Need to Know News - May 29th, 2024
In this week's Need to Know News edition...Klarna makes another huge 'AI proof of concept' announcement...TikTok adds AI firepower to attract more advertisers...and the surprising winner of the Wall Street Journal's Chatbot test.
Plus, a whole lot more!
AI In Action
Klarna Using AI to Cut Marketing Costs by $10 Million A Year
Fintech firm Klarna, one of the early adopters of generative AI (GenAI), said on Tuesday it is using AI for purposes such as running marketing campaigns and generating images, saving about $10 million in costs annually.
Using GenAI tools like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Firefly for image generation, Klarna said it has reduced image production costs by $6 million.It is using GenAI to update images on its app and website on a weekly basis, reflecting key retail events such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and summer sales.
"Traditionally, it would have been very costly to cater to these occasions with bespoke imagery, but with AI that is no longer an issue," Klarna CMO David Sandström said
TikTok Boosting Ad Platform with AI
TikTok is the latest tech company to incorporate generative AI into its ads business, as the company announced on Tuesday that it’s launching a new “TikTok Symphony” AI suite for brands. The tools will help marketers write scripts, produce videos and enhance current assets.
The suite includes a new AI video generator called the “Symphony Creative Studio.” The tool can generate TikTok-ready videos with just a few inputs from an advertiser, the company claims. The studio also offers brands ready-to-use videos for ad campaigns based on their TikTok Ads Manager assets or product information.
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Wall Street Journal Puts Chatbots to the Test
The Wall Street Journal pitted 5 top chatbots against each other - ChatGPT from , Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini, Claude from Anthropic, and Perplexity.
They evaluated the chatbots on everyday tasks like creative writing, web research, and answering questions. While each chatbot had strengths, Perplexity surprisingly performed the best overall. It excelled at concise responses optimized for usefulness. ChatGPT came in second despite its massive popularity.
Microsoft's Copilot ranked last except for creative writing prompts where its humor shined.
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Google Scrambles To Remove Answers Telling Pregnant Women To Smoke And Users To Eat Rocks
Social media is abuzz with examples of Google’s new AI Overview product saying weird stuff, from telling users to put glue on their pizzato suggesting they eat rocks. The messy rollout means Google is racing to manually disable AI Overviews for specific searches as various memes get posted, which is why users are seeing so many of them disappear shortly after being posted to social networks.
At the Frontier of AI
OpenAI Establishes A New Safety Oversight Board
The AI startup previously had an oversight board, but the company disbanded it for some reason. The new one consists of CEO Sam Altman, company chair Bret Taylor, Adam D’Angelo, and Nicole Seligman.
Over the next 90 days, the board will “evaluate and further develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards”. After that, it will present recommendations to the full board. Then, the full Board will publicly share an update about the recommendations.
Right now, OpenAI is working on its next “frontier model.”
Elon Musk Says AGI Is Coming Next Year
Elon Musk’s xAI Raises $6 Billion to Develop AI
The company said on its website Sunday that the Series B funding round will be used to take xAI’s first products to market and speed up research. xAI said it has made “significant strides” during the past year in developing the technology, which will continue in the coming months.
Investors in the latest round include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding.
Highest Number of S&P 500 Companies Citing “AI” on Earnings Calls Over Past 10 Years
Through Document Search, FactSet searched for the term “AI” in the conference call transcripts of all the S&P 500 companies that conducted earnings conference.
Of these companies, 199 cited the term “AI” during their earnings call for the first quarter. This number is well above the 5-year average of 80 and the 10-year average of 50. In fact, this is the highest number of S&P 500 companies citing “AI” on earnings calls going back to at least 2014 (using current index constituents going back in time).
AI Today is Like the Internet in 1988: Salesforce AI CEO
The current state of development in AI algorithms is comparable to the early days of the Internet, according to the CEO of Salesforce AI.
Clara Shih compares today’s AI landscape to the year 1988, when the internet was still in its infancy. Speaking at a panel discussion at Viva Tech Paris 2024, Shih said:
“Today is like 1988 for AI… The first wave [of AI] automates mundane and repetitive tasks… When the technology becomes mature, we will invent new business models.”
It’s Chromebook’s Turn for an AI Injection
Google has introduced its new AI model, Gemini, to Chrome OS and Chromebooks, marking a significant upgrade in AI capabilities for these devices. The Gemini AI, available in different versions like Gemini Pro and Gemini Nano, will enhance Chromebooks with features such as AI-generated text, wallpapers, and improved video call backgrounds.
Additionally, Chromebooks will benefit from AI-powered enhancements in Google Photos like Magic Eraser, and support for more demanding applications such as Adobe Photoshop.
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