Windows 11's Massive Update is Now Available with Copilot

Today:

Windows 11’s next big update is now available with Copilot, AI-powered Paint, and more

Microsoft’s droppin’ a fat update for Windows 11. Here's the lowdown:

• Windows Copilot: Fancy new AI sidekick. Think of it like a computer buddy that listens, talks, and helps with tasks. But, it’s not full-fledged just yet.

• File Explorer’s Glow-Up: New look with tabs, a picture gallery, and smarts to suggest your recent or needed files.

• AI-Powered Paint: Not just for doodles anymore. Create images from text, add fancy effects, and remove backgrounds.

• Photos App Upgrades: Make photo backgrounds blurry and find pics by their content on OneDrive.

• Passkey Support: Say "bye" to passwords! Log in using your face or a fingerprint, or even your phone.

• Better Mail App: Old Mail's out, a free sleek version of Outlook's in. It plays nice with Gmail, Yahoo, and others. Also, smart tools to write better.

• Taskbar Tweaks: The bottom bar thing? Apps show up better now.

• Instant Games in the Store: Play small games like Tetris directly. No installation fuss.

• Better Snipping Tool: Capture text from pics and add voice to your screenshots.

• Notepad Autosaves: Because losing notes sucks. Notepad's got your back now.

• Redesigned Windows Backup: Shift your settings and apps easily, especially to a new PC.

• Optional Default Apps: Cortana and some other built-in apps? Uninstall if you want.

How to Get It?

Head to SETTINGS > WINDOWS UPDATE. Don't see it yet? Chill, it's rollin' out in stages.

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SAP launches its own enterprise AI assistant: meet Joule

SAP has rolled out its own AI assistant named Joule, aiming to make life easier for businesses and help them make decisions. Joule is going to be part of all of SAP's online services, letting users access it through various apps and programs, similar to how Microsoft's assistant works. It’s going to be handy on both computers and phones.

This new assistant mixes tech from a bunch of different providers to help interact with users. It’s designed to use top-notch technology and will work with tech from other trusted companies, like IBM. The goal is to give users helpful, real-world solutions by understanding the context and digging deep into the data available.

Joule can answer questions in many languages and suggest solutions using data from SAP and other sources, making it super valuable for businesses, like manufacturers, to identify and solve sales and supply chain issues.

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Meta Connect Starts Wednesday. Expect AI Bots, Launch of Quest 3, and More

Meta's holding a two-day shindig in Menlo Park starting Wednesday. They'll chat about the virtual world and AI. They're launching a new VR headset, the Quest 3, priced at $500. Rumor has it, they might drop some news about their fancy Ray-Ban smart glasses too. Word on the street is that Meta's revealing new AI chat buddies. One's a sarcastic bot named Bob, another's an inquisitive alien named Alvin. There's chatter about another bot named Gavin, but it's got a sketchy rep.

Investors are all eyes and ears, wanting to see if Meta's heavy spending on the virtual world (around $18.4 billion this year) is paying off. They're also curious about how AI might make Meta's social platforms more engaging or help target ads better. Some folks think this gathering will also give a peek into Meta's 2024 spending plans.

Lastly, there's some talk about updates to Meta's virtual characters – apparently, they might finally get legs!

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Tubi is using ChatGPT to give you better movie recommendations

Tired of endlessly scrolling through movie choices? Tubi's got a new trick up its sleeve: Rabbit AI, powered by ChatGPT. You can just chat with it like you're talking to a bud. Whether you're in the mood for a bad high school movie or a dark comedy, just tell Rabbit AI. It's not the first of its kind, but Tubi's made it real easy by building it right into their platform. And hey, it might even suggest something out of the blue, but if it's way off, you'll spot it.

The coolest part? You can chat broad, like, "Got anything about ancient Egypt for kids?" Blake Bassett from Tubi says that Rabbit AI is killer for folks who have a rough idea of what they want or those who just can't decide. It's currently in beta and available for most of Tubi's users. If it nails down the perfect movie match without that endless scroll, it might just be the game-changer we've all been waiting for.

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Audio erotica app Bloom debuts AI roleplay chatbots

Bloom, an audio erotica app, just dropped its new AI chatbot feature where users can chat it up with spicy story characters - think ranch hands or dominatrixes. While other chatbots say "nope" to naughty talk, Bloom's all for it.

With this new AI feature, you can text or even send voice notes to these characters. And yup, these bots sound human, not like those weird robot voices. Plus, they're all about pleasing you, no strings attached.

The chatbot uses machine learning, picking up the unique style and vibe of each character. They even worked with the voice actors to make sure everything's legit and the actors got a say in how their voices are used.

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Airbnb using AI to predict and stop parties before they happen

Airbnb’s using some clever tech to sniff out potential house parties before they happen! If you’re looking to rent a place to throw a bash, you might need to think twice. Now, with artificial intelligence, Airbnb’s putting the kibosh on such parties. They’ve managed to cut the party rate by 55% and ain’t stopping there!

The system’s spotting risky reservations by looking at a few things—like if you’re renting in your city, booking on a weekend, under 25, or renting around your birthday. The tech even checks how far out you’re booking; vacationers tend to book way ahead, while party-goers might book last minute.

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The Whoop Wearable Just Got a Big Update: An AI Fitness Coach

Whoop's got a cool new feature: a talking AI coach to help ya get fit! This coach, powered by some advanced tech from OpenAI, gives personalized fitness advice using the health data collected from Whoop Bands. It's like having a buddy who knows all about your body and workouts, guiding you to hit your health goals. It’s the first of its kind in a fitness wearable, and as far as we know, no other gadgets do this.

You just hit the chat on the app, and you can ask whatever you want about your training. It gives advice that’s all about you and your goals, plus it can analyze your data to answer stuff like “Why am I so wiped today?” It can even tell you how you compare to other Whoop users.

READ THE ARTICLE ON CNET

Mattel’s Pictionary Vs. AI leaves the guesswork to the bots

Mattel's kicking the classic Pictionary game up a notch! In the new Pictionary Vs. AI, players don't guess the drawings - an AI does. How's it work? Players draw something from a card they pull, snap a pic with a smartphone, and the AI takes a crack at guessing what it is. You win if the AI gets it right, or if you bet correctly on whether it'll guess your masterpiece.

Wanna spice things up? Try challenges like drawing blindfolded. The AI behind this is Google's handiwork, borrowing from their Quick, Draw! game. But if you're worried Google's getting more sketch data, don't. Mattel says the AI only recognizes images from its preset list. This techy twist on the classic board game is going for $24.99 on Mattel's site and hits stores on October 2nd.

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UAE unveils 100 cutting-edge AI applications revolutionising media workflows

The UAE has rolled out 100 fresh AI apps aimed at jazzing up the media world, announced on day one of Arab Media in Dubai. These aren't here to kick journalists to the curb but to speed things up in different media sectors. Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, the guy in charge of AI, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Apps in the UAE, said these AIs, like Humanta for data crunching, Chatbase for making chatbots, and Listen Monster for turning speech to text, are game changers. They’re here to help content creators and media pros create and share content in a flash.

Al Olama mentioned that this human and AI combo is just stirring up more creativity and we’re just seeing the start of it. It's all about delivering the right content fast and making it align with what readers or gamers are into. And hey, AI's making lives easier; just look at what it’s done with Google and YouTube!

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French billionaire Xavier Niel to invest €200mn in artificial intelligence

French big shot Xavier Niel is throwing €200 million into artificial intelligence to keep Europe on its toes against tech giants from the US and China. His company, Iliad, plans to fund a super-duper computer, a Parisian research hub, and an AI shindig at Station F, his startup playground in Paris.

Niel says you need big bucks for big computers if you want a piece of the AI pie. They're also building a Euro-style cloud to stand up against major US tech players. His goal? To make a French AI powerhouse, keeping data close to home and going toe-to-toe with heavyweights like Microsoft's OpenAI.

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Kolena, a startup building tools to test AI models, raises $15M

Kolena, a newcomer in the AI game, bagged $15 million, with Lobby Capital leading the funding round, to amp up its tools for testing AI models. In total, they’ve pulled in $21 million. They’re aiming to enhance digital trust in AI, growing their research arm, teaming up with regulators, and boosting their market presence. Mohamed Elgendy, the CEO, who launched Kolena in 2021 with a couple of pals, has his sights set on building a solid framework to check the quality of AI models.

Kolena is aiming to make AI more reliable and user-friendly by providing continuous and detailed testing of AI products, not just bits and pieces of them. They focus on specific scenarios to truly gauge a model’s capabilities, rather than just looking at overall accuracy scores. So, instead of focusing on how well a model can detect cars in general, Kolena looks at how it performs under different conditions like weather changes.

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AI chip company Kneron raises $49M to scale up its commercial efforts

Kneron, a company that's cooking up AI chips for things like driverless cars, just raked in another $49M from big backers like Foxconn and Horizon Ventures. With this cash, they've now got a total of $190M under their belt. Their big boss, Albert Liu, plans to use the money to push their products in the car industry and beef up their research team.

Their goal? Make special chips just for AI tasks. These chips work with stuff we already have, like the tech in self-driving cars, and can do things like spot faces or write text. Kneron's got a bunch of competitors, including tech giants like Google and Amazon. Still, they're holding their own, making bank in the tens of millions and working with around 30 big brands.

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AI predicts sea surface temperature cooling during tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclones, those big, swirling storms with hefty winds and rain, are fueled by warm ocean waters. When they hit, they stir up the ocean, bringing cooler water up to the surface and lowering the overall water temperature. This can slow down or even stop the storms.

Some smart folks, led by a researcher named Hongxing Cui in China, used AI to study how these cyclones affect ocean temperatures, focusing on the Northwest Pacific Ocean, a hot spot for these kinds of storms. They looked at 20 years’ worth of data and a bunch of storm characteristics, like intensity, speed, and size, to predict how much they cool down the water.

Turns out, bigger and slower storms in shallow water areas have the biggest cooling effect, peaking the day after the storm passes. The water starts warming up again pretty quickly, but it takes up to two weeks to get back to normal.

This AI method lined up well with real-world data, giving the researchers confidence in their findings. This can help understand the impact of these cyclones on ocean life globally, especially the tiny algae that are the base of the ocean food chain.

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Grammy’s CEO: ‘We’re not going to award AI creativity’ unless it falls under these two categories

Grammys boss, Harvey Mason Jr., says AI ain't snaggin' a Grammy, unless it's getting a little help from its human friends. The rules? If AI's jamming out the tune but humans penned the lyrics, it's in. And if AI's the mastermind behind the words but you've got a human belting them out, it's good to go.

This new rule popped up after some artist tried sneaking in a song that had AI copying Drake and The Weeknd's voices. Though the tune could've been up for Song of the Year, it got the boot from other categories 'cause the vocals weren't legit. And with more and more musicians using AI to help with their beats, these Grammy rules might be getting another remix soon. But for Mason, it's clear: the spotlight's on the humans, not the bots.

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