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☆ Google opens Bard chatbot to test users, plans more AI for search
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

In a blog post on Monday, Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said the company is opening a conversational AI service called Bard to test users for feedback, followed by a public release in the coming weeks. Powering Bard is LaMDA, Google's AI that can generate prose so human-like that a company engineer last year called it sentient, a claim the technology giant and scientists widely dismissed. Google also plans to add AI-powered features to its search engine that synthesize information to answer complex queries, like whether a guitar or the piano is easier to learn to play, Pichai said. And Google will give tools, first powered by LaMDA and later by other AI technology, to web developers, creators and enterprises starting next month, he said. Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Calif.; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Amazon has long viewed grocery as a key to unlock more consumer spending. Despite Amazon's large business from packaged food and other goods, it has yet to win significant market share in perishables, Jassy said. Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, said Amazon has itself to blame, having drawn consumers to online shopping decades ago. "They are flushing money down a toilet pursuing Amazon Fresh stores" and thinking "they can brand a new concept and capture share from retailers who have been successful for decades." The company has a few dozen Amazon Fresh stores so far, Jassy said.

☆ Analysis: From Meta to Microsoft, AI's big moment is here
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] A Microsoft logo is seen a day after Microsoft Corp's $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn Corp, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File PhotoFeb 3 (Reuters) - Big Tech companies have a new obsession: artificial intelligence. Executives from Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), behind the latest big rivalry in tech, took their battle to the conference-call front lines. We can bring those to life using generative (AI) art, which I think is really exciting," he said. "One of my goals for Meta is to build on our research to become a leader in generative AI," said Zuckerberg.

And while Amazon's holiday revenue beat Wall Street's expectations, sales growth from its lucrative cloud-computing division slowed during the fourth quarter. Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told reporters that the company expects slower cloud growth rates for the next few quarters as it worked with customers to optimize costs. Olsavsky also said the company remains nervous about consumer spending and how people will prioritize budgets moving forward. Facing high inflation and an uncertain economy, CEO Andy Jassy has aimed to slash costs across Amazon's vast array of businesses. The division fell short of estimates of more than $22 billion in fourth-quarter cloud sales, increasing them 20% to $21.4 billion.

☆ Ukraine is using Palantir's software for 'targeting,' CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Its software helps Ukraine target, for instance, tanks and artillery, a Palantir spokesperson said. The company, whose co-founders include Karp and investor Peter Thiel, has opened an office in Ukraine. "There are huge ethical issues on the battlefield," he said at an event Palantir hosted in Palo Alto. Japan is a "very high priority" market for Palantir including in defense, another Palantir official, Kevin Kawasaki, said in an interview. Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Calif.; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Jeffrey Dahmer copycat sentenced to 45 years in prison after using Grindr as a 'hunting ground' to lure, kidnap, and attempt to kill an 18-year-old gay man
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Chance Seneca of Louisiana was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison on Wednesday, DOJ said. In June 2020, Seneca used Grindr, a gay dating app, to lure and kidnap an 18-year-old. "Seneca intentionally targeted gay men, as Dahmer had done. Seneca told authorities in an interview that he saw the dating application as a "hunting ground," according to a complaint. "It's not what I asked for," White told The Times.

A Louisiana man was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for kidnapping and attempting to murder a gay teen as part of a broader hate crime scheme targeting men on an LGBTQ dating app, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. His decadeslong sentencing rested on a variety of factors, the Justice Department revealed, including that Seneca intentionally targeted the teen and other gay men because of their sexual orientation. Within days of his assault on White, Seneca allegedly attempted to kidnap a different man and allegedly kidnapped another, the Justice Department said in a previous statement. The Louisiana case is one of several where people have used Grindr, a dating app founded in 2009 that is predominantly used by gay men, to target LGBTQ people around the world. In 2018, it was widely reported that Egyptian authorities and residents were using Grindr and other dating apps to entrap and persecute gay men.

☆ Elon Musk is mulling over ways to whittle down some of his Twitter debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

And speaking of cold hard reality, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk is trying to raise fresh funds to pay off some of the pricier bits of his $13 billion Twitter loan. New fundraising to the tune of $3 billion could help Musk repay the obligations he took on in his Twitter takeover. For every quarter that goes by without refinancing, the interest rate goes up by an additional 0.50 percentage point, regulatory filings show. That said, if Twitter can pay back those unsecured bridge loans, meeting its debt obligations would be much more manageable. What are some ways you think Elon Musk could boost revenue at Twitter?

“The small miss on Microsoft’s cloud earnings forecast is likely just a reflection of the new economic reality that businesses are facing and not a harbinger of something worse," said Bob O'Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research. It forecast third-quarter revenue in its so-called intelligent cloud business would be $21.7 billion to $22 billion, just below the analyst average forecast of $22.14 billion, according to Refinitiv. He said revenue from OpenAI-related businesses would show up in revenue for Microsoft's cloud service Azure in the future. Azure cloud product revenue in the second quarter rose 31%, in line with estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. The company expects that revenue to drop to $11.9 billion to $12.3 billion in the current fiscal third quarter.

☆ Microsoft attracting users to its code-writing, generative AI software
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Early evidence is in usage of a little-discussed tool that can write computer code for programmers, called GitHub Copilot. Opened up to the public in June of last year, the tool drew 400,000 subscribers within a month. On Tuesday, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said that more than 1 million people had used Copilot to date. Copilot itself relies on OpenAI's tech, as does a chatbot sensation that Open AI released last year known as ChatGPT. Microsoft has said it will make ChatGPT, which can draft code as well as essays or poetry, available via its cloud.

☆ Alphabet-owned AI firm DeepMind shutters office in Canada's Edmonton
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - DeepMind Technologies, owned by Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), is closing its office in the Canadian city of Edmonton, a spokesperson for the AI firm said, just days after Google's parent announced it would lay off 12,000 employees. London-based DeepMind's Edmonton office is the only international site directly managed by the artificial intelligence firm, making it far more resource-intensive to operate, the spokesperson said. Researchers have been offered the option to relocate to another DeepMind office, such as DeepMind Montreal, based in Google’s Montreal office, the spokesperson added. Google acquired DeepMind in 2014, putting the tech giant ahead in the AI race than most of its peers. Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said on Tuesday it is offering a $5 monthly subscription plan for U.S. Prime members that will cover a range of generic drugs and their doorstep delivery, furthering the ecommerce giant's push into healthcare. The program, named RxPass, includes more than 50 medications addressing over 80 chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, anxiety, diabetes and male pattern baldness, Vin Gupta, Amazon Pharmacy's chief medical officer, told Reuters. However, customers enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid or any other government healthcare program will not be able to enroll in Amazon Pharmacy's RxPass service. The average Prime member would save about $100 per year with RxPass, John Love, vice president of Amazon Pharmacy, said in an interview. Amazon Prime members in most U.S. states can sign up for the program from Tuesday.

☆ Microsoft to invest more in OpenAI as tech race heats up
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Recently touting a revolution in artificial intelligence (AI), Microsoft is building on a bet it made on OpenAI nearly four years ago, when it dedicated $1 billion for the startup co-founded by Elon Musk and investor Sam Altman. Microsoft in a blog post has now announced "the third phase" of its partnership "through a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment" including additional supercomputer development and cloud-computing support for OpenAI. Both companies will be able to commercialize the AI tech that results, the blog post said. Microsoft last week said it aimed to imbue such AI into all its products, as OpenAI continues to pursue the creation of human-like intelligence for machines. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft warned of a recession and growing scrutiny of digital spend by customers in its layoff announcement.

☆ Unemployed Americans Find Job Searches Take Longer as Labor Market Cools
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Sarah Chaney Cambon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sarah Herhilan is finding that the competition is stiffer than in the latter half of 2021, when she was also looking for work. When Jeffrey Durante was laid off from a financial technology company in August, he hoped he could land a new job by November. But come mid-January, Mr. Durante was still searching for a product-manager job or related role. And he isn’t alone.

☆ Exclusive: Google parent to lay off 12,000 workers in latest blow to tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Benoit TessierJan 20 (Reuters) - Google's parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) is eliminating about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, it said Friday, as Silicon Valley reels from recent layoffs and faces a troubled outlook. The cuts at Alphabet come days after Microsoft said it would lay off 10,000 workers. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai told staff in a memo that the firm had reviewed its products, people and priorities, leading to job cuts across geographies and tech. Alphabet's job losses affect teams across the company including recruiting and some corporate functions, as well as some engineering and products teams. Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Davos, Switzerland; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Davos 2023-Meta sees promise in generative AI, including for Instagram filters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Generative artificial intelligence, the umbrella technology behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT, has interesting applications for social media, the chief product officer for Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) told Reuters. On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Meta's Chris Cox said that such technology has the capability to create image filters for the likes of the company's Instagram app. Generative AI can learn from vast data to produce prose, imagery or other content in response to a simple text command. Meta has been working on generative AI research, for instance tech that can convert a text prompt into a video clip. Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in Davos, Switzerland Editing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Davos 2023-Uber not planning any company-wide layoffs -CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said in Davos on Thursday that he was not currently planning any company-wide layoffs. The rideshare and delivery company has worked to cut costs for months, early enough relative to others that a memo the CEO wrote on this tougher stance "landed a bit like a lead balloon initially," Khosrowshahi said at a Wall Street Journal event on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. For daily Davos updates in your inbox sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here. Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin; Editing by Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] Visitors queue in front of the Ukraine House during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023, in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland, January 16, 2023. It is about creating momentum and giving assurances that even during the war, Ukraine is not closed for business. "Ukraine has shown resilience in war time and business too so we have to find additional tools on how to facilitate Ukraine business to develop and foreign investment to come to Ukraine even now," she said. WAR NOT ENDING SOONZelenskiy addressed BlackRock executives and its clients in Davos via Zoom on Tuesday, a person who attended said. In Davos, an exhibition at Ukraine House reminds visitors of the scale of the destruction.

In a note to employees, CEO Satya Nadella attempted to address the divergent outlook for different parts of the business. Nadella said the layoffs, affecting less than 5% of Microsoft's workforce, would conclude by the end of March, with notifications beginning Wednesday. Along with Amazon, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) announced cuts of 11,000 jobs, while cloud-based software company Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) said it would cut 10% of its 80,000-member workforce. Under U.S. law, most employers are required to report staff cuts affecting 50 or more workers at a single location. But growth dropped to 35% in the first fiscal quarter of 2023, and the company projects more declines to come.

The layoffs, far larger than cuts by Microsoft last year, add to the tens of thousands of job cuts across the technology sector, which has downshifted following a strong growth period during the pandemic. Nadella said the layoffs, affecting less than 5% of Microsoft's workforce, would conclude by the end of March, with notifications beginning Wednesday. The cuts reflect broader belt-tightening in the technology sector. The CEO of another company serving enterprises, Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR.N), this week told Reuters that reducing cloud spending was a top-ten priority for his customers. Microsoft's cloud revenues soared in recent years from an explosion in corporate demand to host data online and handle computing in the so-called cloud.

☆ Davos 2023: CEOs buzz about ChatGPT-style AI at World Economic Forum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Business titans trudging through Alpine snow can't stop talking about a chatbot from San Francisco. Businesses including CarMax Inc (KMX.N) have already used Microsoft and OpenAI's tech, such as to generate thousands of customer review summaries when marketing used vehicles. Such buzz carried through gatherings at Davos, like talk about a slide-generating bot dubbed ChatBCG after the management consulting firm. loadingGenerative AI is "a game-changer that society and industry need to be ready for," stated an article on the World Economic Forum's website. Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in Davos, Switzerland; Editing by Kenneth Li and Gerry DoyleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Microsoft to expand ChatGPT access as OpenAI investment rumors swirl
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 16 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Monday said it is widening access to hugely popular software from OpenAI, a startup it is backing whose futuristic ChatGPT chatbot has captivated Silicon Valley. The news site Semafor reported earlier this month that Microsoft might invest $10 billion; Microsoft declined to comment on any potential deal. Public interest in OpenAI surged following its November release of ChatGPT, a text-based chatbot that can draft prose, poetry or even computer code on command. ChatGPT itself, not just its underlying tech, will soon be available via Microsoft's cloud, it said in a blog post. Microsoft said CarMax, KPMG and others were using its Azure OpenAI service.

☆ 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' takes Best Picture at Critics Choice Awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Top movie nominee "Everything Everywhere All at Once" won big at the 28th Critics Choice Awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles, taking home honors for Best Picture as well as directing, screenplay, editing and best supporting actor. The top TV series awards went to "Better Call Saul" for Best Drama and "Abbott Elementary," for Best Comedy. Special awards were presented to Janelle Monáe, who received the #SeeHer award, and Jeff Bridges was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Read the full winners list below. Best Picture“Everything Everywhere All at Once”Best ActressCate Blanchett — “Tár”Best ActorBrendan Fraser — “The Whale”Best DirectorDaniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Best Limited Series“The Dropout”Best Drama Series“Better Call Saul”Best Young Actor/ActressGabriel LaBelle — “The Fabelmans”Best Comedy“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”Best Acting Ensemble“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”Best Comedy Special“Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special”Best Foreign Language Series“Pachinko”Best Animated Series“Harley Quinn”Best Movie Made for Television“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”Best Actress in a Drama SeriesZendaya — “Euphoria”Best Actor in a Drama SeriesBob Odenkirk — “Better Call Saul”Best Hair and Makeup“Elvis”Best Visual Effects“Avatar: The Way of Water”Best EditingPaul Rogers — “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Best Production DesignFlorencia Martin, Anthony Carlino —Best CinematographyClaudio Miranda — “Top Gun: Maverick”Best Comedy Series“Abbott Elementary”Best Actress in a Comedy SeriesJean Smart — “Hacks”Best Actor in a Comedy SeriesJeremy Allen White — “The Bear”#SeeHer AwardJanelle MonáeLifetime Achievement AwardJeff BridgesBest Animated Feature“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for TelevisionDaniel Radcliffe — “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”Best Costume DesignRuth E. Carter — “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”Best Song“Naatu Naatu” — “RRR”Best ScoreHildur Guðnadóttir — “Tár”Best Original ScreenplayDaniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert — “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Best Adapted ScreenplaySarah Polley — “Women Talking”Best Supporting ActressAngela Bassett — “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”Best Supporting ActorKe Huy Quan — “Everything Everywhere All at Once”Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy SeriesHenry Winkler — “Barry”Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy SeriesSheryl Lee Ralph — “Abbott Elementary”Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for TelevisionPaul Walter Hauser — “Black Bird”Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for TelevisionNiecy Nash-Betts — “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”Best Supporting Actor in a Drama SeriesGiancarlo Esposito — “Better Call Saul”Best Supporting Actress in a Drama SeriesJennifer Coolidge — “The White Lotus”Best Foreign Language Film“RRR”Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made For TelevisionAmanda Seyfried — The Dropout

☆ Davos 2023: Palantir CEO predicts hiring while preparing for economic slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR.N) is still looking to grow its headcount even as it scrutinizes its spending and confronts economic uncertainty, its chief executive told Reuters. Economists surveyed by the World Economic Forum largely expect a recession this year. Asked about potential cuts, Karp said Palantir was doing well in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada while evaluating spend in slower markets. The top cloud providers are Amazon (AMZN.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Google (GOOGL.O), though Karp said his company is "cloud agnostic." Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in Davos, Switzerland; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon workers' union victory upheld by U.S. labor board director
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. labor board director has upheld Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) workers' landmark union victory at a warehouse in New York, according to a decision issued Wednesday, bringing the online retailer closer to having to bargain with staff on a contract. The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) celebrated the labor board director's decision. "This is a HUGE moment for the labor moment!" Workers in different facilities in New York state have rejected joining the union in two elections since, and Amazon filed objections to conduct during the original contest. The NLRB regional director overruled those objections on Wednesday, in line with an NLRB hearing officer's recommendations last year.

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