Reliability firstApple makes some of the most popular devices on the planet, and its AI features should serve to make them more useful.
A lot of AI-powered features rely on going back to the cloud to get answers or inputs back.
Rumors on the street are that Apple will announce a deal with OpenAI to power AI features across its operating systems.
Given AI’s hallucination problems, Apple might not want to be directly involved in content-related AI features just yet.
Companies like Google and OpenAI have had to walk back on AI features because of errors or copyright issues.
WWDC is for developers, and much of the focus will be on iOS 18.
As the big event nears, all sorts of leaks have emerged about what iOS 18 and its rumored AI-powered apps and features have in store.
AI recaps of missed texts will also be available.
Users will also be able to change the color of app icons, perhaps as Apple’s answer to Google’s Material You.
Maps with route creationMaps will support custom route creation in iOS 18, which lets users design their own routes for a trip.
Today, Meta announced AI-powered features for WhatsApp Business apps, such as helping with the creation of click-to-WhatsApp ads and generating responses to frequent customer messages.
WhatsApp Business users will be able to leverage AI to create Facebook and Instagram ads that can start a WhatsApp chat with a business.
The company said it is testing AI-powered customer support, which will automatically answer customer queries related to catalog or frequently asked questions.
Meta noted that it plans to denote AI-generated messages clearly so customers know that they are not talking to a representative of a company.
While Meta is offering these tools without a cost, its primary driver for revenue on the WhatsApp Business platform is businesses having more conversations with customers.
That means that they first need an eye exam from an optometrist to receive that prescription.
But, due to a nationwide shortage of eye care practitioners, it may take weeks, especially in rural areas, to get an appointment.
Eyebot, a new startup coming out of stealth on Thursday, wants to reduce the time it takes to receive an eye exam to about 90 seconds without the direct involvement of an optometrist.
But if they purchase glasses from one of Eyebot’s partner brands, the eye exam is free.
The company hopes that major eyeglass brands will rent Eyebot terminals and put them in the retail locations of their choice.
Google on Thursday said it is rolling out NotebookLM, its AI-powered note-taking assistant, to over 200 new countries, nearly six months after opening its access in the U.S.
The list of countries that NotebookLM now supports includes Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, and the U.K., as well as 208 other countries and territories.
It uses AI to help generate summaries and answer questions from documents, transcripts, notes and other sources that users can upload.
Some early users of NotebookLM in the U.S. anticipated it would support traditional note-taking apps, including Evernote and Google Keep.
Gemini 1.5 Pro also lets NotebookLM have up to 50 sources in each notebook, with 500,000 words per source.
WWDC is for developers, and much of the focus will be on iOS 18.
As the big event nears, all sorts of leaks have emerged about what iOS 18 and its rumored AI-powered apps and features have in store.
AI recaps of missed texts will also be available.
Users will also be able to change the color of app icons, perhaps as Apple’s answer to Google’s Material You.
Maps with route creationMaps will support custom route creation in iOS 18, which lets users design their own routes for a trip.
eBay’s newest AI feature allows sellers to replace image backgrounds with AI-generated backdrops.
eBay’s background enhancement tool could benefit sellers who lack the equipment or skills to take professional-looking or high-quality photos.
It may also improve on eBay’s previous offering, which used computer vision technology to give listing photos a simple, white background.
The new AI feature is powered by the open-source model Stable Diffusion.
The latest announcement comes a year after eBay introduced an AI feature that generates titles and descriptions for a product listing.
Today, Webflow announced that it acquired Intellimize, a startup leveraging AI to personalize websites for unique visitors.
The majority of the Intellimize team — around 50 people — will join Webflow.
Vlad Magdalin, the CEO of Webflow, said Intellimize was a natural fit for Webflow’s first-ever acquisition because its product meets a need many Webflow customers share: personalizing and optimizing their websites.
Intellimize will continue to be sold standalone to non-Webflow customers, but it’ll increasingly link to — and integrate with — Webflow services.
— personalization product efforts at Webflow.
The company has rebranded to “Limitless,” and is now offering an AI-powered meeting suite and a hardware pendant that can record your conversations.
Company co-founder Dan Siroker first posted the idea of a conversation-recording pendant last October and started accepting orders at $59.
Siroker posted the final design this week, along with the news of the company’s pivot.
It’s a web app, Mac app, Windows app, and a wearable.
We plan to reimplement many of our user’s favorite Rewind features directly into Limitless,” Siroker said.
Privacy-focused search engine Brave announced Wednesday that it is revamping its answer engine to return AI-powered synthesized answers.
Brave said that informational queries, such as the one listed about the new answer engine, will automatically rely on AI to present information in a summarized format.
“The user only needs to enter a query as they are used to doing with a regular search engine.
Multiple reports have pointed out that AI-powered search could have grave effects on the future of the web.
“This challenge is not unique to Brave Search but present across most AI-powered answer engines and chatbots, premium or open.
