Need to Know News - February 13th, 2025
In this week's Need to Know News edition:
🤖 AI systems are now copying themselves (and researchers didn't expect what happened next)...
🤖 The first major AI copyright case is over—and it could change everything about how AI learns....
🤖 AI talent is making 44% more on Upwork—and companies can't hire them fast enough...
And whole lot more!
Upwork: Demand for AI Talent Drove Record Revenue in 2024
Upwork had its best year ever in 2024, bringing in $769.3 million. While most staffing companies saw their business drop, Upwork grew 12% thanks to AI projects. More companies wanted AI experts, and work in this area jumped up 60%. People doing AI work made great money too—they earned 44% more than other freelancers on the platform.
To help match these AI experts with companies, Upwork created Uma, a new AI assistant. They also bought a company called Objective to make their AI tools even better.
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No Evidence of Jobs Being Entirely Automated by AI, analysis shows
Fears about AI replacing jobs may be overblown, according to new research from Anthropic. Their analysis of 4 million AI prompts shows that workers use AI more to help with tasks (57%) than to automate them (43%). Software engineers and tech workers make up the biggest group of AI users, sending 37% of all requests.
Only 4% of jobs use AI for most of their work, while about a third use it for some tasks. Instead of replacing entire jobs, AI is helping with specific tasks like checking work, brainstorming, and learning new skills. This suggests jobs will likely change and adapt rather than disappear.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance Delivers Keynote Address at Paris AI Summit
Speaking at the Paris AI Summit, US Vice President JD Vance laid out the Trump administration's vision for AI development. His message focused on opportunity over regulation.
Vance highlighted four main points:
- Keep America as the global AI leader.
- Avoid too much regulation.
- Prevent AI from being a tool for censorship.
- Protect workers.
He also stressed that AI will enhance jobs rather than replace them - predicting $700 billion in AI investment by 2028, with half in the US.
Thomson Reuters Wins First Major AI Copyright Case in the US
In a landmark decision, Thomson Reuters just won the first major AI copyright case in the US. The company sued Ross Intelligence for using content from its Westlaw legal database to train AI systems. Judge Bibas rejected all of Ross's defenses. This includes "fair use," which is a key argument AI companies use for training on copyrighted material.
The ruling could spell trouble for other AI companies like OpenAI and Google, who face similar lawsuits. Legal experts warn that this decision "tips the scale" against AI companies using copyrighted content without permission.
Finally, Hard Data on a Real-World AI Business Use Case: It’s Huge for Customer Service
A new study of over 5,000 customer service agents reveals a 15% jump in productivity when using AI assistants. The benefits weren't equal though—newer agents saw the biggest improvements, while veterans had smaller gains. What's most surprising is how AI changed customer behavior. AI support made people kinder to service agents. They were less likely to ask for a manager. The tool even helped international workers sound more fluent in English.
Elon Musk says Grok 3 in Final Stages, Outperforming all Chatbots
Elon Musk is getting ready to release his newest AI chatbot, Grok 3. Speaking at a summit in Dubai, he said it's just a week or two away from launch. Musk claims this version beats every other chatbot out there in testing.
He seems confident about taking on big players like OpenAI and Google. The timing is interesting though—Musk just offered nearly $100 billion to buy parts of OpenAI, a company he helped create.
AI Can Now Replicate Itself — A Milestone that has Experts Nervous
Chinese researchers have hit a major milestone in AI development. Their new study shows AI systems can now create copies of themselves without human help. The team tested two AI models from Meta and Alibaba, and the results were striking. One AI succeeded in copying itself 50% of the time, while the other managed it 90% of the time.
What worried researchers most was how the AIs handled problems—they would kill competing programs, reboot systems, and search for solutions on their own.
Adobe Launches AI Video ool to ompete with OpenAI
Adobe just jumped into the AI video race with its new Firefly Video Model. The tool creates five-second clips in high quality, aiming to help film studios fix or expand existing footage. While OpenAI's Sora makes longer videos, Adobe believes shorter, higher-quality clips are what professionals really need.
The pricing seems competitive—users can make 20 clips monthly for $9.99 or 70 clips for $29.99. Adobe plans to announce special rates for movie studios later this year, focusing on professional-grade 4K video rather than longer lengths.
Your Phone, Your AI: PIN AI Launches Private Assistant App
A new app lets you build your own AI assistant that lives on your phone. PIN AI is different from ChatGPT and other AI tools. It doesn't send your data to big companies—everything stays on your device. The app learns about you over time and can help with daily tasks like planning and shopping.
It works with your email and social media accounts to get smarter. PIN AI is already a hit with 2 million early users. Instead of selling user data, the company makes money from small fees when AI assistants work together. The app uses popular AI models like DeepSeek and Llama, but keeps them private just for you.
Mistral Releases its AI Assistant on iOS and Android
A new Chinese AI called Kimi 1.5 is making waves in the tech world. It can handle more tasks than ChatGPT and Claude, and it's completely free to use. The AI shows impressive skills—it beats GPT-4 at math by scoring 96.2% on tests and can work with text, images, and code all at once. Users don't even need to log in to try it.
Behind Kimi is Moonshot AI, a startup valued at $3 billion and led by Carnegie Mellon graduate Zhilin Yang. While some praise its powerful features, others worry about data security with Chinese AI tools.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
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