News/New Launches
Slack is Launching AI Note-Taking for Huddles
AI-powered note-taking comes to Slack huddles: Slack is introducing an artificial intelligence-driven note-taking feature for its huddle function, enhancing its competitiveness in the video conferencing and collaboration space. The new AI feature will automatically generate notes during Slack huddles, potentially streamlining the meeting process and improving productivity for users. This addition brings Slack's capabilities more in line with competitors like Zoom and Google Meet, which already offer AI-powered meeting summarization tools. The announcement was made as part of Slack's news from Dreamforce 2024, suggesting it's a key component of the platform's strategic development. Competitive landscape in collaboration tools: Slack's introduction...
read Sep 16, 2024Google’s AI Tool ‘Food Mood’ Will Help You Create Mouth-Watering Meals
Google's AI-powered culinary innovation: Food Mood, a new experiment from Google Arts & Culture, leverages artificial intelligence to create unique recipes by blending cuisines from different countries. How Food Mood works: The AI tool generates customized recipes based on user preferences, allowing for creative culinary exploration and cross-cultural fusion. Users can access Food Mood through the Google Arts & Culture website by selecting "Launch experiment" The tool offers options to find random recipes or customize selections based on specific criteria Users can choose the type of dish (starter, soup, main course, or dessert), portion size, and select two countries to...
read Sep 16, 2024Amazon Android App Gets UI Upgrade and New AI Assistant ‘Rufus’
Amazon's Android app gets AI upgrade: Amazon has rolled out a minor update to its Android app, featuring a redesigned interface and integration of the Rufus AI shopping assistant. The update, observed in version 28.17.0.100 and higher, introduces a new search bar and removes the long-standing blue gradient section. Rufus, an AI-powered tool designed to enhance the shopping experience, is now more prominently featured in the app. The update appears to be gradually rolling out to more devices, following its initial introduction to US customers in late August. Key interface changes: The redesign focuses on streamlining the app's layout and...
read Sep 15, 2024New AI Tool Lets You Upload Silent Videos and Read Speakers’ Lips
AI-powered lip reading technology debuts: Symphonic Labs, an audio tech startup, has launched an online tool showcasing their AI's lip reading capabilities, potentially revolutionizing speech understanding in various contexts. The San Francisco and Canada-based company specializes in "multimodal speech understanding" tools, with applications ranging from voice calls in noisy environments to whispering commands to voice assistants in public. The startup's new website, readtheirlips.com, allows users to upload short video clips of speakers and receive text transcriptions of what the AI calculates is being said, even when the audio is inaudible. The tool requires clear visibility of the speaker's face and...
read Sep 15, 2024Samsung’s New TV Lineup Has AI Features You Might Love
Samsung's AI-driven TV innovations: Samsung's 2024 8K TV lineup introduces a range of AI features that promise to enhance the viewing experience through automatic optimizations and intelligent adjustments. The new AI features are designed to operate seamlessly in the background, improving image quality, adjusting settings based on content, and offering advanced accessibility options. Samsung's 8K TVs, equipped with the most powerful processors, showcase the most comprehensive AI feature set, although many 2024 models incorporate impactful AI technologies. AI-powered video and sound enhancements: Samsung's latest TVs utilize advanced AI algorithms to upscale content and optimize audio output, delivering a more immersive...
read Sep 14, 2024Review: Plaud’s New ‘NotePin’ is a Great Voice Recorder that May Stand No Chance
AI-powered voice recording evolves: The Plaud NotePin represents a significant advancement in dedicated AI voice recording devices, offering accurate transcription and summarization capabilities in a convenient form factor. The $169 NotePin is a pill-shaped voice recorder that can transcribe, summarize, and extract important information from audio recordings. Plaud has successfully delivered on its promises, creating a functional AI gadget in a year marked by high-profile failures and AI vaporware. The device leverages mature technologies, including miniature microphones, speech-to-text transcription, and natural language processing for AI summarization. Competitive landscape and market trends: Despite the NotePin's effectiveness, the rapidly evolving AI voice...
read Sep 14, 2024Microsoft Launches ‘Windows Agent Arena’ to Benchmark AI Agents
Microsoft unveils groundbreaking AI benchmark: The tech giant has introduced Windows Agent Arena (WAA), a new platform designed to test and develop AI assistants capable of performing complex tasks in Windows environments. Key features of Windows Agent Arena: WAA provides a reproducible testing ground for AI agents to interact with common Windows applications, web browsers, and system tools. The platform includes over 150 diverse tasks spanning document editing, web browsing, coding, and system configuration. A major innovation is the ability to parallelize testing across multiple virtual machines in Microsoft's Azure cloud, reducing full benchmark evaluation time to as little as...
read Sep 14, 2024Snopes Introduces New AI-Powered Chatbot for Fact-Checking
Snopes launches AI-powered fact-checking tool: Snopes, the popular fact-checking website, has introduced FactBot, an AI-powered chatbot designed to quickly address internet rumors and urban legends. How FactBot works: The new tool utilizes Snopes' extensive archive and generative AI to provide conversational answers to user queries, streamlining the fact-checking process. FactBot is built on Anthropic's Sonnet 3.5 AI model, with collaboration from California Polytechnic's Digital Transformation Hub and Amazon Web Services. The chatbot searches Snopes' database to compose answers, including links to source articles for transparency. If insufficient information is available, FactBot explicitly states its inability to respond, avoiding potential misinformation....
read Sep 13, 2024Amazon’s Rufus AI Assistant to Integrate Ads in Recommendations
AI-powered shopping evolves: Amazon's AI shopping assistant Rufus is set to incorporate advertisements into its recommendations and responses, marking a significant shift in how e-commerce platforms integrate sponsored content with artificial intelligence. Rufus, designed to research products and recommend purchases through user conversations, will now include ads in "Rufus-related placements" when providing product suggestions. The AI assistant will generate accompanying text for ads based on the context of the conversation, ensuring a seamless integration rather than presenting them as separate sponsored links. Amazon aims to maintain contextual relevance in ad placement, avoiding spamming users with unrelated suggestions. Implications for user...
read Sep 13, 2024Google’s DataGemma AI Models Target Statistical Inaccuracies
Breakthrough in AI accuracy: Google has introduced DataGemma, a pair of open-source AI models designed to reduce hallucinations in large language models (LLMs) when answering queries about statistical data. DataGemma builds upon Google's existing Gemma family of open models and leverages the extensive Data Commons platform, which contains over 240 billion data points from trusted organizations. The models are available on Hugging Face for academic and research purposes, signaling Google's commitment to advancing AI research in the public domain. Two distinct approaches, Retrieval Interleaved Generation (RIG) and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), are employed to enhance factual accuracy in the models'...
read Sep 13, 2024Salesforce’s AgentForce Will Provide Turnkey Agents Across Roles and Industries
Salesforce has unveiled AgentForce, a suite of AI-powered autonomous agents designed to revolutionize business operations across various functions, marking what the company calls the "third wave" of AI. The big picture: Salesforce positions AgentForce as a transformative platform that moves beyond predictive models and generative AI to create "agentic systems" capable of augmenting human workers in diverse business roles. Marc Benioff, Salesforce's Chair and CEO, emphasized the significance of this third wave of AI during a press conference, highlighting the company's excitement about the potential of AI agents. Benioff also hinted at future developments, mentioning a potential "fourth wave" of...
read Sep 13, 2024Midjourney To Launch AI-Powered, Interactive 3D Environment Builder
Midjourney's groundbreaking 3D feature: Midjourney, a leading AI image generator, is developing a revolutionary 3D feature that will allow users to immerse themselves in generated images, transforming the way we interact with AI-created content. The announcement was made during recent Midjourney office hours on Discord, generating excitement among users and industry observers. This new feature aims to convert Midjourney-generated images into interactive 3D environments, providing a more immersive and engaging user experience. The technology is based on NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields), which is commonly used in game development, suggesting a high level of sophistication and realism. Technical capabilities and limitations:...
read Sep 13, 2024With GPT-o1, OpenAI Argues that Slower AI Is Better AI
A new AI milestone emerges: OpenAI has unveiled GPT-o1, a groundbreaking AI model resulting from its "Strawberry" project, showcasing enhanced reasoning capabilities and problem-solving skills. Key features and capabilities: GPT-o1 represents a significant leap in AI technology, with a focus on complex problem-solving and extended reasoning. The model is currently accessible to ChatGPT Plus/Team subscribers and through the developer API, with a "o1-mini" variant also available for developers. GPT-o1 is designed to spend more time contemplating problems before responding, which OpenAI argues is indicative of greater intelligence. The AI can explore various trains of thought and process information differently compared...
read Sep 13, 2024Google Gemini App Launches Live Voice Mode for Android
Groundbreaking AI interaction: Google's Gemini app has launched its Live Voice Mode for Android users, offering free real-time voice conversations with AI. The new feature allows users to engage in dynamic, interactive dialogues with Gemini, moving beyond simple voice commands or text-based interactions. Live Voice Mode is designed to simulate human-like social interactions, enabling users to explore ideas, brainstorm, and discuss complex topics hands-free. How it works: Gemini's Live Voice Mode is integrated into the Android app, providing users with an intuitive and accessible way to converse with AI. Users can access the feature by updating or downloading the Gemini...
read Sep 13, 2024Salesforce Launches Agentforce to Bring AI Agents to Businesses
Salesforce unveils Agentforce: A new era of AI-powered enterprise tools: Salesforce has introduced Agentforce, a suite of low-code tools designed to empower enterprises in creating autonomous AI agents for various business functions, marking a significant advancement in the company's AI strategy. Key features and capabilities: Agentforce combines Agent Builder, Model Builder, and Prompt Builder tools to create AI agents that can operate autonomously, distinguishing them from traditional chatbots. The suite utilizes the Atlas reasoning engine, enabling AI agents to "think like a human" by reasoning, making decisions, and completing business tasks independently. Agentforce represents a rebranding and expansion of Einstein...
read Sep 12, 2024OpenAI’s New AI Models Claim PhD-Level Skill — Here’s Who Has Access
OpenAI unveils new AI model family: OpenAI has introduced a new series of AI models called "o1," designed to tackle complex tasks and surpass the capabilities of their previous GPT series. The o1 family currently includes two models: o1-preview and o1-mini, both available to ChatGPT Plus users with initial usage limits. These models are specifically designed for reasoning through complex tasks and solving harder problems in fields like science, healthcare, and technology. OpenAI cautions that the o1 models currently lack some features present in GPT-4, such as web browsing and image processing capabilities. o1-preview: A PhD-level performer: The o1-preview model...
read Sep 12, 2024OpenAI’s New ‘o1’ AI Models Are As Capable as PhD STEM Students
A new frontier in AI reasoning: OpenAI's latest model, o1, also know as the highly anticipated secret project codenamed "Strawberry," represents a significant advancement in artificial intelligence, particularly in its ability to handle complex tasks and self-correct. Performance benchmarks: The o1 model demonstrates capabilities on par with doctoral students, particularly excelling in STEM subjects. Initial testing shows the model performing at a level comparable to PhD students in physics, chemistry, and biology. The AI exhibits promise in mathematics and coding as well. O1's ability to recognize mistakes and improve its responses sets it apart from previous models. Key features and...
read Sep 12, 2024Project Strawberry Is Here: OpenAI Drops ‘o1’ AI Model That Reflects Before Acting
OpenAI's latest AI model, OpenAI-o1, represents a significant shift in approach to artificial intelligence, demonstrating enhanced reasoning capabilities without relying solely on increased scale. A new paradigm in AI development: OpenAI has unveiled a novel AI model, codenamed Strawberry and officially known as OpenAI-o1, which showcases advanced problem-solving abilities through step-by-step reasoning. The model can tackle complex problems that stump existing AI systems, including OpenAI's own GPT-4o. Unlike traditional large language models (LLMs) that generate answers in one step, OpenAI-o1 reasons through problems methodically, mimicking human thought processes. This approach allows the model to solve intricate puzzles in various fields,...
read Sep 12, 2024Google’s AI Fact-Checker Aims to Curb Hallucinations
Google's new AI fact-checking tool: Google has unveiled DataGemma, a tool designed to enhance the accuracy and reliability of large language models by grounding their responses in verifiable data. DataGemma employs two primary methods: Retrieval-Interleaved Generation (RIG) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), both of which leverage Google's Data Commons to verify and augment AI-generated responses. The tool aims to address the persistent issue of AI hallucinations by providing a mechanism for language models to cross-reference their outputs against real-world statistical data. Currently, DataGemma is exclusively available to researchers, with potential plans for broader access pending further testing and refinement. How DataGemma...
read Sep 12, 2024Zoho Releases AI-Powered Analytics to Boosts Business Intelligence
AI-powered upgrade revolutionizes Zoho Analytics: Zoho Corporation has released an enhanced version of its self-service business intelligence and analytics platform, Zoho Analytics, featuring over 100 improvements including advanced AI and machine learning capabilities. Key enhancements and features: The new Zoho Analytics introduces significant upgrades across four primary areas: Data Management, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science & Machine Learning (DSML), and Extensibility. The Data Management Hub now includes Stream Analytics and 25 additional data connectors, expanding its connector portfolio to over 500. Users can create and manage complex ETL data pipelines using a visual builder or the new Python Code Studio. The...
read Sep 12, 2024Jina AI Unveils Compact Models for Superior Web Content Processing
Innovative approach to web content processing: Jina AI has introduced two small language models, Reader-LM-0.5B and Reader-LM-1.5B, designed to convert raw HTML from the web into clean markdown format. These multilingual models support context lengths up to 256K tokens, despite their compact sizes of 494M and 1.54B parameters, respectively. The models demonstrate superior performance in HTML-to-markdown conversion tasks compared to larger language models, while maintaining a significantly smaller footprint. Training methodology and data: The development of Reader-LM involved a two-stage training process utilizing a substantial dataset of HTML-markdown pairs. The models were trained on 2.5 billion tokens of HTML-markdown pairs,...
read Sep 12, 2024Apple Has Shared the First Image from Its Upcoming Image Playground Feature
Apple's AI-powered image generation makes its public debut: Apple has shared the first real-world example of an image created using its upcoming Image Playground feature, showcasing the company's foray into AI-generated visuals. The image, shared exclusively with WIRED, depicts Craig Federighi's dog Bailey wearing a party hat and smiling behind a birthday cake. This marks the first time Apple has released an Image Playground creation outside of its marketing materials and keynotes. The image was created by Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, as a birthday tribute to his dog. iOS 18's AI-powered features: The upcoming mobile operating...
read Sep 12, 2024Adobe is Positioning Firefly Video as Essential Tool for Modern Editors
AI-powered video generation enters a new era: Adobe's announcement of its Firefly Video AI model marks a significant advancement in the rapidly evolving field of AI-generated video content. The new model, built upon Adobe's existing Firefly generative AI image models, will offer text-to-video, image-to-video, and video editing capabilities. Adobe claims the model is ethically trained and commercially safe, using only data it owns or has licensed from Adobe Stock contributors. The Firefly Video Model will be available in beta later this year, with interested parties able to join a waitlist for early access. Impressive capabilities and potential applications: Early examples...
read Sep 12, 2024New Gemini Feature from Google Lets You Create Your Own AI Chatbot
Gemini's new Gems feature revolutionizes AI assistance: Google's Gemini AI has introduced a groundbreaking feature called Gems, allowing users to create personalized AI chatbots tailored to specific tasks and interests. What you need to know: Gems are customized versions of Gemini, each with its own unique personality and purpose, designed to streamline interactions for specific tasks. Users can create specialized AI assistants for various purposes, such as learning a language, planning vacations, or providing household cleaning tips. The feature aims to make AI interactions more efficient and personalized by focusing on specific areas of expertise. Gems are currently available only...
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