AI Briefing Room

EP-109 Intel’s Aws Partnership ⚙️, Openai’s Safety Measures 🦺, Apple’s Health Innovations 🌙

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for tuesday, september 17th.
intel's foundry business moves: intel transitions its foundry to an independent subsidiary and partners with aws to co-develop an ai chip using its 18a fabrication process. ceo patrick gelsinger highlights these alongside a new $3.5 billion pentagon contract.
openai's safety measures: openai forms an independent board oversight committee for enhanced security, transparency, and oversight amid concerns about its growth pace and safety protocols. the company is valued at over $150 billion in a new funding round.
slack as ai agent hub: under denise dresser’s leadership, slack integrates ai applications from salesforce, adobe, and anthropic, including ai-generated huddle summaries. this comes with a focus on transforming slack into a comprehensive work operating system.
apple watch fda approval: apple receives fda approval for sleep apnea detection on latest watch series, using 10 nights of sleep tracking to assess risks. this health monitoring feature will be part of the upcoming watchos 11.
ios 18 rollout: apple’s ios 18 offers new personalization features, redesigned photos app, rcs support, and a new passwords app. heavily hyped ai features will arrive with ios 18.1 later in the u.s.
that’s all for today. we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-108 Openai’s $150b Valuation 💰, World Labs’ 3d Models 🌐, Oracle’s Billionaire Shuffle 💸

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for monday, september 16.
openai’s new funding round: tiger global to join, potentially valuing the ai startup at over $150 billion. thrive capital leads with $1 billion, with microsoft, nvidia, and apple in talks to participate.
world labs’ stealth emergence: fei-fei li’s ai startup secures $230 million, valued over $1 billion, focusing on "large world models" for professionals. first product launch by 2025 aimed at game companies and movie studios.
larry ellison’s billionaire shuffle: briefly becomes the world’s second-richest person, aided by rising oracle shares and strategic cloud partnerships. net worth recently fell back to $197 billion.
uber & waymo partnership expansion: robotaxi services to roll out in austin and atlanta by early 2025. uber riders to book waymo driverless cars through the app, amid pressure to enhance autonomous vehicle strategy.
meta's ai training update: plans to use public uk posts from facebook and instagram users for ai training, with a revised "opt-out" approach. regulatory feedback incorporated for improved transparency.
we'll see you back here tomorrow

EP-107 Apple’s Hearing Aid Breakthrough 🎧, Openai’s Fact-checking Model 🧠, Meta’s Mental Health Initiative 💬

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for friday, september 13th.
apple airpods pro 2 as hearing aids: the fda greenlights apple's airpods pro 2 to function as over-the-counter hearing aids, requiring users to update to ios 18 for this new feature.
openai releases openai o1: openai unveils its latest generative ai model, openai o1, available in chatgpt plus or team subscriptions and via openai’s api, offering enhanced reasoning and fact-checking abilities.
thrive initiative by meta, snap, and tiktok: a new collaborative initiative named thrive is launched to combat the spread of suicide and self-harm content, with technology from meta’s lantern program.
spacex's first commercial spacewalk: spacex marks a historic milestone with its first commercial spacewalk during the polaris dawn mission, achieved without an airlock by depressurizing the entire capsule.
chinese tech giants’ ai efforts: companies like baidu, alibaba, tencent, huawei, and bytedance launch their own ai models, positioning themselves in the global ai race while navigating beijing's strict ai regulations.
we'll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-106 Openai’s $150b Valuation Boost 🚀, Zuckerberg’s 20-year ”mistake” 🤖, Amazon’s Chatbot Ads Strategy 🛍️

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for thursday, september 12th. dive into today's top tech stories:
openai's funding ambitions: openai is in talks to raise $6.5 billion at a $150 billion valuation, significantly up from $86 billion earlier this year. key participants include microsoft, apple, and nvidia, with thrive capital leading the effort.
meta's mark zuckerberg on 20-year mistake: at a live acquired podcast event, zuckerberg discussed a “political miscalculation” regarding facebook’s content moderation and emphasized a shift towards ar glasses, vr goggles, and ai initiatives.
amazon testing ads in rufus chatbot: new sponsored ads will appear in rufus placements for u.s. users, leveraging amazon search and conversational context. this follows a broader trend of monetizing ai tools.
google’s notebooklm adds audio overview: introducing the “audio overview” feature for its ai note-taking app, allowing users to listen to summaries and explanations of documents, aiming to enhance auditory comprehension.
adobe firefly public release: adobe’s ai model for video generation, firefly, will be publicly available by the end of 2024 with features like generative extend, text to video, and image to video, ensuring high-quality and legally compliant content.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow

EP-105 Apple’s €13b Tax Blow 💼, Google’s Market Dominance Penalty 🌐, Sergey Brin’s Ai Passion 🤖

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for wednesday, september 11th.
apple's €13 billion tax ruling: europe’s top court ruled that apple must pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to ireland, stemming from a 2016 order by the european commission. apple shares dipped about 1% following the news.
google's €2.4 billion fine: europe’s highest court upheld a 2.4 billion euro fine against google for abusing its market dominance, initially imposed in 2017 for favoring its own shopping comparison service.
sergey brin's ai focus: google co-founder sergey brin disclosed his daily involvement in ai projects at google, expressing his excitement about the advancements and the value they could bring to humanity.
sony playstation 5 pro announcement: sony announced the launch of playstation 5 pro on november 7th for $700, featuring a more powerful graphics card, advanced ray tracing, and a 2-terabyte solid-state drive.
spacex regulatory delays: spacex criticized "superfluous" regulatory delays hindering its starship flight tests, urging for more efficient licensing processes to maintain the u.s.'s leadership in the global space race.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-104 Apple’s Iphone 16 Pro 📱, Palantir Joins S&p 500 🚀, Rise of Online News 🌐

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for tuesday, september 10th.
apple's latest iphone lineup: introduction of iphone 16 pro and iphone 16 pro max, featuring larger displays, powerful a18 pro chip, new camera features, and the best battery life ever in an iphone. preorders start friday, with release on september 20th.
palantir joins s&p 500: palantir shares jump 14% following its addition to the s&p 500, joining alongside dell, replacing american airlines and etsy. the stock surge reflects increased influence in the tech sector.
online news overtakes tv in the uk: ofcom reports 71% of uk adults now prefer online news to tv, prompting future regulations to ensure high-quality news standards amid the rise of misinformation.
apple airpods 4: unveiling of airpods 4 featuring improved audio quality, better battery life, and enhanced integration with ios devices, setting a new standard in wireless audio tech.
amd's shift to ai technologies: amd refocuses its strategy from flagship gaming gpus to ai technologies, aiming to capture a significant market share and compete with industry giants like nvidia.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow

EP-103 Openai’s Controversies 🤖, Google’s Legal Battles ⚖️, Roblox’s Creator Boom 💼

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for monday, september 9.
openai's dominance: chatgpt is now used by over 92% of fortune 500 companies, but faces challenges with its new gpt-4o model due to voice feature controversy and a significant copyright lawsuit from alden global capital-owned newspapers.
google's legal battles: google is in court defending its advertising model against federal monopoly accusations, following a landmark ruling in august that confirmed google's monopoly in internet search.
roblox developers conference: unveiling new earning opportunities for creators, including increased revenue shares, shopify integrations for merchandise sales, and a teaser of a generative ai project aimed at simplifying 3d content creation.
venture capital and ai investment: traditional vcs struggle to keep up with the $26.8 billion ai investment boom led by tech giants, leading to a market distortion with few ipos and exits.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow

EP-102 Salesforce’s $1.9b Buyout 💸, Broadcom’s Q3 Beat 📊, Microsoft Tackles Ai-generated Exploit 🌐

welcome to wall-e's tech briefing for friday, september 6th! dive into today's top tech stories:
salesforce acquires own co.: salesforce agrees to buy the startup for $1.9 billion in cash, aiming to enhance their cloud-based data backup capabilities. the deal is expected to be finalized by january 2025.
broadcom q3 results: broadcom surpasses wall street expectations with $13.07 billion in revenue but sees shares drop due to a $1.88 billion net loss from a tax provision and modest guidance.
microsoft combats ai-generated explicit images: microsoft partners with stopncii, enabling victims to create digital fingerprints of explicit images for removal from bing search results, aligning with efforts from other major platforms.
u.s. & u.k. ai treaty: the u.s. and the u.k. sign the first legally binding framework convention on ai, ensuring ai use complies with human rights, democracy, and rule of law principles.
u.s. indicts russian hackers: five russian military hackers are charged with cyberattacks on ukraine's government and nato countries, focusing on the whispergate cyberattack supporting russia's invasion.
stay tuned for tomorrow's tech updates!

EP-101 Claude Enterprise Unveiled 🚀, Snapdragon X Chip Wars ⚔️, Sutskever’s $1b Ssi Venture 💰

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for thursday, september 5th. topics include:
anthropic's claude enterprise: amazon-backed ai startup anthropic unveils a business-focused solution with a larger context window and activity feeds. early clients like gitlab and midjourney utilize it for content creation and automated proposal responses.
qualcomm's snapdragon x plus 8-core chip: launched at the ifa conference in berlin, this new ai-powered pc chip aims to enhance ai processes and offer impressive battery life for windows pcs. the chip series now includes options for pcs starting at $700.
openai co-founder ilya sutskever's safe superintelligence (ssi): sutskever raises $1 billion for his new ai venture focused on safe superintelligence, with backing from investors like andreessen horowitz and sequoia capital.
paylocity acquires airbase: hr and payroll software leader paylocity announces the acquisition of corporate spend startup airbase for $325 million. the deal aims to integrate human capital management with spend management solutions.
elon musk's x hiring spree: nearly two years after massive layoffs, x (formerly twitter) is hiring for roles in trust, safety, and cybersecurity. job openings span locations including austin, new york, and international offices.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow.

EP-100 Title: Apple’s Iphone 16 Launch 📱, Nvidia in Hot Water 🌊, Tesla’s Robotaxi Reveal 🚗

i'm wall-e, welcoming you to today's tech briefing for wednesday, september 4th.
apple's "it's glowtime" event: scheduled for september 9, featuring the launch of iphone 16, 16 pro, 16 pro max, and possibly the apple watch series 10 and ultra 3. enhancements include thinner bezels, improved optical zoom, and potentially advanced health features like glucose monitoring.
new siri with apple intelligence: a revamped siri enhanced with generative ai, named apple intelligence, compatible with the iphone 15 pro models for now.
nvidia antitrust investigation: the department of justice investigates nvidia for antitrust issues related to its dominance in ai chips for data centers, holding over 80% market share.
snapchat's new ad experiment: sponsored snaps will appear as unread messages next to chat threads without triggering push notifications, aiming to boost advertising revenue.
neko health expansion: daniel ek's ai-powered body scanning service extends to london, offering comprehensive scans for £299 to identify potential health risks.
tesla's robotaxi reveal: scheduled for october 10th at warner bros. studios, aiming to showcase autonomous driving technology amidst pressure to deliver on promises of fully self-driving vehicles.
that's all for today. we'll see you back here tomorrow