Observers are weighing the potential effect of chatbots on the publishing industry, as works written by or with an assist from artificial intelligence come to market. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing arm currently lists more than 200 e-books that credit OpenAI’s ChatGPT as author or co-author on topics ranging from stories for children to self-help, science fiction and poetry. Tutorials on how to use AI to create publishable work in a few hours have sprung up on YouTube, TikTok and Reddit. As with all things AI, this trend has prompted equal amounts of curiosity and concern. Continue reading From Self-Help to Kid Lit, Generative AI Triggers Book Boom

Qualcomm has unveiled a new smartphone chipset ahead of next week’s Mobile World Congress. The Snapdragon X75 5G Modem-RF System will start appearing in devices in the second half of the year. According to Qualcomm, the X75 enables stronger uplink and downlink connections and uses artificial intelligence to help keep signals connected in areas where coverage is weak, like elevators and parking garages. It’s also equipped for 3GPP’s 17 and 18 releases, which set standards for next-gen 5G. Release 18 sets the stage for 5G Advanced, for things like connected cars and smart cities (industrial IoT). Continue reading Qualcomm’s New 5G Chips Benefit More Than Smartphones

After nine years as CEO of the world’s largest video-sharing platform, Susan Wojcicki announced last week that she was stepping down from YouTube, to be replaced by the company’s chief product officer Neal Mohan. The move comes after nearly 25 years of working for parent company Google, where she started as its first marketing manager (founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin famously set up Google’s early office space in Wojcicki’s Menlo Park garage). Wojcicki is known for leading the charge to acquire YouTube, co-creating Google Image Search and helping to launch AdSense, among numerous other accomplishments. YouTube’s number of average daily users has more than doubled under her leadership and content has expanded with new services such as YouTube TV, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. Continue reading YouTube CEO Wojcicki Steps Down After 25 Years at Google

With language models like ChatGPT dominating recent tech news, Meta Platforms has unveiled a new artificial intelligence platform of its own called Toolformer that breaks new ground in that it can teach itself to use external apps and APIs. The result, Meta says, is that Toolformer combines the conversational aptitude and other things large language models are good at while shoring up those areas in which it typically does not excel — like math and fact-checking — by figuring out how to use external tools like  search engines, calculators and calendars. Continue reading Meta Toolformer Sidesteps AI Language Limits with API Calls

The U.S. is increasing efforts to thwart technology theft, launching what some are calling a “hack back” attack against adversaries who use illegal means in attempts to steal developmental secrets or strike at supply chains. Operating from 12 metropolitan regions, the new Disruptive Technology Strike Force (DTSF) will enforce laws protecting U.S. advanced technologies from illegal acquisition and use by nation-states. The goal of the DTSF — a joint venture of the Department of Justice and the Commerce Department — is “to strike back against adversaries trying to siphon off our best technology,” deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said. Continue reading Federal Government Creates Strike Force to Fight Tech Theft

IT pros are grappling with the ways ChatGPT can be worked into the enterprise stack. The generative artificial intelligence from OpenAI has demonstrated the ability to compile reports, craft marketing pitches and write software code, which makes it seem convenient for business use. Yet concerns remain, including potential security risks and sometimes erratic or inappropriate data feedback. In the past week, one third-party tester had ChatGPT pledge love for its interlocutor, while another received a detailed lecture on why cow eggs are bigger than chicken eggs. Continue reading Business World Asks if Generative AI is Ready for Enterprise

Neeva is promising a more intelligent form of AI-powered search. The company — which says it has amassed more than 2 million subscribers since it began globally launching its ad-free, subscription-based Neeva engine in 2020 — is now going global with NeevaAI, which became commercially available in the U.S. in January following a monthlong beta test. Positioned as a direct competitor to ChatGPT, NeevaAI is styling itself as a smarter, more accurate form of artificial intelligence, one that “combines the best of large language models such as ChatGPT with the authority and timeliness of search.” Continue reading NeevaAI Takes on ChatGPT in the Generative AI Search War

Google unveiled new search features during its “Live from Paris” event via a YouTube stream. The emphasis was on multisearch, which will go live globally to mobile platforms in more than 70 languages where Google Lens is used, according to the company. Introduced last year, the multisearch feature looks through images and text, driven by an AI technology the company has developed called MUM, for Multitask Unified Model. There were no new announcements regarding Bard, Google’s new conversational AI search tool, although media outlets reported that Bard responded incorrectly in a Twitter promo the same day. Continue reading Google Touts Search Plans During Its ‘Live from Paris’ Event

GlossAi can turn full-length videos — or even whole libraries of video and podcast content —into an array of short clips and posts suitable for dissemination across a wide swathe of outlets. The Israel-based firm has raised $8 million in a seed round as it enters an emerging market in which Adobe and AI startup QuickVid are already playing, but no single app has definitely taken hold. GlossAi has the ability to take a video and automatically generate not only a highlight reel, but also things like 15-second snippets, blog posts (from a transcript), slide decks and more. Continue reading GlossAi Content Propagation App Raises $8M in Seed Round

Pinterest grew Q4 year-over-year revenue by 4 percent, to $877 million, while full year sales jumped 9 percent in 2022 totaling $2.8 billion. The company said that global monthly active users also grew by 4 percent in the three month period ending December 31, to a total of 450 million. CEO Bill Ready emphasized on the earnings call the intent to eventually “make every pin shoppable.” Similar to how it is monetizing still images Pinterest is focusing on making videos “more actionable” by applying what it calls “our computer vision technology.” Continue reading Pinterest Grows Its Active Users, Focuses on Video Shopping

It appears 2023 will mark a critical inflection point for artificial intelligence, according to Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith, who calls AI “the most consequential technology advance of our lifetime” and says it will change “almost everything. Because, like no technology before it, these AI advances augment humanity’s ability to think, reason, learn and express ourselves.” One example is Microsoft’s infusion of AI in two common tools — the search engine and the web browser — with new versions of its Bing search engine and Edge browser, tools positioned “as an AI co-pilot for the web.” Continue reading AI ‘Inflection Point’ in 2023 Ushered in with Search, Browsing

Less than a week after UBS proclaimed ChatGPT a record-setter for the app with the fastest-growing user base, the popular AI chatbot has racked up accomplishments that include passing “a U.S. medical-licensing exam, a Wharton Business School MBA exam, and four major university law-school exams,” according to TIME, which couches it in the context of “a brilliant child.” Amidst the fusillade of publicity, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, who led the teams behind both DALL-E and ChatGPT, says it’s “time to move toward regulating AI,” which “can be misused, or used by bad actors,” raising questions about global governance. Continue reading OpenAI CTO Calls for Regulation as AI Tech Rapidly Expands

Microsoft unveiled a ChatGPT-powered version of its Bing search engine on Tuesday, following Google’s announcement it is testing a conversational artificial intelligence app called Bard, expected to launch publicly in the coming weeks with applications for products starting with Google Search. Google will next month begin onboarding developers, creators and enterprises for its generative language API (which will initially utilize a lightweight version of LaMDA and eventually offer “a range of models”). Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI and Google’s new plans may be putting pressure on Apple and Meta. “A race starts today,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said. Continue reading Google and Microsoft Announce AI-Based Search Functions

Getty Images has filed a lawsuit against Stability AI, alleging the company trained its Stable Diffusion art generator using 12 million images from the Getty database without permission or compensation. The stock photography firm claims Stability AI engaged in “brazen infringement” of Getty Images’ intellectual property “on a staggering scale.” The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. Last month, a trio of artists seeking federal class action status also sued Stability AI, along with AI startup Midjourney and the Wix-owned DeviantArt, which uses Stable Diffusion for its own DreamUp generative imager. Continue reading Getty Files a Lawsuit Against Stability AI for Using Its Images

Google has taken a 10 percent stake in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic for about $300 million. The move follows reports that the Alphabet-owned company has prioritized an acceleration of AI efforts, so as not to get left behind by OpenAI and its increasingly popular ChatGPT app. The cash infusion gives Google a roughly 10 percent stake in the San Francisco-based Anthropic, which Financial Times described as among “a new generation of companies trying to claim a place in the booming field of ‘generative AI,’” a sector that has triggered a veritable “AI arm’s race,” according to FT. Continue reading Google’s Investment in Anthropic Heats Up the AI Arms Race