News/New Launches
Sony and Honda’s Afeela: The Future of Electric Cars, Launching 2026
Sony and Honda's Afeela electric car is gearing up for a 2026 launch, with an array of innovative features that blend entertainment, safety, and personalization. Key highlights of the Afeela: The electric vehicle showcases unique features that leverage Sony's expertise in entertainment and technology: A customizable "media bar" on the hood allows for personalized messages and branding, such as displaying the Spider-Man logo. Advanced safety features, including AI-powered ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and cameras that detect obstacles like pedestrians. Collaboration with Epic Games to develop new entertainment and gaming features utilizing virtual space. Cutting-edge technology under the hood: Sony...
read Jul 5, 2024WhatsApp’s New AI Avatars Will Set it Apart from OpenAI and Google
WhatsApp's anticipated AI avatar feature would allow users to create virtual representations of themselves to place in AI-generated images, potentially setting it apart from competitors like Google and OpenAI that have been reluctant to offer such capabilities. Key details of WhatsApp's AI avatar feature: The messaging service is developing a feature that would let users upload photos of themselves to generate an AI avatar that can be inserted into various virtual settings based on text prompts: Users would provide some reference photos and Meta's Llama AI model would create the avatars The feature is currently in beta testing for a...
read Jul 5, 2024Apple Intelligence Debuts with Limited Features, Key Capabilities Delayed Until 2025
Apple Intelligence launches with limited features in iOS 18, with key capabilities arriving later Staggered rollout of Apple Intelligence: While Apple Intelligence marks the company's first major foray into AI features on the iPhone, not all announced capabilities will be available immediately with the launch of iOS 18 this fall: Advanced Siri upgrades like on-screen awareness, app control, and semantic indexing of personal content are expected to be delayed until sometime in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The launch of ChatGPT on iPhone and support for other chatbots may miss the initial iOS 18 release but are still anticipated...
read Jul 5, 2024Moshi Chat: Open-Source Voice AI Challenges GPT-4, Heralds Changes to Come for Smart Home Products
New native speech AI model Moshi Chat offers a glimpse into the future of voice assistants, but still lags behind OpenAI's GPT-4 in coherence and knowledge: Moshi Chat, developed by French startup Kyutai, is a lightweight AI model that can run locally and offline, showing the potential for advanced voice AI in smart home devices. Moshi's capabilities and limitations: Moshi Chat aims to provide a similar experience to GPT-4o, understanding tone and allowing interruptions, but falls short in longer conversations: The AI becomes incoherent and loses context after the first minute or so of conversation, likely due to limited compute...
read Jul 5, 2024ElevenLabs Launches Free AI Voice Isolator, Rivaling Adobe’s Offering
ElevenLabs, known for its AI voice cloning and speech synthesis, has launched a free AI Voice Isolator tool to remove unwanted background noise from audio content, directly competing with Adobe's similar offering. Key features and functionality: The AI Voice Isolator allows creators to enhance the speech quality of their content by removing ambient noise and sounds in the post-production stage: Users can upload their audio files, such as films, podcasts, or YouTube videos, to the ElevenLabs platform, where the AI models process the content to detect and remove unwanted noise. The tool aims to extract clear dialogue, similar to studio-recorded...
read Jul 4, 2024WhatsApp Developing AI Avatar Generator for Personalized User Images in Various Settings
WhatsApp is developing a personalized AI avatar generator that will allow users to imagine themselves in various settings, from forests to outer space, using a combination of user photos, text prompts, and Meta's AI Llama model. Key details of the upcoming feature: The in-development "Imagine" AI feature was spotted in the latest WhatsApp Beta for Android and is expected to generate personalized avatars for users: Users will need to take photos of themselves once to train the Meta AI to produce images in their likeness. Avatars can be generated by typing "Imagine me" with a description of the setting in...
read Jul 4, 2024Artists Flock to Glaze Amid AI Threat, But Effectiveness Questioned
As AI image generators continue to advance and replicate a wider range of unique artistic styles, many artists are seeking tools to protect their work from being used for AI training without consent or compensation. The Glaze Project, which offers tools to prevent AI mimicry and even poison AI models, has seen a dramatic surge in demand amid this rapidly evolving landscape. Overwhelming demand strains Glaze's resources: The Glaze Project is struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing number of requests for access to its tools, particularly the invite-only web-based version, WebGlaze: The backlog for approving requests is growing, with...
read Jul 4, 2024AI Music Generator Jen Launches, but Struggles to Impress Professional Musicians
The AI-powered music generator Jen has launched, claiming to be an ethical alternative to other AI music tools. However, testing by professional musicians reveals significant limitations in its current capabilities: Jen struggles to generate compelling or inspired music: Despite being trained on licensed material, Jen's output is described as bland, generic, and lacking the warmth and character of human-created music: Musicians found it challenging to coax Jen into producing anything they found genuinely interesting or worth pursuing further, with one tester stating, "I always thought, 'I could have come up with something cooler on my own.'" The tool seems to...
read Jul 4, 2024GPT4All 3.0: Run AI Models Offline, Ensuring Privacy and Local Data Control
GPT4All introduces major update enabling local AI model access on personal computers: The open-source AI platform GPT4All has released version 3.0, allowing users to chat with thousands of large language models offline on their Mac, Linux, or Windows laptops, ensuring data privacy and security. Key improvements in GPT4All 3.0: Expanded Model Support: Users can now interact with a wide variety of AI models like LLaMa, Mistral, and Nous-Hermes locally on their devices. Enhanced Compatibility: The update fully supports Mac M Series chips and AMD/NVIDIA GPUs for smooth performance across different hardware configurations. LocalDocs Integration: Users can grant their local AI...
read Jul 3, 2024Salesforce’s “Tiny Giant” AI Challenges Industry Giants, Heralds New Era of Efficient AI
Salesforce's "Tiny Giant" AI model, xLAM-1B, is challenging the notion that bigger is always better in the world of artificial intelligence, potentially paving the way for a new era of efficient, on-device AI applications. Small but mighty: The power of efficient AI; Salesforce's xLAM-1B model, with just 1 billion parameters, outperforms much larger models from industry leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic in function-calling tasks, thanks to the company's innovative approach to data curation: The key to xLAM-1B's performance lies in the quality and diversity of its training data, generated by the APIGen pipeline, which leverages 3,673 executable APIs across 21...
read Jul 3, 2024Proton Launches Encrypted Docs, Pledging Privacy Over AI as Conversion Issues Linger
Proton Launches Encrypted Docs with Commitment to User Privacy, But Conversion Issues Persist Key features of Proton Docs: Proton, a privacy-focused Swiss tech firm, has launched Proton Docs, an encrypted document editing and sharing feature within its Proton Drive product: Documents are end-to-end encrypted, preventing their use in training generative AI models unless users actively choose to feed their content to an AI. Users can share documents with others by adding their email addresses and revoking permissions later if needed. The new feature aims to make Proton Drive a more viable competitor to Google Drive by enabling real-time editing and...
read Jul 3, 2024Cloudflare Fights AI Bots as Tech Giants Clash Over Web Scraping Rules
AI is rewriting the rules of the internet, and Cloudflare is stepping in to help customers protect their data from being scraped by AI bots: Tech giants grapple with web scraping for AI: Major tech companies are changing their policies around web scraping, with some blaming third parties for ignoring robots.txt files and others seemingly asserting the right to use any publicly posted data for AI training: Google's AI chatbot Bard has updated its privacy policy, allowing it to train on data scraped from the web. Microsoft executive Suleyman has suggested that anything posted online is fair game for AI...
read Jul 3, 2024Perplexity’s AI Upgrade Marred by Plagiarism Accusations Amid Enhanced Search Capabilities
Perplexity, an AI search startup facing ethical questions, has launched a significant upgrade to its Pro Search tool, claiming it can now handle more complex queries and provide in-depth answers by breaking down problems step-by-step. Enhanced capabilities: Pro Search's new features aim to improve its ability to tackle advanced research and mathematical tasks: The tool can now understand when a question requires planning and work through goals in a step-by-step manner, synthesizing detailed answers more efficiently. Examples showcased by Perplexity demonstrate Pro Search's ability to break down complex queries, such as determining the best time and locations to view the...
read Jul 3, 2024Iconic Actors Voice AI Audiobooks, Bringing Classics to Life in ElevenLabs Reader App
ElevenLabs enhances its AI storytelling app with the voices of iconic actors, creating immersive audio experiences that bring classic tales to life in a whole new way. Introducing ElevenLabs Reader: The company's iPhone app allows users to listen to any content using a vast library of AI-generated voices, including original, synthetic, cloned, and now iconic voices: The app, currently available in the U.S. and UK, lets users input text, links, or files and have them read aloud in the voice of their choice, even when the phone is locked. ElevenLabs Reader offers a wide range of storyteller voices suitable for...
read Jul 3, 2024Google AI for Pixel: Uniting AI Into Promising and Questionable Features
Google is reportedly uniting existing and new machine learning features into a collection called Google AI for Pixel, which may include both promising and questionable innovations in the anticipated Pixel 9 smartphone, according to an anonymous insider. Key features under the Google AI umbrella: The tech giant plans to bring together current and upcoming AI capabilities, with a focus on enhancing user experience while maintaining privacy: Circle to Search and the Gemini AI assistant will be moved under the Google AI collection. "Add Me" is a new feature that may enable users to add themselves to group photos they were...
read Jul 2, 2024Surface Pro 11 and Laptop 7 Represent Milestone for AI-Enabled Computers
Microsoft's new Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 mark a significant milestone for Windows on Arm, offering improved performance and compatibility that make them viable alternatives to Intel-based PCs for many users, despite some remaining limitations and superfluous AI features. Familiar design, improved internals: The Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 maintain the iconic Surface design elements, such as 3:2 aspect ratio displays and rounded corners, while overhauling the internal hardware with Arm-based processors: By keeping the exterior design unchanged, Microsoft sends a message that these are just regular Surface devices, and users need not worry about the...
read Jul 2, 2024Microsoft’s AI-Powered Contact Center Solution Provides Glimpse Into Future of Customer Service
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center now generally available: Microsoft's Copilot-powered contact center solution, Dynamics 365 Contact Center, is now generally available, offering a complete, composable solution for contact centers built on Azure's hyperscale cloud platform. Key benefits of Dynamics 365 Contact Center: The solution provides effortless self-service across various channels, accelerated human-assisted service through intelligent routing and AI tools, and operational efficiency gains via generative AI-based real-time reporting and extensive integration capabilities. Customers can engage through voice, SMS, chat, email, and social media, with sophisticated pre-integrated copilots driving personalized conversations for rich self-service. Intelligent unified routing directs requests requiring human...
read Jul 2, 2024Qdrant’s BM42 Algorithm Boosts RAG Efficiency, Challenging Tech Giants in Enterprise AI Race
Vector database company Qdrant has developed a new search algorithm called BM42 to make retrieval augmented generation (RAG) more efficient and cost-effective, as more companies look to incorporate RAG into their technology stack. Qdrant's BM42 algorithm aims to improve RAG efficiency: BM42 is designed to provide vectors to companies working on new search methods, focusing on hybrid search that combines semantic and keyword search: BM42 is an update to the BM25 algorithm used by traditional search platforms to rank document relevance in search queries, which assumes documents have enough size to calculate statistics. With RAG often using vector databases that...
read Jul 2, 2024Google Pixel 9’s AI Screenshot Feature: Balancing Convenience and Privacy Concerns
The Google Pixel 9 is set to introduce a new "Google AI" feature that could enhance screenshot search capabilities while being less invasive than Microsoft's controversial Recall tool: Key Differences from Microsoft Recall: Google's AI-powered screenshot feature will only process manually captured screenshots, making it less concerning than Microsoft's Recall, which automatically captures user activity: Microsoft delayed the rollout of Recall on Windows 11 after security experts raised privacy concerns about the feature's automatic data collection. Google's version will only use screenshots that users take themselves, potentially mitigating some of the privacy issues associated with Recall. Enhanced Screenshot Search and...
read Jul 2, 2024The AI Operating System Poised to Transform Generative AI in the Enterprise
A revolutionary AI operating system is on the horizon, promising to redefine how generative AI is used in the enterprise by providing a scalable data platform capable of handling vast amounts of structured and unstructured data. The challenges of an AI operating system: Creating an operating system that enables generative AI to perform at its best requires meeting specific demands while maintaining compatibility with existing enterprise infrastructure: Advanced dynamic resource management, real-time processing, enhanced security, and support for edge computing are essential components of an AI operating system. The operating system must provide a layer of abstraction to allow algorithms...
read Jul 2, 2024Apple’s 4M AI Demo: A Glimpse of the Future of Multimodal AI Experiences
Apple's 4M AI model public demo marks a significant milestone in expanding access to advanced AI technologies and showcasing the company's evolving AI strategy. Key Takeaways: The release of the 4M demo on the Hugging Face Spaces platform allows a wider audience to interact with and evaluate Apple's sophisticated AI model, which can process and generate content across multiple modalities: Users can create images from text descriptions, perform object detection, and manipulate 3D scenes using natural language inputs. By making 4M publicly accessible on a popular open-source AI platform, Apple is demonstrating its capabilities and fostering developer interest in its...
read Jul 2, 2024Opera’s Aria AI Assistant Gets Major Upgrades
Opera's Aria AI assistant gets major upgrades, enhancing browser capabilities and user experience. Key new features: Opera GX has significantly augmented its AI assistant Aria, introducing several powerful new capabilities: Aria can now generate up to 30 images per day from text prompts using Google's Imagen2 model, with the option to redo unsatisfactory creations. Users can upload images for Aria to analyze and answer questions about, providing valuable context. The new "Chat Summary" feature concisely recaps conversations with Aria, making it easy to review key points from lengthy interactions. "Links to Sources" provides relevant links on topics discussed with Aria,...
read Jul 2, 2024Microsoft’s AI Revolution: Windows Copilot Runtime Showcases NPU Potential for Developers
Microsoft's Copilot AI PCs show promise, but a new API called Windows Copilot Runtime (WCR) is poised to truly showcase their potential by enabling developers to leverage the NPU for powerful AI applications. Key takeaways from hands-on with Copilot+ AI PCs: While features like Studio Effects and Cocreator on the new Microsoft Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 are useful, they don't fully demonstrate the capabilities of the on-device neural processing unit (NPU) yet. NPUs currently seem underutilized, with no real "killer app" to showcase their potential on Intel Meteor Lake processors and the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs. For...
read Jul 2, 2024Meta Is About to Release Its Most Powerful LLM Yet
Meta is set to launch its most powerful Llama 3 AI language model, potentially rivaling OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 while being more efficient and accessible to researchers. Key Takeaways: Meta's upcoming Llama 3 400B model, with over 400 billion parameters, is poised to match the performance of OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 on benchmarks like MMLU while using less than half the parameters, suggesting significant advancements in efficiency. Early testing shows Llama 3 400B scoring 86.1 on the MMLU benchmark, nearly equaling GPT-4's performance with under 50% of the parameters. The improved efficiency could make Llama 3 400B more cost-effective and less resource-intensive compared to...
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