OpenAI unveils ChatGPT update, adds internet browsing for ‘plus’ users
Mark Zuckerberg kicks off Meta event on future of AR, VR investments
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the tech giant’s Connect developer conference on Wednesday with a focus on virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
The company, which renamed itself Meta two years ago, unveiled the next version of its virtual reality headset, the Quest 3. It will cost USD 499 and begin shipping October 10.
Standing in a courtyard at his company’s Menlo Park, California headquarters, Zuckerberg told the audience of developers, employees and journalists that Meta is focused on building the future of human connection and painted a near-future where people interact with hologram versions of their friends or coworkers and with AI bots built to assist them.
Soon the physical and digital will come together in what we call the metaverse, he said.
Meta is in the midst of a corporate transformation that it says will take years to complete. It wants to evolve from a provider of social platforms to a dominant power in a nascent virtual-reality world called the metaverse sort of like the internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D.
But this transformation has been slower than expected, and Meta’s main business remains advertising on its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Competition with TikTok remains Meta’s biggest challenge, said Insider Intelligence analyst Yoram Wurmser.
A lot of this effort around chatbots and stories and other ways just to keep engagement going (like) AI-driven personalization and stuff like that, that’s the overarching challenge for the company, he said.
Squeezed by a slump in online advertising and uncertainty around the global economy, Meta has cut more than 20,000 jobs since last November. Zuckerberg dubbed 2023 the company’s year of efficiency as it reduces its workforce while focusing on more technical hires such as experts in AI to focus on Meta’s long-term vision.
Artificial intelligence is central to that vision. Over the summer, Meta released the next generation of its AI large language model and made the technology, known as Llama 2, free for research and commercial use.
Much like tech peers Google and Microsoft, Meta has long had a big research team of computer scientists devoted to advancing AI technology. But it’s been overshadowed as the release of ChatGPT sparked a rush to profit off of generative AI tools that can create new prose, images and other media.
Zuckerberg said at the time that people can download its new AI models directly or through a partnership that makes them available on Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure along with Microsoft’s safety and content tools.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Google turns 25: Marks silver jubilee occasion with special doodle
Google turned 25 on Wednesday and marked the silver jubilee occasion with a special doodle that depicted the journey of the company from its humble origin in a rented garage in the US to becoming a global search giant.
The 25th anniversary doodle also visually portrayed the evolution of the software bellwether’s logo over these years.
The firm is recognised around the world for its vibrant logo that embrace colours and simplicity.
On Wednesday, visitors to Google’s homepage were welcomed with a dynamically changing logo with one of these being ‘G25GLE’, the numerals 25 being interlooped in a way that it formed the two ‘Os’ in the company’s name.
On a note shared on its website on Wednesday, the search giant said,” Today’s Doodle celebrates Google’s 25th year. And while here at Google we’re oriented towards the future, birthdays can also be a time to reflect. Let’s take a walk down memory lane to learn how we were born 25 years ago…”.
By fate or luck, doctoral students Sergey Brin and Larry Page met in Stanford University’s computer science programme in the late ’90s. They quickly learned they shared a similar vision: make the World Wide Web a more accessible place, it said.
“The pair worked tirelessly from their dorm rooms to develop a prototype for a better search engine. As they made meaningful progress on the project, they moved the operation to Google’s first office a rented garage. On September 27, 1998, Google Inc. was officially born,” the firm said in the note.
“Much has changed since 1998 including our logo as seen in today’s Doodle but the mission has remained the same: to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Billions of people from all over the globe use Google to search, connect, work, play, and SO much more! Thank you for evolving with us over the past 25 years. We can’t wait to see where the future takes us, together,” it added.
Google is headquartered in Mountain View, California in the US.
The corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc, is called ‘Googleplex’.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Apple used Bing offer as ‘bargaining chip’ with Google: Microsoft
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
By Leah Nylen
A Microsoft Corp. executive said the company has tried for years to displace Alphabet Inc.’s Google as the default web browser on iPhones, but that Apple Inc. never seriously considered switching to Microsoft’s Bing and was content to use it as a “bargaining chip” with the search giant.
“Apple is making more money on Bing existing than Bing does,” Mikhail Parakhin, the head of Microsoft’s advertising and web services, testified during the US government’s antitrust trial against Google in Washington. “We are always trying to convince Apple to use our search engine.”
Parakhin, who joined Microsoft in 2019 from Russian search engine Yandex NV, said Microsoft met with Apple as recently as 2021 to discuss a potential switch to Bing, but didn’t make any progress.
In response to Google’s lawyers, Parakhin said it was “uneconomical for Microsoft to invest more” in technology for the mobile search market. “Unless Microsoft gets a more significant, or firmer guarantee of distribution, it makes it uneconomical to invest.”
Apple has used Google as the default search engine in its Safari browser since 2003 in exchange for a share of the advertising revenue earned through searches made on its devices. The US Justice Department alleges that the contract and others like it have allowed Google to illegally maintain its monopoly over the online search market.
Google denies the government’s claim and says users choose its search engine because it is the best one.
The exact amount of money Apple earns from the Google deal is confidential, but the Justice Department said it’s between $4 billion and $7 billion a year. On Tuesday, a top Apple executive testified that the iPhone-maker agreed to “support and defend” the contract with Google in any regulatory challenges including the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
The case is US v. Google, 20-cv-3010, US District Court, District of Columbia.
First Published: Sep 27 2023 | 10:46 PM IST
Govt seeks partnerships to modernise Mohali’s semiconductor lab
In a strategic initiative to reduce India’s dependency on semiconductor imports, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is looking to form partnerships with commercial and technological experts. The goal is to modernise the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali as part of a larger $10 billion programme to enhance India’s semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem.
The government’s new collaboration aims to transform the existing lab into either a Research and Development centre, a mass production unit, or a hybrid of both. The move has the potential to attract global investment into the country, providing a significant boost to sectors including electronics, IT hardware, and defence.
Sourabh Lele explores how this new public-private partnership initiative plans to establish a robust local ecosystem for chip manufacturing, which is an integral component of various sectors.
In a groundbreaking innovation, ReshaMandi, a Bengaluru-based business-to-business marketplace for textile and fashion, has digitalised the silk cocoon trade. Through a tech-enabled bidding system, the platform is changing the game for farmers such as Panchaiya M Hiremath by ensuring fair prices for their yield, particularly given the limited shelf life of silk cocoons.
Farmers and reelers can now view real-time bid prices on multiple screens at ReshaMandi’s warehouse, a development that has significantly reduced transaction times. Mayank Tiwari, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of ReshaMandi, has set his sights on increasing transparency and efficiency in the cocoon trade.
Launched in 2020, ReshaMandi has already diversified its offerings to include other natural fibres. Partnering with over 100,000 farmers, the company employs technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve farmer productivity by 20 per cent and incomes by almost 30 per cent.
First Published: Sep 27 2023 | 9:25 PM IST
Four out of five Internet Users in India consume YouTube, show report
YouTube has consolidated its presence in India as four out of five internet users above the age of 18 utilise the platform, according to a survey by Comscore. Additionally, adults over 35 years of age spent an average of 70 minutes daily on YouTube as of June 2023.
Short video content on the platform has seen exponential growth, with 96 per cent of respondents aged 18-44 stating that they use YouTube Shorts. This short-form content alone accounted for 70 billion views per month globally and grew by over 120 per cent year-on-year.
Satya Raghavan, Director of Marketing Partners at Google India, said, “The diverse and burgeoning creator economy in India has contributed significantly to this growth. Marketers are capitalising on YouTube’s multifaceted environment to connect with consumers through timely, language-specific, and device-optimised campaigns.”
Also read: YouTube’s short and smart future: Here’re challenges, opportunities
Indian viewers are diversifying their video consumption, allocating no more than 21 per cent of their viewing time to any single format. Connected TVs (CTV) have become the fastest-growing screens for YouTube use over the last five years. About 33 per cent of urban Indian CTV consumers have completely abandoned linear TV, and 78 per cent of the survey respondents plan to transition to CTVs by next year. As part of its advertising strategy, YouTube has started testing 30-second non-skippable ads exclusive to CTVs.
Among Gen Z users, YouTube has proven more popular than linear TV, with half indicating they would choose the platform over traditional television for a year.
In a recent development, YouTube has introduced a suite of tools in its Ads Creative Studio, allowing marketers to customise display or video ads for various demographics, languages, and contexts. The platform is also integrating artificial intelligence into its advertising services. “Our AI-powered solutions will position businesses at the crossroads of media, creativity, technology, and content, enabling brands to meet their objectives more efficiently,” added Raghavan.
The total hours of content uploaded by Indian channels to YouTube increased by over 40 per cent in June 2023 compared to June 2022. According to the survey, creators worldwide are increasingly using generative AI to discover new ideas and audiences, with a significant number of adults willing to engage with AI-generated content.
