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- Yahoo Finance
Tesla and Microsoft presented 2 distinct versions of AI. Investors liked both.
Earnings presentations from four of the biggest tech companies in the world showed two very different visions of AI: the moonshot and the incremental gains.
- TechCrunch
Creators of Sora-powered short explain AI-generated video's strengths and limitations
OpenAI's video generation tool Sora took the AI community by surprise in February with fluid, realistic video that seems miles ahead of competitors. Shy Kids is a digital production team based in Toronto that was picked by OpenAI as one of a few to produce short films essentially for OpenAI promotional purposes, though they were given considerable creative freedom in creating "air head." In an interview with visual effects news outlet fxguide, post-production artist Patrick Cederberg described "actually using Sora" as part of his work. Perhaps the most important takeaway for most is simply this: While OpenAI's post highlighting the shorts lets the reader assume they more or less emerged fully formed from Sora, the reality is that these were professional productions, complete with robust storyboarding, editing, color correction, and post work like rotoscoping and VFX.
- TechCrunch
Meta AI tested: Doesn't quite justify its own existence, but free is free
Meta's new large language model, Llama 3, powers the imaginatively named "Meta AI," a newish chatbot that the social media and advertising company has installed in as many of its apps and interfaces as possible. It tends to regurgitate a lot of web search results, and it doesn't excel at anything, but hey — the price is right. You can currently access Meta AI for free on the web at Meta.ai, on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and probably a few other places if those aren't enough.
- Engadget
Apple has reportedly resumed talks with OpenAI to build a chatbot for the iPhone
Apple has resumed talks with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to build an AI-powered chatbot into the iPhone, according to a new report.
- TechCrunch
TechCrunch Minute: Rabbit’s R1 vs Humane’s Ai Pin -- which had the best launch?
After a successful unveiling at CES, Rabbit is letting journalists try out the R1 — a small orange gadget with an AI-powered voice interface. This comes just weeks after the launch of the Humane Ai Pin, which is similarly pitched as a new kind of mobile device with AI at its center. While we’re still waiting on in-depth reviews (as opposed to an initial hands-on) of the R1, there are some pretty clear differences between the two devices.
- TechCrunch
Curio raises funds for Rio, an 'AI news anchor' in an app
The latest to join the fray is Rio, an "AI news anchor" designed to help readers connect with the stories and topics they're most interested in from trustworthy sources. The new app, from the same team behind AI-powered audio journalism startup Curio, was first unveiled at last month's South by Southwest Festival in Austin. It has raised funding from Khosla Ventures and the head of TED, Chris Anderson, who also backed Curio.
- TechCrunch
Photo-sharing community EyeEm will license users' photos to train AI if they don't delete them
EyeEm, the Berlin-based photo-sharing community that exited last year to Spanish company Freepik after going bankrupt, is now licensing its users' photos to train AI models. Earlier this month, the company informed users via email that it was adding a new clause to its Terms & Conditions that would grant it the rights to upload users' content to "train, develop, and improve software, algorithms, and machine-learning models." Users were given 30 days to opt out by removing all their content from EyeEm's platform.
- Engadget
OpenAI's Sam Altman and other tech leaders join the federal AI safety board
Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are joining the government's Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- Yahoo Finance
Microsoft beats Q3 top and bottom lines on cloud strength
Microsoft reported better than anticipated Q3 earnings on Thursday, powered by growth in its cloud products.
- Yahoo TV
'The Simpsons' has been on the air for 34 years. Why a character's shocking death is rare for the series.
He was only the ninth recurring character to ever be killed off in the show's 34-year history.
- Yahoo Finance
Tesla Autopilot recall probed by safety regulator following new crashes
Tesla is facing another setback with its Autopilot software, a system that CEO Elon Musk is betting on to power his robotaxi future.
- Yahoo Finance
New inflation reading reinforces Fed's higher-for-longer stance
Another hot inflation reading released Friday reinforces that any near-term interest rate cuts are less likely, as the Federal Reserve shifts to a higher-for-longer stance.
- Yahoo Finance
Meta’s Zuckerberg can't calm Wall Street’s nerves on AI spending, stock falls 10%
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to calm investors after the company announced it's going to spend more on AI but couldn't assuage concerns as shares fell more than 10% Thursday.
- TechCrunch
Pitch Deck Teardown: NOQX's $200K pre-seed deck
The company hasn't been around for very long — the team behind NOQX felt frustrated by a lack of effective goal management tools for companies and founded the company in 2023. With "clarity of objectives" as its rallying cry, NOQX addresses a critical function of any business — and indeed, of pitch decks — so I was intrigued to see how well NOQX communicates this for itself. NOQX’s deck has 18 slides, none of which has any redactions, although the company omitted its competition slide.
- TechCrunch
It's a sunny day for Google Cloud
Google Cloud, Google's cloud computing division, had a blockbuster fiscal quarter, blowing past analysts' expectations and sending Google parent company Alphabet's stock soaring 13%+ in after-hours trading. Google Cloud revenue jumped 28% to $9.57 billion in Q1 2024, bolstered by the demand for generative AI tools that rely on cloud infrastructure, services and apps. Google Cloud's operating income grew nearly 5x to $900 million, up from $191 million.
- Engadget
The Morning After: Testing the Rabbit R1's AI assistant skills
The biggest news stories this morning: TikTok Lite axes ‘addictive as cigarettes’ reward-to-watch feature, Joe Biden signs the bill that could ban TikTok, JetBlue’s in-flight entertainment system just got a watch party feature.
- TechCrunch
Sanctuary’s new humanoid robot learns faster and costs less
Sanctuary AI often isn’t mentioned in the same breath as humanoid robotics firms like Boston Dynamics, Agility, Figure and 1X, but the Canadian company has been operating in the space for some time. In fact, a new robot introduced on Thursday is actually the seventh-generation of its Phoenix line. While a recent iteration introduced legs into the line, Sanctuary is most concerned with what’s happening from the waist up.
- TechCrunch
Zomato's quick commerce unit Blinkit eclipses core food business in value, says Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs said in a report late Thursday that Indian food delivery giant Zomato's quick commerce arm Blinkit is now more valuable than its core food delivery business, as per the bank's sum-of-the-parts analysis. The investment bank estimates Blinkit's implied value at 119 Indian rupees per share ($1.43) or about $13 billion, while Zomato's food delivery business is valued at Rs 98 per share. Goldman previously pegged Blinkit's valuation at $2 billion in March 2023.
- TechCrunch
Xaira, an AI drug discovery startup, launches with a massive $1B, says it's 'ready' to start developing drugs
Advances in generative AI have taken the tech world by storm. Biotech investors are making a big bet that similar computational methods could revolutionize drug discovery. On Tuesday, ARCH Venture Partners and Foresite Labs, an affiliate of Foresite Capital, announced that they incubated Xaira Therapeutics and funded the AI biotech with $1 billion.
- TechCrunch
Eric Schmidt-backed Augment, a GitHub Copilot rival, launches out of stealth with $252M
In a recent StackOverflow poll, 44% of software engineers said that they use AI tools as part of their development processes now and 26% plan to soon. Gartner estimates that over half of organizations are currently piloting or have already deployed AI-driven coding assistants, and that 75% of developers will use coding assistants in some form by 2028. Ex-Microsoft software developer Igor Ostrovsky believes that soon, there won't be a developer who doesn't use AI in their workflows.