Amazon is transferring its OpenSearch platform to the Linux Foundation’s new OpenSearch Software Foundation. By handing a third-party the open-source project it has developed internally since 2021, Amazon hopes to accelerate collaboration in data-driven search and analytics, an area of focus due to the proliferation of model training. Not to be confused with commercial search (Google, Bing), engines like OpenSearch are geared toward enterprise and academia. Because it is licensed under Apache 2.0, OpenSearch is a viable starting point for organizations that customize internal platforms for searching, monitoring and analyzing large volumes of data. Continue reading AWS Transfers OpenSearch Stewardship to Linux Foundation

Anthropic has launched the Claude Enterprise subscription plan to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise business solution. Focused on security and administrative controls, Claude Enterprise is designed to help organizations securely collaborate with artificial intelligence using proprietary internal data. Pricing will vary based on the number of seats and how Claude is used but is expected to be more expensive than Claude Pro and Claude Teams ($20 and $25 per month, respectively). An expanded 500K context window, more usage capacity, and a native GitHub integration for work on entire codebases are advantages Anthropic touts for Claude Enterprise. Continue reading Anthropic Announces Enhanced Claude Enterprise Plan for AI

Nvidia has had another impressive quarter. Record revenue of $30 billion in Q2 was up 122 percent from a year ago, while data center revenue of $26.3 billion marked a 154 percent increase from the same period in 2023. The performance was seen by many as an assurance of AI’s staying power, although others raised concern that if the AI companies buying chips do not start generating profits soon, the sugar high of the two-year AI boom could precede a crash. Nvidia took the occasion to tout its next-generation Blackwell chips, reassuring investors that a mid-production “tweak” would not delay release. Continue reading AI Boom Continues to Drive Strong Nvidia Revenue and Profit

Google DeepMind has made its latest AI image generator, Imagen 3, free for use in the U.S. via the company’s ImageFX platform. Imagen 3 will be available in multiple versions, “each optimized for different types of tasks, from generating quick sketches to high-resolution images.” Google announced Imagen 3 at Google I/O in March, and in June made it available to enterprise users through Vertex. Using simplified natural language text input rather than “complex prompt engineering,” Google says Imagen 3 generates high-quality images in a range styles, from photorealistic, painterly and textured to whimsically cartoony. Continue reading Google DeepMind Releases Imagen 3 for Free to U.S. Users

California-based semiconductor manufacturer AMD is looking to take on Nvidia for a bigger share of business from the artificial intelligence boom. AMD plans to purchase data center equipment maker ZT Systems in a cash and stock deal that values the company at $4.9 billion. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is part of AMD’s goal of offering a wider selection of chips, software and system designs to big data enterprise clients such as Microsoft, Google, Meta Platforms and Apple. Privately held ZT Systems, based in New Jersey, makes gear and server solutions for cloud computing and related infrastructure. Continue reading AMD Buying ZT Systems to Expand Data Center Capabilities

In the wake of having to retool its logistical underpinnings to accommodate the massive numbers participating in fundraising videoconferences for Presidential candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris, Zoom has added large-scale, single-use webinar options to its menu of monthly and annual webinar subscriptions. Customers can now opt for webinars with simultaneous participation of 10K, 50K, 100K, 250K, 500K or 1 million. The single-use packages include support from the Zoom event services team “to ensure hosts deliver a professional, engaging experience.” Continue reading Zoom Adds Single-Use Events for Up to 1 Million Participants

Amazon has made the Amazon Titan Image Generator v2 model generally available to AWS customers using Amazon Bedrock. The improved v2 model allows creation using reference images (called “image conditioning”) and also allows editing capabilities, background removal, iteration and customization, with a focus on maintaining brand style and subject consistency. The new version “can intelligently detect and segment multiple foreground objects,” according to AWS cloud developer Channy Yun. “With the Titan Image Generator v2, you can generate color-conditioned images based on a color palette [and] use the image conditioning feature to shape your creations.” Continue reading Amazon Rolls Out New Upgrades to Its Titan Image Generator

Airtable, a 10-year-old firm focused on customized apps, is launching Cobuilder, which uses AI to turn a concept into a customizable application “in seconds,” without the need for human coding. The debut adds to a rapidly expanding field of no-code platforms that help non-technical types develop software suitable for enterprise use. “Within the next five years, teams will build the vast majority of applications in-house, customizing them to transform their most critical workflows,” predicts Airtable co-founder and CEO Howie Liu. “To get there, knowledge workers who are closest to the work need to be empowered to build.” Continue reading Airtable Enters No-Code Enterprise App Space with Cobuilder

Nvidia and French startup Mistral AI are jointly releasing a new language model called Mistral NeMo 12B that brings enterprise AI capabilities to the desktop without the need for major cloud resources. Developers can easily customize and deploy the new LLM for applications supporting chatbots, multilingual tasks, coding and summarization, according to Nvidia. “NeMo 12B offers a large context window of up to 128k tokens,” explains Mistral, adding that “its reasoning, world knowledge, and coding accuracy are state-of-the-art in its size category.” Available under the Apache 2.0 license, it is easy to implement as a drop-in replacement for Mistral 7B. Continue reading Mistral, Nvidia Bring Enterprise AI to Desktop with NeMo 12B

Microsoft is working on a new productivity tool that helps artificial intelligence better understand spreadsheets. Still in the experimental phase, SpreadsheetLLM addresses challenges that are unique to applying AI to spreadsheets, “with their extensive two-dimensional grids, various layouts, and diverse formatting options,” the company explains. Hailed as a significant development in the enterprise space, where spreadsheets are used for everything from data entry to financial modeling and are shared among departments, Microsoft points out that as a research area spreadsheet-optimized AI has generally been overlooked in favor of flashier use-cases. Continue reading Microsoft Targets Enterprise Productivity with Spreadsheet AI

Amazon Web Services made availability announcements for services including its enterprise AI assistant Q, which now becomes available on its entry-level SageMaker tier, and introduced some new products at the AWS Summit at New York City’s Javits Center this week. Notably, the App Studio development assistant has launched in public preview. Amazon is also highlighting new features to improve AI accuracy, including a guardrail that detects “hallucinations.” Overall, the event — one in a series of daylong summits held in key cities across the nation — emphasized the comprehensiveness of the company’s generative AI stack. Continue reading AWS Expands Q Availability, Adds Guardrails for Bedrock AI

Amazon announced the public preview launch of its GenAI-powered App Studio service. The platform — which is geared toward professionals who lack extensive software development skills — builds full-featured, enterprise-level apps using natural language prompts. Users simply describe what they would like the app to accomplish and the data sources available to it and App Studio will produce in minutes what the company claims, “could have taken a professional developer days to build from scratch.” The announcement was made during this week’s AWS Summit in New York City. Continue reading AWS Releases GenAI-Powered App Studio in Public Preview

Deepfake videos are becoming increasingly problematic, not only in spreading disinformation on social media but also in enterprise attacks. Now researchers at Drexel University College of Engineering say they have developed an advanced algorithm with a 98 percent accuracy rate in detecting deepfake videos. Called the MISLnet algorithm, for the school’s Multimedia and Information Security Lab where it was invented, the platform uses machine learning to recognize and extract the “digital fingerprints” of video generators including Stable Video Diffusion, VideoCrafter and CogVideo. Continue reading Drexel Claims Its AI Has 98 Percent Rate Detecting Deepfakes

Figma is rolling out its third redesigned user interface, UI3, aimed at making the company even more competitive with Adobe. New are native AI features that accelerate workflows, letting teams build high-quality software. Available in limited beta, Figma AI adds the ability to generate design drafts with a single prompt, enabling rapid experimentation and prototyping. The move advances Figma’s goal of moving beyond design tool to a full-blown product development platform, while making the service intuitive and friendly enough for novices while maintaining the full features demanded by Sigma’s professional users. Continue reading Figma Redesigns Its User Interface and Adds New AI Features

Synthesia, which uses AI to create business avatars for use in content such as training, presentation and customer service videos, has announced a major platform update. “Coming soon” with Synthesia 2.0 are full-body avatars that include hands capable of a wide range of motions. Users can animate motion using skeletal sequences on which the persona selected from the catalog can then be automatically mapped. Starting next month, the Nvidia-backed UK company will offer the ability to incorporate brand identity — including typography, colors and logos — into templated videos. A new translation tool automatically applies updates to all languages. Continue reading Lifelike AI Avatars to Get New Features with Synthesia Update