapchat’s AI Selfies Put Your Face in Personalized Ads — Here’s How to Prevent It
Snapchat introduces AI-generated selfie ads with privacy concerns: Snapchat's new My Selfie feature allows users to create AI-generated images of themselves, but it comes with a controversial setting that enables the company to use these selfies in personalized ads. Key features and implications: The My Selfie feature on Snapchat enables users to generate AI-powered images of themselves based on photos shared with the platform. Users are prompted to agree to terms that allow Snapchat to use their likeness in "personalized sponsored content and ads" visible only to the user. The feature includes AI-generated images with branding or advertising content from...
read Sep 17, 2024OpenAI Just Made Accessing Its Strawberry Model Easier with Free o1-mini Release
AI model breakthrough: OpenAI has made o1-mini, the smallest version of its new reasoning family of artificial intelligence models, available for free in ChatGPT, marking a significant advancement in AI accessibility and capabilities. Key features and limitations: The o1 family of models, including o1-mini, offers unique reasoning capabilities that set it apart from other AI models like GPT-4 and Claude. These models can work through problems step-by-step before providing a final output, significantly reducing error rates and "hallucinations." The o1 models can generate longer, more well-thought-out responses compared to traditional AI models. However, o1-mini has some limitations, including longer response...
read Sep 17, 2024Salesforce Boosts Data Cloud with AI-Powered Data Tools
Data Cloud expansion: Salesforce unveils significant enhancements to its Data Cloud platform, introducing new features aimed at improving data analysis, integration, and AI capabilities for enterprises. The announcement, made at the annual Dreamforce conference, showcases Salesforce's commitment to providing comprehensive data solutions for businesses. These updates are designed to enhance the functionality of Salesforce's AI agents, known as Agentforce, by providing more robust and diverse data inputs. Unstructured data analysis: Salesforce introduces support for unstructured audio and video data, enabling businesses to extract valuable insights from a wider range of customer interactions. This feature allows companies to analyze data from...
read Sep 17, 2024Vention’s New AI Platform Simplifies Robot Deployment for Manufacturing
AI-driven advancements in manufacturing automation: Vention, a Montreal-based industrial automation developer, has unveiled significant AI-powered enhancements to its Manufacturing Automation Platform (MAP) at its annual Demo Day 2024 event. The company introduced the third generation of its MachineMotion controller, called MachineMotion AI, designed for factory robotics applications. MachineMotion AI is built on the Nvidia Jetson platform for edge AI and robotics, aiming to simplify robot development and deployment for manufacturers of all sizes. The new controller bridges the gap between traditional programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and modern robot programming environments. Key features of MachineMotion AI: The new AI-powered controller offers...
read Sep 17, 2024Microsoft to Enhance Copilot with AI Agents — Here’s What They Can Do
Microsoft's Copilot expands with new collaborative and autonomous AI features, signaling a significant leap in AI-driven workplace tools and productivity solutions. Copilot Pages: A new frontier in collaborative AI: Microsoft introduces Copilot Pages, a novel feature within the BizChat app that enables teams to harness AI tools cooperatively. Described as a "dynamic, persistent canvas," Copilot Pages is designed to facilitate multiplayer AI collaboration, allowing teams to work together seamlessly using AI-powered tools. This innovation represents a shift towards more interactive and collective AI utilization in professional settings, potentially transforming how teams approach problem-solving and creative tasks. Enhanced Copilot integration across...
read Sep 17, 2024Google Unveils AI Image Authentication for Search and Ads
Google's new image authentication initiative: Google plans to implement a technology that will identify the origin and editing history of images in its search results and ad systems. The technology is based on the C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) authentication standard, which creates a digital trail for images. Google's "about this image" feature in search results will be updated to show if an image was created or edited using AI tools. The company aims to integrate C2PA metadata into its ad systems and is exploring ways to relay this information on YouTube. Industry collaboration and technical details: The...
read Sep 17, 2024Why Startup Martian Thinks ‘Model Routing’ Is Key to Enterprise AI Success
AI model routing emerges as a critical enterprise solution: Martian, an AI startup, is developing technology to automatically select the best AI models for specific tasks, addressing a key challenge in enterprise AI implementation. Accenture has invested in Martian and plans to integrate its technology into its switchboard services, highlighting the growing importance of AI model optimization in enterprise settings. The integration aims to help organizations choose the most suitable AI models for their specific needs, considering factors such as performance, cost, and compliance requirements. Martian's approach focuses on predicting model behavior by understanding the internal workings of AI models,...
read Sep 17, 2024AI Video Rivalry Heats Up with Dream Machine API Launch
AI video generation landscape evolves: Luma AI's announcement of its Dream Machine API marks a significant development in the rapidly advancing field of AI-generated video technology. The San Francisco-based startup, founded by former engineers from tech giants like Google, Meta, Adobe, and Apple, introduced the API just hours after competitor Runway unveiled its own API. This move intensifies the competition in the AI video technology sector, with major players vying for dominance in this emerging market. Key features of Dream Machine API: Luma AI's offering provides developers with a range of advanced tools for AI-driven video creation and manipulation. The...
read Sep 17, 2024SambaNova Announces Challenger to OpenAI’s o1 Model with New Demo
SambaNova challenges OpenAI with high-speed AI demo: SambaNova Systems has unveiled a new demo on Hugging Face, showcasing a fast, open-source alternative to OpenAI's o1 model using Meta's Llama 3.1 Instruct model. The demo, powered by SambaNova's SN40L chips, allows developers to interact with the 405B parameter Llama 3.1 model, achieving speeds of 405 tokens per second. This release represents a significant step in SambaNova's efforts to compete in the enterprise AI infrastructure market, challenging both OpenAI and hardware providers like Nvidia. The demo emphasizes speed and efficiency, which are crucial for practical business applications of AI technology. Open-source vs....
read Sep 16, 2024Runway Launches New AI Tool That Will Transform Your Existing Videos
AI-powered video transformation: Runway's Gen-3 Alpha model platform has introduced a groundbreaking video-to-video feature, allowing users to dramatically alter existing videos using text prompts or preset styles. The new tool enables users to transform the setting, performers, or other elements of a video to match a specified text prompt or chosen style. This addition completes Runway's suite of video creation options, which already included text-to-video and image-to-video capabilities. The AI model was trained on a large dataset of captioned videos and images, enabling it to understand and manipulate uploaded films based on user inputs. Key features and functionality: The video-to-video...
read Sep 16, 2024Runway Launches Enterprise API for Its New Video Generation Model
Runway's AI video generation expands: Runway, the New York-based AI startup, has announced the availability of its Gen-3 Alpha Turbo video generation model via API, marking a significant step in enterprise AI adoption. The API allows developers and organizations to integrate Runway's proprietary AI video generation model into their platforms, apps, and services. This move positions Runway as one of the first companies to offer such capabilities, potentially revolutionizing video content creation for various industries. The API is being rolled out gradually, starting with select partners before wider availability. API features and pricing: Runway's new offering comes with distinct plans...
read Sep 16, 2024Salesforce Launches $500M AI Fund
Salesforce Ventures expands AI investment: The venture capital arm of Salesforce has launched a new $500 million fund dedicated to artificial intelligence, significantly increasing its commitment to the rapidly evolving technology sector. This latest fund brings Salesforce Ventures' total investment in AI to $1 billion over the past 18 months, highlighting the company's strong focus on leveraging AI advancements. The substantial financial commitment underscores Salesforce's recognition of AI's transformative potential across various industries and business processes. Strategic focus and market positioning: Salesforce Ventures' increased investment in AI aligns with the company's broader strategy to integrate cutting-edge technologies into its product...
read Sep 16, 2024Google Merges Gemini AI with Gmail for Smarter Email Management
Google expands AI integration: Google is enhancing the synergy between its Gemini Assistant and Gmail by incorporating Gmail's AI features directly into the Gemini interface. The integration will allow users to access Gmail's AI tools, such as email summarization and reply suggestions, within the Gemini Assistant. This development builds upon Gemini's existing ability to analyze on-screen content and provide actionable insights. The new feature was discovered through an APK teardown of the Google App for Android (version 15.37.41.29.arm64). How it works: When users activate Gemini while viewing an email, they will see a set of suggestion chips similar to those...
read