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, generative AI is causing a sea change in nearly every part of the technology industry. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is still the best-known AI chatbot around, but with Google pushing Gemini, Microsoft building Copilot, and Apple adding its Intelligence to Siri, 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.
According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, ChatGPT reached the milestone last month, roughly three years after launching, Reuters reports. It apparently passed 1 billion MAUs faster than the other apps that have hit the benchmark, including Google Maps, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
According to the Steam page for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis:
AI-assisted tools were used during development to support some early exploration and temporary development content. Any AI-assisted assets were either replaced or refined by humans in order to maintain the creative and artistic vision of the development team.
Crystal Dynamics tells Eurogamer that “we leverage AI tools to help our teams iterate on ideas faster and more efficiently, while ensuring that all finished content in the final product is human-crafted.”
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AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:
‘We have to prove that we can do everything that we need to from the ground up,’ said AI chief Mustafa Suleyman.
Microsoft has a vision for its future AI hardware concepts, including an AI ID badge. It doesn’t feel entirely new, but it does feel very Microsoft.
verge_user_m4cy2c5f:
congrats this is the rabbit r1 but for middle managers instead of teenage engineering gadgetheads
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Utah Senate president J. Stuart Adams is calling for a 75 percent reduction, bringing the project from 40,000 acres to approximately 10,000, alongside demands for greater transparency and stronger conservation commitments. O’Leary says the reduced proposal is like “selling you a house, and you get to live in the upstairs toilet.”
The “Model Capability Initiative” that records staff’s computing activity for AI training is being updated following backlash. Now, Meta employees can pause MCI for up to 30 minutes, and staff who handle sensitive content, work remotely, or have concerns regarding bandwidth or device battery can be exempt from using it.
[The Information]
It uses data from your pictures to mix and match outfits in a virtual try-on you can save and share. It’s rolling out in the US, India, and Brazil as part of the June Android drop, starting with AI Pro/Ultra subscribers and “other select users” on Android, but you’ll need at least 1,000 photos of yourself to be eligible to try it out without a subscription.
[Google Photos Community]
Nvidia is betting that AI is going to change the way you use your computer — and with a new chip, the RTX Spark, it’s hoping to ensure it powers that new-fangled AI machine. The Verge’s Sean Hollister explains what’s inside the Spark, why Nvidia is taking on Apple, Intel, AMD, and the rest of the chip industry, and whether the world’s most valuable company has a shot at reinventing the personal computer. Without charging a fortune.
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At its Build developer conference, Microsoft is launching Microsoft Execution Containers, a policy-driven layer to make it more secure to run things like OpenClaw on Windows. It’s going a step further too, by allowing a companion app for OpenClaw to run contained on Windows PCs. It should stop AI agents like OpenClaw from deleting all your files. “You can totally run OpenClaw inside your company now,” says OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger.
With this expansion of Anthropic’s Project Glasswing initiative, organizations in “several industries that weren’t well represented” in the initial cohort, like power, water, and healthcare, will get access to the model so they can use it to find security vulnerabilities.
[Anthropic]
As Microsoft shows off its AI tools at Build, close frienemy OpenAI is once again promoting Codex as something for all kinds of information and knowledge-based work that goes beyond ChatGPT’s features. It’s launching new plugins, and says that business and enterprise customers have access to a new preview capable of building “interactive, hosted websites and apps” that it can keep updated with new data.
Fresh off interviewing the chatbot-powered stunt that is Tilly Norwood, the NYT tells us of Martin Scorsese’s advisor and partner arrangement with Black Forest Labs (whose Flux tech has powered xAI’s image generation) in what it calls “a clear sign of Hollywood’s softening stance on artificial intelligence.”
Right now, however, that softening extends only to a test of storyboard creation:
I recently tested this out on a scene and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the pre-production process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.
It’s a remarkable piece of technology. But the future sure is creepy.
The smart lighting company best known for its modular RGB lighting panels has been acquired by OneRobotics, the parent company of Switchbot. According to a filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the purchase will take two years to complete.
Nanoleaf just announced a pivot to robotics and AI, an area in which the smart home company Switchbot is heavily involved, launching its first humanoid household robot at CES this year.
Along with a new ARM CPU for Windows laptops, Nvidia’s Computex news includes another feature it’s adding to the DLSS 4.5 suite ahead of that other DLSS AI graphics update. Called Ray Reconstruction, it uses a second generation transformer AI model to “generate higher-quality pixels in the noisy parts of a ray traced frame where rays were not sampled.”
They say it will deliver cleaner particle effects plus better lighting accuracy, available on RTX 20 and newer GPUs starting in August.
Nvidia’s RTX Spark ‘superchip’ shows promise for Windows laptops. But it also comes at the worst time.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier accuses OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of promoting ChatGPT even though its use can allegedly lead to “self-harm, cognitive decline, and behavioral addiction,” according to NBC News.
The state is seeking penalties and a court order instead of criminal charges, but its criminal investigation into OpenAI is ongoing.
Apple’s Greg Joswiak is teasing a very glowy logo ahead of next week’s WWDC — one that could match the rumored design for Siri’s big upgrade that’s expected to be revealed at the show. I like it.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. on human creativity in the age of AI
Tech companies want to film you doing chores as training data for the next generation of household robots. If you’re not a fan, and don’t mind living in chaos, there’s always another way to participate.
Electric Mayhem:
Poison their data: put dirty dishes in the clothes dryer, mop your ceiling, apply a translucent film of mayonnaise to your windows, dance with your vacuum, become ungovernable!
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Gudtrip is the most ridiculous AI/crypto/weed product to ever touch the internet. Could it possibly be real?
Can race, guilt, and empathy get you to pay $40 for this $9 belt buckle on TikTok?
