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  • 🤖 Elon Musk's xAI Reveals Riveting AI Model: The Background Story

🤖 Elon Musk's xAI Reveals Riveting AI Model: The Background Story

+ AdSense Payment Overhaul | iOS 17's Hidden Features | Apple Revenue Dip

Author

Kristoffer Lindström
November 03, 2023

Tech Heads Rejoice!

Welcome to your daily dose of tech news this Thursday, November 3, 2023. Here's a quick look at what's buzzing in the tech world today. Dive in for the details:

  • Amazon Uncovered - FTC reveals a billion-dollar secret.

  • AdSense Revamp - A new payment model is coming in 2024.

  • Premium Up - YouTube's global price hike.

  • Tesla's Triumph - EV sales skyrocket in California.

  • AI vs. Actress - Scarlett Johansson sues over voice cloning.

  • AI Learning Leap - Microsoft's latest innovative technique.

  • Musk's AI - Elon reveals a groundbreaking model.

  • Apple's Downturn - Sales up, but revenue falls.

  • iOS 17 Secrets - Undiscussed features that ease your life.

Intrigued by these snippets? There's more inside!

Tech Companies

The FTC has claimed that Amazon's secret pricing algorithm, codenamed “Project Nessie,” could have generated over $1 billion in excess profits for the tech giant. Accused of operating an illegal monopoly, Amazon allegedly manipulated product prices to outcompete other retailers. Despite Amazon ceasing its use of Nessie in 2019, the FTC alleges the company has considered reactivating it. Further charges against Amazon include accepting "junk" ads and manipulating the Prime membership program.

💡 Why does this matter?

This FTC case against Amazon reveals allegations of a secret price inflation scheme, potentially affecting both sellers and consumers, while also suggesting illicit advertising practices under Bezos. With Amazon considering restarting this algorithm, it raises concerns for fair market competition, potentially presenting opportunities for ethical tech firms to gain traction.

In 2024, Google's AdSense will shift from per-click to per-impression payments, enhancing consistency and transparency. The AdSense revenue structure will also change, retaining about 68% for publishers. These modifications require no publisher action.

💡 Why does this matter?

Google's AdSense policy shift to per-impression payments signals a move towards uniformity in advertising payment structures across Google's products and third-party platforms. Tech entrepreneurs and investors should be aware that while Google anticipates no changes in earnings for publishers, the restructuring could impact how ad investments are distributed and optimized, potentially presenting new avenues for advertising strategies.

Cloudflare, a leading web and internet services firm, is experiencing another outage, specifically affecting its Dashboard and related APIs. Despite its Edge security features and Content Delivery Network remaining unaffected, numerous products like Logpush, Cloudflare API, Workers API, etc., face issues. Faulty switches following a data center power disruption are reportedly the root cause. The data center outage mainly disrupts Cloudflare’s dashboards and APIs without affecting global network traffic.

YouTube Premium will be raising its international prices in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, Germany, Poland, and Turkey starting November 1. The change affects individual, family, and student plans for YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium. YouTube says the increase will fund improvements to Premium and support its creators and artists.

Alibaba's cloud unit now harnesses 80% of China's tech firms, aiming for open-access AI development. The newly-launched Tongyi Qianwen 2.0 language model and GenAI platform empower advanced AI applications and services.

Meta has developed an A/B testing feature for Facebook Reels, enabling creators to optimize content with different captions and thumbnails. Future upgrades include generative AI and new content visibility rewards.

EV sales in California rose to 21.5% in three quarters, led by Tesla's Model Y and Model 3. Meanwhile, other brands whittled Tesla's overall market share down from 71.8%.

AI Corner

Scarlett Johansson is suing an AI app developer, Convert Software, for using her likeness and an AI-generated version of her voice in an advertisement for its product, Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar. Johansson's team asserts she has never endorsed the app, promising to address the situation using all available legal remedies.

💡 Why does this matter?

Scarlett Johansson's legal action against an AI app highlights the emerging concerns around unauthorized use of celebrity likeness, potentially affecting AI tech developers. It could prompt the need for clear guidelines about legally permissible uses, opening a potential opportunity for legal tech companies to offer solutions.

Researchers from Microsoft Research Asia, Peking University, and Xi'an Jiaotong University have developed a new AI learning technique named 'LeMa'. Inspired by human learning processes, it corrects its own mistakes, enhancing reasoning abilities. It has shown significant results across various mathematical reasoning tasks, with potential implications for sectors like healthcare, finance, and autonomous vehicles that rely heavily on AI. The open-source approach aims to boost continued AI advancements.

Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, has announced the impending launch of its first AI model this Saturday. Musk, who once co-founded OpenAI, believes that the new model is currently the best in existence. The xAI team, comprised of members from Google's DeepMind and other renowned AI firms, aims to challenge major AI models like Google's Bard and Microsoft's Bing. The company also collaborates with Tesla and Larry Ellison's Oracle.

Brave has introduced Leo, its AI assistant, to optimize user browsing experience. Similar to Bing Chat and free for all, Leo creates real-time web page summaries and allows content generation- all while prioritizing user privacy and offering anonymity. A Premium version priced at $15 also exists with additional AI models, quality conversations, and earlier access to new features.

Markets & Money

Apple's Q4 earnings surpassed analyst estimates, however, protracted declining sales led to a 3% u-turn in after-hours trading. While iPhone revenue fell in line with expectations, Mac, iPad, and wearables reported year-on-year dips. The bright spot was the services segment, which exceeded expectations and grew by 16% year-on-year. Despite new product launches being forecasted to revitalize sales, Apple's outlook for the holiday quarter remains subdued.

💡 Why does this matter?

Apple's weak outlook for the December quarter and falling sales in every hardware category outside iPhone has the tech industry watching. Failure to return to growth could affect investors, value of existing shares, and potentially, future funding. However, opportunities exist in Apple's services sector, which recorded a 16% YoY growth, and new product lineups utilizing M3 chips.

Shopify has reported a 25% YoY increase for its Q3 revenue, amounting to $1.71B, surpassing predictions of $1.68B. Its Gross Merchandise Volume also exceeded expectations at $56.2B. The firm's strong performance is attributed to cost-cutting strategies and collaboration with Amazon.com Inc., leading to an 18% surge in pre-market trading. The Ottawa-based e-commerce giant forecasts roughly a 25% growth in revenue for 2023.

Cloudflare predicts lower-than-expected Q4 revenue between $352m and $353m amid economic uncertainty, falling short of the projected $356.3m, causing a 4% decrease in its share price. Despite this, Q3 results presented a 32% revenue increase to $335.6m, surpassing forecasts.

Apps & Gadgets

iOS 17 introduces several under-the-radar updates aimed at enhancing daily user experience. Newly highlighted features include an AI-assisted understanding of laundry symbols from a photo of the tag, transcription support for voice messages in iMessages, sound alerts for misplaced Apple Watch, and customizable lock screen wallpaper shuffles. The new Journal App is also expected in the upcoming iOS 17.2 update.

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