AI News

Stack Overflow partnered with Google Cloud to integrate its vast knowledge base into AI tools like Gemini, enhancing access to developer resources. This collaboration, utilizing the new OverflowAPI, benefits both companies while allowing Stack Overflow to work with other LLM providers.

Collibra has launched Collibra AI Governance, a solution to ensure responsible AI implementations within organizations. This tool promotes compliance, risk mitigation, and transparency, supporting the entire AI lifecycle. It bridges technology and policy, addressing common AI challenges that can impact reputation and ROI.

Microsoft has launched a public preview of Copilot for Finance, an AI assistant designed for finance professionals to enhance efficiency by automating data tasks within Excel. It focuses on audits, collections, and variance analysis, aiming to streamline workflows. The tool incorporates privacy measures and will be available more broadly later this year.

Figure, a California startup, raised $675 million, boosting its valuation to $2.6 billion as it develops humanoid robots to alleviate labor shortages in sectors like warehousing and retail. Partnering with OpenAI and BMW, Figure aims to enhance robot capabilities and deployment within 21 months of inception.

Google is enhancing its database and analytics platforms by integrating generative AI capabilities, including its Gemini LLM into BigQuery and expanding vector search across all cloud databases. These updates improve data retrieval and analysis, especially for unstructured data.

Couchbase is enhancing its NoSQL database with vector search capabilities to support AI-driven applications. This feature, integrated into its platform, allows for hybrid queries and focuses on mobile and edge computing. CEO Matt Cain emphasizes data's essential role in developing personalized, high-performance applications.

AI poses risks of generating misinformation and job displacement, but the UK government, led by Deputy PM Oliver Dowden, is promoting its use among civil servants to enhance efficiency. Two AI tools will assist in summarizing data and drafting responses while ensuring human oversight.

Alibaba's Institute for Intelligent Computing has developed "EMO," an AI system that animates portraits into lifelike videos using a direct audio-to-video synthesis approach. EMO excels in video quality and expressiveness, creating realistic talking and singing animations while raising ethical concerns about potential misuse.

Slice, a startup from Tel Aviv and San Francisco, has secured $7 million in seed funding to develop an AI-powered platform for global equity management. It addresses challenges in equity compensation compliance and tracking, aiming to streamline processes for finance teams and employees across diverse jurisdictions.

Researchers at Harvard propose "Antagonistic AI," advocating for language models that include critical and challenging responses. This approach can enhance resilience, self-reflection, and personal growth. They suggest incorporating adversarial, argumentative, and personal critiques while upholding ethical standards and respecting user backgrounds.

Snowflake has appointed Sridhar Ramaswamy as CEO, succeeding Frank Slootman, who retired but remains chairman. Following the announcement, Snowflake's stock dropped over 20%. Ramaswamy, previously SVP of AI, aims to leverage generative AI to enhance customer experiences and product development.

Nvidia, Hugging Face, and ServiceNow have introduced StarCoder2, an advanced suite of open-access large language models for AI code generation. Available in three sizes, trained on over 600 programming languages, these models enhance developer productivity and are royalty-free under OpenRAIL licenses.

A humorous interaction between Nothing CEO Carl Pei and Aravind Srinivas of Perplexity AI led to a significant offer for Nothing Phone 2a buyers: a complimentary year-long subscription to Perplexity's Pro model, valued at $200, alongside the phone's reduced price of $250 in a promotional event. The subscription gives users access to advanced AI models like OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo and Anthropic’s Claude 3, enhancing search efficiency. Perplexity offers concise, reliable answers, challenging traditional search methods, while raising questions about the future of independent digital content in the age of AI.

Gong, a San Francisco-based sales software company, has launched an upgraded Gong Forecast that uses AI and machine learning trained on 2.5 billion interactions for precise revenue predictions. It enhances accuracy by 20% over traditional CRM tools and prioritizes data privacy, helping 250+ companies streamline sales processes.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington introduced Thrive AI Health, a chatbot aimed at providing personalized health advice. While proponents foresee a transformative impact on healthcare, concerns arise about trusting sensitive health data to AI, especially given its current inaccuracies.