Microsoft is launching Bing Chat Enterprise, a business-focused version of Bing Chat with data privacy and governance controls. The company is also introducing Visual Search in Bing Chat and new AI features for Azure, revealed at its Inspire 2023 conference this week. In addition, the cloud-based Copilot plan “combines the power of large language models with your data in the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 apps” for a new way of working using only natural language prompts. Currently in early access, Copilot will be priced at $30 per user per month for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium subscribers. Continue reading Microsoft Intros Bing Chat Enterprise, New AI Tools for Azure

Apple is reportedly developing tools it could use to enter the artificial intelligence space, joining rivals such as Microsoft and Google, which have already released popular products. In Cupertino, the company is said to have built a framework for large language models, which power AI-based chatbot offerings similar to Google’s Bard and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Called Ajax, the platform is the basis for what is referred to inside the company as Apple GPT. Though Apple has built automation into its products for some time, it could now be preparing to make a direct play for the generative AI market. Continue reading Apple Chatbot ‘Ajax’ Could Be Next Major Player in AI Space

IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, has adopted what it is calling “Core Principles for Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Technology” in the entertainment industry. Unveiled last week, the document follows the May creation of the group’s Commission on Artificial Intelligence. The activity is meant to convey a proactive approach to the challenges and opportunities ahead. “With AI, the stakes for IATSE members in all crafts is high,” said IATSE International President Matthew Loeb. “There is much work to do, but I am pleased to report the union’s efforts are already well underway.” Continue reading IATSE Unveils Its Core Principles for AI and Machine Learning

OpenAI believes artificial intelligence exceeding human intelligence “could arrive this decade.” Calling the massive compute power “superintelligence rather than AGI to stress a much higher capability level,” the company warns that even though this new cognition holds great promise it will not necessarily be benevolent. Preparing for the worst, OpenAI has formed an internal unit charged with developing ways to keep superintelligent AI in check. Led by OpenAI’s Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, the Superalignment Team will work toward “steering or controlling a potentially superintelligent AI and preventing it from going rogue.” Continue reading OpenAI Launches a Task Force to Control Superintelligent AI

China’s ByteDance is testing an AI tool called Ripple. The free app for creating music and editing audio is being made available in closed beta in the U.S. with a small group of invited testers. Aimed at creators who want to up their sound game, Ripple is designed in the manner of a portable smart digital audio workstation (DAW). Ripple incorporates what TikTok’s parent company ByteDance calls a “virtual recording studio” that allows users to record and edit audio files on a mobile device, and the company plans to release additional mobile-friendly audio tools. Continue reading ByteDance Bows Ripple AI for Music Creation, Audio Editing

The research team at Microsoft has taken the wraps off a new type of analog optical computer that uses photons and electrons to process continuous value data instead of traditional transistors that crunch through binary ones and zeroes. Called the Analog Iterative Machine, or AIM, it “has the potential to surpass state-of-the-art digital technology and transform computing in years to come,” Microsoft suggests. AIM is made to solve difficult optimization problems bedeviling industries such as finance, logistics, transportation, energy, healthcare and manufacturing. Continue reading Microsoft’s Light-Based Computer Could Usher in a New Era

Based on the premise that it is impractical to deploy an all-purpose LLM for specific use cases, a group of researchers from Google, Baidu, DeepMind and Meta founded Reka AI in July 2022. A year later the company has emerged from stealth mode with news of $58 million in Series A funding led by DST Global and Radical Ventures. Strategic partner Snowflake Ventures also participated, along with angel investor Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub. The Sunnyvale, California-based startup says it is building “enterprise-grade state-of-the-art AI assistants for everyone, regardless of language and culture.” Continue reading Reka AI Raises $58 Million to Customize LLMs for Enterprise

Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have introduced a computer vision system that combines image recognition and image generation technology into one training model instead of two. The result, MAGE (short for MAsked Generative Encoder) holds promise for a wide variety of use cases and is expected to reduce costs through unified training, according to the team. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first model that achieves close to state-of-the-art results for both tasks using the same data and training paradigm,” the researchers said. Continue reading MAGE AI Unifies Generative and Recognition Image Training

Meta Platforms has unveiled Voicebox, an AI model that can produce high-quality audio clips and edit pre-recorded audio. It also uses artificial intelligence for speech generation efforts, using what Meta calls “in-context learning” to accomplish tasks it was not specifically trained for. The company says Voicebox is first in class with this type of generalized learning for audio. Untrained tasks include sampling, stylizing and editing. As an editor, it can isolate and remove sounds like car horns and background animal noise while preserving the content and style of the source audio. The multilingual model generates speech in six languages. Continue reading Meta Creates Voicebox Generative AI Model for Audio Synth

Meta Platforms continues to make progress on a mission to develop artificial intelligence that can teach itself to learn how the world works. Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun has taken a special interest in developing the new model, called Image Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture, or I-JEPA, which learns by building an internal representation of the outside world and analyzing image abstracts instead of comparing pixels. The approach allows AI techto learn more like humans do, with their ability to figure out complex tasks and adapt to new situations. Continue reading Meta Develops Computer Vision AI That Learns Like Humans

Amazon has tapped artificial intelligence to summarize some of its product reviews. The feature, currently being tested, sifts through customer reviews to create lists of what purchasers like and dislike. The summaries carry the disclaimer “AI-generated from the text of customer reviews.” The move comes as Amazon is also deploying AI to weed out “fake” reviews supplied by “review brokers” who are also now able to leverage the power of AI. Amazon, which has identified phony reviews as a major problem, now uses machine learning models to detect fraudulent behavior by analyzing thousands of data points. Continue reading Amazon Uses AI to Summarize Legit Reviews and Flag Fakes

Google DeepMind has discovered a way to create AI algorithms that run faster than those coded by humans, which could lead to more cost-effective software development and computing that is more efficient and sustainable, according to the Alphabet company. The breakthrough, detailed in the journal Nature, is called AlphaDev. It uses a form of machine learning called reinforcement that allows computers to build on their successes, honing strategies independent of human programmers. In this case, faster algorithms were developed for computer-science functions like sorting and hashing. Continue reading Google DeepMind’s AlphaDev Can Create Faster Algorithms

Deezer, the global music streaming platform based in France, claims to have developed a technique for flagging — and potentially deleting — songs that use artificial intelligence to simulate the performance of popular singers. “We need to take a stand now,” Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said in an interview. “We are at a pivotal moment in music.” His company plans to “weed out illegal and fraudulent content” in an effort to protect artists. Deezer’s detection technology is still under development. It relies on AI, which Folgueira said he is not against if it is used ethically. Continue reading Deezer Says Its Tech Can Flag and Delete Deepfake AI Tunes

Family history platform MyHeritage is releasing a mobile app called Reimagine that enables high-speed scanning of entire album pages to complement the company’s AI tools for restoring — and even facially animating — historical photos. Now users can easily import printed photos stored in albums by snapping page pictures on their iOS or Android device. The app will separate the individual photos, cropping and saving them as standalone images to which metadata can be added for indexing. The app also works with individual photos, or digital uploads from a camera roll. Continue reading Photo App Reimagine Brings Old Images to Life with AI Tools

A March research paper by Microsoft has reopened discussion as to whether artificial intelligence is inching toward human reasoning, as the industry grapples with how an AI system can assimilate training data in a way that allows it to generate answers and promulgate ideas that weren’t programmed into it. Asked for a stable way to stack a book, nine eggs, a laptop, a bottle and a nail, the Microsoft AI generated a response researchers say hinted at artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a term used to connote an as yet theoretical type of machine learning that can duplicate human reasoning. Continue reading Microsoft Study: GPT-4 Nearing Artificial General Intelligence