News/Business
Samsung Bets on Tailored AI to Regain Ground in China’s Smartphone Market
Samsung is developing AI features specifically for the Chinese market in a bid to regain lost market share, as it faces intense competition from local players like Huawei. Tailored AI development for China: Samsung's mobile chief, TM Roh, revealed that the company is creating a suite of artificial intelligence features called Galaxy AI with a focus on the Chinese market: Samsung aims to satisfy Chinese consumers by advancing mobile AI technology that caters to their specific needs and preferences. The company believes that developing AI features tailored for China will contribute to its recovery in the highly competitive Chinese smartphone...
read Jul 12, 2024Walmart Balances Efficiency with Human Oversight as It Continues to Double Down on AI
Walmart continues to expand its use of generative AI across the company, focusing on improving customer care, associate productivity, operations, and developer efficiency, while maintaining a human presence to ensure accuracy and protect its brand. Scaling AI as a platform: Walmart is building its AI capabilities as platforms that allow for rapid iteration and experimentation: By developing foundational AI systems that can be broadly applied, Walmart can quickly test and deploy new tools and approaches. Walmart's large employee base serves as an initial testing ground for new AI technologies before they are rolled out more widely. Ensuring accuracy and limiting...
read Jul 12, 2024Metafilter Turns 25: Pioneering Online Community Weathers Challenges, Looks to Future
Metafilter, a pioneering online community, turns 25 this month, remaining a beacon of early internet culture and civility in an era of rapid change and consolidation. A tight-knit community frozen in time: Metafilter has maintained its core identity and functionality over a quarter-century, preserving the spirit of the early web: The site's feed remains strictly chronological and text-only, eschewing modern social media features and resisting the urge to scale up or monetize aggressively. Its small, dedicated user base of around 10,000 active members fosters a sense of camaraderie and shared history, with the $5 membership fee and active moderation keeping...
read Jul 11, 2024Google’s AI Chief Reveals Secrets to Unlocking Generative AI’s Potential for Enterprises
Yasmeen Ahmad, managing director of strategy and outbound product management for data, analytics and AI at Google Cloud, shares his thoughts on how to unlock the potential of generative AI during the VB Transform conference. The role of data in improving large language models (LLMs): While increasing the size of LLMs can lead to better performance, it's not the only factor; domain-specific data plays a crucial role in enhancing the models' capabilities: Smaller models trained on domain and context-specific information can outperform huge models with a large number of parameters, highlighting the importance of data in empowering AI models. Fine-tuning...
read Jul 10, 2024Sam Altman’s $2 Billion Fortune: OpenAI CEO’s Meteoric Rise in Tech
Sam Altman, the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, has rapidly risen to prominence in the tech industry, amassing a substantial fortune along the way. Altman's net worth and billionaire status: As of 2024, Sam Altman's estimated net worth stands at $2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index Fund, solidifying his position as a billionaire in the tech industry. This figure does not include Altman's holding in OpenAI, suggesting that his actual net worth may be even higher. Much of Altman's wealth has been accumulated through successful ventures in technology, such as Loopt and Y Combinator, rather than solely from...
read Jul 10, 2024Wall Street Bullish on Tempus AI’s AI-Driven Precision Medicine Potential
Tempus AI garners bullish sentiment from Wall Street post-IPO: On Tuesday, analysts across Wall Street initiated coverage of recently launched health-care technology stock Tempus AI, with most assigning it either a buy or overweight rating due to its strong financial profile and promising AI capabilities in the health-care sector. AI-enabled precision medicine driving optimism: Tempus AI combines patients' molecular, clinical, and imaging data with its AI platform to deliver personalized therapy decisions, which analysts believe positions the company well in the growing precision medicine market. Bank of America analyst Michael Ryskin praised Tempus AI's artificial intelligence capabilities in the health-care...
read Jul 10, 2024Google’s Gemini Live AI Poised to Rival Apple with Advanced Features, Leak Suggests
Google's Gemini Live AI is poised to rival Apple Intelligence with advanced background mode and app integration capabilities, according to a recent leak. Key features of Gemini Live: The leaked code suggests that Gemini Live will offer a seamless, natural conversation experience on mobile devices: A "background mode" will allow users to continue conversations with the AI while using other apps or even when the screen is locked, effectively turning interactions into phone call-like experiences. Users will be able to quickly access Gemini Live from their lock screen and utilize extensions for first-party services like Google Maps, Google Flights, Google...
read Jul 10, 2024Writer CEO: “Full Stack Generative AI” Will Boost Enterprise AI Accuracy and Adoption
Writer CEO shares vision for "full stack generative AI" at VB Transform, addressing key challenges in enterprise AI adoption and showcasing the company's latest innovations aimed at improving accuracy, efficiency, and user experience. Obstacles to enterprise AI success: Habib highlighted three main challenges impeding the effectiveness of AI in business settings: Low accuracy: A survey of 500 AI executives revealed that only 17% rated their AI applications as "good or better," indicating widespread dissatisfaction with the performance of enterprise AI solutions. Inefficiency: Many businesses struggle to efficiently implement and integrate AI into their workflows, leading to suboptimal results and slow...
read Jul 10, 2024Enterprises Invest Heavily in Generative AI Despite Integration Challenges and Infrastructure Barriers
A recent survey conducted by Dataiku and Cognizant reveals that enterprises are making significant investments in generative AI, but challenges persist in fully realizing its potential and integrating it into their operations. Significant financial commitments: Nearly three-quarters of the surveyed organizations plan to spend over $500,000 on generative AI in the next year, with almost half allocating more than $1 million, highlighting the growing interest and investment in this technology. Despite the substantial spending, only one-third of the organizations have a dedicated budget for generative AI initiatives, with the majority funding these projects from other sources like IT, data science,...
read Jul 10, 2024Operation Automation: AI’s Potential to Solve The Economic Challenges Posed by Demographics
Automation holds the key: AI-enabled automation could help solve major economic challenges posed by immigration, low fertility rates, and increasing retirements in the US and other developed countries: Instead of relying solely on immigration to fill economic gaps, the US government could invest heavily in automation through public-private partnerships, similar to Operation Warp Speed for COVID-19 vaccines, to accelerate AI-driven solutions and spur economic growth. As fertility rates decline and societies age, automation can provide efficiencies and mitigate the economic impact of shrinking populations by replacing non-existent human workers in essential roles. With baby boomers retiring at an unprecedented pace,...
read Jul 9, 2024FedEx Partners with Police, AI Startup to Expand Controversial Surveillance Network Across U.S.
FedEx, the shipping giant, is partnering with police departments and Flock Safety, a car surveillance startup, to monitor its facilities and share camera feeds with law enforcement, potentially expanding a controversial AI surveillance network across the U.S. Key details of the partnership: FedEx is using Flock Safety's AI-powered car surveillance cameras to monitor its distribution and cargo facilities nationwide, and is sharing these feeds with local police departments: FedEx is one of at least four multi-billion dollar companies, including Simon Property, Lowe's, and Kaiser Permanente, that have been identified as Flock Safety customers. Some police departments, like Shelby County Sheriff's...
read Jul 9, 2024The AI Boom is Driving Strong Demand and Share Price Increases for Corning
The AI boom is driving stronger-than-expected demand for Corning's equipment, resulting in a 12% surge in the company's shares and a raised second-quarter guidance, marking the stock's best trading day since March 2020. Key takeaways: Corning expects second-quarter sales of $3.6 billion, up from previous guidance of $3.4 billion, and earnings per share to be at the high end or slightly above the guided range of 42 cents to 46 cents per share: The company credits the outperformance to demand for its optical connectivity products that power networks running generative artificial intelligence. Corning has invented new fibers, cables, connectors, and...
read Jul 9, 2024Digital Twins Poised to Revolutionize AI Across Industries, from Healthcare to Urban Planning
Digital twins, virtual models of humans and objects, will be a major driving force of AI applications across industries, from healthcare to urban planning. The digital twin boom: As AI technology advances, companies are investing billions in creating digital twins to unlock new insights and opportunities: The market for digital twins is projected to skyrocket from $35 billion in 2023 to $379 billion by 2034, according to Gartner, with the healthcare industry driving much of this growth. Digital twins can range from statistical models of complex systems like organisms or weather patterns to video avatars of individuals trained on their...
read Jul 9, 2024Navigating the Generative AI Revolution: Key Trends Shaping Enterprise Adoption and Innovation
The rapidly evolving generative AI landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for enterprises seeking to harness its potential. As companies navigate this complex tech stack, key trends and considerations emerge that will shape the future of AI adoption and innovation. The rise of end-to-end solutions: Enterprises are increasingly gravitating towards comprehensive, integrated AI platforms that abstract away complexity and streamline operations: Intuit's creation of GenOS, a generative AI operating system, exemplifies this trend, aiming to accelerate innovation while maintaining consistency across the company's vast ecosystem. Databricks has expanded its AI deployment capabilities with new features like Model Serving and Feature...
read Jul 9, 2024Perplexity CBO to Address AI’s Future Amidst Praise and Criticism at VB Transform 2024
Perplexity CBO Dmitry Shevelenko is set to discuss the company's AI-powered search engine and its impact on the future of AI at the upcoming VB Transform 2024 conference, amidst both enthusiasm from tech CEOs and criticism from publishers. Perplexity's promise of "factfulness" generates buzz: The AI-powered search engine, which aims to prioritize accuracy in its results, has garnered support from prominent tech figures like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, who have incorporated it into their daily routines. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas emphasized the company's focus on "factfulness and accuracy" in a previous interview with The Verge....
read Jul 9, 2024Intuit’s AI Advancements Attract Investors, Solidify Market Dominance
Intuit's AI strategy positions it for continued success as an industry leader, with investors bullish on the company's future. Key takeaways: Intuit's recent AI initiatives are solidifying its position as a major player in the industry, catching the attention of investors: Barrons gave Intuit an Outperforming rating and predicted a 15% rise in stock prices, citing the company's AI advancements as a key factor. Intuit's AI solutions are streamlining tax prep and accounting services for customers, attracting and retaining users while saving them costs. Intuit's prominence in the market: Despite a brief setback related to IRS free tax prep software,...
read Jul 9, 2024San Francisco Office Market Struggles Despite AI Boom; Vacancy Rate Hits Record High
San Francisco's office market continues to struggle despite the AI boom in the city. The vacancy rate hit a new record of 34.5% in Q2, while asking rents fell to their lowest since 2015. AI companies expanding in San Francisco: The city has seen major leases from AI leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Scale AI over the past year, benefiting from the surge in interest and investment in generative AI: OpenAI leased about 500,000 square feet in Mission Bay, the biggest office lease in San Francisco since 2018, and is looking for more space. Anthropic subleased 230,000 square feet at...
read Jul 8, 2024OpenAI CEO: Advanced AI Is Inevitable And Transformative
The rise of advanced AI is inevitable and will dramatically reshape the tech industry and society, with OpenAI at the forefront of this transformation: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman believes the development of increasingly advanced AI systems is "inevitable," comparing the current state of AI to the early days of the iPhone and predicting an AI-driven "printing press moment" that will fundamentally change how people use the internet and technology. OpenAI's latest model, GPT-4o, is already exceeding expectations in terms of capabilities, and the company is working on GPT-5 which is expected to be a "significant leap forward" in addressing current...
read Jul 8, 2024How Cohere Is Using AI to Make Enterprises More Productive
The co-founder of AI startup Cohere is bringing generative AI to businesses to boost productivity and profits. Cohere's generative AI is designed for enterprise use, not consumers: Unlike OpenAI's ChatGPT, Cohere builds AI models that companies can leverage to enhance their operations and bottom line: Studies from MIT and Harvard show Cohere's models can lift knowledge worker productivity by around 40% once employees are trained on using the technology effectively. Specific use cases include helping insurers submit faster quotes to win more contracts when bidding on projects like mining or pipelines. Gomez helped invent the influential transformer architecture while interning...
read Jul 8, 2024The Role of Chief AI Officer Will Be Crucial To Navigating Generative AI in Business
The rapid rise of generative AI is transforming the business landscape, necessitating a new C-suite role to navigate the challenges and opportunities: the Chief AI Officer (CAIO). The CAIO as a visionary leader: The CAIO role requires a unique blend of technical understanding, business acumen, strategic foresight, and innovation to mobilize an entire enterprise in the face of AI disruption: The CAIO should be a visionary leader who balances technical knowledge with the ability to understand the disruptive nature of generative AI and its potential to fundamentally change how businesses function and thrive. Rather than assigning the role to an...
read Jul 8, 2024Is Apple’s OpenAI Partnership The iPhone Moment for AI?
Apple's partnership with OpenAI to bring advanced AI capabilities to its devices marks a significant milestone in the mainstream adoption of artificial intelligence, with the potential to transform how society interacts with technology in everyday life. Key Takeaways: Apple's integration of ChatGPT-style services into its mobile devices and computers could be a transformative "iPhone moment" for generative AI, making it accessible and useful to millions of users in their daily lives. This partnership has the potential to democratize and empower users through AI, but it also presents challenges related to environmental impact, AI hallucinations, privacy, and data security. Broader Implications:...
read Jul 7, 2024AI Revolution: Navigating Economic Shifts, Existential Questions, and Regulatory Gaps
The rise of AI is leading to significant shifts in tech investment and economic sentiment, but challenges remain in realizing its full potential. A few key points emerge: AI's gold rush leaves a massive revenue gap: Sequoia Capital estimates a $500 billion annual shortfall between AI infrastructure investments and earnings, as companies grapple with overcapacity and underperforming growth expectations. Despite this, AI stock valuations continue to climb, with economic sentiment increasingly tied to the sector's performance. Substantial overcapacity in computing build-out is likely, mirroring past infrastructure waves, but medium-term demand is expected to vastly exceed current investments. Aligning superintelligent institutions...
read Jul 7, 2024The Hidden Human Cost Powering the AI Revolution in Silicon Valley
The harrowing reality of AI's human labor unveiled: African workers power the AI revolution for meager wages Mercy and Anita, two African workers employed by outsourcing companies, exemplify the hidden human labor behind AI advancements: Mercy, a Meta content moderator in Nairobi, endures viewing disturbing images and videos for 10-hour shifts, earning just over a dollar an hour, with minimal job security and support. Anita, a data annotator in Gulu, Uganda, reviews hours of footage for an autonomous vehicle company, identifying drivers' lapses in concentration, earning around $1.16 per hour for her grueling work. The dark underbelly of AI development:...
read Jul 5, 2024Amazon’s 30th Birthday: A Dystopian Legacy of Eroded Privacy?
The tech behemoth Amazon turns 30, prompting reflections on its impact on privacy: The op-ed marks Amazon's 30th anniversary by highlighting how the once-beloved bookseller has become a data-hungry behemoth that, along with Google and Facebook, has eroded personal privacy and helped create an economy built on harvesting and monetizing users' personal data. Amazon's vast data collection and inference capabilities: Amazon's extensive data collection spans from consumer preferences and behaviors to biometric data like voice recordings, enabling the company to infer sensitive information about individuals, such as their sexual orientation, political affiliation, health issues, and more. According to the author,...
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