Amazon to Pour $4 Billion into AI Startup; Meta’s AI Will Include a ‘Sassy Robot;’ Google Pixel 8 Cam Features; Spotify to Clone Podcaster Voices-In Other Languages

Amazon is getting set to pump $4 billion into AI startup Anthropic. Techcrunch.com reports that Amazon will initially invest $1.25 billion for a minority stake in Anthropic, which like Google’s Bard and Microsoft-backed OpenAI also operates an AI-powered, text analyzing chatbot. As part of the deal, Amazon said it has an option to increase its investment in Anthropic to a total of $4 billion. Google is also invested in Anthropic, as they, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and others scramble to up their game in the latest hot tech. All this breathlessness in the tech sector over AI reminds me of Facebook’s old slogan…’move fast and break things.’ Let’s hope they don’t break humanity. 

Meta is preparing to bow a generative AI chatbot they are calling ‘Gen AI Personas’ internally. The chatbots are aimed at young users. According to the Wall Street Journal, we’ll hear more about the chatbots at Meta’s Wednesday event. The platform hopes to woo younger users with more colorful behavior, following ChatGPT’s rise over the last year as one of the fastest-growing apps ever. Similar, but more generally targeted, Meta chatbot personas have already been reportedly tested on Instagram. One of the chatbots is a so-called ‘sassy robot’ persona, inspired by Bender from Futurama. Meta eventually plans to have ‘dozens’ of the chatbots. It remains to be seen if the Gen Z folks…who remain suspicious of Meta’s Facebook and Instagram to an extent…will embrace these new ‘bots. 

As more people…including yours truly…test out the latest Apple cameras on the iPhones…especially the 15 Pro Max…Google is planning to drop the Pixel 8 soon with its own camera improvements. 91mobiles.com says that google has a promo video out that highlights some of the controls available in the upcoming Pixel 8 Pro model. Expect Real Tone, Night Sight, Astrophotography, Super Res Zoom, and the ability to swap faces in an image likely through Magic Editor. For videos, Google has added features like Video Boost, Night Sight for low-light videos, Audio Eraser to reduce ambient background sounds, and improved skin tones. It is getting to the point with smartphone cams that really only professional photographers need a hefty DSLR with interchangeable lenses. 

Spotify is apparently partnering with some podcasters to use AI to translate the podcasts into Spanish…in the podcasters’ own voices. Theverge.com reports that they are also planning to bow French and German translations in the next few weeks. “By matching the creator’s own voice, Voice Translation gives listeners around the world the power to discover and be inspired by new podcasters in a more authentic way than ever before,” Ziad Sultan, Spotify’s vice president of personalization, said in a statement. This is a rather ominous issue, and one of the reasons SAG-AFTRA is striking. A platform or company cloning your voice and not paying you…and on top of stealing your voice for no compensation, having the ability to make your clone say things you would never say is a huge issue. Copyright may not be enough…Congress and legislatures may need to pass laws protecting the rights of people to their own voices and likenesses. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.