News/Business
Enterprise AI Platform Glean Secures $260M in New Funding
Major funding boost for enterprise AI platform: Glean, an enterprise AI leader founded by a former Google engineer, has secured over $260 million in a Series E funding round, valuing the company at $4.6 billion. The funding round was co-led by Altimeter and DST Global, with participation from Craft Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and seven existing investors. This latest investment doubles Glean's valuation in just over six months, following a $200 million Series D round in February that valued the company at $2.2 billion. The substantial funding reflects the surging demand for Glean's AI solutions, with the...
read Sep 16, 2024How AI is Reshaping Holiday Retail Shopping
Holiday retail landscape shifts: Retailers are adapting their strategies to cater to Gen Z shoppers and navigate economic challenges as the 2024 holiday season approaches. AI and social media take center stage: Retailers are increasingly investing in artificial intelligence and social media to optimize operations and reach younger consumers. 70% of surveyed retailers are integrating AI to streamline their operations and enhance customer experiences. 39% are boosting their social media presence through paid advertising campaigns. 35% are leveraging influencer marketing to connect with younger audiences. Economic concerns and competitive landscape: Inflation remains a top concern for retailers, while smaller businesses...
read Sep 15, 2024How to Choose the Right LLM for Your Business
Conversational AI adoption is accelerating in marketing, sales, and customer service, with over 40% of organizations already implementing this technology. However, many business leaders are unsure how to begin implementation, particularly when it comes to choosing between open-source and closed-source large language models (LLMs). Key considerations for building conversational AI: The choice between popular LLMs like GPT-4o (OpenAI) and Llama 3 (Meta) depends on factors such as setup costs, processing costs, and specific business needs. Setup costs include development and operational expenses to get the LLM running, while processing costs cover the actual expense of each conversation once the tool...
read Sep 15, 2024Why 2024 Has Seen a Major Increase in Union Activity and Worker Strikes
Labor unrest surges across industries: The past year has seen a significant increase in union activity and worker strikes, with employees across various sectors demanding better pay, benefits, and working conditions. According to Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, there were 470 work stoppages in 2023, involving approximately 539,000 workers. The number of workers involved in work stoppages increased by 141% compared to 2022, resulting in nearly 25 million strike days. Unions argue that workers made sacrifices during the pandemic and economic downturns, and now it's time for compensation to catch up. Automotive industry negotiations: The United Auto...
read Sep 14, 2024Audible’s AI Voice Cloning Initiative is Part of a Larger Trend of AI Integration
Audible's new AI voice cloning program for audiobook narrators marks a significant shift in the audiobook industry, potentially transforming the way audio content is produced and consumed. Revolutionizing audiobook production: Amazon's Audible is launching a trial program that allows narrators to create and monetize AI-generated replicas of their own voices for audiobook narration. The beta program, currently limited to a select group of narrators in the United States, represents a pioneering step in integrating AI technology into the audiobook creation process. Participating narrators will have control over which projects their AI-cloned voices are used for, ensuring a level of autonomy...
read Sep 14, 2024How to Select and Implement AI Tools for Your Business Needs
AI tool selection: A critical business strategy: In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, businesses face the challenge of selecting the right AI tools to avoid costly missteps and maximize return on investment. The proliferation of AI technologies has created a market saturated with options, making it crucial for companies to navigate carefully through the hype and identify solutions that truly align with their specific needs and goals. Not all AI tools are created equal, with some offering substantial value while others may be overpriced or poorly suited to certain business applications. Strategic selection and implementation of AI technologies...
read Sep 13, 2024AI Boom Propels OpenAI’s Valuation to $150 Billion
AI industry's rapid growth: OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence startup, is poised for a significant valuation increase as it prepares for a new funding round that could value the company at over $150 billion. Tiger Global, a prominent investment firm, is planning to join the funding round, signaling strong investor confidence in OpenAI's potential and the broader AI market. Thrive Capital is leading the round with a planned $1 billion investment, demonstrating substantial financial backing for OpenAI's ambitious initiatives. Tech giants Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple are reportedly in discussions to participate in the funding round, highlighting the strategic importance of...
read Sep 13, 2024Salesforce’s AgentForce Will Provide Turnkey Agents Across Roles and Industries
Salesforce has unveiled AgentForce, a suite of AI-powered autonomous agents designed to revolutionize business operations across various functions, marking what the company calls the "third wave" of AI. The big picture: Salesforce positions AgentForce as a transformative platform that moves beyond predictive models and generative AI to create "agentic systems" capable of augmenting human workers in diverse business roles. Marc Benioff, Salesforce's Chair and CEO, emphasized the significance of this third wave of AI during a press conference, highlighting the company's excitement about the potential of AI agents. Benioff also hinted at future developments, mentioning a potential "fourth wave" of...
read Sep 13, 2024AI Drives Microsoft’s Controversial Dual Climate Strategy
Microsoft's dual AI strategy: Microsoft is pursuing a complex and potentially contradictory approach to artificial intelligence, simultaneously promoting its use for climate solutions while marketing it to fossil fuel companies. The company has publicly positioned AI as a tool to address the "planetary crisis" of climate change, suggesting applications like reducing food waste and expediting decarbonization. Internally, Microsoft is actively selling AI technologies to major oil and gas companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron to optimize drilling and maximize fossil fuel production. This dual strategy highlights the tension between AI's potential for environmental benefits and its use in industries contributing to...
read Sep 12, 2024How Anywhere Real Estate Uses AI to Boost Leads and Listings
AI's growing role in real estate: Anywhere Real Estate, a New Jersey-based real estate services company, is harnessing artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency and deliver smarter services in the competitive property market. Cautious approach to AI implementation: Rudy Wolfs, CTO at Anywhere Real Estate, emphasizes the importance of setting realistic expectations due to the current immaturity of AI technology. The company acknowledges the potential of AI while remaining mindful of its limitations, ensuring a balanced approach to implementation. By carefully managing expectations, Anywhere Real Estate aims to build trust in AI systems among both its agents and clients. Two primary...
read Sep 12, 2024JFrog and NVIDIA Partner to Accelerate Enterprise AI Deployment
Strategic partnership enhances AI deployment: JFrog and NVIDIA have joined forces to advance AI model deployment and security, integrating NVIDIA NIM microservices into the JFrog Platform. The collaboration aims to meet the growing demand for enterprise-ready generative AI solutions by combining pre-approved AI models with centralized DevSecOps processes. NVIDIA NIM, part of the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software suite, offers GPU-optimized AI model services available as both API endpoints and container images. This integration allows for flexible deployment options, including on-premises solutions that ensure data security and control while leveraging NVIDIA's optimized infrastructure. Addressing key industry challenges: The partnership tackles significant...
read Sep 12, 2024Zoho Releases AI-Powered Analytics to Boosts Business Intelligence
AI-powered upgrade revolutionizes Zoho Analytics: Zoho Corporation has released an enhanced version of its self-service business intelligence and analytics platform, Zoho Analytics, featuring over 100 improvements including advanced AI and machine learning capabilities. Key enhancements and features: The new Zoho Analytics introduces significant upgrades across four primary areas: Data Management, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science & Machine Learning (DSML), and Extensibility. The Data Management Hub now includes Stream Analytics and 25 additional data connectors, expanding its connector portfolio to over 500. Users can create and manage complex ETL data pipelines using a visual builder or the new Python Code Studio. The...
read Sep 12, 2024Samsung Slashes Global Workforce Amid AI Chip Boom
Global workforce reduction at Samsung: Samsung, the South Korean tech giant, is reportedly implementing significant layoffs across its global operations, affecting up to 30% of employees in some divisions by the end of 2024. Scale of the layoffs: The workforce reduction is expected to impact various departments and regions within Samsung's extensive global network. Sales and marketing departments are reportedly facing a 15% reduction, potentially affecting over 3,700 employees out of the approximately 25,000 staff in these areas. Administrative staff may see cuts of up to 30%. The layoffs are expected to affect employees across Samsung divisions in the Americas,...
read Sep 12, 2024Sony to Invest Billions into Original Content with Keen Eye on Anime and AI
Sony's strategic shift towards animation content: The Japanese tech giant is redirecting billions into producing original content, with a significant focus on animated content, particularly anime. Sony's chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki acknowledges the company's lack of fostered IP from the beginning stages, which is seen as a critical issue. The company aims to leverage its Crunchyroll streaming service and PlayStation Network to expand its presence in the animation market. Despite Sony's roots in consumer electronics, approximately 60% of its annual revenue now comes from games, films, and music. Crunchyroll's ambitious growth plans: Sony's anime streaming service Crunchyroll currently releases...
read Sep 11, 2024How SMB Leaders are Using Generative AI for Strategic Planning
The rise of generative AI in strategic planning: Generative AI is emerging as a powerful tool for business leaders, particularly in smaller companies, to enhance their strategic planning processes and decision-making capabilities. The potential of generative AI to revolutionize business decision-making has captured the attention of the business community, with some industry leaders predicting a new era of unprecedented possibilities. Smaller companies, in particular, are exploring the application of generative AI in strategic planning, recognizing its potential to provide valuable insights and overcome human biases. Case studies reveal AI's strengths and limitations: An examination of two disguised case studies highlights...
read Sep 11, 2024The Power of Open-Source in AI Implementation
Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is rapidly increasing in organizations, with generative AI usage nearly doubling in less than a year according to a recent McKinsey survey. This surge in AI implementation comes amid shifting enterprise priorities and an increasingly complex technology landscape. The evolving tech landscape: Businesses are grappling with cloud migration, enhanced security needs, legacy IT modernization, and workflow digitization, all of which contribute to a more intricate technological environment. Complexity in technology can hinder decision-making, increase risks, and negatively impact customer loyalty and employee engagement. There is a growing need for organizations to navigate this complexity confidently to...
read Sep 11, 2024The Best Ways For Organizations to Fail When Implementing AI
The generative AI revolution presents unique challenges: The rapid evolution of generative AI technology since the launch of ChatGPT-3 in November 2022 has created a complex landscape for organizations seeking to implement AI assistants. Traditional approaches to corporate technology projects are ill-suited for generative AI initiatives due to the rapidly changing nature of the technology. Organizations face a high risk of making incorrect decisions in their AI implementations, potentially requiring significant rebuilds within a few years. The dynamic nature of generative AI necessitates a more flexible and adaptable approach to project planning and execution. Three major risk factors for generative...
read Sep 11, 2024Why Apple’s AI Revolution Will Begin with iPhone 16
The dawn of Apple's AI era: Apple's entry into the artificial intelligence race with the iPhone 16 marks a significant shift in the tech landscape, positioning the company as a potential leader in AI innovation despite its late start. Apple's AI heritage and strategic advantages: Apple's long-standing involvement in machine learning and AI, coupled with its unique approach to technology integration, sets the stage for its potential dominance in the AI field. Apple has been incorporating various forms of AI and machine learning into its operating systems for decades, building a strong foundation for more advanced AI implementations. The company's...
read Sep 11, 2024How Banks and Lenders are Falling Short of Capitalizing on the AI Revolution
AI adoption in financial services: Progress and challenges: Banks and lenders are making strides in implementing artificial intelligence technologies, but many are still struggling to fully capitalize on the AI revolution sweeping across industries. A recent survey by EXL of 98 senior executives at leading US financial services firms reveals that 80% have implemented AI to some degree, with 55% using it in a narrow range of functions. Generative AI, a cutting-edge subset of AI technology, is already being utilized by 47% of surveyed firms, primarily for product development (58%) and customer service (46%). Despite this progress, the adoption of...
read Sep 11, 2024Agentic AI and the Future of Automation
The rise of Agentic AI: Agentic AI represents a significant evolution in automation technology, combining classical automation techniques with large language models to create autonomous systems capable of intelligent action without human oversight. Agentic AI goes beyond generative AI by enabling systems to autonomously monitor events, make decisions, and execute real-world actions. Two key trends are driving the development of Agentic AI: the integration of AI agents into familiar software tools and the emergence of new frameworks for building custom AI agents. This technology has the potential to transform various industries, including sales, marketing, cybersecurity, and IT operations. Properties of...
read Sep 11, 2024How Enterprises Can Successfully Implement AI Copilots
AI copilots gain traction in organizations: Forrester's research reveals a surge in AI copilot adoption, with 51% of global information workers reporting their organizations are embracing solutions like Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and ChatGPT Enterprise. Despite widespread adoption, organizations are struggling to quantify the return on investment (ROI) for AI copilots, creating a dilemma for leaders. The challenge lies in balancing the potential future benefits of generative AI (genAI) against the difficulty of measuring immediate results. A pragmatic approach to AI copilot implementation: To resolve the genAI business case conundrum, organizations need to address four key areas: benefits, adoption,...
read Sep 10, 2024Anthropic Launches ‘Workspaces’ — Is This the Future of Enterprise AI Management?
Anthropic introduces Workspaces for enterprise AI management: The artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has unveiled a new feature called Workspaces in its API Console, aimed at giving businesses greater control over their AI deployments. Workspaces allows organizations to create and manage multiple isolated environments for their Claude AI deployments, addressing the need for granular control over spending, usage, and access across different projects or departments. This feature launch follows Anthropic's recent introduction of Claude Enterprise, a high-powered AI assistant designed for corporate use. The rapid release of enterprise-focused tools indicates Anthropic's strong push to capture a significant share of the lucrative...
read Sep 10, 2024DigitalEx Launches Product That Lets You Track Generative AI Expenses
AI cost management solution unveiled: DigitalEx, a cloud cost management software vendor, has launched a new expense tracking solution to help enterprises manage and optimize their generative AI-related costs. The solution offers a centralized view of expenses across various LLM platforms, including AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, and Groq. DigitalEx aims to provide a single user interface, data model, and optimization engine to manage and optimize spending on both public and private infrastructure. The platform is designed to address one of the most pressing concerns in the AI space: cost management. Company background and mission: DigitalEx, founded in 2022, has...
read Sep 10, 2024ServiceNow Launches Library of AI Agents to Automate Enterprise Workflows
ServiceNow introduces customizable AI agents for enterprise workflows: ServiceNow's latest update to its Now Assist AI platform includes a new feature that allows enterprises to integrate AI agents into their workflows, providing a library of pre-built agents and the ability to customize them using the Now Assist Skill Kit. The Now Assist Skill Kit enables companies to build, test, and deploy new generative AI skills and assign them to AI agents, tailoring them to specific workflow requirements. This approach allows AI agents to learn how to manage business processes alongside employees, offering a collaborative human-AI interaction. Dorit Zilbershot, VP of...
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