ElevenLabs has launched its text-to-sound generator Sound Effects for all users, available now at the company’s website. The new AI tool can create audio effects, short instrumental tracks, soundscapes and even character voices. Sound Effects “has been designed to help creators — including film and television studios, video game developers, and social media content creators — generate rich and immersive soundscapes quickly, affordably and at scale,” according to the startup, which developed the tool in partnership with Shutterstock, using its library of licensed audio tracks. Continue reading ElevenLabs Launches an AI Tool for Generating Sound Effects

Intel launched new Xeon 6 processors built for high-density AI work in data centers. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger emphasized performance and power efficiency as he introduced the next-gen Xeon, and said that the Gaudi 3 chips for AI model training and deployment that were released two months ago are less expensive than comparable silicon from Intel rivals. “Intel is one of the only companies in the world innovating across the full spectrum of the AI market opportunity — from semiconductor manufacturing to PC, network, edge and data center systems,” Gelsinger said, embracing open standards during his keynote at Computex. Continue reading Intel’s Xeon 6 Coming to Data Centers and Lunar Lake to PCs

Qualcomm is expanding beyond mobile and into the desktop market in a big way, bringing its AI-enabled Snapdragon X series chips to “all PC form factors,” CEO Cristiano Amon said onstage at Computex this week. Under the theme of “the PC reborn,” Amon said the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors powering Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC experiences are also upping their mobile game. In addition to improving AI experiences with “the world’s fastest and most efficient NPU for laptops,” the chips can deliver “up to multiple days of battery life,” unfettered those on the go from power outlets. Continue reading Qualcomm All-In on Copilot+ PCs Boosting Speed, Battery Life

Nvidia President and CEO Jensen Huang said the company will be upgrading its AI accelerators annually, with the Blackwell Ultra processor coming in 2025 and a next-generation platform called Rubin that is still in development planned for 2026. Rubin AI will utilize a type of high-bandwidth memory called HBM4 that addresses a bottleneck that has stifled the production of AI accelerators. Huang shared the news from Taiwan, where he delivered a keynote at the Computex trade show. Nvidia Inference Microservices were another focus, allowing AI applications to be deployed in minutes instead of weeks, Huang said. Continue reading Nvidia Teases Next-Gen AI Platform Rubin at Computex 2024

At Computex Taipei this week, AMD revealed its AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series third generation of AI-enabled mobile processors for next-generation laptops. It joins Intel’s upcoming Lunar Lake and the Snapdragon X platform from Qualcomm among the chips vying for a place in the exploding market for artificial intelligence processing, an area dominated by Nvidia. However, with AI PCs and laptops just hitting the market that field is somewhat in play. The Ryzen AI 300s are among those that will be used to power laptops equipped with Microsoft Copilot+ AI. At Computex, AMD also unveiled its Ryzen 9000 Series processors for desktop PCs. Continue reading AMD Unveils Its Next-Gen AI Chips in Battle for Market Share

A year after its announcement, Fable is launching Showrunner, a platform that lets anyone make TV-style animated content by writing prompts that are turned into shows by generative AI. The San Francisco company run by CEO Edward Saatchi with recruits from Oculus, Pixar and various AI startups is launching 10 shows that let users make their own episodes “from their couch,” waiting only minutes to see the finished result, according to Saatchi, who says a 15-word prompt is enough to generate 10- to 20-minute episodes. Saatchi is hoping Fable’s shows can garner an audience by self-publishing on Amazon Prime. Continue reading Fable Launches Showrunner Animated Episodic TV Generator

Big Tech players have joined forces to develop a new industry standard to advance high-speed and low latency communication among data centers by coordinating component development. AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intel, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are backing the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) promoter group. The group plans to define and establish an open industry standard that will enable AI accelerators to communicate more effectively. The UALink aims to create a pathway for system OEMs, IT professionals and system integrators to connect and scale their AI-connected data centers. Continue reading Big Tech Forms a Group to Develop AI Connectivity Standard

French startup Mistral AI has released its first large language model for coding. Codestral gives developers looking for a code-native AI tool an option to Meta’s Code Llama, Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot and Amazon Q. Fluent in 80 programming languages — including Python, C++ and JavaScript — Codestral can complete code, write tests, and augment partial code “using a fill-in-the-middle mechanism,” while reducing “the risk of errors and bugs,” according to the company. The new LLM is described as open, but its license prohibits commercial use of both Codestral and its outputs. Continue reading Mistral Development Tool Knows 80 Programming Languages

After a limited introduction in select markets and to Premium subscribers, YouTube’s Playables free gaming catalog is rolling out to all users. More than 75 games are currently accessible on desktop, Android and iOS by visiting the main YouTube home page and selecting Playables in the Explore menu. Games can be shared by tapping the three-dot “more” menu. The lightweight offerings include popular titles like “Angry Birds Showdown,” “Words of Wonders,” “Cut the Rope” and “Trivia Crack,” among others. Availability will ramp up gradually over the coming months. Continue reading YouTube Adding ‘Playables’ Free Game Catalog for All Users

The Atlantic and Vox Media are the latest publishers to sign deals with OpenAI allowing its editorial products to be used with its artificial intelligence products. The agreements allow OpenAI to use content from The Atlantic and Vox (owner of The Verge and New York Magazine) to train AI models and display news within ChatGPT. Financial details were not disclosed. The publishers said the deals will expose their content to a broader audience as well as provide access to OpenAI technology to help create new products for readers. Continue reading OpenAI Media Push Continues in Pacts with The Atlantic, Vox

Management consulting firm PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) has ordered 100,000 ChatGPT Enterprise licenses from OpenAI, becoming the startup’s biggest third-party customer for the product, which is rolling out to all employees in the U.S. and UK. In addition, OpenAI has named PwC its first resale partner, making it the middleman for selling the AI company’s enterprise products to other businesses. PwC says embedding ChatGPT in its practice will make the Big Four accounting and consulting giant “uniquely positioned to help clients leverage ChatGPT Enterprise for better and faster ways of working.” Continue reading Endorsing GenAI, PwC Is Largest User of ChatGPT Enterprise

Not to be outdone by Windows Copilot+ PCs, Google is also bringing AI to the Chromebook, which will be infused with Gemini’s generative smarts via companies including Acer, HP and Asus. “New Google AI and gaming features are available on Chromebook Plus,” says the Alphabet company, noting “you can now write like a pro with Help Me Write, supercharge your ideas with Gemini, edit photos in a snap with Magic Editor, and more — all on Chromebook Plus laptops starting at $350.” Google, which partially integrated Gemini with the Chrome browser, teased AI for ChromeOS last fall. Continue reading Acer, Asus, HP First to Offer Chromebook Plus with Google AI

OpenAI has begun training a new flagship artificial intelligence model to succeed GPT-4, the technology currently associated with ChatGPT. The new model — which some are already calling GPT-5, although OpenAI hasn’t yet shared its name — is expected to take the company’s compute to the next level as it works toward artificial general intelligence (AGI), intelligence equal to or surpassing human cognitive abilities. The company also announced it has formed a new Safety and Security Committee two weeks after dissolving the old one upon the departure of OpenAI co-founder and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever. Continue reading OpenAI Is Working on New Frontier Model to Succeed GPT-4

Elon Musk’s xAI has secured $6 billion in Series B funding. While the company says the funds will be “used to take xAI’s first products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development,” some outlets are reporting a significant portion is earmarked to build an AI supercomputer to power the next generation of its foundation model Grok. The company publicly released the open-source Grok-1 as a chatbot on X social in November, and recently debuted Grok-1.5 and 1.5V iterations with long-context capability and image understanding. Continue reading Musk Said to Envision Supercomputer as xAI Raises $6 Billion

Music startup Suno, which leverages ChatGPT tech with the goal of emulating that app’s success in music, has raised $125 million in Series B funding, resulting in a valuation of $500 million. Founded by Harvard physics PhD turned tech entrepreneur Mikey Shulman, the company is being called “a rising star” in the realm of generative AI. Suno lets people generate original songs by using text prompts or lyrics, with the AI supplying the melodies and harmonies for fully-formed compositions. “We started Suno to build a future where anyone can make music,” according to the company. Continue reading AI Startup Suno Raises Funds to ‘Democratize Music Creation’