After teasing a big screen interface for months, social media company X has released the beta version of its new TV app called X TV, designed to provide “a massive leap forward in transforming X into a video-first platform,” while looking to compete with industry leaders such as Google’s YouTube. Importantly, the new presentation provides X with video-specific play for ad partners, which the Elon Musk-owned company has been attempting to lure back after loosened content moderation standards sent many fleeing. X CEO Linda Yaccarino said the X TV app is debuting ad-free, but reports indicate the company will introduce ad options in the future. Continue reading X Launches a Beta Version of Its Video Offering on App Stores

Creating a universal definition of “open source AI” has generated a fair amount of debate and confusion, with many outfits using elastic parameters in order to achieve a fit. Now the Open Source Initiative (OSI) — “the authority that defines Open Source” — has issued what it hopes will become the baseline definition. That definition, which includes the ability to “use the system for any purpose and without having to ask for permission,” excludes a lot of AI platforms that currently describe themselves as “open,” many freely available only for non-commercial use. OSI’s remaining three parameters involve the ability to inspect the system and modify and share it. Continue reading OSI Aims for Industry Standard by Defining ‘Open Source AI’

Sahara AI, a company co-founded in 2023 by Sean Ren, an associate professor in computer science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, has raised $43 million to pursue its goal of widely implementing a platform to ensure IP-owners are compensated in the age of generative AI. Ren, who launched the company with former Binance Labs Investment Director Tyler Zhou, says the funding will be used to expand its team and further develop a decentralized AI blockchain platform that recognizes and tracks copyrighted assets, ultimately establishing a system of credit and compensation for work that contributes to model training. Continue reading AI Startup Co-Founded by USC Professor Raises New Funding

In a unanimous vote, the Federal Trade Commission has banned the use of fake reviews, such as those generated by artificial intelligence, and also prohibits reviews or testimonials that are paid for, even if written by humans. The new rule, finalized Wednesday, also reins in other deceptive practices, like paying for fake social media followers, in an effort to stem misleading practices that are increasingly used by marketers. Generative AI has made manufactured reviews easily available, though the agency’s readiness to seek fines against knowing violators may make fabulists think twice before using them. Continue reading FTC Rule Takes Aim at Fake Reviews, Influence Manipulators

News organization CNN has launched a new FAST channel called CNN Originals with a focus on long-form content. It debuted in the U.S. this week — available on the web, connected TV devices and mobile apps through Amazon’s Freevee, Prime Video and Fire TV as well as Plex (with availability on more platforms to come). The service draws from the CNN Originals library, which includes series from notable personalities such as Anthony Bourdain, Christiane Amanpour and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The launch coincides with a new six-episode travel series that will alternate celebrity hosts including Alan Cumming, Billy Porter, Octavia Spencer and Questlove. Continue reading CNN Originals: New Channel Is Delivering Long-Form Content

The Roku Sports Channel is a new 24/7 FAST channel launching Monday. Combining all the Roku premium sports offerings into “a dedicated, one-click, lean-back experience,” it will feature live Major League Baseball games with the MLB Sunday Leadoff game, Emmy-nominated talk show “The Rich Eisen Show,” NFL program “GMFB: Overtime,” live Formula E races, and sports-themed Roku Originals like “NFL Draft: The Pick Is In,” “WWE: Next Gen,” and “Fight Inc: Inside the UFC.” The channel will also feature exclusive partner content, such as classic boxing matches from Top Rank and combat competitions from Swerve Sports. Continue reading Roku Launching Dedicated FAST Sports Channel Next Week

Robotics startup Figure AI — with investors including OpenAI, Nvidia and Microsoft — has released its next-gen humanoid, Figure 02. Its predecessor made a splash earlier this year with a demo that captured it conversing with an interlocutor as it organized household items and prepared a snack. Compared to the Figure 01 prototype, with exposed wiring and limited range of motion, Figure 02 is more polished. The latest iteration boasts skeletal improvements for heavier lifting as well as enhanced visual reasoning to assist with machine learning. The result is characterized as “a major leap” in AI-powered robotics, a category in which players include Tesla and 1X Technologies. Continue reading Humanoid Robot Figure 02 Touts Better Strength, Reasoning

Amazon has made the Amazon Titan Image Generator v2 model generally available to AWS customers using Amazon Bedrock. The improved v2 model allows creation using reference images (called “image conditioning”) and also allows editing capabilities, background removal, iteration and customization, with a focus on maintaining brand style and subject consistency. The new version “can intelligently detect and segment multiple foreground objects,” according to AWS cloud developer Channy Yun. “With the Titan Image Generator v2, you can generate color-conditioned images based on a color palette [and] use the image conditioning feature to shape your creations.” Continue reading Amazon Rolls Out New Upgrades to Its Titan Image Generator

The U.S. Commerce Department has issued a large package of material designed to help AI developers and those using the systems with an approach to identifying and mitigating risks stemming from generative AI and foundation models. Prepared by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the AI Safety Institute, the guidance includes the initial public draft of its guidelines on “Managing Misuse Risk for Dual-Use Foundation Models.” Dual-use refers to models that can be used for good or ill. The release also includes an open-source software test called Dioptra. Apple is the latest to join the government’s voluntary commitments to responsible AI innovation. Continue reading Apple Joins the Safe AI Initiative as NIST Amps Up Outreach

In April, Meta Platforms revealed that it was working on an open-source AI model that performed as well as proprietary models from top AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that model has arrived in the form of Llama 3.1 405B, “the first frontier-level open-source AI model.” The company is also releasing “new and improved” Llama 3.1 70B and 8B models. In addition to general cost and performance benefits, the fact that the Llama 3.1 405B model is open source “will make it the best choice for fine-tuning and distilling smaller models,” according to Meta. Continue reading Meta Calls New Llama the First Open-Source Frontier Model

Amazon Prime Video is releasing a newly redesigned app that promises to bring “clarity and simplicity back to streaming” with AI-powered improvements to navigation, personalization, purchases and recommendations. Among other upgrades, the app makes it easier to quickly identify movies and series that are available to Prime members at no additional cost. Prime members had been lobbying for a brighter line between what is included with a subscription and what comes with an additional cost. A global rollout began this week, and eventually the app will be available to all Prime Video customers. Continue reading Responding to Members, Prime Video Updates User Interface

A consortium of top tech firms have joined forces to launch a security group focused on artificial intelligence applications. The cybersecurity-focused non-profit OASIS will oversee operational aspects of the Coalition for Secure AI, to be known as CoSAI, described as an “open-source community.” OASIS lists Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia and PayPal as founding Premier Sponsors of CoSAI, whose “additional founding sponsors” include Amazon, Anthropic, Cisco, Chainguard, Cohere, GenLab, OpenAI and Wiz. “CoSAI is an initiative to enhance trust and security in AI use and deployment,” OASIS announced at the Aspen Security Forum. Continue reading Google, OpenAI, Nvidia and Others Form AI Security Coalition

TikTok owner ByteDance lost its court battle challenging the European Union’s classification of it as a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act. The victory for EU antitrust regulators underscores its seriousness about reining in the power of Big Tech. As a gatekeeper, China’s ByteDance is lumped in with behemoths Google, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, among others. The DMA, which was passed in 2022 and came into effect this year, says gatekeepers must make certain aspects of their apps interoperable with rivals and forbids self-dealing, with stiff fines imposed for those found to fail. Continue reading ByteDance’s DMA Gatekeeper Appeal Dismissed by EU Court

After five months of testing, e-commerce giant Amazon is releasing its AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, on mobile throughout the U.S. via the Amazon Shopping app. By tapping the icon, shoppers can access a chat interface and query Rufus on topics such as the best portable speakers or summer dresses under $50. In time for this week’s Prime Day event, the new assistant can also provide status updates on orders. Rufus was trained on the Amazon catalog and other Internet content, so it can provide information on a wide variety of topics and reportedly also answer questions about politics and write short stories. Continue reading Amazon’s AI Shopping Assistant Rufus Is Ready for Prime Day

Amazon Web Services made availability announcements for services including its enterprise AI assistant Q, which now becomes available on its entry-level SageMaker tier, and introduced some new products at the AWS Summit at New York City’s Javits Center this week. Notably, the App Studio development assistant has launched in public preview. Amazon is also highlighting new features to improve AI accuracy, including a guardrail that detects “hallucinations.” Overall, the event — one in a series of daylong summits held in key cities across the nation — emphasized the comprehensiveness of the company’s generative AI stack. Continue reading AWS Expands Q Availability, Adds Guardrails for Bedrock AI