Monday, 15 January, 2024
AI business technology news – January 2024
Welcome to cutting-edge innovation and the fast-changing world of AI. Our objective is to keep a continual eye on the pulse of the industry. This knowledge will help provide strategic advice and direction for our clients.
Continual research helps spot new AI trends and opportunities that could benefit all our clients. Our industry knowledge allows us to provide customised solutions and recommendations that meet their needs.
Our commitment to staying ahead of the curve gives our clients an edge in the rapidly evolving field of AI. We’re here to help, inform, and inspire you along this exciting journey.
Here you’ll find the most recent AI, technology, and business news, as well as additional thoughts and insights.
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- Microsoft reports record sales driven by AI demand – 31/1/2024
- New York Times explores AI in the newsroom – 30/1/2024
- Neuralink implant their first AI brain chip – 30/1/2024
- WPP invest £250M per year on AI – 30/1/2024
- Elon Musk is looking to raise up to $6 billion – 29/1/2024
- AI companies need to submit safety tests to US gov – 29/1/2024
- Blackstone goes large on AI data centres – 29/1/2024
- Latest AI health products from CES – 28/1/2024
- Meta buy $10 billion of GPUs from NVIDIA for AI – 27/1/2024
- Future iPhone models will include GenAI features – 27/1/2024
- Google launches Lumiere text to video AI – 27/1/2024
- Taylor Swift AI generated deep fakes sparks calls for legislation – 27/1/2024
- OpenAI is lowering the cost of its models – 26/1/2024
- US Gov is looking into AI company deals – 25/1/2024
- Google and Huggingface announce strategic partnership – 25/1/2024
- EU thinking of upgrading supercomputers to support GenAI – 24/1/2024
- Australian government release guide on using AI – 24/1/2024
- Anthropic working on image recognition for Claude – 23/1/2024
- EU looking to setup AI strategic framework – 22/1/2024
- AI won’t steal as many jobs as expected – 22/1/2024
- US states forming own policies – 21/1/2024
- Davos focuses on AI with Nick Thompson – 19/1/2024
- Meta has big plans for AI – 18/1/2024
- AI mathematics reasoning breakthrough – 17/1/2024
- Google going all in on AI search – 17/1/2023
- Labelling AI in Australia – 16/1/2023
- Satya Nadella says global consensus on AI is emerging: 15/1/2024
- AI is the driving force and engine for the future: 15/1/2024
- AI will transform everyone’s lives in the next five years: 15/1/2024
- Vodafone signs 10-year $1.5B deal with Microsoft 14/1/2024
- AI will affect 40% of the workforce says IMF 13/1/2024
- AI helps Microsoft overtake Apple in market cap: 13/1/2024
- Secret AI safety discussion with Chinese AI experts: 13/1/2024
- Google launches AI tools for the retail sector: 11/1/2024
- AI dominates CES: 11/1/2024
- AI finds new battery material: 11/1/2024
- Open source AI is more attractive: 10/1/2024
- GPT store launched: 10/1/2024
- ChatGPT embedded in Volkswagens: 10/1/2024
- New AIoT platform: 10/1/2024
- Intel launches Articulat8: 3/1/2024
- Brain research influences new AI: 3/1/2024
- Solving fake AI photos: 2/1/2024
- 44% Qatar’s CEO investing in AI: 1/1/2024
- Banks using AI for financial decisions: 1/1/2024
Microsoft reports record sales driven by AI demand – 31/1/2024
Microsoft has reported record sales and profits, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence and cloud technology, solidifying its position as the world’s most valuable company. [The Telegraph]
New York Times explores AI in the newsroom – 30/1/2024
The New York Times is building a team to explore generative AI in its newsroom, hiring engineers and editors to experiment with AI tools while emphasising that human journalists will continue to write, edit, and report the news. [The Verge]
Neuralink implant their first AI brain chip – 30/1/2024
Elon Musk’s company Neuralink has implanted its first AI brain chip into a human patient, with the technology potentially being used to study and treat neurological disorders. [Business insider]
WPP invest £250M per year on AI – 30/1/2024
WPP plans to invest £250m per year in proprietary technology to support its AI and data strategy, aiming to enhance human creativity rather than replace it, and to deliver improved returns to clients through AI-enabled services and tools. [PR week]
Elon Musk is looking to raise up to $6 billion – 29/1/2024
Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, reportedly seeks to raise $6 billion in funding to compete with OpenAI, although Musk denies having conversations about raising capital. Great report by Ben Wodecki [AI business]
Blackstone goes large on AI data centres – 29/1/2024
Blackstone is investing in the construction of massive AI data centres in order to meet the growing demand for computing power and data storage. [Bloomberg – paywall]
AI companies need to submit safety tests to US gov – 29/1/2024
The Biden administration is implementing a new requirement for major AI companies to disclose their safety test results to the US government, with the goal of ensuring that AI systems are safe before they are released to the public. [Security week]
Latest AI health products from CES – 28/1/2024
Meta buy $10 billion of GPUs from NVIDIA for AI – 27/1/2024
Nvidia is selling $10 billion worth of its data center GPUs to Meta, indicating Meta’s belief in the growth of the AI market and solidifying Nvidia’s position as a key player in the industry. [Motley Fool]
Future iPhone models will include GenAI features – 27/1/2024
Apple is increasing its capabilities in AI, with acquisitions, staff hires, and hardware updates aimed at bringing generative AI to its next generation of iPhones. [FT]
Google launches Lumiere text to video AI – 27/1/2024
Google’s Lumiere AI model uses a diffusion model called STUNet to create realistic videos from prompts, showing advancements in AI video generation and editing tools. [Google]
Taylor Swift AI generated deep fakes sparks calls for legislation – 27/1/2024
US politicians looking at new legislation to restrict the creation of deepfake media, following recent faked images of Taylor Swift. [BBC]
OpenAI is lowering the cost of its models – 26/1/2024
OpenAI is reducing the prices of its GPT-3.5 Turbo model by 50% for input and 25% for output, introducing updated versions of GPT-3.5 Turbo and GPT-4 Turbo with improved features and lower prices, releasing new embedding models, and unveiling a new moderation model for identifying harmful text. [AI business]
US Gov is looking into AI company deals – 25/1/2024
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an inquiry into the investments and partnerships made by major tech companies in AI, focusing on the authority and rights conferred by these deals and whether they harm competition. [Guardian]
Google and Huggingface announce strategic partnership – 25/1/2024
Google Cloud and Hugging Face have formed a strategic partnership to allow developers to utilize Google Cloud’s infrastructure for Hugging Face services, enabling training and serving of Hugging Face models on Google Cloud, and making it easier for developers to build generative AI applications. [PR newswire]
EU thinking of upgrading supercomputers to support GenAI – 24/1/2024
The European Union is looking to upgrade its supercomputers to better support generative AI startups and start-ups, as the bloc recognises the strategic importance of artificial intelligence technologies for future competitiveness. [Techcrunch]
Australian government release guide on using AI – 24/1/2024
The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Engaging with Artificial Intelligence publication provides guidance for businesses to securely interact with AI, advising them to understand the challenges, manage them, and ensure the security of their AI systems. [AUS GOV]
Anthropic working on image recognition for Claude – 23/1/2024
Anthropic is advancing its chatbot called Claude, which can analyse images, a feature that rivals ChatGPT and Bard. This would enable customers to interact with Claude, allowing it to identify cats or compare images. [AI business]
EU looking to setup AI strategic framework – 22/1/2024
The European Commission is preparing a strategic framework to boost AI start-ups and the uptake of generative AI in strategic sectors, including establishing “AI Factories” and developing AI-dedicated supercomputers and data centres. [EURACTIV]
AI won’t steal as many jobs as expected – 22/1/2024
A new study from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) suggests that the majority of jobs previously identified as being at risk of AI displacement are not economically beneficial to automate at present, indicating that the disruption caused by AI may happen slower and less dramatically than expected. [Techcrunch]
US states forming own policies – 21/1/2024
State and local US leaders are proposing their AI policy plans. Many of these ideas could hinder technological progress and undermine America’s global competitiveness, highlighting the need for a cohesive federal framework to guide AI policy. [The Hill]
Davos focuses on AI with Nick Thompson – 19/1/2024
The World Economic Forum in Davos concentrated on global economic, social, and political issues, with a strong emphasis on AI and its impact across industries, including discussions on data security, consolidation of power, and the potential benefits for the legal profession, as well as geopolitical tensions surrounding semiconductors and chips. [CBS – Video]
Meta has big plans for AI – 18/1/2024
Meta plans to purchase 350,000 Nvidia GPUs to advance its leadership in artificial general intelligence, with the goal of building the best AI assistants, AIs for creators, and AIs for businesses, among other cutting-edge services and devices. [Silicon angle]
AI mathematics reasoning breakthrough – 17/1/2024
DeepMind has developed AlphaGeometry, an AI system that surpasses the state-of-the-art approach for solving complex geometry problems at an Olympiad level, demonstrating AI’s growing ability to reason logically and advancing AI reasoning in mathematics. [Google]
Google going all in on AI search – 17/1/2023
Google is introducing two major updates to its search capabilities in 2024: Circle to Search, which allows users to search anything on their Android phone screen without switching apps, and an AI-powered multi-search experience that provides insights beyond visual matches when using the camera to ask questions. [Google]
Labelling AI in Australia – 16/1/2023
The Australian government may require tech companies to label content produced by AI platforms like ChatGPT, as part of efforts to address public concerns and establish stronger regulations for high-risk AI applications. [Guardian]
Satya Nadella says global consensus on AI is emerging: 15/1/2024
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believes that there is a global consensus emerging on the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), with countries discussing AI in a similar way and recognising the need for global coordination and standards. [CNBC]
AI is the driving force and engine of the future: 15/1/2024
Omar Sultan Al Olama, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, highlights that AI is the driving force and engine for the future, as discussed during a 54th World Economic Forum session. [Gulf today]
AI will transform everyone’s lives in the next five years: 15/1/2024
Bill Gates predicts that artificial intelligence (AI) will transform everyone’s lives within the next five years, citing examples such as AI helping doctors with paperwork and improving efficiency in various sectors, and believes that while AI may eliminate some jobs, new opportunities will arise as they have with previous technological advancements. [CNN]
Vodafone signs 10-year $1.5B deal with Microsoft: 14/1/2024
Vodafone and Microsoft have signed a 10-year strategic partnership to bring generative AI, digital services, and the cloud to over 300 million businesses and consumers, with plans to transform the customer experience, scale IoT business, expand M-Pesa in Africa, grow enterprise business, and accelerate digital transformation and operational efficiencies. [Vodafone]
AI will affect 40% of the workforce says IMF: 13/1/2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to impact 40% of jobs globally, potentially exacerbating inequality, and countries must establish social safety nets and retraining programmes to protect vulnerable workers, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).[Guardian]
AI helps Microsoft overtake Apple in market cap: 13/1/2024
Microsoft surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable public company with a market cap of $2.89 trillion, attributed to its investment in AI, while Apple faced challenges with slower iPhone sales in China and legal battles. [Business Insider – Subscription]
Secret AI safety discussion with Chinese AI experts: 13/1/2024
US companies OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere engaged in secret diplomacy with Chinese AI experts in two meetings held in Geneva in 2022, discussing the risks of AI technology and the need for investments in AI safety research, with the goal of finding a scientific path forward to safely develop more sophisticated AI technology. [FT]
Google launches AI tools for the retail sector: 11/1/2024
Google has introduced genAI-based custom chatbots, intelligent inventory assistants, and customised edge devices for the retail sector, aiming to provide businesses with AI-powered solutions for sales, customer service, and inventory management. [Computer weekly]
AI dominates CES: 11/1/2024
AI, particularly ChatGPT, has become a dominant force at CES 2024, with almost every company showcasing their use of AI in their products, although the effectiveness and practicality of AI in these products is still up for debate. [CNET]
AI finds new battery material: 11/1/2024
Artificial intelligence has found a material that could cut the amount of lithium used in batteries by up to 70%. In just 80 hours, Microsoft and PNNL worked together to narrow down the list of possible materials to 18 that looked good. [Business Insider]
Open source AI is more attractive: 10/1/2024
A survey of over 100,000 AI enthusiasts has revealed that people prefer working with open-source tools over proprietary commercial ones. [Emerge]
GPT store launched: 10/1/2024
OpenAI’s GPT Store offers users the ability to share custom ChatGPT versions, including various categories like writing, research, programming, education, and lifestyle. The store includes a review system, revenue programme, and private section for Team and Enterprise users. [OpenAI]
ChatGPT embedded in Volkswagens: 10/1/2024
Volkswagen plans to integrate ChatGPT into vehicles, offering enhanced navigation, air conditioning, and infotainment capabilities. Despite concerns about data security, ChatGPT will not access vehicle data, ensuring driver safety. [Tech informed]
New AIoT platform: 10/1/2024
Ambarella, an edge AI semiconductor company, has launched the Cooper™ Developer Platform, offering a comprehensive solution for industrial, AIoT, intelligent video analytics, and edge AI computing applications. [Ambarella]
Intel launches Articulat8: 3/1/2024
Intel has spun off its enterprise AI company, Articul8 AI, with outside funding. Articul8 will offer a vertically-optimized generative AI platform with flexibility for on-premise, cloud, or hybrid deployment options. [CIO]
Brain research influences new AI: 3/1/2024
Researchers from MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit and Oxford University have discovered a new principle explaining brain connections during learning, potentially guiding further research and inspiring faster learning algorithms in artificial intelligence. [Oxford University]
Solving fake AI photos: 2/1/2024
Nikon, Sony Group, and Canon are developing camera technology that uses digital signatures in images to prevent advanced AI fakes, including tamper-resistant details. [Nikkei]
MN Tech thoughts – Interesting strategy by technology providers to create a dividing line between user and computer generated content.
44% Qatar’s CEO investing in AI: 1/1/2024
Qatar’s CEOs are embracing AI’s transformative potential, prioritizing profitability, efficiency, innovation, and cybersecurity, despite challenges like employee adoption and regulatory gaps [The Peninsula].
Banks using AI for financial decisions: 1/1/2024
The UK banking industry has used AI for years, especially in predictive models for detecting fraud and analysing risks. More banks are testing generative AI, where complex models can create something new based on a vast data set. [Yahoo]
MN Tech thoughts – This is a new itteration on the development of AI in finance. It makes sense to use a wider set of data to help advise customers/clients on their investements. I am in no doubt that the banks are aware of the risks in this area and the need for rigirous governance and testing for optimal results.
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