Artificial intelligence is more a part of our lives than ever before. While some might call it hype and compare it to NFTs or 3D TVs, AI is causing a sea change in nearly every part of the technology industry. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is arguably the best-known AI chatbot around, but with Google pushing Gemini, Microsoft building Copilot, and Apple working to make Siri good, AI is probably going to be in the spotlight for a very long time. At The Verge, we’re exploring what might be possible with AI — and a lot of the bad stuff AI does, too.
Featured stories
Is AI hitting a wall?
Everyone in AI seems to agree that new models are hitting a scaling wall. Now, the buzz is turning to ‘reasoning’ and AI agents.
The Information has the scoop. If this happens, it wouldn’t be too surprising to me — seems like a natural next step for a company that already has its own search engine and native ChatGPT apps.
OpenAI has apparently also had discussions with Samsung about powering AI tools on its devices, The Information reports.
[The Information]
AI is confusing — here’s your cheat sheet
If you can’t tell the difference between AGI and RAG, don’t worry! We’re here for you.
Microsoft is still fighting The New York Times over AI copyright rules, and it’s got a new line of attack: if the Times is so mad at chatbots, why does its tech podcast host love them? Its lawyers’ appreciation of Hard Fork, unfortunately, does not extend to learning Kevin Roose’s name.
It will be headed up by Clara Shih, who was most recently the CEO of Salesforce AI, Axios reports.
From ChatGPT to Gemini: how AI is rewriting the internet
How we use the internet is changing fast thanks to the advancement of AI-powered chatbots that can find information and redeliver it as a simple conversation.
The idea with Azure AI Foundry is that it will help organizations manage their AI tools. As Microsoft says in a blog post:
Azure AI Foundry helps bridge the gap between cutting-edge AI technologies and practical business applications, empowering organizations to harness the full potential of AI efficiently and effectively.
Microsoft is making Places, its new app to coordinate in-office days with colleagues, available to everyone today. Microsoft Places uses AI and a dedicated location plan section where you can set and share the days you’ll use the office and view which days your co-workers are heading in. Microsoft is also planning to integrate this all into Copilot soon, too.
Microsoft Ignite 2024: all the news from Microsoft’s IT pro event
Ignite is Microsoft’s big event to sell the future of Windows, AI, and Office to its biggest customers.
Autonomous Cars
Baidu’s supercheap robotaxis should scare the hell out of the US
Automakers plead with Trump: don’t kill the EV tax credit
Nuro expands driverless testing after pivoting to licensing its AV tech
Cruise fined $500K for submitting a false report after last year’s pedestrian crash
A new “improved” Windows search will allow you to search for documents, photos, and other files by just describing them — even when you’re not connected to the internet. The new AI search experience will roll out to Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs early next year.
Dotdash Meredith, the publisher of People, Better Homes & Gardens, and InStyle, announced a licensing deal with OpenAI in May (as did The Verge's parent company, Vox Media). Now, AdWeek is reporting this $16 million minimum figure based on comments from a recent earnings call:
If you look at Q3 24, licensing revenue was up about $4.1 million year-over-year. The lion’s share of that would be driven by the OpenAI license...the variable components will be calculated and recognized in the future.
Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI
Emails in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI expose the startup’s rocky origins.
Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie has enlisted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and nine other San Francisco leaders to guide his administration’s efforts to revitalize the city (and win back the support of its disgruntled tech elite).
The move comes as prominent figures like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Elon Musk, and YCombinator president Gary Tan openly criticize San Francisco’s public safety failures, with some even threatening to relocate.
Owners of the smart glasses in France, Italy, Ireland, and Spain will get Meta AI features starting today, the company announced.
For now, Meta AI can answer general questions, but it won’t get multimodal features like using the Ray-Bans’ camera to tell you about things you see — the company has called the EU regulatory environment too “unpredictable” to do that right now.
On this day, one year ago, Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI — an event known internally as “The Blip.”
His influence has seemingly only increased since he overcame the attempted coup. The board that ousted him was gutted and key executives, like Ilya Sutskever and Mira Murati, have departed. Next year, OpenAI will likely be restructured into a for-profit company, becoming exactly what it was created to avoid.
I’m glad Apple Intelligence summaries exist. Because this is a beautiful mess.
And life-changing, just like Tim Cook said.
One of the ads, which you can see below, is an AI recreation of the brand’s classic Coke caravan commercial. All three of Coke’s AI commercials will air across TVs and online video platforms this holiday season, according to AdAge.
The Elon Musk-run social media company is trying to stop a California law that would require platforms to block “materially deceptive” election content during set periods before and after voting, Bloomberg reports. X is arguing the law violates the First Amendment, pointing to “a long history” of Constitutional protections for critiques of government “that includes tolerance for potentially false speech made in the context of such criticisms.”