Bozeman, Montana-based DaaS firm Snowflake has partnered with Nvidia to let clients customize LLMs (large language models) using proprietary data in the Snowflake Data Cloud. Nvidia’s NeMo platform and GPU-accelerated computing will power the effort to tailor models to specific business use cases, such as chatbots with category expertise as opposed to generalists, search engines attuned to context or generative text deep knowledge. Since most companies are eager to harness brand-specific AI without having to build a model from scratch, this category of service is generating a lot of interest. Read more

Based on the premise that it is impractical to deploy an all-purpose LLM for specific use cases, a group of researchers from Google, Baidu, DeepMind and Meta founded Reka AI in July 2022. A year later the company has emerged from stealth mode with news of $58 million in Series A funding led by DST Global and Radical Ventures. Strategic partner Snowflake Ventures also participated, along with angel investor Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub. The Sunnyvale, California-based startup says it is building “enterprise-grade state-of-the-art AI assistants for everyone, regardless of language and culture.” Read more

The Entertainment Technology Center@USC has released the third installment of its case study, “Fathead: Virtual Production & Beyond.” Section 3 of the four-part white paper is “State of the Industry: Beyond Trends,” which discusses “where we’re at, and where we’re going” and features compelling interviews with thought leaders from companies including The Third Floor, Stargate Studios, Orbital Virtual Studios, Vū Technologies, Lux Machina, nDisplay, Epic Games and Unity Technologies. Click here to access Section 3 and we’ll post announcements when the final section — “Fathead: A Proof-of-Concept Short Film” — becomes available. Read more

The new Catalyst Stage at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut blends physical space with virtual production and an LED wall. The facility “opens new possibilities in the future of content customization and scalability” for live, multi-camera shooting that includes augmented reality and extended reality in 1080p or UHD, with 4K available for specialty work, including advertising. ESPN calls Catalyst “the first studio of its kind to support both live multi-camera productions and cinematic-quality projects. GhostFrame, Unreal Engine, Disguise XR, Pixotope and Mark Roberts Motion Control cameras are among Catalyst’s tools. Read more

TikTok is testing an in-app shopping feature in the UK called Trendy Beat. The products offered for sale are primarily things that have appeared in trending videos, like tools to remove pet hair from clothing or ear wax extractors. The items are shipped from China by Seitu, a Singapore-based subsidiary of TikTok parent ByteDance, according to recent reports. Trendy Beat offers a range of items manufactured and promoted by TikTok for which ByteDance keeps all proceeds. Its preexisting e-commerce pipeline, TikTok Shop, allows third-party vendors to sell merchandise in exchange for a commission to ByteDance. Read more