Microsoft’s Bing Chat Powers a New Approach to Advertising

As Microsoft ushers in Kya Sainsbury-Carter to head its $18 billion digital advertising business, Bing Chat is joining her at center stage. The company has plans for generative AI to transform the category, including with paid links in chat results. Since February the company has been testing ads in Bing Chat searches. Microsoft hasn’t disclosed how many people are using the new Bing with AI chat, nor how many ads it has served. Bing Chat’s responses include footnoted links to resources amplifying the information in the chatbot’s conversational answers, but sometimes it links to paid search ads. Continue reading Microsoft’s Bing Chat Powers a New Approach to Advertising

Canva Launches New Branding Features and Magic AI Tools

Canva, the web-based design platform, is debuting “Magic” AI-powered tools that can automate a variety of tasks, from logo design to video editing. The idea is to empower people without design training to do these things, and more. Infographics, advertising materials, illustrations and presentations are among the types of output Canva AI offers. The company is also adding brand management tools to its Visual Worksuite, including a Brand Hub that provides assets for creative application, with permission settings that can restrict off-brand use of things like color or fonts. Continue reading Canva Launches New Branding Features and Magic AI Tools

Microsoft Introduces Visual AI Tools to Bing, Edge Platforms

Microsoft is bringing Bing Image Creator to the new Bing search engine and Edge browser. Powered by an advanced version of the DALL-E model from OpenAI, the new tools will allow users to generate images using word prompts to describe what they want to want to create. The news comes as Microsoft says its new Bing AI Copilot has had “more than 100 million chats to date,” with people using it to refine answers to complex questions or as entertainment or creative inspiration. Bing data indicates images are one of the most searched categories, second only to general web searches, according to Microsoft. Continue reading Microsoft Introduces Visual AI Tools to Bing, Edge Platforms

OpenAI Announces Official Launch of GPT-4 Multimodal Tech

OpenAI has released GPT-4, which it says is a more powerful and reliable version of the artificial intelligence technology powering its viral ChatGPT chatbot. GPT-4 can analyze images and handle larger blocks of text and is generally “more creative and collaborative” than earlier iterations when it comes to things like composing songs, writing screenplays and mimicking a user’s authorial style. “GPT-4 can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy, thanks to its broader general knowledge and problem-solving abilities,” OpenAI says. GPT-4 is already driving the chatbot technology behind Microsoft’s Bing AI search engine, now in beta. Continue reading OpenAI Announces Official Launch of GPT-4 Multimodal Tech

Google’s PaLM API, MakerSuite Coming to Select Developers

Google is readying an API and other enterprise tools for its Pathways Language Model (PaLM) — a large language model similar to GPT — to encourage developers to create chatbots and other apps using the platform. PaLM is one of Google’s most advanced systems, with the capability to generate text, images, code, video and audio from natural language prompts. Much like OpenAI’s GTP series and the LLaMA family from Meta Platforms, it is suitable for a wide variety of general tasks. To facilitate PaLM’s use for specific tasks, Google is launching the MakerSuite along with the PaLM API. Continue reading Google’s PaLM API, MakerSuite Coming to Select Developers

Microsoft Unveils AI Model That Comprehends Image Content

Microsoft researchers have unveiled Kosmos-1, a new AI model the company says analyzes images for content, performs visual text recognition, solves visual puzzles and passes visual IQ tests. It also understands natural language instructions. The new model is what’s known as multimodal AI, which means it uses different instruction sets, from text to audio and video. Mixing media is a key step in building artificial general intelligence (AGI) that can perform tasks in a manner approximating human performance. Examples from a Kosmos-1 research paper show it can effectively analyze images, answering questions about them. Continue reading Microsoft Unveils AI Model That Comprehends Image Content

QuickVid Uses AI to Create Short Videos from Text Prompts

QuickVid is a new AI-driven text-to-video platform aiming for a mass market user base. The tool draws on various generative AI systems to automatically create short-form videos for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms. Created by former Meta Platforms programmer Daniel Habib “in a matter of weeks,” QuickVid is quite rudimentary, though Habib says he plans to continue fine tuning and adding features. Unlike Google and Meta have done with their nascent text-to-video systems, QuickVid has bypassed the formalities of research papers and industry previews and jumped directly to a public-facing website. Continue reading QuickVid Uses AI to Create Short Videos from Text Prompts

New Image Recognition Technology Can See More Than Faces

Breakthroughs in image recognition technology may drastically improve image searches when machines can recognize people, objects, actions, and even the quality of photographs. Researchers at Google and Stanford University recently unveiled new software that can teach itself to identify the characters, actions, and settings of a scene in photos and videos. Photo sharing startup EyeEm has fine-tuned algorithms that rate photographs based on aesthetics. Continue reading New Image Recognition Technology Can See More Than Faces

Instagram Quietly Unveils One-Tap Messaging App Called Bolt

Introduced by Facebook’s Instagram, Bolt is a one-tap messaging app for iOS and Android that is similar to the popular Taptalk app. Bolt is currently available in New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa, with plans to launch in additional regions soon. The app allows users to send an image or video that disappears once it is viewed. Unlike Snapchat and Facebook’s Slingshot, Bolt only allows users to send messages to one person at a time, rejecting mass messages. Continue reading Instagram Quietly Unveils One-Tap Messaging App Called Bolt

Amazon’s Firefly Technology Recognizes Millions of Products

Amazon’s highly anticipated smartphone, the Fire Phone, comes with a new technology that combines image, text, video and audio recognition to make it easier than ever for users to identify (and hopefully purchase) some 70 million products in Amazon’s database. The Firefly technology can also scan QR codes, bar codes, and contact information. In terms of entertainment, the technology recognizes 245,000 movies and TV episodes, 160 live TV channels, and 35 million songs. Continue reading Amazon’s Firefly Technology Recognizes Millions of Products

Facebook Takes on Snapchat with Slingshot Messaging App

Facebook launched its new Slingshot messaging app for both iPhone and Android this week. The app has been described as similar to Snapchat, although it has one significant difference. In order to see what others have sent you, you need to send a photo or video in response. The free app is meant to feel more like a game that involves active engagement than a traditional social messaging tool, based on the inability of users to watch so-called “shots” passively. Continue reading Facebook Takes on Snapchat with Slingshot Messaging App

LiveSphere: 360-Degree Immersive Broadcast Video Platform

Journalist and ETCentric contributor Adrian Pennington forwarded us news that the LiveSphere 360-degree broadcast video application, which is presently under development in France and is at least a year from a commercial product, was tested during the recent Roland-Garros tennis tournament. LiveSphere is being developed by compression specialist ATEME in partnership with Kolor, maker of photo and video stitching software, and mobile interaction expert Finwe. Continue reading LiveSphere: 360-Degree Immersive Broadcast Video Platform

New Samsung Smartwatch Runs Tizen, Bypasses Smartphone

Samsung is expanding its smartwatch offering to include a smart watch-phone that can send and receive calls without the need for a separate smartphone. The new Tizen device, which the company hopes to unveil this summer, will also feature a camera, GPS, email management, Bluetooth and heart rate monitor. Samsung also filed a patent last week that details another smartphone project, which includes a camera that can be operated by touchless gestures. Continue reading New Samsung Smartwatch Runs Tizen, Bypasses Smartphone

Mobli Updates its App for Live Broadcasting from Your Phone

While many consumers turn to Skype and FaceTime for live video conversations, Israeli company Mobli promises that the tech behind a new upgrade to its photo-sharing app will introduce the potential for millions of people to see what an individual smartphone lens is seeing. An update to Mobli’s app yesterday allows users to stream live video from their phone to a large audience in real time. This opens the possibility for journalists or performers to broadcast without the need for expensive cameras or satellite trucks. Continue reading Mobli Updates its App for Live Broadcasting from Your Phone

Snapchat Agrees to Settle with FTC Over Deceptive Marketing

The Federal Trade Commission recently charged Snapchat of deceiving users about the privacy of their personal data and their image and video messages. Under the terms of a new settlement with the FTC, Snapchat will be required to implement a privacy program that will be independently monitored for the next 20 years. If Snapchat violates the agreement, the company may be subject to fines. Snapchat has reportedly resolved most of the privacy issues over the past year. Continue reading Snapchat Agrees to Settle with FTC Over Deceptive Marketing