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☆ ChatGPT may be able to predict stock movements, finance professor shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Alejandro Lopez-Lira, a finance professor at the University of Florida, says that large language models may be useful when forecasting stock prices. If ChatGPT can display the emergent ability to understand headlines from financial news and how they might impact stock prices, it could could put high-paying jobs in the financial industry at risk. About 35% of financial jobs are at risk of being automated by AI, Goldman Sachs estimated in a March 26 note. But the specifics of the experiment also show how far so-called "large language models" are from being able to do many finance tasks. "On the regulation side, if we have computers just reading the headlines, headlines will matter more, and we can see if everyone should have access to machines such as GPT," said Lopez-Lira.

☆ Google reveals its newest A.I. supercomputer, says it beats Nvidia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

While Nvidia dominates the market for AI model training and deployment, with over 90%, Google has been designing and deploying AI chips called Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs, since 2016. On Tuesday, Google said that it had built a system with over 4,000 TPUs joined with custom components designed to run and train AI models. It's been running since 2020, and was used to train Google's PaLM model, which competes with OpenAI's GPT model, over 50 days. Google's TPU-based supercomputer, called TPU v4, is "1.2x–1.7x faster and uses 1.3x–1.9x less power than the Nvidia A100," the Google researchers wrote. For example, Google said that Midjourney, an AI image generator, was trained on its TPU chips.

☆ American teens aren't excited about virtual reality, with only 4% using it daily
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A gallery assistant wearing an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality (VR) headset to view the House of Fine Art (HOFA) Metaverse gallery stands in front of digital artwork "Agoria, _{Compend-AI-M}_ 2022 #16" during a preview in Mayfair, London, UK, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022. Virtual reality hasn't caught on with American teens, according to a new survey from Piper Sandler released on Tuesday. In addition, teenagers didn't seem that interested in buying forthcoming VR headsets. Only 7% said they planned to purchase a headset, versus 52% of teens polled who were unsure or uninterested. Facebook parent Meta is also expected to release new virtual reality headsets later this year.

☆ Apple announces its big annual conference, where it could reveal its new headset
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple announced on Wednesday that its annual developer's conference, WWDC, will begin on June 5 and run through June 9. Apple holds a launch event led by CEO Tim Cook on the first day of the conference and typically unveils new iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac software. However, this year, Apple could reveal its long-awaited virtual and augmented reality headset at the conference, according to Bloomberg. The conference will be held online, with an in-person day at Apple's headquarters, Apple Park, on the first day of the conference. Last year, Apple invited developers and media to watch the pre-recorded opening presentation at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, called Apple Park.

☆ Movie theater stocks pop after report says Apple plans to spend $1B a year on releases
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Cinema stocks jumped Thursday after a report said Apple plans to spend $1 billion a year on theatrical film releases. The investment is part of the tech company's efforts to raise its profile in Hollywood and lure subscribers to its streaming service, Apple TV+, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Typically, Apple has released films directly to its streaming platform or allowed limited runs in a small number of theaters for Academy Award eligibility. No plans have been finalized, but these releases could remain in cinemas for at least a month. Last year, Apple TV+ became the first streaming service to win the Academy Award for best picture, with "Coda."

☆ Apple will require a subscription to watch 'Friday Night Baseball' this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Broadcasts of Major League Baseball games on Apple TV+ this season will require a subscription to the service, Apple announced on Wednesday. In 2022, Apple started broadcasting one or two MLB games every Friday night with a rotating cast of teams. Now, users will need an Apple TV+ subscription, which costs $7 per month in the U.S. While some games will air for free, a subscription with access to all games costs $14.99 per month, with a discount if the person also subscribes to Apple TV+. Apple said the first "Friday Night Baseball" doubleheader broadcast will take place on April 7, featuring the Texas Rangers at the Chicago Cubs followed by the San Diego Padres at the Atlanta Braves.

☆ Bill Gates says OpenAI's GPT is the most important advance in technology since 1980
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft founder Bill Gates speaks during the Global Fund Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York on September 21, 2022. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says that OpenAI's GPT AI model is the most revolutionary advance in technology since he first saw a modern graphical desktop environment (GUI) in 1980. Now, Gates sees parallels with OpenAI's GPT models, which can write text that resembles human output and generate nearly usable computer code. "The whole experience was stunning," Gates wrote. Gates and Microsoft have close ties to OpenAI, which developed the GPT model.

☆ In San Francisco, some people wonder when A.I. will kill us all
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

If the super-powerful AI is aligned with humans, it could be the end of hunger or work. Or, as a sign at the Misalignment Museum says: "Sorry for killing most of humanity." Most of the works are around the theme of "alignment" with increasingly powerful artificial intelligence or celebrate the "heroes who tried to mitigate the problem by warning early." As AI technology becomes the hottest part of the tech industry, with companies eying trillion-dollar markets, the Misalignment Museum underscores that AI's development is being affected by cultural discussions. Even as companies and people in San Francisco are shaping the future of artificial intelligence technology, San Francisco’s unique culture is shaping the debate around the technology.

☆ Google raises price of YouTube TV to $73 a month, blaming content costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Google announced a price increase for its YouTube TV subscription on Thursday. It's increasing from $65 per month to $73 per month starting in April, according to an email sent to subscribers on Thursday. YouTube TV is Google's cable replacement. Google hasn't announced pricing for its Sunday Ticket bundle, but it cost $80 per month under its previous owner, DirecTV. Google will also lower the price of an add-on to access higher-resolution 4K streams from $20 per month to $10 per month, according to the email.

☆ Google ends enterprise sales of Google Glass, its augmented reality smartglasses
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Google has stopped selling its Glass Enterprise smart glasses, the company announced on Wednesday on its website. Glass Enterprise was the successor to Google Glass, a lightweight glasses product that displayed tiny bits of information on a transparent screen in the user's field of view. Google's retreat comes as rivals, including Meta and Apple , are investing in augmented reality and virtual reality technology which could end up in devices that are much more sophisticated Google Glass. The discontinuation of Glass does not mean that Google has given up on augmented reality or smartglasses, though. Last summer, Google previewed a different pair of smartglasses that could translate and transcribe speech in real-time, and said it would continue to test augmented reality glasses prototypes in public.

☆ Apple reportedly delaying some employee bonuses as the company cuts costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Apple is delaying bonuses for some of its employees, according to a new report in Bloomberg. Apple is also more closely watching travel budgets and leaving some unfilled positions open, according to the report. We're cutting hiring. And so a number of areas in the company are not hiring at all," Cook told CNBC in February. Last month, Apple announced December quarter earnings which were about 5% lower than they were in 2021, its first year-over-year revenue decline since 2019.

☆ OpenAI announces smarter AI model called GPT-4, claims it does better on the SAT than 90% of test takers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI announced the latest version of its primary large language model, GPT-4, on Tuesday, that it says exhibits "human-level performance" on many professional tests. OpenAI said it used Microsoft Azure to train the model; Microsoft has invested billions in the startup. Bing's AI chatbot uses GPT-4, Microsoft said on Tuesday. GPT-4 performed at the 90th percentile on a simulated bar exam, the 93rd percentile on an SAT reading exam, and the 89th percentile on the SAT Math exam, OpenAI claimed. OpenAI will charge about 3 cents for about 750 words of prompts and 6 cents for about 750 words in response.

Powering AI Dungeon's text-generation software was the GPT language technology offered by the Microsoft -backed AI research lab OpenAI. The high cost of training and "inference" — actually running — large language models is a structural cost that differs from previous computing booms. Many entrepreneurs see risks in relying on potentially subsidized AI models that they don't control and merely pay for on a per-use basis. Companies making the foundation models, semiconductor makers, and startups all see business opportunities in reducing the price of running AI software. "Latitude is going to continue to evaluate all AI models to be sure we have the best game out there."

☆ ChatGPT is being used to automatically write emails: Microsoft, Salesforce, and TikTok creators are hopping on the trend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The analysts estimated Microsoft's recently announced generated AI sales features could help it take market share and potentially add over $768 million in annual revenue. Microsoft announced on Monday that it would integrate generative AI based on ChatGPT into a set of tools for business called CoPilot. One of its primary features is using AI to generate emails. Microsoft says that its AI email writer can take important context from the email thread, like the price that was previously discussed, and stick it in the response drafted by AI. Microsoft's feature is currently in beta testing, but will be released to customers of Microsoft's Viva Sales feature on March 15, the company said on Monday.

☆ Apple crackdown on ChatGPT apps unlikely, but it could impose new rules down the road
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Blix, an email app maker that has regularly clashed with Apple over its App Store rules, says it ran into that hurdle this week. Regardless, the Blue Mail episode isn't a sign of an impending Apple crackdown on AI apps. In fact, ChatGPT-powered features are already in Snapchat and the Microsoft Bing app, which are currently being distributed through the App Store. Other AI apps, such as Lensa, have also been distributed and have flourished in the App Store. There is no formal AI or chatbot policy in Apple's App Store Guidelines, a document that outlines what Apple permits on the App Store.

☆ Reid Hoffman steps down from OpenAI board to avoid potential conflicts of interest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

LinkedIn founder and Greylock partner Reid Hoffman is leaving the nonprofit board of OpenAI, he announced in a post on Friday. Hoffman cited a desire to invest in companies using OpenAI's software, which could cause a conflict of interest, he said in the post. To be clear, since the start, OpenAI and its board has been very careful to monitor and avoid any conflicts to date," Hoffman wrote. Earlier this week, it said it would charge companies using its AI about one-fifth of one cent to produce about 750 words. Previously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk left OpenAI's board in 2018.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg announces new team at Meta working on A.I. products for Instagram, WhatsApp
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The move comes as big tech companies and well-capitalized startups alike race to tout advances in machine learning techniques and incorporate artificial intelligence models into their products. The unit will combine several teams across Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. Zuckerberg said that the team would build "creative and expressive" tools to be used inside Meta's products. "We're exploring experiences with text (like chat in WhatsApp and Messenger), with images (like creative Instagram filters and ad formats), and with video and multi-modal experiences," Zuckerberg said. For example, large language models created by OpenAI have been integrated into a Microsoft Bing chatbot as well as a separate chatbot called ChatGPT.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg announces Meta's new large language model as A.I. race heats up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Meta has trained and will release a new large language model to researchers, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday. Large language models underpin applications such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing AI, and Google 's unreleased Bard. "LLMs have shown a lot of promise in generating text, having conversations, summarizing written material, and more complicated tasks like solving math theorems or predicting protein structures," Zuckerberg wrote on Friday. Jerry: "George, if you had one of these, would you wear it?" "Meta is committed to this open model of research and we'll make our new model available to the AI research community," Zuckerberg wrote.

☆ Meet the $10,000 Nvidia chip powering the race for A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Powering many of these applications is a roughly $10,000 chip that's become one of the most critical tools in the artificial intelligence industry: The Nvidia A100. The A100 is ideally suited for the kind of machine learning models that power tools like ChatGPT, Bing AI, or Stable Diffusion. Huang, Nvidia's CEO, said in an interview with CNBC's Katie Tarasov that the company's products are actually inexpensive for the amount of computation that these kinds of models need. "We took what otherwise would be a $1 billion data center running CPUs, and we shrunk it down into a data center of $100 million," Huang said. Huang said that Nvidia's GPUs allow startups to train models for a much lower cost than if they used a traditional computer processor.

☆ Nvidia shares up 12% on earnings and bullish outlook on A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia shares opened up more than 12% Thursday morning, a day after the chipmaker reported a beat on the top and bottom line. Nvidia reported $6.05 billion in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter and adjusted EPS of 88 cents, edging out the Wall Street consensus. Nvidia's AI play is "accelerating in a way that will have disruptive implications" for both its competitors and "the world at large," Rosenblatt Securities' Hans Mosesmann said in a Wednesday note. Caso hiked Nvidia's price target from $210 to $275. And in an about-face, Goldman Sachs' Toshiya Hari upgraded Nvidia to a buy rating and set a $275 price target.

☆ Nvidia stock rises after slight beat driven by A.I. chips
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Nvidia reported $0.57 in GAAP net income per share. Gaming revenue was down, as expected, as sales were highly elevated in the past few years. Nvidia reported $1.83 billion in fourth-quarter gaming revenue, a 46% drop from the same time last year. Nvidia also said that it shipped fewer chips for game consoles during the quarter, which is also reported inside the gaming category. Other categories, including professional visualization and automotive chips, remain much smaller than the company's gaming and data center businesses.

☆ Intel slashes dividend by over 65%, to 12.5 cents
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger pictured during the 'Chips for health' event at the Grischa Hotel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on May 24, 2022. Intel cut its quarterly dividend by more than 65%, from 36.5 cents to 12.5 cents, the chipmaker announced Wednesday, weeks after the company implemented a wide-ranging set of cost cuts. "Prudent allocation of our owners' capital is important to enable our IDM 2.0 strategy and sustain our momentum as we rebuild our execution engine," CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a press release announcing the cut. Intel guided to a 15 cent non-GAAP loss per share but didn't issue full-year guidance, citing economic uncertainty. "No words can portray or explain the historic collapse of Intel," Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann wrote after the earnings report.

☆ Microsoft limits Bing A.I. chats after the chatbot had some unsettling conversations
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft's Bing AI chatbot will be capped at 50 questions per day and five question-and-answers per individual session, the company said on Friday. The move will limit some scenarios where long chat sessions can "confuse" the chat model, the company said in a blog post. In a blog post earlier this week, Microsoft blamed long chat sessions of over 15 or more questions for some of the more unsettling exchanges where the bot repeated itself or gave creepy answers. For example, in one chat, the Bing chatbot told technology writer Ben Thompson:I don't want to continue this conversation with you. I don't think you are worth my time and energy.

☆ Microsoft's Bing A.I. is producing creepy conversations with users
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Modern Life, Search, and Devices speaks during an event introducing a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington on February 7, 2023. Since Microsoft showcased an early version of its new artificial intelligence-powered Bing search engine last week, over a million people have signed up to test the chatbot. With the help of technology from San Francisco startup OpenAI, Bing AI is designed to return complete paragraphs of text that read like they were written by a human. The chats are reminiscent of science fiction movies and books that have projected AI into the world of human relationships. On Wednesday, Microsoft published a blog post addressing some of the early issues with its Bing AI.

☆ Only 9% of Americans think AI development will do more good than harm
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

46% of respondents think that AI development will do about the same amount of good and harm, and 41% of people in the sample believe that the technology will ultimately do harm to society overall. Large language models are increasingly being used in generative AI tools, like ChatGPT or Google's unreleased Bard, which can spit out blocks of text. But there have been issues with large language models, which can simply make information up, a phenomenon known as "hallucinating." Both Google and Microsoft's recent AI launches showed their software making factual errors. Some artificial intelligence algorithms can be used for facial recognition, for example, to identify people who attend sporting events.

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