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☆ Bill Gates Is Still Pulling Strings at Microsoft, Overseeing AI Ideas
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

In fact, Business Insider has learned, Gates has been quietly orchestrating much of Microsoft's AI revolution from behind the scenes. The company, Nadella promised, would "continue to benefit from Bill's ongoing technical passion and advice to drive our products and services forward." According to two executives, Gates' memo treated as gospel, sparking Microsoft's push to take the lead in the AI arms race. Now, it seemed, OpenAI might offer Microsoft a way to help forge the AI future that Gates had long envisioned. According to two executives, Gates' words were treated as gospel, helping spark Microsoft's push to take the lead in the AI arms race.

Persons: Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Gates, Siri, They're, Clippy, Copilot, That's, Sam Altman, — Gates, Satya, Nadella, Steve Ballmer, Peter Thiel bashed, Bill, Melinda, Jeffrey Epstein, Nadella's, Rather, OpenAI, Kevin Scott, Scott, Altman, you'll, OpenAI's, Bing —, Bing, Steve, Sam, Kayla Wood, Frank Shaw, Shaw, —, Charles Lamanna, Jaime Teevan, Jeff Teper, Charlie Bell —, He's, Forbes, Mustafa Suleyman, DeepMind, Bill G, Suleyman, aren't, hadn't, there's, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Microsoft, Agents, Business, Google, Wired, Street Journal, Rover, Steve Jobs, OpenAI, Amazon Web Services Locations: Tay, Gates, Clippy, Washington, Redmond , Washington, Seattle

☆ Altman hiring is a major win for Microsoft, should drive further gains for stock, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

But even as the story continues unfolding, analysts already view Microsoft as well positioned coming out of the latest Silicon Valley spectacle. Ives, who reiterated his outperform rating and $425 price target for Microsoft, said the OpenAI board was "kids poker table and thought they won." "We view Microsoft now even in a STRONGER position from an AI perspective with Altman and Brockman at MSFT running AI," Ives wrote to clients Monday morning. Ives' price target is higher than the consensus on Wall Street of $403, according to LSEG, implying upside of slightly more than 9%. Materne has an outperform rating on the stock and a $432 price target.

Persons: Sam Altman, —, Altman, MSFT, Dan Ives, Ives, Satya Nadella, Greg Brockman, Brockman, outperforming, Oppenheimer, Timothy Horan, Bing, Horan, ISI's Kirk Materne, Materne, Michael Bloom Organizations: Microsoft, Nasdaq Locations: OpenAI, Redmond, Wash

☆ ‘Utterly Devastated’: ‘Friends’ Cast Reacts to Matthew Perry’s Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Claire Moses | More About Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Matthew Perry’s fellow “Friends” cast members expressed their grief and sadness about his death in a joint statement to People magazine on Monday. “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer said in the statement. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”“In time we will say more, as and when we are able,” the statement said.

Persons: Matthew Perry’s, ”, “, Matthew, ” Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Chandler Bing —

Google's search engine earned its huge market share by almost instantaneously presenting people with helpful information culled from the billions of websites that have been indexed since former Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed the technology during the late 1990s. These agreements don’t preclude users from switching to a different search engine in their settings, but it’s a tedious process that few people bother to navigate. “You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google,” Nadella said. “Google must think they getting a great benefit from those default agreements, but maybe they're really not worth that much,” Olson said. That would be ironic.”Although the trial is focused on Google's search engine, a government victory could have more sweeping consequences across the technology industry if Mehta decided all default settings are anti-competitive and outlaws all defaults in the settings.

Persons: it's, Judge Amit Mehta, Mehta, “, ”, Luther Lowe, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Department's, Bing, Satya Nadella, ” Nadella, Bing —, Nadella, Florian Schaub, ” Schaub, Eddy Cue, David Olson, ” Olson, Siri Organizations: Google, U.S, Justice Department, Stanford University, Apple, Microsoft, University of Michigan, Verizon, Boston College Law School Locations: U.S, Europe

Meta's AI initiatives are likely to be a key aspect of how it monetizes products and services going forward, while bringing more users and customers into the AI fold. Whereas Meta's headset is priced for mass-market adoption, Apple's headset is clearly a premium device targeted to those who demand the most cutting-edge technology — such as micro-OLED lenses with eye-tracking capabilities . Similarly, JMP Securities argued that the event "highlights Meta's AI tailwinds," which could "unlock additional advertising budgets with new chat-based customer service." Meanwhile, we expect adoption of Meta's Quest 3 hardware to grow. But the integration of the Meta AI assistant into that platform should ultimately make the glasses a more valuable product over time.

Persons: Ray Ban, Jim Cramer, Bing, Ray, Meta, Jim Cramer's, Jim, Mark Zuckerberg, Josh Edelson Organizations: Meta's, Meta, EssilorLuxottica, Apple, Microsoft, JMP Securities, CNBC, AFP, Getty Locations: Menlo Park , California

☆ Microsoft says it's working on new AI features for Bing to let users search with images instead of text, and turn questions into graphs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft is introducing new AI features on its Bing search engine giving users the ability to search visually. Users will soon be able to upload images to Bing and search the web for related content. Bing exceeded 100 million daily active users just a month after its AI updates. Other visual updates will offer image-based answers like charts and graphs and the option to receive an answer in different formats. This follows from Microsoft's integration of Bing Image Creator with Bing Chat, which lets users generate written and visual content in one place.

☆ Microsoft should pay whatever it costs to replace Google on Samsung phones
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Samsung is reportedly looking to replace Google Search with Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine on its phones. If Samsung follows through, Microsoft should pay whatever it takes to make it happen, analysts said. The fact that Samsung is even considering changing its default search engine presents a rare moment of weakness for Google, especially on smartphones. A vast majority of smartphones have Google set as their default search engine, Insider previously reported. Investing big to entrench Samsung as a partner now could pay dividends for Microsoft later, the experts said.

☆ In the Microsoft vs. Google battle for AI search, we opt to own both stocks — here's why
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

This access, however, allows Google to stay ahead of competition like Microsoft, while generating heaps of search traffic that Alphabet then monetizes with advertising. Alphabet vs. Microsoft Since Bing was first introduced in 2009, Microsoft has been trying to dethrone Google in search. About a month after unveiling the new Bing, Microsoft said in a blog post that the search engine topped 100 million daily active users (DAUs). By comparison, Google search gets more than 1 billion DAUs. Morgan Stanley said Alphabet's full integration of Bard into search is an important next step to showcase the company's "leading multiyear AI search and development."

☆ Inside Microsoft's plan to use the new OpenAI-powered Bing to steal share from Google and net billions of dollars in ad revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft has begun to showcase ad formats within the OpenAI-powered new Bing search engine. A slide from a Microsoft Advertising roadshow event held in Amsterdam in March. Dennis WesterbeekAdvertisers can't currently buy ads specifically on the new Bing chatbot; their current Bing ad campaigns will extend to the chatbot automatically, agency sources said. Dennis Westerbeek, a senior digital advertising marketer at digital ad agency Adwise, was excited when he saw the new search ads. Westerbeek, who attended a Microsoft Advertising roadshow in Amsterdam, said he was also impressed that the new Bing had reached 100 million daily active users.

☆ We're concerned about Alphabet’s ad-based business model due to AI competition and the DOJ's lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's Alphabet (GOOGL) versus Microsoft (MSFT) in artificial intelligence — and after decades of owning search, Google finds itself looking over its shoulder. The back-to-back decline last Wednesday and Thursday in Alphabet stock was the biggest two-session losing streak since March 2020. "The quality of large AI models is highly dependent on quality of data," and Google search has a huge lead given usage of Search, Chrome and Android, Jefferies analysts argued. "It is tough when you have the Justice Department saying you have a monopoly and when you have the monopoly being destroyed at the same time by Microsoft," Jim said. Alphabet's business is largely run off ads and there's a growing possibility that the improved capabilities of Bing could attract at least some users away from Google search.

☆ The artificial intelligence war has Wall Street in a frenzy over Google, Microsoft, and anything related to bots
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In case you missed it, last week Microsoft held an event that had the buzz of a Steve Jobs iPhone launch. Google Bard VS OpenAI ChatGPT displayed on Mobile with Openai and Google logo on screen seen in this photo illustration. In this two-horse race, Google certainly didn't do itself any favors in bumbling its own AI demo last week. But the battle will ultimately come down to Microsoft and Google, according to venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. Record highs for the stock market are within reach this year, according to Fundstrat.

☆ Jim Cramer's Investing Club meeting Friday: Be selective buying in this market
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. That means that it's finally safe to start buying stocks after mostly trimming our positions as of late. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ I asked Microsoft's 'new Bing' to write me a cover letter for a job. It refused, saying this would be 'unethical' and 'unfair to other applicants.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

I tested it out by asking it to write me a cover letter for a job. Can the new Bing write a cover letter? "I'm sorry, but I cannot write a cover letter for you. In comparison, ChatGPT generated a 270-word cover letter based on the job description. ChatGPT's cover letter started with a boilerplate introduction, stating the person writing the letter (me) wants to express "strong interest" in the open role.

☆ Google will bring generative AI to Gmail. It's trying to stem the threat of the Microsoft-OpenAI alliance.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It's been developing AI models for years and has used AI in products, including search. Google will release new tools and APIs for developers and users to experiment with its AI models. Unlike some Big Tech AI models, ChatGPT went insanely viral because it was so easy to use and available even to non-programmers. The company also announced plans to offer more AI products for businesses and organizations, though Pichai did not specify which kinds. Pichai pointed to using AI to improve Google Search and said people should expect further upgrades fueled by AI.

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