🗞️ AI News Recap

Hey TEDchats Fam!

Happy Monday! Ever feel like you've walked into a tech thriller halfway through, and the plot twists are coming at you like unruly confetti? Trust me; we've all been there. In this fast-paced world of AI, it's easy to get caught in the whirlwind of jargon and innovation. But fear not; today, we'll recap the past week of AI, decoding the tech talk and ensuring you're not left in the dust of the digital confetti storm.

🐇 QUICK BITES — THE PAST WEEK

Another Heated AI Controversy — Google Edition

Google's Gemini AI, a multimodal AI model blending language and visual understanding, gained rapid attention with its debut video (see video). The video showcased Gemini's remarkable ability to narrate the creation of a duck drawing, responding to voice queries and tracking objects in real-time. However, subsequent scrutiny revealed that the most impressive segments were pre-captured, casting doubt on the authenticity of the demo (read more). Google acknowledged the reduced latency and shortened outputs in the YouTube video's description, and released a detailed post on how the video was created (see post).

Elon Musk Seeks $1 Billion For His AI Project

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, ventures into AI with xAI, featuring Grok to rival systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT. For this, Musk is seeking $1 billion funding, with $135 million already raised per SEC filing (see filing). Grok's unique selling point is real-time information access via the X platform, but success depends on adeptly filtering real news from misinformation in today's digital landscape (read more).

EU Lawmakers Have Set New Rules For AI

After almost three days of intensive talks, EU lawmakers reached a political agreement on a risk-based AI regulation framework proposed in April 2021, marking a milestone for a forthcoming pan-EU AI law. In a press conference held over the weekend, key representatives expressed triumph, exhaustion, and a sense of historic accomplishment. With rules established to safeguard the public, non-compliance may result in fines ranging from €7.5 million to €35 million, or 1.5% to 7% of turnover, depending on the infringement and company size, as outlined by the parliament (read more).

Bing Unveils 'Deep Search' To Boost Our Web Experience

Microsoft's Bing steps into the future with its latest innovation, 'Deep Search'. This feature, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4, goes beyond traditional search methods, offering users a more relevant and detailed exploration of the web. Deep Search transforms simple queries into detailed descriptions, enabling the search engine to delve deeper and uncover comprehensive answers that may be missed by conventional searches. This marks a significant leap in how we interact with and extract information from the vast expanse of the internet (read more).

OpenAI’s European Competitor Is Ready For Battle

Mistral AI, a French startup with ambitions to compete with OpenAI, has successfully concluded its eagerly awaited Series A funding round, securing approximately $400 million and propelling the company to a $2 billion valuation (read more). Alongside this milestone, Mistral AI has released its commercial platform (read more).

McDonald's Partners With Google For AI-Driven Operations

Starting in 2024, McDonald's plans to deploy generative AI in collaboration with Google, targeting improvements in food quality and operational efficiency. This initiative will encompass hardware and software upgrades across thousands of stores worldwide. According to Brian Rice, McDonald’s Executive Vice President, implementing AI solutions will make “restaurants easier to operate”, while also improving “the overall experience for our customers and crew”. This move signals a growing trend of AI integration in the fast food industry (read more).

Polite Prompts To Combat AI Biases

In a “groundbreaking” approach, Anthropic's researchers have unveiled an unexpected tactic to combat AI biases – simply asking the AI. By adding a direct request to AI prompts to disregard certain characteristics such as race and gender, the team significantly reduced discrimination in decision-making tasks. The study, while seemingly unorthodox, underscores the responsiveness of AI to straightforward, ethical guidance (read more).

Google Enhances AI Note-Taking App

Google's AI note-taking app, now available in the US, integrates Gemini Pro for enhanced document understanding. NotebookLM generates summaries and suggests questions based on uploaded documents. New features include advanced organization of notes into structured projects, enabling the creation of "an email newsletter, a script outline, or a draft of a marketing plan — whatever is most helpful to you" (read more).

Meta Introduces 'Reimagine' For AI Image Remixing

Meta's latest update brings a novel feature, 'Reimagine', allowing users to alter AI-generated images shared within Messenger and Instagram chats. Users can interact with these images by adding custom text prompts, effectively 'reimagining' the original content. This addition is part of a series of updates to Meta's AI tools, including an online accessible version of their 'imagine' tool and planned invisible watermarking for AI-generated images (read more).

Microsoft Integrates GPT-4 Turbo In Copilot

Microsoft embarks on a new chapter in AI technology by incorporating OpenAI's latest GPT-4 Turbo model into its Copilot service. Currently being tested, this integration significantly expands Copilot's capabilities with a massive 128K context window, “the equivalent of 300 pages of text in a single prompt”, dramatically enhancing its ability to comprehend and respond to complex queries. Alongside, Microsoft also introduced improvements to the DALL-E 3 model, promising unprecedented accuracy and quality in AI-generated images, now available in Copilot (read more).

What Plans Does OpenAI Have For India?

Sam Altman tweeted about the “great conversation” he had with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "discussing India's incredible tech ecosystem and how the country can benefit from AI". According to TechCrunch, OpenAI is closely collaborating with Rishi Jaitly, former head of Twitter India, who now serves as a senior advisor. His role involves facilitating discussions with the government on AI policy, and there are plans to establish a local team in India. However, no official announcements have been made (read more).

Innovative AI Tool For Designers

Visual Electric, funded by Sequoia Capital and led by former tech executives, has released a cutting-edge AI image generator aimed at revolutionizing design workflows. This tool, crafted with designers in mind, offers a unique generative canvas that allows for “spatial work” and “mess”, reflecting the “creative process”. It includes customizable mood settings, color palettes, and a “touch” feature for direct image alterations (read more).

Now Businesses Can Feel More Comfortable Using AI

Citrusˣ, an Israeli startup, secured a $4.5 million seed investment to develop software focused on regulatory adherence. The main hurdle to broad AI adoption in businesses is said to be a lack of trust in machine learning models. Despite substantial investments, only 35% of global businesses implement AI products, reflecting doubts about AI's practical efficacy. However, Citrusˣ aims to overcome this skepticism by offering robust regulatory solutions, providing companies with the confidence to implement AI effectively (read more).

🧰 AI TOOLBOX — RECAP 

👋 UNTIL NEXT TIME

As we weathered the whirlwind of tech happenings together in this recap, we've emerged with a clearer picture of the AI landscape. Stay tuned for our next newsletter, where more insights and discoveries await. Your curiosity fuels our journey, and with each recap, we can all be better prepared for the evolving digital adventures ahead!