The European Commission has released a list of more than 100 companies that have become signatories to the EU’s AI Pact. While Google, Microsoft and OpenAI are among them, Apple and Meta are not. The voluntary AI Pact is aimed at eliciting policies on AI deployment during the period before the legally binding AI Act takes full effect. The EU AI Pact focuses on transparency in three core areas: internal AI governance, high-risk AI systems mapping and promoting AI literacy and awareness among staff to support ethical development. It is aimed at “relevant stakeholders,” across industry, civil society and academia. Read more

Meta’s Llama 3.2 release includes two new multimodal LLMs, one with 11 billion parameters and one with 90 billion — considered small- and medium-sized — and two lightweight, text-only models (1B and 3B) that fit onto edge and mobile devices. Included are pre-trained and instruction-tuned versions. In addition to text, the multimodal models can interpret images, supporting apps that require visual understanding. Meta says the models are free and open source. Alongside them, the company is releasing “the first official Llama Stack distributions,” enabling “turnkey deployment” with integrated safety. Read more

California’s “click to cancel” bill has become law, making it easier for consumers to cancel subscriptions. Companies that offer online or in-app sign-ups will now have to make canceling or unsubscribing available online or in-app as well. Assembly Bill 2863 was signed into law this week by Governor Gavin Newsom, though companies have until the middle of next year to comply. Consumers have long complained about companies making it easy to sign up but difficult to cancel services. This law ensures consumers can easily exit from services “without being trapped by confusing processes or hidden fees.” Read more

Meta has secured rights to the voices of actors Judi Dench, Kristen Bell, John Cena and others for its Meta AI chatbot, a ChatGPT-like digital assistant that is part of the plan for conversational AI as part of the multimodal Llama 3.2. Also revealed at Meta Connect this week was Orion, “the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen,” queued up to become Meta’s “first consumer full holographic AR glasses,” though they won’t be available anytime soon. A low-priced Quest 3 mixed reality headset, the $299 Quest 3S, will be arriving in time for the holidays, however. Read more

As OpenAI gears up to become a for-profit company next year, it is releasing ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode, which brings a humanlike conversation mode to ChatGPT 4o. All U.S. subscribers to ChatGPT Plus and Team plans will gain access to the new feature, which will also be made available to those paying for ChatGPT Edu and Enterprise plans in the coming weeks. The firm is also adding five new voices and allowing customers to save personalized instructions for the voice assistant, including memory behaviors. Concurrently, executives including CTO Mira Murati have resigned as the company pivots to commerciality. Read more