Word out of OpenAI’s first DevDay event in almost two years is that the company wants to make its generative AI chatbot ChatGPT more like an “operating system.” A demo by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman showed apps including Spotify, Canva, Figma and Zillow responding to typed commands inside a chat. The company also released a new Apps SDK in preview so developers can start building for the ChatGPT platform. “Building with the Apps SDK makes it possible to reach over 800 million ChatGPT users at just the right time,” according to OpenAI. Other pilot partners include Booking.com, Coursera and Expedia. Continue reading OpenAI Debuts Features That Make ChatGPT More Like an OS

OpenAI is taking ChatGPT beyond the question-and-answer phase with the introduction of ChatGPT Pulse, which has agentic abilities, proactively doing research to deliver personalized updates based on chats, feedback, and connected apps like calendar. Users can curate the results by indicating what’s useful. ChatGPT will be working while you’re not, delivering up to 10 “briefs” designed to help start your day. Available in preview to ChatGPT Pro users on mobile, OpenAI plans to “learn and improve from early use before rolling it out to Plus, with the goal of making it available to everyone.” Continue reading OpenAI’s Agentic ChatGPT Pulse Aims to Help Start Each Day

OpenAI is purchasing software-testing startup Statsig in a deal reportedly worth $1.1 billion and has named its founder and CEO Vijaye Raji the ChatGPT-maker’s CTO of Applications as part of the move to build out that division, announced in May under CEO Fidji Simo, who previously ran Instacart. Reporting to Simo, Raji will head product engineering for ChatGPT and Codex “with responsibilities that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure and integrity,” said OpenAI, a client of Statsig, whose services include powering A/B testing, feature flagging, and “real-time decisioning.” Continue reading OpenAI Acquires Product-Testing Firm Statsig for $1.1 Billion

OpenAI is releasing its Codex agentic coding tool in research preview. Codex lets developers delegate simple, routine programming tasks to software engineering agents that can generate production-ready code, documenting the work as they go. Codex can work on many tasks in parallel doing things like writing software features, answering questions about a codebase, fixing bugs, and proposing pull requests for review. According to OpenAI, “each task runs in its own cloud sandbox environment,” preloaded within the user’s repository. OpenAI began releasing Codex last week to ChatGPT Pro, Enterprise, and Team users, with support for Plus and Edu coming soon. Continue reading OpenAI Adds Codex Software Agent to Some ChatGPT Plans

OpenAI’s powerful text-to-image generator DALL-E 2 is still in beta, but businesses are already testing it for commercial use. Apparel firm Stitch Fix has been using it to visualize fabric and color personalization, while Heinz tapped the AI system for a marketing campaign. Cosmopolitan used it to design a magazine cover. Others have leveraged the image engine to generate logos and thumbnails. These early adopters are identifying technical issues that OpenAI says it is addressing as it readies DALL-E 2 for enterprise. Foremost among the complaints is the lack of a dedicated API for public use. Continue reading Businesses Experiment with DALL-E 2, Report Mixed Results

OpenAI’s Codex, an AI system that translates natural language into code, was released via an API in private beta. Codex, trained on billions of lines of public code, can turn plain English commands into 12+ programming languages and also powers GitHub service Copilot that suggests whole lines of code within Microsoft Visual Studio and other development environments. OpenAI explained that Codex will be offered for free during an “initial period,” and invites “businesses and developers to build on top of it through the API.”

Continue reading OpenAI Debuts Tool to Translate Natural Language into Code

On October 29, the Television Academy celebrated the honorees of the 72nd Engineering Emmy Awards, live-streaming the ceremony from its website for the first time. The awards were announced on October 8, and the event was hosted by CBS “Criminal Minds” star Kirsten Vangsness for the fifth consecutive year. The Engineering Emmys are awarded to individuals, companies or organizations for technical developments that improve or invent things that “greatly impacts the production, recording, transmission or reception of TV.” Continue reading Television Academy Live-Streams Engineering Emmy Awards

Three big publishers that inked new pacts with Amazon to be able to set prices for their titles are now scratching their heads. The prices went up, but the sales went down. Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers and CBS Corporation’s Simon & Schuster all reported declining e-book revenues, despite the “win” of setting their own, considerably higher prices. Although the correlation between the two facts might seem obvious, some publishers insist lackluster books are to blame. Continue reading Publishers Raise Amazon Kindle E-Book Prices, Sales Plummet

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences used the NAB Show as the launch for the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) — a free, open, device-independent global standard for color management and image interchange that targets digital production, mastering and long-term archiving of motion pictures. The Academy also announced the support of 22 leading companies that will participate in the ACES Logo Program, which was developed to “encourage consistent, high-quality implementations of ACES concepts and technical specifications throughout the industry.” Continue reading NAB 2015: AMPAS Launches Global Standard for Color Encoding

“Zero Dark Thirty” cinematographer Greig Fraser used the ARRI Alexa with Codex Onboard recorders to shoot in nearly pitch black conditions. Fraser worked with Digilab, Codex and Panavision to help create a pipeline of reliable equipment to remote locations in India and Jordan. Digilab and Panavision helped develop lightweight backpacks to aid with the mobile nature of the shoot, while Codex established a reliable stream of equipment for the harsh conditions. Continue reading Zero Dark Thirty Shoot Turns to Remote Pipeline Partners