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☆ Google just gave us a tantalizing glimpse into the future of AI agents
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewWhat if the Google Assistant was actually… an assistant? In short: AI agents are what have the best shot at taking this technology from "nice to have" to "need to have." But there are other ways these AI agents will emerge in the nearer term. Google teased a combination of updates that will soon make its Gemini AI chatbot more capable and proactive. Tentacles and tailoringBut it's in its legacy products that Google really has an edge when it comes to enabling agent-like qualities.

Persons: —, It's, Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Astra Pichai, We've, Demis Hassabis, OpenAI, Sissie Hsiao, Hsiao, Chatbots, Liz Reid, Google's, Reid Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Astra, Gemini Locations: London

☆ Ex-Meta staffers see booming business targeting online disinformation after two wars break out
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

Wagner left Facebook parent Meta last year, and her work in trust and safety feels like it was from a prior era. One of her first investments was in a startup called Cove, which was founded by former Meta trust and safety staffers. "One thing I would recommend is transparency at a time where third-party access and understanding to what is going on at scale on social platforms is what is needed." Post is an example of the kinds of companies that trust and safety startups are focused on. Fishman said customers are starting to see trust and safety tools as almost an extension of their cybersecurity budgets.

Persons: Joshua Bratt, Lauren Wagner, Wagner, Mandel Ngan, Roblox, Wagner's, Michael Dworsky, it's, Mason Silber, Donald Trump, Manu Aggarwal, Aggarwal, Abhijnan Dasgupta, Sara Ittelson, Ittelson, Cove's Dworsky, they'd, Alex Goldenberg, Noam Bardin, he's, Bardin, that's, Brian Fishman, Cinder, Fishman Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Hamas, Twitter, Radium Ventures, White, AFP, Getty, CNBC, Innovation Labs, Google, Apple, Republican, Everest Group, Accenture, Genpact, Big Tech, Tech, Venture, Accel, European, Digital Services, Defamation League, Network, Research, Rumble Locations: King's Cross, London, Israel, Washington ,, San Francisco, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Cinder, who's, ActiveFence

☆ Meta is spending $181 million to end a lease on an office it never moved into, report says — as Big Tech continues to reassess the role of in-person work
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta had 18 years remaining on the lease for an eight-storey office in London, the FT reports. AdvertisementAdvertisementMeta has paid $181 million to end its lease on an office in London that it never moved into, the Financial Times reported. And last December, Meta moved out of two of its New York offices. AdvertisementAdvertisementAfter office workers generally worked from home during COVID-19, many bigger companies have now mandated returns to office. AdvertisementAdvertisement"Working from home during the various Covid lockdowns tore up the rulebook for office workers, allowing a level of freedom as to where (and when ?)

Persons: Meta, —, Matthew Saperia, Peel Hunt, Mark Zuckerberg's, Adam Mosseri, Paul Jayson, DLA Piper, lockdowns Organizations: Big Tech, Service, Financial Times, Peel, Triton, Meta, Estate Locations: London, New York, King's, COVID

☆ North Korea claims Travis King, the US soldier who ran into its territory, was unhappy with 'racial discrimination' and an 'unequal society' in America
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Pyongyang claims the US soldier who ran into North Korea in July was angry with racism and society. King was detained by North Korean troops and investigated, North Korean propaganda and state media arm KCNA wrote. He also told investigators that he wished to seek refuge in North Korea or another country, and was "disillusioned at the unequal American society," KCNA claimed. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had described King's crossing into North Korea as done "willfully and without authorization." Meanwhile, King's mother, Claudine Gates, said she was shocked to hear that King had run into North Korea.

Persons: Travis King, King, he'd, KCNA, America, Lloyd Austin, King's, Claudine Gates, Travis Organizations: US Army, Service, Tuesday, Joint Security Area, North, US Defense Department, South, Reuters, Associated Press, CBS News, US, ABC News Locations: Pyongyang, North Korea, Wall, Silicon, Korea, South Korea

North Korean investigators have also concluded that King crossed deliberately and illegally, with the intent to stay in the North or in a third country, state news agency KCNA said. It did not address whether it had heard more details from North Korea. As an active-duty soldier he might appear to qualify as a POW, given that the United States and North Korea technically remain at war. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Factors including King's decision to cross into North Korea of his own free will, in civilian attire, appear to have disqualified him from POW status, U.S. officials have said.

Persons: Travis King, Pyongyang's, King, KCNA, Myron Gates, Soo, hyang Choi, Josh Smith, Idrees Ali, Grant McCool, Stephen Coates Organizations: U.S . Army, Joint Security Area, Korean People's Army, ABC, Pentagon, United Nations Command, UNC, U.S ., Korean, Force, U.S, South Korean, Thomson Locations: SEOUL, North Korea, U.S, South Korea, ., DPRK, United States, Washington

☆ I use AI to teach autonomous cars how to drive. People are skeptical, but they could become safer than human drivers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Asonta Benetti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ben Foxall is interested in how humans and tech work together. He began working for Wayve, a startup that's using AI to teach cars to drive. My team oversees the whole process of how self-driving cars work. Right now we're building commercial fleets of self-driving cars for urban areas to be able to take over the last-mile delivery of groceries. Self-driving cars are mind-bogglingly complex and incredible.

☆ Ex-Google comms chief D-J Collins founds biotech startup Early with designer Thomas Heatherwick
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ex-Google comms chief D-J Collins has founded a biotech startup with designer Thomas Heatherwick. The startup, named Early, will focus on the early detection of serious illnesses. D-J Collins and the designer Thomas Heatherwick established a startup called Early on December 20 2022, according to documents filed with Companies House. Early will focus on the early detection of serious illnesses. "Early's mission is to provide early detection of serious illnesses to as many people as possible," Collins told Insider.

☆ The year that brought high-flying Silicon Valley back down to earth
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The tech industry, already dominant, only seemed destined to grow even bigger at the start of this year. The spread of the Omicron variant suggested a continued pandemic-fueled demand for digital goods and services, which had buoyed many tech companies. The result was a bloodbath unlike anything the tech industry has seen in the past decade. For years, Silicon Valley has held up its founders as visionaries who can see far into the future. “I do not think venture is cratering, or the tech industry is cratering as an industry.”But for now, at least, there appears to be no end in sight to the pain for Silicon Valley and those who work in it.

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