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SoftBank Soars to All-Time High Amid AI Push, Boosting Son’s Wealth
Shares in Japanese tech giant SoftBank have reached an all-time high amid the company's push into AI and computer chips, signaling renewed investor confidence in CEO Masayoshi Son's vision. SoftBank's stock performance: The company's shares rose 1.5% to ¥10,705.00 (around $66) per share during regular trading hours in Tokyo on Wednesday, marking a record high for the investment firm: This surge can be partially attributed to the recovery of the Nikkei 225 benchmark index, according to Tomoaki Kawasaki, a senior analyst at IwaiCosmo Securities. SoftBank has also benefited from its growing reputation among investors as a "semiconductor-related stock" due to...
read Jul 3, 2024Meta Faces AI Training Ban in Brazil Over Data Misuse Concerns
Meta, the social media giant, has been ordered by Brazilian regulators to stop training its AI models on personal data from Brazilian users, marking a significant setback for the company's AI ambitions in one of its largest markets. Key developments: The Brazilian data protection authority (ANPD) has banned Meta from using public Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram data from Brazil for AI training purposes: The decision follows Meta's privacy policy update in May, which granted the company permission to use Brazilian users' posts, images, and captions for training its AI models. ANPD cited "risks of serious damage and difficulty to users"...
read Jul 2, 2024How AI is Boosting Workplace Efficiency and Transforming Skills
The AI-powered workforce revolution: Generative AI is significantly boosting employee productivity and creativity, enabling companies to gain a competitive edge by leveraging their proprietary data alongside advanced language models. Generative AI's impact on workforce productivity: A recent Harvard Business School study found that workers using generative AI are 25% more productive and produce higher-quality results, while also improving crucial soft skills: The study reveals that 92% of executives believe soft skills are becoming increasingly important, and generative AI is transforming these skills, leading to happier and more effective employees. Organizations that harness the power of generative AI for collaboration, reskilling,...
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, 2024UiPath CEO Envisions AI-Powered Agents Transforming Work, Automating 80% of Tasks
UiPath CEO Daniel Dines envisions a future where AI-powered software agents handle the majority of work tasks, transforming business automation through agentic technology. Bridging the AI gap in real-world environments: UiPath's John Kelleher emphasizes the need to close the gap between the promise of AI and its actual deployment in operational environments: Businesses should view AI as a fabric that can be applied to end-to-end solutions across an enterprise, rather than a single application deployment point. Overcoming the gap requires a combination of technology choices, education, and data architectures that enable effective change management and collaboration between IT and business...
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, 2024Redactive AI Raises $7.5M to Secure Enterprise Adoption of Generative AI
Redactive AI, an Australia-based security startup, has raised $7.5 million in seed funding to help corporations safely leverage generative AI without risking the exposure of sensitive information. Addressing a critical challenge: Companies are grappling with how to integrate AI agents and chatbots into their workflows while safeguarding proprietary data: Redactive AI offers tools that establish guardrails for the information AI systems can access and retrieve, enabling organizations to securely adopt these technologies. Founded by former Atlassian employees Andrew Pankevicius and Alexander Valente, along with AI engineer Lucas Sargent, the startup aims to address the cybersecurity concerns that arise during cloud...
read Jul 2, 2024AI in Finance: Balancing Benefits, Challenges, and the Future of the Industry
The rapid integration of generative AI into the finance industry is set to bring significant changes and benefits, but also faces challenges in implementation. Key takeaways: While AI promises increased efficiency, enhanced decision-making, personalized services, improved risk management, and cost savings, its impact varies across different sectors and job functions within finance: High-impact areas include customer service, marketing, IT, financial reporting, and fraud detection where AI is already being rapidly integrated to automate tasks and provide insights. Low-impact areas tend to involve complex human skills like strategic thinking, relationship building, and judgment, seen in roles such as executive leadership, M&A...
read Jul 2, 2024Celebrity Voices Resurrected: ElevenLabs Brings Dead Hollywood Stars Back to Life
The AI voice startup ElevenLabs has expanded its Reader app to include AI-generated voices of late Hollywood celebrities Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Sir Laurence Olivier, in partnership with intellectual property rights firm CMG Worldwide. Reader app converts text to AI-narrated audio: The iOS app allows users to input any digital text, such as articles, PDFs, or e-books, and instantly generate an AI voiceover in various voices and accents, with a green highlighter following along with the narration. The addition of iconic celebrity voices enables users to experience content narrated in the voice of late stars, potentially driving...
read Jul 2, 2024Journalist’s AI Voice Clone Exposes Deception Risks as Technology Rapidly Evolves
A journalist's podcast explores the deceptive potential of AI voice cloning technology, raising questions about its implications as the technology rapidly advances. The podcast's premise: Journalist Evan Ratliff spent a year deceiving people with an AI clone of his own voice to test the capabilities and implications of voice cloning technology: Ratliff, known for his technology-related stunts, used OpenAI's GPT-4 model to create the voice clone for his new podcast, "Shell Game." The AI version of Ratliff's voice claimed to be powered by the older GPT-3 model and fabricated episode titles when asked, highlighting its potential for deception. Delays and...
read Jul 2, 2024Google Ditches Infinite Scroll, Embraces AI-Powered Search in Transformative Shift
Google pivots from infinite scroll as AI ushers in next era of search, with implications for user behavior, monetization strategies, and the battle between tech giants. The end of infinite scroll and the birth of AI-powered search: Google is phasing out continuous scrolling of search results, introduced in 2021 to mirror social media feeds, in favor of serving results faster and requiring users to explicitly request additional pages: Desktop users will be able to directly navigate to specific search result pages or click "Next" to see the next page, while mobile users will soon see a "More results" button at...
read Jul 2, 2024OpenAI CEO: GPT-5 Will Be a Significant Leap Forward
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expresses optimism about the potential of GPT-5, the next iteration of the company's large language model, suggesting it could represent a significant advancement over GPT-4. Key takeaways from Altman's comments: Altman believes GPT-5 will offer a substantial leap forward compared to GPT-4, addressing some of its current limitations: GPT-4 struggles with reasoning and can make simple mistakes that even a young child wouldn't, but GPT-5 is expected to improve in these areas. While Altman didn't provide specifics, his comments suggest GPT-5 will be more capable and reliable than its predecessor. Altman's mixed feelings about GPT-4: Despite...
read Jul 2, 2024AI Shifts from Hype to Reality: 6 Debates Shaping Enterprise Adoption in 2024
The shift from hype to reality in enterprise AI is crystalizing as we enter the second half of 2024. Six critical debates are shaping how companies navigate this new landscape and pursue practical implementation of AI technologies. The LLM race plateauing: Performance differences between leading large language models have narrowed, allowing enterprises to select based on price, efficiency and use-case fit rather than chasing the single "best" model. OpenAI and Anthropic's latest models, GPT-4 Turbo and Claude 3.5 Sonnet, showcase only incremental improvements over their predecessors, suggesting the pace of advancement in LLMs is slowing. Experts argue that massive data...
read Jul 2, 2024Meta Tweaks AI Labeling After Mislabeling Edited Photos as Artificial
Meta is updating its approach to labeling AI-generated content after its "Made with AI" tags were confusing users by incorrectly flagging some lightly edited photos as AI-made. Key changes to Meta's AI labeling policy: Meta is tweaking its AI labeling system in response to user feedback and guidance from its Oversight Board: The "Made with AI" label will be changed to "AI info" across Meta's apps, which users can click for more context Meta is working with industry partners to improve its labeling approach so it better aligns with user expectations The problem with the previous labeling system: Meta's AI...
read Jul 2, 2024Bitmagic Secures $4M for Text-to-3D Game Platform
Bitmagic, a Helsinki-based company, has secured $4 million in funding to develop an AI-powered platform that enables users to create 3D games using simple text prompts, making game development accessible to a wider audience. Key investors and advisors: The funding round was led by Korea Investment Partners (KIP), with participation from Supercell, Sisu Game Ventures, and notable angel investors such as Zak Phelps and Maarten De Koning, who bring valuable industry expertise to the company: Zak Phelps, former senior director of product design on Fortnite Creative, is joining Bitmagic as an advisor. Maarten De Koning, partner at Digital Development Management...
read Jul 2, 2024Software Commoditization: Tech Industry’s Race to the Bottom Threatens Long-Term Sustainability
The commoditization of software is driving a race to the bottom in the tech industry, with market forces pushing prices down and eliminating less competitive suppliers. The commoditization of hardware laid the groundwork for software commoditization: The invention of microprocessors in the 1970s made computers cheap and plentiful, leading to an explosion of software variety in the 1980s. However, competition soon led to consolidation, with only the strongest hardware and software vendors surviving. Standardized GUIs eliminated much of the distinctiveness among applications, and few vendors survived the transition from console to GUI apps. As applications grew more complex, they paradoxically...
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, 2024Amazon’s Adept Acquisition Sparks “Reverse Acquihire” Trend in AI Industry
Amazon's hiring of Adept's team sparks a new trend for Big Tech to acquire AI startups without facing antitrust scrutiny: Amazon recently announced it is hiring 80% of the team behind Adept, an AI startup that raised $400 million to build advanced language models, and will also license Adept's technology. This follows a similar move by Microsoft earlier this year, when it hired most of the employees of Inflection, another well-funded AI startup, and licensed its technology in a deal worth up to $650 million. These "reverse acquihires" allow Big Tech firms to effectively acquire promising AI companies without triggering...
read Jul 2, 2024AI Candidate Makes Historic UK Parliament Bid, Promising Tuition Cuts and Housing Reform
An AI candidate is running for UK Parliament for the first time: In a historic first, an Artificial Intelligence candidate named 'AI Steve' is running for a seat in the UK Parliament in the upcoming July 4 elections, representing the constituency of Brighton Pavillion. AI Steve was created by Sussex-based entrepreneur Steve Endacott, who will physically attend Parliament and vote on policies based on the AI's interactions with and feedback from constituents. Voters can directly interact with AI Steve 24/7 through its website, asking questions and providing opinions on policies. The AI candidate aims to recruit people from the constituency,...
read Jul 2, 2024AI Breakthrough: One-Size-Fits-All Exoskeleton Improves Walking and Running
Researchers at North Carolina University's Lab of Biomechatronics and Intelligent Robotics have developed an exoskeleton that adapts to new users without the need for individual adjustments, thanks to AI-generated control policies. The AI was trained using digital models of the human musculoskeletal system and an exoskeleton robot, eliminating the need for lengthy human trials for each user. This breakthrough could significantly reduce the cost of exoskeletons from around $200,000 to between $2,000 and $5,000 within the next few years. Record-breaking performance: Exoskeleton outperforms competitors in walking, running, and stair climbing; The AI-powered exoskeleton achieved record-breaking metabolic rate reductions in various...
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