AI News

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that its AI-powered Designer app is officially leaving preview mode and is now available to all users on iOS and Android. This innovative, Canva-like app allows users to generate stunning images and designs using simple text prompts, enabling the creation of stickers, greeting cards, invitations, collages, and much more.

Meta Unveils Its Most Advanced Open-Source AI Model Yet: Llama 3.1 405B

Generative AI is making waves across various industries, and while Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been seen by some as a latecomer, it's important to note that the market is still evolving. This week, AWS may have bolstered its reputation in the generative AI space with the launch of a new tool named App Studio.

After several months of testing during India's general elections, Meta is now launching its Llama 3-powered AI chatbot to all users across the country. Currently, Meta AI supports only English, lacking compatibility with any local languages.

A groundbreaking video-generating AI model has just been released, but there's an important caveat: it appears to be censoring content deemed politically sensitive by the Chinese government.

AI "agents" are generative AI models designed to perform tasks autonomously, such as transferring information from an email into a spreadsheet. While these agents are praised as productivity enhancers, some believe this acclaim may be premature due to their tendency to make errors. Nonetheless, certain founders, analysts, and investors see AI agents as the next major advancement in generative AI.

Meta has paused the deployment of its AI assistant following a ban from Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), which prohibits the company from training its AI models with personal data from Brazilian citizens. This decision poses a significant setback for Facebook's ambitions to expand its AI offerings in Brazil, a country with a population exceeding 200 million.

X, formerly known as Twitter, has automatically enabled a feature that allows the platform to train its Grok AI using users' posts. This new setting is activated by default, but the good news is that you can easily disable it and remove your conversation history with the AI.

Hebbia, an innovative startup leveraging generative AI for document searching and complex question answering, has successfully raised $130 million in a Series B funding round, achieving an approximate valuation of $700 million. This round was led by renowned venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, with additional investments from Index Ventures, Google Ventures, and Peter Thiel.

An English school has received a formal reprimand from the U.K.’s data protection regulator after implementing facial recognition technology without obtaining clear opt-in consent from students for processing their facial scans. This incident reignites the crucial privacy conversation surrounding biometric data, particularly in educational environments involving children. Last year, New York became the first U.S. state to prohibit facial recognition in schools, prompted by increasing marketing efforts from AI companies touting enhanced security solutions for educational institutions.

The finalized text of the EU AI Act, a groundbreaking regulation governing artificial intelligence in the European Union, has officially been published in the bloc’s Official Journal. This landmark legislation will come into effect on August 1, giving it a 20-day countdown until implementation. In 24 months, or by mid-2026, the law's provisions will fully apply to AI developers. However, this regulation adopts a phased implementation approach, introducing various deadlines leading up to full compliance, as well as additional deadlines beyond 2026 when different legal provisions will take effect.

The latest language models, such as GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro, are being hailed as “multimodal” technologies capable of processing images and audio alongside text. However, a recent study reveals that their understanding of these modalities may not be as nuanced as we expect. In fact, it raises questions about whether they truly "see" at all.

Atlassian introduced Rovo six months ago as its innovative “AI teammate.” This cutting-edge solution integrates advanced search and chat-based AI features with intelligent agents designed to help users streamline their workflows in tools like Jira and Confluence. At the recent Team ’24 Europe event in Barcelona, Atlassian announced that Rovo is now generally available. Alongside Rovo, the company unveiled several new AI features that enhance its Atlassian Intelligence platform.

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating Amazon's $4 billion investment in Anthropic, a developer and OpenAI competitor. The CMA is looking into whether this investment constitutes a "relevant merger situation" that could impact competition within the market.

Altera, Intel's programmable chip division, unveiled new AI-focused products, including Agilex 3 FPGAs and updated development tools, aiming to boost capabilities at the edge and cloud. CEO Sandra Rivera emphasized their commitment to FPGA excellence and innovation across diverse sectors.