Google's AI-Powered Product Studio Now in the US

Today:

Google launches generative AI tools for product imagery to US advertisers and merchants

Google's rolling out some new AI tools for creating product images, hot on the heels of Amazon doing something similar last week. These tools, accessible in their new Product Studio, let advertisers and merchants in the U.S. whip up images just by describing what they want. Need to change a background color or place your product in a winter scene? Just type it in, and voila! And the best part? It's on the house.

This isn't just for the big players; small businesses can get in on the action too, creating snazzy images for ads without breaking the bank on photo shoots. The tools are available to all Merchant Center Next users in the U.S. and on the Google and YouTube app for Shopify users, starting today.

On top of that, Google's adding a "small business" badge to Google Search and Maps, making it easy to spot the little guys. Businesses can add or remove this badge themselves, giving them some control over how they're seen.

And when folks look up a merchant on Search, they'll see more helpful info like deals, shipping policies, and customer reviews, all in the knowledge panel. This panel's been a big help, connecting billions of customers to businesses every month.

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Stability AI brings advanced 3D and image fine-tuning to Stable Diffusion

Stability AI is spicing things up with its Stable Diffusion platform. They're rolling out a brand-new 3D model feature which takes them from just making 2D images to now cooking up 3D content. This can be a game-changer for folks in graphic design and even the video game biz. And for those who like to switch up the sky in their photos, there's the Sky Replacer tool. Plus, there's a handy tool to tweak images faster for specific tasks. The company's also sneaking in an invisible watermark to make sure folks know where an image comes from, especially with new rules from the government about AI content.

Stability AI's moves come when big names like Adobe and OpenAI are making waves in the image-making scene. The company's head honcho, Emad Mostaque, says they're not just about making images anymore. They're looking to help creatives with the whole process. One of their highlights is the Sky Replacer, which is perfect for businesses, like real estate, to swap out skies in photos.

With all the buzz about keeping AI content legit, Stability AI's adding watermarks to their images. They're joining forces with big players, like Adobe, to ensure folks can tell real from fake and give credit where it's due.

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LinkedIn passes 1 billion members and launches new AI chatbot to help you get a job

LinkedIn, the big-shot professional networking site, just hit a whopping 1 billion members and to celebrate, they've rolled out a fancy new AI chatbot. This isn't just any chatbot—it's like having a job coach in your pocket, ready to help you figure out if a job's worth applying for and how to put your best foot forward.

The chatbot's got brains, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4, and it started chatting with some Premium users already. Microsoft, LinkedIn's parent company, has poured billions into OpenAI, so you know they're serious about this. But it wasn’t a walk in the park to set up. LinkedIn's techies had to hustle to make sure the chatbot's responses come at you fast, making the whole experience smooth as butter.

Now, if you've got a job in your sights, the chatbot can help you suss out if you're a good fit and how to pitch yourself just right. It'll even point out any gaps in your experience that might trip you up. And if you want to network, it can hook you up with folks at the company. 

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HubSpot picks up B2B data provider Clearbit to enhance its AI platform

HubSpot, the big shot from Boston in marketing software, is buying up Clearbit, a company that's all about B2B data. Clearbit started in 2015 helping folks find email addresses related to companies. Over time, they added more tools and even integrated with CRM platforms like HubSpot. Recently, they started using some fancy tech to better structure their data, which probably made them look like a shiny toy for HubSpot to buy.

So, why did HubSpot want Clearbit? Well, even though it's easier to collect company data these days, it's still a pain to really use it well. HubSpot thinks that by mixing Clearbit's data cocktail with its platform, businesses can get smarter insights about their customers. Yamini Rangan, HubSpot's head honcho, said the combo of their tech with Clearbit's data is like a dream team.

Up to now, Clearbit raised a cool $17 million and was worth about $250 million two years ago. Matt Sornson, the main man at Clearbit, seems jazzed about the move, saying it's gonna be a game changer for B2B businesses.

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AMD Rallies After Predicting Sales Surge for New AI Processor

AMD's stock got a nice bump, shooting up over 8%, after they spilled the beans about their new AI chip raking in a cool $2 billion in sales next year. The MI300 processor is set to hit the market soon, giving Nvidia a run for its money in the AI game. Already, big cloud computing names have hopped on the preorder train. AMD's top dog, Lisa Su, is pretty hyped about it, even if their sales forecast for other stuff isn't all rainbows and unicorns.

While there's some buzz about a dip in video game gear orders, the excitement over this AI chip is lighting a fire under AMD's stock. That's a good thing, especially since they're looking to steal some of Nvidia's thunder in the world of AI. Lisa Su thinks the AI chip market is still a baby, with tons of growth ahead. By 2027, she's talking about a $150 billion market.

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New AWS service lets customers rent Nvidia GPUs for quick AI projects

Amazon's got a new trick up its sleeve for folks needing a quick fix of GPU power for their AI hustles. They're rolling out this thing called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Capacity Blocks for ML, letting customers rent Nvidia GPUs just for the time they need. No more shelling out big bucks for long-term cloud rentals when you're just looking for a short fling with some serious computing muscle.

You can snag up to 64 clusters, each packing 8 GPUs, and book them up to eight weeks out for up to 14 days at a stretch. The pricing's all over the place, depending on how many folks are trying to get a piece of the action, but you'll know what you're in for upfront. That way, you can tweak your plans to fit your budget before you hit "buy."

Right now, this whole shindig's only going down in the AWS US East (Ohio) region, but if it catches on, who knows? It might just be the next big thing in quick and easy AI project crunching.

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UK invests $273 million in AI supercomputer as it seeks to compete with U.S., China

The UK is dropping a cool $273 million on a top-notch AI supercomputer to get in the big leagues with the US and China. The brain behind the operation? The University of Bristol, naming the computer Isambard-AI after a big deal British engineer from back in the day. And get this, they're building this bad boy at Bletchley Park, where they cracked codes in World War II.

This computer is no joke—it’s gonna be 10 times faster than anything they've got right now, packed with some serious horsepower from Nvidia. And they’re not going at it alone; Hewlett Packard Enterprise is lending a hand.

They've got big plans to hook it up with another supercomputer, Dawn, which is being built by Dell and a UK outfit, StackPC. Dawn's running on Intel chips and has this cool water-cooling thing to keep the power usage down. They're planning to flip the switch on that one in the next couple of months.

The UK's betting big that these supercomputers will be game changers for energy, health care, and climate science. They're aiming to have everything up and running by summer 2024. Plus, they're hoping these machines will help make sure AI is safe and kickstart some new discoveries in medicine and clean energy.

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Instagram spotted developing a customizable ‘AI friend’

Instagram's cooking up an "AI buddy" that users can tailor to their taste, as seen in some shared screenshots. You'd get to pick your AI pal's age, gender, ethnicity, and even their personality type, like whether they're the fun-loving type or more of a straight-shooter. You can also dial in their hobbies – think music, nature, DIY projects, and so on. After all that jazz, you give 'em a face and name, then start chit-chatting.

But there's a catch. Instagram's keeping mum on it. And just 'cause they're building it doesn't mean we'll get it. They might switch things up or ditch it entirely.

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AI Safety Summit: China, US and EU agree to work together 

Big wigs from all over the globe, including China, the US, and the EU, decided to play nice and tackle the big, hairy problems of AI together. They all met up at this historic spot in England, Bletchley Park, where some serious brainpower cracked codes during World War II.

China, usually doing its own thing, stepped up and said, "Count us in!" They sent over a high-ranking dude, Wu Zhaohui, who was all about working together to keep AI in check. Even Elon Musk and Sam Altman, two big names in tech, were there to put their two cents in.

Some are suggesting a “third-party referee” to call out any risky business, while others are focused on protecting our privacy and rights. The Brits, playing host, are trying to be the middleman between all these power players and have already planned a couple more of these shindigs to keep the conversation going.

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Snowflake brings together developer and analyst needs in new GenAI tool

Snowflake, the cloud data storage big shot, just dropped a new service called Snowflake Cortex. Why? 'Cause folks are jonesing to jump on that generative AI train. If you're a business brain, Cortex gives you speedy tools to chat with your data. If you're a developer, it's your ticket to building AI apps using that data. Remember when Snowflake snagged Streamlit? That's playing a part here.

This Cortex thing is all about making life easy. Got a pile of messy docs like PDFs? No sweat! Document AI will yank the good stuff out for you. Searching your Snowflake data's gonna be a breeze too, thanks to universal search. And then there's Snowflake Copilot, the real MVP. Ask it anything in plain ol' English, and it'll whip up a data query for you. For the tech-savvy, there's even more good stuff: build with Snowflake models, mix in some fancy AI from other places, and ship it all smooth with container services.

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Collins Dictionary picks ‘AI’ as its word of the year

Collins Dictionary in the UK just said "AI" (short for artificial intelligence, where computers act like they've got a brain) is the top word for 2023. People are all over this tech, but it's also making them a bit jittery. The dictionary folks said this choice was a no-brainer, considering all the fuss around computers getting good at talking like humans. 

Oxford Dictionaries threw in their two cents, picking "goblin mode" (acting lazy and not caring what others think) as their word of the year. Other words almost making the cut at Collins were “de-influencing” (influencers telling you what not to buy), "nepo baby" (someone riding their famous parents' coattails), "canon event" (a big moment that shapes who you are), and "ultra-processed foods" (junk food, basically). They also gave a shoutout to "semaglutide" (a drug helping people drop pounds) and "greedflation" (prices going up when they really shouldn't).

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AI used in liver cancer treatment at Cambridge hospital

At Cambridge's Addenbrooke's Hospital, they're now using AI to step up their game in treating liver cancer. This is the first time an NHS hospital is bringing AI into the mix for thermal ablation - that's when they use heat to zap small tumors via a needle or probe. The docs are saying it's a game changer, making the procedure more on point and effective.

Before, it was all up to the doctor's eye to figure out the tumor and the healthy tissue around it. But now, with AI, they've got a smart system loaded with data from tons of patients, helping to draw those lines more clearly. It's like having an extra set of super-smart eyes in the room.

This isn't just about being fancy with technology; it's about getting real results for the patients. For instance, Charles Sykes, a 76-year-old who had his liver treated with this AI-enhanced procedure, said it all went smoothly. He wouldn't have even known AI was involved if no one told him, but he's stoked that it was, 'cause it ups his chances of beating the cancer.

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Humans at the heart of generative AI

Generative AI is making waves in business, stepping up to be a real game changer for how we work and interact with customers. Picture this: it's a crazy busy travel week and your flight just got delayed. Instead of sweating it out on hold with customer service, you hit up the airline's AI chatbot. Before you know it, you're talking to a real person who gets you sorted and on an earlier flight. Boom! Crisis averted, and you're back in time for mom's famous pot roast.

But let's get real, while generative AI is cool and all, it's not here to replace humans. In fact, 60% of workers are pretty adamant that we need people in the mix to keep this tech in check. Sure, it can spit out text, videos, and all sorts of content at lightning speed, but it takes a human touch to really make it work wonders.

And it's not just about customer service. Generative AI is popping up everywhere—from sales and marketing to HR and IT. It’s handling the dull stuff, like writing job descriptions and crunching sales data, so we can focus on the cool, creative parts of our jobs.

Chatbots? They've been around, but generative AI has taken them to a whole new level. They're not just more chatty, but they can also tackle the tough questions. And the best part? This tech isn't just for the big players. It's something everyone, in every industry, can use to step up their game.

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The Top 5 Artificial Intelligence Trends For 2024

We’re diving headfirst into the biggest AI trends set to shake things up in 2024. AI’s becoming a big part of our everyday lives, pushing industries forward and making waves in the legal world.

1. Quantum AI: Think of this as supercharged computing. Quantum bits can handle loads of data at once, and big tech names are pouring cash into it. This means AI could solve trickier problems faster.

2. AI Laws: Big countries are drawing up rules for AI. They want to push tech boundaries, attract money, and protect folks from any AI mess-ups. There's talk about countries working together to set AI standards.

3. Ethical AI: As AI starts making more choices for us, from health to money, it's gotta be fair and open about it. Plus, the folks making AI need to be held accountable. Expect a big focus on teaching AI ethics and making sure AI's always on the straight and narrow.

4. Augmented Working: Imagine AI being your sidekick at work. Surgeons, lawyers, and coders, among others, will get AI boosts to do their jobs better. Plus, with more folks working or studying from home, AI's gonna help customize learning and improve teamwork.

5. Next-Level Generative AI: AI's not just for chit-chat anymore. It'll help create stories, songs, and even bestsellers. The cool new thing? AI that can take different kinds of info (like words, tunes, and pics) and make something totally new. This blurs the line between human-made and AI-crafted stuff, so we'll have to be sharp about telling them apart.

So, as we roll into 2024, it's clear AI’s gonna shake things up in a big way. These five trends are just the tip of the iceberg, and we've got to play it smart, keeping things fair, accessible, and under control. 

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