UnifyApps, a startup founded in 2022, has raised £20 million in Series A funding. They offer a service connecting business SaaS apps and data to build AI chatbots, claiming to minimise AI hallucinations. With over 20 customers including major firms, this follows £11 million in seed funding. The company employs 150 people across international offices.
A startup called Conflixis has developed AI software to help hospitals identify risky behaviour by doctors. The company uses AI to analyse data from various sources to detect potential conflicts of interest and regulatory risks. Conflixis has secured $4.2 million in seed funding and aims to assist hospitals in reducing risks, increasing transparency, and improving procurement decisions.
Microsoft's recent update to the Copilot sidebar in Edge has faced user backlash due to lost features and perceived quality decline. The company has acknowledged the feedback and is working on improvements, including restoring chat history and PDF analysis, enhancing response quality, and expanding document analysis. Microsoft aims for consistency across platforms and promises future updates, highlighting the challenges of rapidly developing AI tools while maintaining user satisfaction.
A Reddit user fabricated a story about ChatGPT prompting them to seek medical care for a heart attack. The incident, which gained significant attention before being debunked, demonstrates how AI can be used to create convincing false content online. This serves as a reminder to critically evaluate information, especially in the age of generative AI.
Beaverlab's new AI-powered telescope, the Finder TW2, is crowdfunding on Indiegogo. It offers 4K imaging at a lower cost than premium smart telescopes, with AI-enhanced images, a touchscreen, and portable design. While good for moon and sun viewing, it struggles with other celestial objects, especially in less-than-ideal conditions. Its camera is compatible with other telescopes, but overall performance may not meet expectations for comprehensive night sky viewing.
A teenager in Florida formed an inappropriate attachment to an AI chatbot on a role-playing app, raising concerns about AI companions for vulnerable users, especially young people.
Yandex, a leading Russian AI company, plans to invest in Indonesia's AI ecosystem and expand its search engine there. This comes as Indonesia attracts investments from global tech firms like Nvidia and Microsoft, while Russia faces Western technology restrictions due to the Ukraine conflict. The investment details were not disclosed.
Microsoft will unveil an AI-enhanced project for St. Peter's Basilica in November 2024. This collaboration with the Fabric of St. Peter is part of Microsoft's AI for Cultural Heritage programme, which has developed similar projects for other cultural sites. The unveiling will take place at the Vatican.
The global Multimodal Learning market is set to grow from £1.2 billion in 2024 to £3.5 billion by 2032, with a 14% annual growth rate. This technology combines multiple input types to improve learning and AI applications. The market covers various learning types and applications across industries. North America and Asia-Pacific currently lead, with Asia-Pacific and Europe expected to grow fastest.
A major AI-ready dataset on type 2 diabetes has been released, containing diverse data from over 1,000 participants. The AI-READI study aims to collect data from 4,000 people for global analysis. The dataset is accessible through an online platform and has already been downloaded by numerous research organisations worldwide. Multiple institutions are involved in this project, based in Seattle.
Mozilla's Common Voice project has collected over 30,000 hours of voice recordings in about 180 languages. The project aims to create a free, public dataset for training voice recognition AI. The recordings are obtained with consent and released under a Creative Commons licence. The dataset is widely used by various organisations and continues to expand through volunteer contributions.
A judge dismissed a lawsuit against OpenAI filed by two news outlets, which accused the company of copyright violations in training its AI models. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove concrete injury, considering the likelihood of ChatGPT producing plagiarised content from their articles as remote. This ruling favours OpenAI in the debate about AI companies' use of copyrighted material for training.
Microsoft has enhanced Azure AI with new features: Data Zone for geographic data control, a 99.9% latency SLA, new AI models including medical imaging and language models, and GitHub Marketplace API access. These updates improve data privacy, reliability, and accessibility for Azure AI users.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, experienced rapid growth after the chatbot's launch, transitioning from research to a large-scale, customer-facing organisation. The CEO discussed challenges of this rapid scaling, noting the lack of a playbook and need for quick adaptation. OpenAI's success has prompted responses from competitors like Google and Meta.
A Tony Blair Institute report projects AI could displace 1-3 million UK private sector jobs over two decades, with annual displacement peaking at 60,000-275,000. AI may boost GDP by 1% in five years, rising to 6% by 2035. Administrative, secretarial, sales, customer service, banking, and finance jobs face the highest risk. The impact will likely focus on cognitive tasks. These projections depend on AI development, investment, and government policies.
Apple's iOS 18.2 public beta introduces new AI features for select iPhones and iPads: 1. Image Playground: Text-to-image tool 2. Genmoji: Custom emoji creator 3. Visual intelligence tool: Image analysis feature 4. Siri with ChatGPT integration The beta is available for recent high-end devices, with full release expected in December.
ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has created X-Portrait 2, an AI tool that transforms photos into realistic video animations. It can mimic famous movie scenes with accurate facial expressions, potentially impacting the animation industry. The technology's advanced realism, likely due to TikTok's vast video database, raises concerns about potential misuse for creating misleading content. ByteDance is expanding its AI research globally.
Amazon is considering a second multi-billion-dollar investment in AI startup Anthropic, following an initial $4 billion stake. Amazon aims to expand its AI influence and leverage its cloud services, but faces disagreements with Anthropic over chip preferences. Alphabet has also invested in Anthropic. UK regulators are scrutinising both Amazon's and Alphabet's investments due to anti-competitive concerns.
Baidu plans to unveil AI-powered smart glasses at its annual event in Shanghai, featuring cameras and voice interaction based on its AI model. The product aims to compete with Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses in China.
Zoom and Suki have partnered to integrate an AI notetaker into Zoom's telehealth service. The AI will record, transcribe, and extract key details from doctor-patient video appointments. After doctor approval, notes will be added to electronic health records, potentially reducing paperwork time by up to 70%. This aligns with a broader trend of AI integration in healthcare administration, with other major tech companies developing similar tools.
