Just prior to the start of the weekend, Elon Musk announced that his artificial intelligence company xAI is acquiring his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) “in an all-stock transaction,” valuing xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45 billion less $12 billion in debt). The merger has the potential to create a powerful GenAI-powered content platform. The billionaire purchased Twitter in late 2022 for $44 billion, following months of legal skirmishes. According to Musk, X currently touts more than 600 million active users, while “xAI has rapidly become one of the leading AI labs in the world, building models and data centers at unprecedented speed and scale.” Continue reading Elon Musk Announces xAI Corporation Will Purchase X Social

Rivalry between World Network, also known as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s “other company,” and Elon Musk’s X is heating up in an escalating race to be first out with an “everything app.” World Network is trying to accelerate adoption of a log-in system that relies on “ocular verification” — mapping the unique pattern of the iris — for “anonymous proof-of-human” validation. World already has a free app for iOS and Android, and recently launched a “mini app store” within it, including functions such as chat, transferring cryptocurrency and shopping for microloans. Continue reading Altman’s World Takes on Musk’s X in Race to Everything App

Ernie, the foundation model for Baidu’s generative AI, has been updated with iRAG technology to mitigate visual hallucinations and a no-code tool called Miaoda that creates apps using natural language. The company behind China’s largest search engine says Ernie now handles 1.5 billion daily user queries, up from 50 million circa its March 2023 launch (a 30x increase). Baidu also debuted Ernie-powered smart glasses from its Xiaodu Technology hardware unit. The Xiaodu AI Glasses features built-in voice activation and cameras for taking photos and video. The news was shared at this week’s Baidu World 2024 in Shanghai. Continue reading Baidu’s Ernie AI Gets Improved Text-to-Image and App Builder

X is developing a video-calling feature to add as part of its rebranding as an “everything app.” X CEO Linda Yaccarino shared the news in her first television interview since leaving NBCUniversal to become head of Elon Musk’s social media platform in June, when the platform was still known as Twitter. Yaccarino said X users will soon be able to make video calls based on their social ID alone, without sharing phone numbers. Long-form videos, creator subscriptions and the ability to make payments on the platform are additional features that Yaccarino explained will be coming to X. Continue reading Yaccarino: X Getting Video Calls with Its ‘Everything’ Rebrand

Elon Musk has begun rebranding Twitter as X with a simple black letter X-ing out the iconic blue bird logo. The reaction has been mixed so far. Some say it conjures cool, as in “X marks the spot,” while others suggest it evokes a corporate industrial “Big Brother” that could negatively impact the successful brand. Whether it will help Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino monetize the social service remains to be seen, but it definitely marks a clean break from a colorful past. On Monday, at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, feathered features like the company logo that once lorded over the cafeteria were removed, and stylized X logos were projected. Continue reading Twitter Rebrands as ‘X’ in Next Step Toward ‘Everything App’