This week in AI, Apple stole the spotlight.
At the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Cupertino, Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence, its long-awaited, ecosystem-wide push into generative AI.
The company promised Apple Intelligence is being built with safety at its core, along with highly personalized experiences.
Apple revealed in a blog post that it trains the AI models that power Apple Intelligence on a combination of licensed datasets and the public web.
Grab bagThis week marked the sixth anniversary of the release of GPT-1, the progenitor of GPT-4o, OpenAI’s latest flagship generative AI model.
Fisker is issuing the first recall for its all-electric Ocean SUV because of problems with the warning lights, according to new information published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recall technically only applies to all 6,864 Ocean SUVs in the US, as other regions have their own safety regimes.
The recall comes after months of problems with the Ocean SUV, and at a time when Fisker is on the brink of bankruptcy.
This recall is not related to any of the four active investigations NHTSA has launched into the Ocean.
With those, the agency is probing inadvertent automatic emergency braking, sudden braking loss, vehicle rollaway and doors that won’t open.
The EU’s latest concerns about TikTok’s DSA compliance center on the launch of TikTok Lite.
TikTok has been given 24 hours to provide the risk assessment for TikTok Lite.
It’s not clear whether TikTok conducted a DSA risk assessment for the new reward program ahead of launching TikTok Lite in the two EU markets.
But the regulation’s focus on systemic risk essentially makes such a step obligatory for features that are likely to appeal to minors.
TikTok did tell us it requires TikTok Lite users to verify that they are 18 or older in order to collect points through their use of the app.
I was happy — excited, even — to check out Shure’s latest USB microphone.
Its predecessor, the MV7, has been my default podcasting mic since it was launched toward to end of 2022.
If you’ve asked me at some point over the past year and a half to recommend a USB mic, I likely suggested its predecessor.
As for sound, I’ve been quite pleased with the MV7+.
It’s pricey compared to other USB mics, but it’s hard to beat out of the box.
Neurovalens now has two medical devices approved for prescription by doctors in the U.S.: one to treat generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and another targeting insomnia.
Its GAD device was approved just last week, and its device for insomnia received FDA clearance last October.
But he confirms the company is applying for medical device clearances in the U.K. and EU, too,saying it expects to get its first stamp of approval for doctors in Europe to prescribe its insomnia device as a treatment later this year.
The startup says these are areas of the brain are responsible for functions like metabolic control, stress response and circadian regulation.
Neurovalens is the first company that’s focused on noninvasive direct stimulation of the vestibular nerve, per McKeown.
Microsoft has announced a new London hub for its recently unveiled consumer AI division.
It will be fronted by Jordan Hoffmann, an AI scientist and engineer Microsoft recently picked up from high-profile AI startup Inflection AI, which Microsoft invested in last year.
The news comes some three weeks after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveiled a new consumer AI division headed up by Inflection AI’s founders, which include Mustafa Suleyman — co-founder of Deepmind, the AI company Google acquired in 2014.
At the time, Nadella said that “several members of the Inflection team” also joined Microsoft’s new AI unit (Bloomberg reported that most actually joined).
In a blog post today, Suleyman calls Hoffmann an “exceptional AI scientist and engineer,” and with Suleyman himself reporting directly to Nadella in the U.S., Hoffmann will take charge of the new London unit.
Five months ago, Rooms, a 3D design platform made by ex-Google employees, launched its beta version on the App Store.
Rooms is an interior decorating app that falls under the cozy game category.
Players can build and code intricate 3D rooms and mini-games using a library of over 7,500 digital items.
The majority of the updates are on the iOS app, but Rooms is adding the new categories and speed improvements to its web version.
However, in the future, Rooms may offer a premium subscription offering but the company is waiting until the app gets more traction.
A subsequent update has made them more palatable and truer to life, and Apple says it’s continuing to work on the 3D captures.
The company on Tuesday debuted “spatial” Personas for Vision Pro headsets running visionOS 1.1 or later.
From there, users can select the spatial persona option, which utilizes the Vision Pro’s on-board sensors to place the Persona in the room with them.
Spatial audio, meanwhile, further places them at a specific point in space relative to the Vision Pro user.
Vision Pro users will continue doing business in the uncanny valley for the foreseeable future.
Alongside Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman, who Microsoft hired from AI startup Inflection AI last week, Hassabis founded DeepMind out of London in 2010.
So it does make sense that the U.K. would seek to honor one of its most high-profile AI figureheads.
Other notable figures from the technology world to receive knighthoods include Apple’s Jonathan “Jony” Ive back in 2011 for “services to design and enterprise.”Delighted and honoured to receive a Knighthood for services to AI.
It’s been an incredible journey so far building @GoogleDeepMind over the past 15 years, helping accelerate the field and grow the UK & global AI ecosystems.
the king or queen at that given time — technically making the final decision on who receives them.
Earlier this month, U.S. prosecutors from the Department of Justice called for a “necessary” 40 to 50-year sentence for him.
Prior to its collapse, FTX was one of the top crypto exchanges by volume, behind Coinbase and Binance.
Bankman-Fried testified that he didn’t defraud FTX customers or use their funds, but that Alameda “borrowed” that capital from the exchange.
Prosecutors strongly argued Bankman-Fried made a number of false promises internally and externally and was responsible for the loss of billions of dollars for thousands of FTX investors.
And as a result, Bankman-Fried will be spending quite some time behind bars.
