EU Antitrust Probe Microsoft

PLUS: Google Unifies Android and Hardware for AI, Microsoft's Massive Chip Acquisition Plan and more.

Today:

  • EU Antitrust Probe Microsoft

  • ChatGPT Syncs with Nothing's Earbuds

  • Japan Invests $470M in AI Development

  • Google Unifies Android and Hardware for AI

  • AdaKWS Sets New Bar for Speech AI

  • Microsoft's Massive Chip Acquisition Plan

  • Qtum's AI Expansion with Nvidia GPUs

Microsoft's OpenAI partnership could face EU antitrust probe, sources say

Microsoft's $13 billion investment in OpenAI might trigger an EU antitrust probe, sources say. Regulators are assessing how partnerships like Microsoft's with OpenAI, Alphabet, Amazon, and Anthropic impact competition. The EU is considering investigating whether Microsoft's involvement restricts competition or distorts the market. 

While the European Commission hasn't made a decision, it's examining evidence. Microsoft holds a non-voting position on OpenAI's board but denies ownership of ChatGPT. The Commission is evaluating if Microsoft's investment qualifies for review under EU merger rules. Microsoft and the Commission declined to comment.

ChatGPT is coming to Nothing’s earbuds 

Nothing plans to integrate ChatGPT with its smartphones and earbuds for faster access. Users with the latest OS and ChatGPT on their Nothing phones can pinch-to-speak with the earbuds. The rollout starts with Phone 2 on April 18th, extending to other models soon. The update allows querying ChatGPT using the earbuds, potentially as the default assistant. 

Nothing also aims to enhance smartphone user experience with ChatGPT integration into OS features like screenshot sharing. Unlike some AI gadgets, Nothing focuses on integrating existing devices without forcing changes on users lacking ChatGPT.

Japan to fund KDDI, four others to build AI supercomputer

The Japanese government is allocating $470 million to support five companies, including KDDI and Sakura Internet, in developing artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Concerns over reliance on U.S. tech have prompted this move. 

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will fund up to half of each company's investment, with Sakura Internet receiving the most substantial aid at 50.1 billion yen, followed by KDDI at 10.2 billion yen. This initiative reflects Japan's strategic effort to bolster its AI capabilities and reduce dependency on foreign technology.

Google is combining its Android and hardware teams — and it’s all about AI

Google is undergoing significant internal changes to accelerate its AI efforts. CEO Sundar Pichai announced the creation of a new team, "Platforms and Devices," led by Rick Osterloh. This team will oversee Pixel products, Android, Chrome, and more. The consolidation aims to enhance AI integration across all Google products. 

Osterloh emphasizes the importance of AI, citing examples like the Pixel camera's transformation through AI. The move signals Google's push to combine hardware and software expertise for faster innovation. While maintaining distinctions between Android and hardware teams, Google aims to leverage AI across its ecosystem, emphasizing its pivotal role in future products and services.

Powerful new AI model accurately converts speech to text, even your company’s jargon

aiOla, an Israeli tech startup, introduces AdaKWS, an advanced AI model enhancing speech-to-text conversion accuracy. AdaKWS optimizes OpenAI's Whisper AI model, achieving up to 94.6% accuracy in keyword spotting across 16 languages, outperforming Whisper's 88.4%. It transcribes speech in near real-time, catering to various industries like healthcare and food production. 

Notably, AdaKWS is significantly faster than Whisper, aiding in automation of tasks such as filling out forms and conducting inspections. It saves time and resources, evident in its application for temperature recording in supermarkets, saving over 110,000 hours annually. AdaKWS's adaptable training process and multilingual support make it versatile for diverse enterprise needs, setting a new standard in speech AI integration for businesses.

Microsoft has a target to amass 1.8 million AI chips by the end of the year, internal document shows

Microsoft aims to accumulate 1.8 million AI chips by the end of 2024, as revealed by an internal document. This target suggests a threefold increase in GPU supply for the year, emphasizing Microsoft's commitment to enhancing generative AI capabilities. The company's collaboration with OpenAI in this domain underscores its position at the forefront of the AI boom. 

With an estimated $100 billion expenditure on GPUs and data centers from the current fiscal year to 2027, Microsoft's investment reflects the substantial resources allocated to stay competitive in the AI space. While Microsoft explores designing its own AI chips to reduce dependence on Nvidia, some skepticism remains due to the rapid pace of technological advancement.

Qtum Foundation powers AI Web3 initiatives with 10,000 Nvidia GPUs

The Qtum Foundation is ramping up its blockchain AI ecosystem by deploying 10,000 Nvidia GPUs. Qtum's transition from cryptocurrency mining to AI operations showcases its adaptability and forward-thinking approach. These GPUs will power Quantum AI projects, including a conversational chatbot called Qtum Solstice and a text-to-image generation model named Qtum Qurator. 

Qtum envisions a three-stage rollout plan for its AI endeavors, starting with chatbots and image generators and eventually expanding to include more sophisticated AI capabilities integrated into the Qtum blockchain. The foundation's commitment to open-source AI technology aligns with its ethos of decentralization and community-driven development. 

🧠RESEARCH

Explores text animation as a means to enhance communication by adding motion to words. The authors propose an automated scheme, "Dynamic Typography", which deforms letters to convey meaning and adds vibrant movements based on user input. Their approach, using vector graphics and optimization, yields coherent and readable text animations.

A trio of potent multimodal language models developed by Reka. These models adeptly handle text, images, video, and audio inputs, showcasing remarkable performance across various benchmarks. Reka Core, the largest model, approaches the forefront of AI models, demonstrating competitive performance and outperforming many larger counterparts.

A method for enhancing Large Language Models (LLMs) through self-improvement. By integrating Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS), AlphaLLM establishes a loop for self-refinement, addressing challenges like data scarcity and the subjective nature of feedback. Experimental results in mathematical reasoning tasks show significant performance improvements without additional annotations, suggesting potential for LLM self-improvement.

A novel approach for reconstructing high-quality meshes from just four input images in less than a second. Unlike previous methods focusing on NeRF-based reconstruction, MeshLRM integrates differentiable mesh extraction and rendering within the LRM framework, enabling end-to-end mesh reconstruction. By simplifying complex designs and employing a sequential training strategy, MeshLRM achieves state-of-the-art results with faster convergence and less compute, facilitating various downstream applications.

A benchmark for multimodal language models (LLMs) focusing on core visual perception abilities. Blink tasks, solvable by humans almost instantly, challenge LLMs with tasks like relative depth estimation and visual correspondence. Despite human accuracy averaging 95.70%, current LLMs struggle, with even top-performing models achieving only around 51.26% accuracy, indicating a significant gap in visual perception.

🛠️TOP TOOLS

Demodesk - AI superpowers for your sales meetings

IKI AI - Smart library & Knowledge Assistant for professionals and teams

Ideatum - Convert Design Ideas from Words to Mood boards with Color Schemes and Font Pairings

Veles- Copilot for Enterprise Sales

AI Researcher -  AI agent that utilizes Claude 3 and SERPAPI to perform comprehensive research on a given topic

📲SOCIAL MEDIA

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LinkedIn testing Premium Company Page subscription with AI-assisted content creation

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Honeywell exec reveals plan to deliver $100 million in value with generative AI: “Just getting started”

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Stability AI lays off roughly 10 percent of its workforce

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Kartoon Studios Unveils ‘Gadget A.I.’

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Longtime Microsoft exec Gurdeep Singh Pall joins Qualtrics as president of AI strategy

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Meet The New AI-Robot Billionaire

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Enabling your AI transformation journey with Microsoft Viva 

Microsoft Viva is evolving to support organizations in their AI transformation journey, providing tools like the Copilot Dashboard and Copilot Academy to facilitate enterprise-wide adoption of AI technologies. The Copilot Dashboard offers privacy-protected insights into Copilot for Microsoft 365 usage, enabling leaders to understand its impact across various organizational contexts. Additionally, Copilot Academy, available in Viva Learning, centralizes learning experiences to enhance employees' Copilot skills. With these advancements, Microsoft aims to empower organizations to harness the full potential of AI in the workplace. MICROSOFT

5 Ways To Make Money Online With AI In 2024

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