Reddit has launched a new AI-powered search tool called Reddit Answers. Reddit is already appearing regularly in Google Search returns. The new interface provides a way users can utilize a conversational model to get answers directly from the social platform. “Once a question is asked, curated summaries of relevant conversations and details across Reddit will appear, including links to related communities and posts,” according to Reddit. Whether users will want to skip their usual go-to search engines in favor of querying Reddit alone could have long term ramifications for the 19-year old social platform, which went public in 2023. Continue reading ‘Reddit Answers’ Wants to Gain More Users Searching In-App

Nielsen is now offering a cross-media U.S. ad performance view that takes into account advertising on controversial social platform TikTok. As a result of the integration advertisers and agencies will, for the first time, be able to compare ad performance on TikTok across all screens, including digital, CTV, and linear. The analytics will be parsed via Nielsen ONE, a cross-media platform that debuted in alpha in May 2023 at which time it was scheduled for broad release in late 2024. Nielsen says the TikTok integration will provide “independent and verified reporting of demographic data” for campaign measurement via Nielsen ONE. Continue reading TikTok Pacts with Nielsen to Measure Cross-Media Advertising

In a deal said to be reshaping the global advertising industry, Omnicom has reached a definitive agreement to acquire a major rival, the Interpublic Group (IPG), in a stock-for-stock transaction. If the deal receives regulatory approval, the New York-based ad giants will combine to form an agency that will be the largest in the world, bringing together ad legends TBWA Worldwide and McCann Worldgroup for what CNBC estimates will be more than $26 billion in annual revenue. The merger joins “world-class, highly complementary data and technology platforms” at a propitious time, thanks to seismic, AI-driven advances in marketing and adtech. Continue reading Omnicom Will Acquire Interpublic in Major Ad Industry Merger

Meta Platforms has packed more artificial intelligence into a smaller package with Llama 3.3, which the company released last week. The open-source large language model (LLM) “improves core performance at a significantly lower cost, making it even more accessible to the entire open-source community,” Meta VP of Generative AI Ahmad Al-Dahle wrote on X social. The 70 billion parameter text-only Llama 3.3 is said to perform on par with the 405 billion parameter model that was part of Meta’s Llama 3.1 release in July, with less computing power required, significantly lowering its operational costs. Continue reading Meta’s Llama 3.3 Delivers More Processing for Less Compute

Perplexity is expanding the publisher program associated with its AI-powered search engine. Added to the list of participants who will share ad revenue and access performance data are Adweek, LA Times, Mexico News Daily, The Independent, Germany’s Stern, the World Encyclopedia and about 10 other media brands. They join existing partners including Time, Fortune and Der Spiegel. Emphasizing its ongoing investment in publishers, Perplexity named Jessica Chan, formerly with LinkedIn and its content partner program, as head of publisher partnerships. News of Perplexity’s content deals appears to be generating mixed feelings in newsrooms. Continue reading Perplexity Expands Publisher Program Despite AI Controversy

Last week, a federal appeals court upheld a law that would force the sale of popular social platform TikTok in order for it to remain operational in the United States. Beijing-based parent company ByteDance is vowing to fight on with a petition for a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law, passed in April, invokes existing federal code that prohibits access to sensitive material by adversarial foreign nations of which China (along with Russia, Iran and North Korea) is one. Barring further court action, ByteDance will have to sell TikTok by January 19 or face bans at app stores. Continue reading TikTok Aims to Resist Divestment, Remain Operational in U.S.

James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment has debuted a new unit, Lightstorm Vision, which launches with a deal that sees Meta Quest become its exclusive mixed reality platform. The multiyear deal will see the Hollywood heavyweight partnering with Meta Platforms “to scale the creation of world-class 3D entertainment experiences spanning live sports and concerts, feature films, and TV series featuring big-name IP on Meta Quest,” Meta announced. In addition to producing original content for the Meta Quest, Lightstorm Vision will use its tech to help third parties create new programming and potentially conform existing work through MR conversion. Continue reading Cameron’s Lightstorm Vision Partners with Meta to Advance MR

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Pro, a $200 per month subscription plan that provides unlimited access to the full version of o1, its new large reasoning model, and all other OpenAI models. The toolkit includes o1-mini, GPT-4o and Advanced Voice. It also includes the new o1 pro mode, “a version of o1 that uses more compute to think harder and provide even better answers to the hardest problems,” OpenAI explains, describing the high-end subscription plan as a path to “research-grade intelligence” for a way for scientists, engineers, enterprise, academics and others who use AI to accelerate productivity. Continue reading OpenAI Announces $200 Monthly Subscription for ChatGPT Pro

Microsoft has launched a new AI-powered feature for its Edge Browser. Copilot Vision is now in preview for a limited number of U.S. Copilot Pro subscribers by opt-in through Copilot Labs. With user permission, Copilot Vision “sees” what is onscreen and can respond to questions about text and images, explains the company. Calling Copilot Vision “the first AI experience of its kind,” Microsoft suggests the experience is “almost like having a second set of eyes as you browse,” adding that when users turn on Copilot Vision it will “instantly scan, analyze, and offer insights based on what it sees.” Continue reading Microsoft Previews AI-Powered Copilot Vision for Edge Browser

Google DeepMind’s new Genie 2 is a large foundation world model that generates interactive 3D worlds that are being likened to video games. “Games play a key role in the world of artificial intelligence research,” says Google DeepMind, noting “their engaging nature, challenges and measurable progress make them ideal environments to safely test and advance AI capabilities.” Based on a simple prompt image, Genie 2 is capable of producing “an endless variety of action-controllable, playable 3D environments” — suitable for training and evaluating embodied agents — that can be played by a human or AI agent using keyboard and mouse inputs. Continue reading DeepMind Genie 2 Creates Worlds That Emulate Video Games

YouTube’s Global Culture & Trends Report for 2024 is out, providing a snapshot of the year’s trending topics, top songs and leading creators from across the globe. The Paris Olympic Games appeared on 10 of 12 countries’ trending topics lists, “emphatically illustrating that non-digital-native franchises can thrive in a digital culture,” YouTube says. “Deadpool & Wolverine” is another such example. Also hot in 2024, “digital franchises” — independent creator content driven to success by online communities. Examples include Roblox’s viral “Dress to Impress” fashion game and the animated series “The Amazing Digital Circus.” Continue reading YouTube Releases Global Trends, Personalized Music Recaps

Taylor Swift ranked first among the world’s musical artists on the annual Spotify Wrapped chart that ranks the year’s top songs, albums, podcasts and audiobooks. Her more than 26.6 billion global streams earned her the preeminent title of Spotify’s Global Top Artist for the second consecutive year. The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish rounded out the top performers, at numbers 2 through 5, respectively. Women dominated the global Top 10 for albums, led by Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” followed by Eilish’s “Hit Me Soft and Hard.” Swift claimed a total of three slots among the Most-Streamed Albums Globally. Continue reading Spotify Wrapped: Swift Leads a Banner Year for Female Artists

After years of focusing on AI infrastructure, Amazon is plunging into the frontier model business with the Nova series. The new family of generative AI models includes the text-to-text model Amazon Nova Micro and Amazon Nova Lite for fast, mobile-friendly apps, and at the upper echelon the multimodal Amazon Nova Pro and Amazon Nova Premier for processing text, images and video. Amazon, which is heavy into production via Amazon Studios and MGM, is also launched two specialty models focused on “studio quality” output — Amazon Nova Canvas for images and Amazon Nova Reel for video. Continue reading Amazon Dives into Generative AI with Nova Foundation Models

Amazon Web Services is building a supercomputer in collaboration with Anthropic, the AI startup in which the e-commerce giant has an $8 billion minority stake. Hundreds of thousands of AWS’s flagship Trainium chips will be amassed in an “Ultracluster” that when it is completed in 2025 will be one of the largest supercomputers in the world for model training, Amazon says. The company announced the general availability of AWS Trainium2-powered Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) virtual servers as well as Trn2 UltraServers designed to train and deploy AI models and teased next-generation Trainium3 chips. Continue reading AWS Building Trainium-Powered Supercomputer with Anthropic

Walmart has closed its $2.3 billion all-cash acquisition of smart television maker Vizio. The deal increases the retail giant’s media clout, signaling an expansion of its video-based advertising efforts and interest in content-based marketing. “The acquisition of Vizio and its SmartCast operating system allows Walmart to serve its customers in new ways to enhance their shopping journeys,” Walmart said in concluding the deal, initiated in February. Walmart’s media efforts to date have focused around Walmart Connect, which works with brands to position ads across Walmart.com and in the company’s U.S. stores. Continue reading Walmart Closes $2.3 Billion Acquisition of Vizio, SmartCast OS