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Tag: AI

  • Google renames Bard to “Gemini” and launches Google One AI Premium plan with advanced access

    Google renames Bard to “Gemini” and launches Google One AI Premium plan with advanced access

    Google Bard is now Gemini, just “Gemini.” As announced today by Google, Bard — the company’s web-based chatbot — has now been improved, rebranded, and expanded by adding a new Advanced tier bundled into Google One. This is in addition to the new Gemini Android app launched today.

    Google One, the company’s cloud storage subscription service, now has a new tier called “AI Premium.” This tier includes access to Gemini Advanced — the new version of Gemini, formerly called “Bard”, which includes the latest Ultra 1.0 AI model — for $19.99 a month. Additionally, this new Google One tier gives you 2TB of storage, as well as other Google One benefits currently found in the Premium tier.

    Google states that Gemini’s Ultra 1.0 LLM model brings new advancements to the world of AI interaction, such as superior processing efficiency, advanced comprehension of instructions and programs, and innovative problem-solving abilities. The model is said to be capable of analyzing and explaining information, and it can even generate high-quality code in multiple programming languages.

    Additionally, Google is set to bring Gemini to a range of services including Gmail and Docs. This will allow users to enjoy automated text writing, create unique images, and even enhance video quality in Google Meet.

    With the Google One AI Premium plan, users can try out Gemini Advanced free for two months before the $19.99 subscription kicks in. This should allow users to fully explore Gemini’s capabilities before committing. If you’re someone who heavily relies on Google services and craves advanced functionality, the higher price point of these Google One plans might just be worth it, especially when you consider the 2TB of storage it includes and the upcoming integration with Gmail, Docs, and other Workspace apps.

    Gemini Advanced is currently only available in English and can be accessed through the web at gemini.google.com or the old bard.google.com URL, which automatically redirects. It is also worth mentioning that Gemini is currently in the development phase, and its overall effectiveness in the long run is yet to be determined. In addition, the plan’s emphasis on AI capabilities may not be suitable for all users, especially those who prefer straightforward cloud storage solutions.

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  • Meet Rufus, Amazon’s new AI shopping assistant

    Meet Rufus, Amazon’s new AI shopping assistant

    Amazon is among the companies that has iterated a lot when it comes to artificial intelligence. The US-based giant continues to develop new AI tools, especially now that AI is the main buzzword in the tech world.

    The latest AI-powered feature introduced by Amazon is Rufus, an AI assistant that’s supposed to help users with their shopping sprees. As the biggest retailer in the United States, it’s only fitting for Amazon to launch such a product.

    According to Amazon, Rufus has been trained on its product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, as well as information from the web. The AI shopping assistant has been specifically designed to answer customer questions on a wide range of shopping needs and products. Rufus can even provide comparisons and make recommendations based on conversational context.

    Rufus is now available in beta, but Amazon will be starting to roll it out to customers in waves, beginning with a small subset of customers in the United States via the mobile app. Rufus will eventually be rolled out to the rest of the US customers in the coming weeks, Amazon says.

    If you’re interested in checking this one out, here are some of Rufus’ key features:

    • Learn what to look for while shopping product categories
    • Shop by occasion or purpose
    • Get help comparing product categories
    • Find the best recommendations
    • Ask questions about a specific product while on a product detail page

    To start using Rufus, simply start typing or speaking your question into the search bar in Amazon’s mobile app and the shopping assistant chat dialog box will pop up at the bottom of the screen. Keep in mind that this is only available for select customers in the US while it’s in beta.

  • Upgraded version of Siri with AI capabilities rumored to debut at WWDC 2024

    Upgraded version of Siri with AI capabilities rumored to debut at WWDC 2024

    Looking to play catch up with Google, Apple is expected to unveil some new AI-based features in iOS 18. “X” tipster @Tech_Reve recently posted a tweet in which he said that Apple will use an LLM (Large Language Model) to make Siri “the ultimate virtual assistant and is preparing to develop it into Apple’s most powerful killer AI app.” LLM, used on chatbots like ChatGPT, is a language model with a huge amount of data, allowing it to understand a broad range of conversations and respond correctly to them.

    We said yesterday that based on the weekly Power On newsletter written by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple plans on adding new features and designs to iOS 18hoping that the software can help sell the iPhone 16 series which will feature very small hardware changes compared to this year’s models. This dovetails perfectly with @Tech_Reve’s tweet in which he says that the new Siri, using Apple’s own in-house LLM, will debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) next June and will be available on the iPhone 16 series and future models.

    This might be how Apple plans on selling uninspired hardware using iOS 18. The new version of Siri should be able to understand natural language and patterns of speech better. Whether the virtual assistant will ecome more of a challenger to the Google Assistant in terms of giving correct answers is unknown.

    Siri has disappointed many Apple device users since the virtual assistant was first introduced with the iPhone 4s in 2011. If I may digress, I find that using the iOS Google Assistant app will give you more direct answers to your queries instead of making you read a paragraph from Wikipedia. You can also set alarms and timers using the ios Google Assistant app.

    Gurman says that other areas where Apple could introduce AI functionality include the Pages app by helping users write letters, the Keynote app by helping users construct their presentation decks, and Apple Music by creating AI-generated playlists. To make this happen, Apple will need to beef up the AI capabilities of the A18 Pro chipset. When you think about it, this could explain why Apple is rumored to be packing all four 2024 iPhone models with the latest A18 Pro application processor (AP) next year.

    One big question is whether Apple plans on offering new AI features to older models that will be compatible with iOS 18. Apple is in a tough situation here since it wants to include as much on-device processing as possible. And adding new AI features only for the iPhone 16 line and up might improve hardware sales. But it also could leave many angry iPhone users who can’t easily upgrade next year or even the year after.

    Apple might have to allow some of the new features to be processed off-device. However, it might wait for a few months after the 2024 iPhones are released to give iPhone 15 Pro and other older Pro units some of the same AI functionality that we could see with the iPhone 16 series. This is what Google does with its Pixel phones. The Magic Eraser is a good example.

    The Magic Eraser debuted on the Pixel 6 line and helps erase unwanted and distracting items (including people and pets) from processed photos using AI. Earlier this year, Google added the feature to older Pixel models, other Android devices, and even iOS phones that are subscribed to Google One cloud storage.

    For those wondering how Apple would use a game-changing upgrade in iOS 18 to help sell the iPhone 16 line with its uninspiring changes, improving Siri and adding new AI capabilities tot he new phones is the answer.

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  • Lenovo reveals new MotoAI personal assistant for Motorola smartphones

    Lenovo reveals new MotoAI personal assistant for Motorola smartphones

    At the Lenovo Tech World ’23, the Chinese company revealed a bunch of new AI features and flexible hardware that are already in development or in the concept phase.

    Among the many interesting technologies announced by Lenovo earlier today such as foldable and rollable devices in both the smartphone and PC categories, there’s one that seems to be almost ready for primetime, the MotoAI.

    The newly revealed MotoAI is a personal assistant already in development at Lenovo. Aimed at both PCs and smartphones, the MotoAI is supposed to never stop learning and features a foundational model personalized to the user, yet it still protects privacy.

    More importantly, Lenovo’s MotoAI has a large knowledge base that adapts continuously to patterns and usage with natural voice or text interaction capabilities.

    According to Lenovo, users will be able to engage with their personal MotoAI assistant to answer questions, draft messages, schedule tasks, and do other activities that can involve the use of such an AI-powered tool.

    Another interesting aspect about Lenovo’s MotoAI is that unlike other similar products that run cloud-based operations, this one can process data and run tasks locally on-device, which should translate into enhanced data privacy for the user.

    Promising to be a more dynamic, personal and helpful over time personal assistant, MotoAI is supposed to power all Motorola smartphones in the not-so-distant future, so we’ll probably be hearing more about Lenovo’s AI-powered tool in the coming months.

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  • Microsoft extends AI-powered Bing Chat to Chrome and Safari mobile

    Microsoft extends AI-powered Bing Chat to Chrome and Safari mobile

    Six months ago, Microsoft announced its AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser, and the tech giant certainly does not intend to stop there. Microsoft has the ambition to implement AI in all of its products and services, and not only that but also to go beyond its own products.

    Microsoft shared that Bing Chat will soon be available in Chrome and Safari on both web and mobile. Bing Chat is also available as a standalone Android and iOS app, which will also receive some new features. The company’s goal is to allow more people to access Bing’s capabilities, such as summarized answers and image creation.

    While Microsoft may open Bing Chat for usage in third-party browsers, it still recommends using the Microsoft Edge browser if you want to experience the AI chatbot capabilities at their best. Chrome and Safari will have limitations, such as offering only 2,000 words per prompt on Chrome and Safari, compared to 4,000 on Edge. Features such as longer conversations and chat history will be available only on Edge.

    Along with announcing the availability of Bing Chat for Chrome and Safari, Microsoft also shared that the AI-powered Bing mobile app will now have a dark mode option. The company also reminded users of the newest Bing Chat features that were recently added, such as Visual Search.

    Visual Search is a feature powered by AI that allows you to enter a visual prompt. For example, you can take a picture of the inside of your fridge with all the products you have at the moment and ask Bing Chat to give you some ideas on what to cook. In other words, Bing Chat can understand the context of an image, interpret it, and answer questions about it.

    These new features and updates to Bing Chat availability were announced in a blog post celebrating 6 months of the new AI-powered Bing. Microsoft shares that during this time, more than 1 billion chats were initiated, and people generated over 750 million images.

    AI is undoubtedly developing rapidly, entering more and more products daily. One of the most popular AI chatbots, OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4, actually powers Bing Chat, but the latter offers even more accurate and up-to-date information since it has access to Bing Search. With Microsoft working hard to improve its AI products, its biggest competitor, Google is also stepping up its game with its Google Bard and updating its Assistant using AI.

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  • Instagram might label AI-generated content

    Instagram might label AI-generated content

    Recently, Meta, in collaboration with Microsoft, introduced the new Llama 2 – a next-generation large language AI model. This new technology enables companies to customize AI for their needs, like creating chatbots and image generators. It seems that consumer-facing generative AI tools based on this model are already on the horizon.

    It looks like Meta is developing several new generative AI features for Instagram. These features include labels that will help users to identify images “generated by Meta AI.”

    If you wonder what reverse engineers do, they are sort of detectives for technology. They take apart things like software or devices to figure out how they work, even if they were not the ones who originally made them. It’s like solving a puzzle to understand the hidden secrets behind the technology.

    The screenshot shared by Paluzzi shows an in-app message explaining that posts created using Meta’s generative AI tools may soon be labeled within Instagram. This suggests that the company could be interested in helping users identify AI-generated content.

    There have been concerns about the safety and impact of free consumer-facing AI tools on our online presence. Some worry that they could aid the spread of misinformation or mislead people. To address these concerns, some AI companies, including Meta, have pledged to adopt AI safety measures, like using watermarks for AI-generated content. The introduction of labels for AI-generated content on Instagram might be part of these measures.

    Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI stand at the forefront of the artificial intelligence sector in the US. Last month, following a call to action from the White House, they made commitments to incorporate safeguards into their AI technology. Additionally, these industry leaders have joined hands to establish the Frontier Model Forum, an association focused on advancing AI, of which Meta is also a part. The forum’s primary goal is to ensure frontier AI models’ secure and ethical advancement.

    As AI continues to advance at a rapid pace, social media platforms should pay more attention to AI-generated content and clearly label it, even if the content is generated from third-party apps or software. Instagram already has many AI-generated human-like models posing as influencers, which can lead to confusion and misperception of reality.
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  • ChatGPT app for Android is now officially available on the Play Store

    ChatGPT app for Android is now officially available on the Play Store

    Chat GPT, the revolutionary AI-powered chatbot, has been making headlines in the tech world for its ability to simulate human-like conversations through the use of its advanced language model. Although initially the most popular way to use the tool was via its official website, it soon became obvious that its users wanted to take Chat GPT with them on the go with the convenience of just launching a mobile app rather than a browser.

    This became half a reality when OpenAI, the AI research company that developed Chat GPT, released an app for iOS devices. When the iOS version was released, OpenAI promised that an app for Android was soon to follow.
    Two months later, OpenAI followed its promise and opened pre-registrations for Android users interested in installing the app. Once registered, the app was to install on your phone automatically once it was available.

    Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long as the app is now fully available on the Google Play Store with its listing stating that “This official app is free, syncs your history across devices, and brings you the newest model improvements from OpenAI. With ChatGPT in your pocket.” This is great news for those that already use Chat GPT on their desktops and would like to have their chat history available everywhere.

    Just as with the iOS app, ChatGPT Plus subscribers will have exclusive access to the next-gen GPT-4 language model, early access to features, and faster response times. Free subscribers, however, will be using OpenAI’s standard GPT-3.5 language model.
    In addition to the new official app, Android and iOS users alike have the option to utilize the ChatGPT chatbot through the Bing app, which now offers a Bing Chat widget that can be conveniently added to their mobile device’s home screen. Your move Google.
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  • Google Assistant and AI might help Pixel users understand what they are reading online

    Google Assistant and AI might help Pixel users understand what they are reading online

    code found in the latest beta version of the Google app (version 14.29) indicates that Google Assistant will soon be able to use generative AI to help summarize passages found on the internet. While browsing the web, a user can tap on a “Summarize” button when the Google Assistant’s presence is requested with the iconic “Hey Google” call out. Or, you can ask the Assistant to “Summarize this” to see a quick summary of what you are reading on the screen.

    The Summarize suggestion will appear when browsing the internet using Chrome or when an app opens a web page in a Custom Tab (also powered by Chrome). At the moment, the feature does not work as requests for the Assistant to summarize a passage from a website return an error message as seen in the embedded image below.

    While it isn’t clear if and when this feature will be made available, it is a strong possibility that the Google Assistant’s AI summary of internet content will be limited to Pixel phones and tablets only. Google Assistant is supposed to be more optimized and offer faster responses on a Pixel handset.
    The problem with relying on AI to summarize a document is the same problem that is typical with artificial intelligence: the possibility that summaries from Google’s AI service will contain “hallucinations.” These AI platforms are “trained” using information derived from humans and could contain biases and outright incorrect data. But this is something that you need to keep in the back of your mind anytime you use AI to interpret information.
    The Google app right now will also help answer your queries using generative AI on Android and iOS. All you have to do is tap the “Generate” button to the right of your question on the Google app and you’ll see more enhanced information related to your search. Again, you’ll need to watch out for hallucinations and biases, if any.
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  • New Balance introduces new retail concept to Singapore

    New Balance introduces new retail concept to Singapore

    New Balance recently opened a concept store in Singapore, featuring a Volumental 3D foot scanner in the fitting area.

    Since partnering with Volumental in 2017, the retailer says that it has scanned the feet of more than one million shoppers worldwide.

    The scan, which takes less than five seconds, provides employees with detailed information about a customer’s feet, helping them find a shoe that’s sure to fit.

    Volumental claims that the solution helps brands and retailers to: reduce return rates by 18%; increase footwear sales by 20%; achieve email capture rates of 71%.

    Earlier this year, Volumental launched a new self-service version of its AI-powered foot scanners.

    Specifically designed for an in-store experience, customers can take their own foot measurements at the click of a button and receive their best-fitting footwear recommendations on their phones.

    Volumental said it expected to launch this globally starting with select stores in the sporting goods industry, outlet malls and brand warehouses in 2023. This followed a beta test with Under Armour.

    “Our new self-service scanners will bring the same technology that specialty footwear retailers have enjoyed to many more retail segments,” said Alper Aydemir, CEO, Volumental.

    “Having worked with footwear retailers across different store formats, service environments, and staffing models, we realized the need for a self-service enabled shopping experience that is both innovative and easy to use for shoppers.”

    “This solution takes the guesswork out of the whole fitting experience and helps shoppers make smarter and faster purchase decisions with better-fit outcomes.”

    “The personalized recommendations create a more engaging customer experience, allow retailers to manage inventory in a much smarter way, and help solve the huge returns issue facing the industry.”

    Volumental’s self-service scanners will be placed in dedicated co-branded spaces in-store.

    Touchscreens will provide the customer with instructions on use as well as nearly instant personalized size recommendations on their perfect fitting brands and styles.

    Volumental was highly commended at the 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards last month, after impressing our judging panel in the Omnichannel Retail Initiative of the Year category.

    Our 2022 winners and highly commended entries were revealed at a sold-out event in central London on Tuesday, 6th December.

    RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, said: “Innovation and technology play a critical role in the success of the retail sector, so it is great to recognize standout examples through our awards.”

    “Thanks to all those who entered the 2022 event. We received a record number of submissions and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.”

    “Congratulations to our 2022 retail technology hall of fame entrants.”

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  • Apple co-founder Wozniak fears that AI will be used to scam the public

    Apple co-founder Wozniak fears that AI will be used to scam the public

    Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, affectionately known as “The Woz,” says that artificial intelligence could make it harder to spot scams. Wozniak says that content created by AI should clearly be labeled as such and that regulation is needed or else bad actors will take control of the technology. Wozniak talked to the BBC about this issue two months after he and other tech leaders, including Elon Musk, signed an open letter asking for a slowdown in developing powerful AI models.
    Speaking to BBC Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman, Wozniak said, “AI is so intelligent it’s open to the bad players, the ones that want to trick you about who they are.” While The Woz thinks that the lack of emotion will prevent AI from replacing humans in the workforce, he fears that it will make bad actors seem more convincing when they are trying to scam the public. That’s because conversational AI chatbots like ChatGPT can create text that sounds convincing to the layman.
    As a result, Wozniak says that those who publish text written by AI are responsible for labeling it as AI-generated. “A human really has to take responsibility for what is generated by AI,” Wozniak says. He wants regulation to hold big tech firms accountable. The Woz didn’t mention any particular firm but said these are the tech companies that “feel they can kind of get away with anything.”
    Not that Wozniak was specifically talking about the company he helped create, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said to investors during a conference call last week that when it comes to AI, Apple would be “”deliberate and thoughtful. Cook added, “We view AI as huge, and we’ll continue weaving it in our products on a very thoughtful basis.”
    The Woz was not optimistic that regulators will be able to oversee the use of artificial intelligence. “I think the forces that drive for money usually win out, which is sort of sad,” he said. While he doesn’t believe that the development of AI can be stopped, he thinks that people can be educated to help them find situations where their personal data is at risk due to fraud.
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  • Microsoft launches its all-new AI-powered Bing on mobile

    Microsoft launches its all-new AI-powered Bing on mobile

    After introducing its new Bing and Microsoft Edge apps powered by AI, Microsoft announced the launch of the new Bing preview and Edge on mobile. The Redmond-based company figured out that most of the searches occur on mobile phones these days and decided to bring the new AI capabilities to smaller screens around the same time as PC.

    The new Bing and Edge mobile apps are now available for those who wish to try them out. Along with a new experience, Bing mobile offers a fresh design as well. Tapping the Bing icon allows users to engage in a chat session asking simple or complex questions.

    Another important change added, one of the preview community’s most requested features, is voice. Voice search is now available not just on desktop, but also on mobile too. For those who have access to the preview, the new Bing experience will be available from the homepage of the Microsoft Edge mobile app.

    Additionally, Microsoft announced the launch of the AI-powered Bing for Skype. Starting today, the new Bing in Skype is available worldwide in preview. While Microsoft is fine-tuning the app, Skype users who use Bing will still get real-time answers to their questions.

    The new AI-powered Bing for Skype experience includes personalization options that allow users to choose how they want answers to be displayed such as bullet points, text or simplified response. According to Microsoft, Bing can translate text from more than 100 languages, so that’s another plus. Although Skype user interface will vary during initial rollout, these features will remain available to everyone who has access to the preview.

    Those who wish to try these out must sign up for the Bing preview. Keep in mind though that you may occasionally find connectivity issues when your network signal is low. Microsoft is aware of these problems are will probably fix them sooner rather than later.

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  • Spotify launches new feature powered by AI to enhance music curation

    Spotify launches new feature powered by AI to enhance music curation

    As more companies adopt AI (artificial intelligence), many services are getting new features that are now fully automated and less curated by the human touch. Spotify’s new AI DJ is meant to bring personalization to a new level.

    In an announcement earlier today, the music streaming service explains that its new feature is a personalized AI guide that “knows you and your music taste so well that it can choose what to play for you.” It might sound frightening at first glance, but it’s exactly what many customers are looking for when using Spotify on a daily basis.

    Granted, the new DJ feature powered by AI is only rolling out in beta, it promises to provide customers with a curated lineup of music, as well as commentary around the tracks and artists that it thinks the user likes “in a realistic voice:”

    Among the many capabilities of the AI DJ, Spotify mentions the ability to sort through the latest music. It can also look back at some of the old favorites and serve more songs that the user might not have listened to for a long time.

    The AI DJ assesses your actions all the time and after each review, it tries to deliver a stream of songs picked specifically for you. More importantly, it refreshes the lineup based on feedback regularly.

    If you don’t like a song picked by the DJ, you can tap the dedicated button and it will skip to a new track. As with all these AI-powered features, the more you use the DJ, the faster it learns what you like, so the better your recommendations will be in the end.

    The new DJ feature is available via the Music Feed on Home in the Spotify mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Simply tap Play on the DJ card and the app will do the rest. You’ll be getting music and short commentary on the songs and artists specifically picked for you. Don’t forget that you can skip a song by tapping the DJ button at the bottom right of the screen.

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  • Alibaba tests ChatGPT-style tool as AI buzz intensifies

    Alibaba tests ChatGPT-style tool as AI buzz intensifies

    Alibaba Group on Wednesday said it is developing a ChatGPT-style tool that is currently in internal testing, joining a race by tech companies globally to show they are up to speed on generative artificial intelligence (AI) developments.

    The Chinese e-commerce group’s statement came after the 21st Century Herald newspaper reported that Alibaba is developing a ChatGPT-like dialogue robot which is currently open to employees for testing.

    When asked about the newspaper report, which also said that Alibaba might combine the technology with the group’s communication app DingTalk, Alibaba declined to comment.

    The company said it had been focused on large language models and generative AI for a number of years. Large language models are natural language processing systems which are trained on massive volumes of text, and are capable of answering and comprehending questions as well as generating new text.

    Alibaba’s US-listed shares rose 3.2 per cent premarket after the news.

    Shares in a number of other Chinese AI technology companies have soared in the past few days due to investor excitement over Open.Ai’s ChatGPT, which can generate articles, essays and jokes in response to prompts and has been rated the fastest-growing consumer app in history.

    Shares in Chinese search engine giant Baidu jumped by 15 per cent on Tuesday after it said it planned to complete testing of its “Ernie bot” in March. Google owner Alphabet Inc is also planning its own chatbot service and said it will use more artificial intelligence for its search engine.

    Microsoft, which owns Open.AI, plans to tie ChatGPT in with its search engine Bing.

    On Wednesday, another Chinese tech group JD.com said it was looking to integrate some methods and technology similar to ChatGPT’s into some of its products, such as its e-commerce platform’s customer service.

    A source familiar with NetEase told Reuters that the Chinese gaming company plans to deploy similar large language models technology to serve its education business.

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  • Microsoft’s big AI announcement means that Bing could replace Google as top search app

    Microsoft’s big AI announcement means that Bing could replace Google as top search app

    Microsoft announced tonight that it is integrating its Bing search engine and Edge web browser with the AI superstareveryone is talking about, ChatGPT. Microsoft is investing billions in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, so it makes sense that Microsoft’s search engine and web browser get first crack at adding the conversational AI experience to its mobile apps.

    While Bing currently has about 9% of the online search market, Microsoft expects to generate $2 billion in additional advertising revenue for each percentage point of market share it adds. For Q4 2022 Google Search generated revenue of $42.6 billion compared to “only” $3.2 billion for Microsoft’s search and news advertising revenue. That’s a gap Microsoft is hoping to close and more.

    During a press briefing at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, CEO Satya Nadella said, “This technology is going to reshape pretty much every software category.” ChatGPT is available on the Bing website for a limited number of users and will be ready for mobile users via the Bing app in the weeks ahead. But before you get too excited, during the “limited preview stage,” only pre-set queries will be allowed. At a later date in the future, free-form queries will be answered.

    You first need to join a waitlist to get the Bing app with ChatGPT integration. You can jump ahead in the line by making Microsoft apps the default choice on your PC and scanning a QR code to install the new Bing app on your phone.

    Bing will use OpenAI’s most powerful Prometheus model which will use real-time web data from Bing. That means Bing’s chatbot will be able to give answers based on current events rather than post answers that are limited to 2021 data. And with ChatGPT, Bing users will be able to get a summary of the articles they are reading, compose emails, and translate them to reach more readers. Microsoft warns that ChatGPT, like most AI chatbots, is apt to give incorrect information which it calls a hallucination. The company says more user feedback will help reduce hallucinations.

    Not all analysts see Microsoft’s move as a big one for consumers. Gartner analyst Jason Wong said Microsoft’s “partnership with OpenAI is more relevant for its business customers.” Even so, Wong stated that Microsoft could offer “disruptive opportunities” in consumer businesses as well. The analyst said, “Except for gaming, Microsoft has not been a leader in key consumer technologies, such as search, mobile and social media.”

    Microsoft says that the AI-driven Bing will no longer simply disseminate links. Instead, it will give users clear answers in simple language combining answers that Bing found on the web and from its collection of data. On the Edge web browser, ChatGPT could be used to help users understand long and complex documents.

    Google tossed its hat into the conversational AI era yesterday by announcing Bard. Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote that AI is “the most profound technology we are working on today. AI helps people, businesses and communities unlock their potential.”

    ChatGPT was forecast back in December to replace Google in a couple of years. Now it seems possible that this is going to happen earlier than expected. The chatbot can “write computer code, create complex essays, decorate your home, come up with a winning marketing idea, and more.” Teaching professionals are concerned that students will turn to AI chatbots to write essays instead of using their own brains.

  • Vietnamese can’t wait for official rollout, pay for ChatGPT accounts using VPN

    Vietnamese can’t wait for official rollout, pay for ChatGPT accounts using VPN

    With ChatGPT still not available in Vietnam, service providers are offering to set up accounts for fees of up to VND200,000 (US$8.52).

    Seeing friends chat with the artificial intelligence-based chatbot provided by U.S. startup OpenAI, Hong Nhung, an office clerk in the central city of Da Nang, tried to create an account.

    However, in Vietnam, the only way yet to set up an account is by using a virtual private network (VPN) and getting a foreign phone number.

    Since she was unable to do it by herself, Nhung turned to service providers. “Some people say they will do it for free, some say they will do it for a cup of coffee but others charge VND20,000 to VND200,000,” she said.

    In the end she managed to set up an account for VND20,000.

    Dong Quan, the administrator of a ChatGPT group with more than 20,000 members, said demand increased sharply a week ago.

    There are dozens of posts about selling accounts and how to use the chatbot on the online group every day, and each attracts hundreds of comments, he said.

    The price varies based on the flexibility to change passwords and other benefits, he explained.
    OpenAI’s has said users can start experimenting with $18 in free credit that can be used during their first three months.

    Some sell the same account to many users, even take free accounts shared on online groups and sell them at high prices.

    Quan said his group has received reports of some people paying money but not getting an account and others tricked into clicking on fake links and losing their email accounts.

    Experts suggest people should not pay more than a few tens of thousands of dong for an account or should register with their own email address to get permanent use.

    For service providers, creating an account on OpenAI takes just a couple of minutes, and the cost of messaging is VND3,000.

    According to AI engineer Nguyen Hoang Bao Dai, ChatGPT has become popular globally and in Vietnam because this is the first time people have access to a large AI model.

    ChatGPT not only chats normally like traditional chatbots, but also searches, processes information and responds precisely and instantly. Its ability to keep the chat smooth and easy-to-use interface are other factors.

    Data from Similar Web shows that within two months of its launch, ChatGPT has reached 100 million users.
    According to Sensor Tower, TikTok needed nine months to reach 100 million users, Instagram needed 2.5 years and Google Translate 6.5 years.

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