Microsoft-New Autonomous AI Agents; AirPods Pro Hearing Features; Ford Replacing EV Adapters for Tesla Charging Stations; Google Flights-New ‘Cheapest’ Tab
Posted: October 21, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, copilot, Microsoft, technology Leave a commentThe Agents are coming, the Agents are coming! Microsoft has rolled out 10 new AI agents for its Dynamics 365 line of business applications. Geekwire.com reports that the tools can complete tasks autonomously in areas including sales, service, finance, and supply chain operations. Microsoft has dropped these in a preemptive strike against Salesforce’s new agents, which will bow on October 25th. Salesforce already has billboards up in San Francisco, touting its own agents. Microsoft showed off theirs at their ‘AI Tour’ presentation in London. Microsoft also said at the event that 60% of Fortune 500 companies are using its Copilot AI tech. Microsoft says it will make its new AI agents available in public preview for Dynamics 365 starting later this year and stretching into early next year. These AI agents come in a few categories:
Sales, including a Sales Qualification Agent and Sales Order Agent, designed to help prioritize leads and automate order intake.
Operations, including a Supplier Communications Agent and Financial Reconciliation Agent, which optimize supply chain and financial processes.
Service, including a Customer Intent Agent and Customer Knowledge Management Agent, designed to improve customer service by automating case management and updating knowledge bases.
Others include a Financial Reconciliation Agent that prepares and cleanses data sets for financial reporting; an Account Reconciliation Agent that automates the matching and clearing of transactions; and a Time and Expense agent for time entry, expense tracking, and approval workflows.
Apple made some fuss at the September hardware event about the AirPods Pro 2 hearing aid features. According to techcrunch.com, which got an advanced pair and the software, the hearing test feature is ‘painless.’ One would hope so! Hearing tests from an audiologist are painless. Instead of speaking to an audiologist or technician, with Apple’s home test you tap the screen when you hear a tone played. The test is visible from the settings menu when you have a pair of AirPods Pro 2 earbuds connected to your phone and in your ears. You may need to turn devices off in your room….the AirPods will even pick up an air purifier. The hearing aid feature will only be available to those who test as having mild to moderate hearing loss. One real issue that might put hearing impaired users off…real hearing aids have no problem making it through a full day on a charge. The AirPods Pro 2 can only make it 4-6 hours on a charge, before returning them to the charging case to charge back up. At $249, they are much cheaper than dedicated hearing aids, but 4-6 hours then no use for a little while may be a deal breaker.
Ford had offered EV customers free NACS adapters for Tesla Superchargers. Now, the blue oval company is telling folks to stop using them. Engadget.com says there is a ‘potential issue’ that could reduce charging speeds and even cause charging port damage. Ford will send a replacement adapter ‘in the coming weeks,’ and customers will need to send back the defective ones…all at no charge to the customers. A number of other companies have made adapters for Superchargers, which use the NACS standard. So far none of them have issued recalls like Ford.
Google Flights has a new ‘Cheapest’ tab. Bgr.com reports that it will display the cheapest routes for your trip..but may involve more work and more creative itineraries. In other words, you may save by longer layovers, taking red-eyes, or ‘self-transfers,’ a euphemism for rechecking your bags. You also may need to use multiple carriers or booking sites. That said, if you are in invariant skinflint, who squeezes every nickel until the buffalo poops, this is for you.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
FTC-Click to Cancel Rule; Google ‘Cancels’ Popular Ad Blocker on Chrome; Boston Dynamics & Toyota Research Institute Partner on Atlas Humanoid Robot; UCSD Surgeons Assisted by Apple Vision Pro Headsets
Posted: October 17, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Apple, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, technology Leave a commentWe have all been through it…a big hassle, sometimes taking hours, to cancel a subscription after a free trial. As a friend of mine always says, ‘That’s how they getcha!’ Now, the Federal Trade Commission has finalized a rule aimed at stopping businesses from making you jump through endless hoops to cancel a subscription after the free trial. Under the rule, any subscription that can be signed up for online must be able to be canceled online. And cancellation paths for in-person sign-ups must be just as easy, offered either by phone or online. The new rule tells businesses to keep ‘three guardrails in mind.’ First, customers cannot be required to talk to a live agent or chatbot to cancel if that wasn’t required for sign-up. Next, any phone cancellation methods cannot include charges and must be offered during normal business hours. And finally, canceling services in person must always be optional. Now, let’s hope they actually enforce this rule!
Google has been on a tear, trying to get people to see their ads…whether on search results or YouTube…across all their platforms. Now, it’s Chrome’s turn. According to mashable.com, Google has turned off popular ad blocker extensions uBlock Origin, MDN Search, and Neat URL. This all comes as Chrome moves from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3. There are options for Manifest V3 if you use AdBlock, AdBlock Plus, AdGuard, and uBlock Origin. If you would rather not hassle with trying to configure to keep the ads blocked or at least volume down, switch to Firefox, and select Duck Duck Go as your search engine. You can also try Microsoft Edge….but the former is really cleaner if you want to go the most ad free possible.
While Elon Musk was trotting out robots that are nearly fully human operated and not autonomous at all, Boston Dynamics…which makes real robots…has teamed up with Toyota Research Institute to bring AI-based robotic intelligence to the electric Atlas humanoid robot. Techcrunch.com notes that the partnership will leverage work that TRI has done around large behavior models…which are not terribly unlike Large Language Models like that of ChatGPT. The lab has been able to get robots to 90% accuracy when performing household tasks like flipping pancakes through overnight training. Hell, I could try all night, and mess up flipping a pancake! TRI says that while machine learning takes millions of training cases, they have been able to reduce physical training of a robot down to only dozens of training cases…sometimes even less than that. Boston Dynamics just unveiled its design for the electric Atlas in April. The electric designation differentiates the robot from its larger, hydraulic namesake, Trust me, you wouldn’t want one of those robots possibly leaking caustic hydraulic fluid in your house! Toyota Research and Boston Dynamics have a goal of making a true general purpose machine. Rosie from The Jetsons…you’re up!
Regular followers of this report are well aware of my opinion of the preposterously priced but great Apple Vision Pro headsets. Now, Surgeons at UC San Diego have found them very helpful for minimally invasive surgery. Macrumors.com reports that while the headsets are pricy for you and I, they are pretty cheap compared to most gear hospitals buy in trying to keep or make us healthy. Surgeons have now done over 20 minimally invasive operations wearing the headsets. They are saying the headsets are ‘more transformative’ than robotic devices used to assist. Think about it… laparoscopic surgeries, where the docs send a camera through a small incision, and have to guide it and do the procedure while craining their necks to watch on a video screen. That can’t be helpful. Unlike previous headsets, the Apple ones have such accurate displays, that the surgeons can do the procedure while keeping their heads in a more normal position. That has to help with accuracy! They normally also have to look away to refer to CT scans, and to monitor vitals. Now, all of those things can appear on the panoramic display of the Vision Pro. This application is really a game changer…and one that will make a difference in the outcomes for patients…to say nothing of saving doctors from a literal pain in the neck that could cause mistakes!
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Apple- New iPad Mini With A17 Pro Chip; Google Turns to Nuclear Power for AI; Musk’s Optimus Robots- All Human Operated; Apple Study-LLM’s Really Can’t Reason Yet
Posted: October 15, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Robots, technology Leave a commentApple made a surprise announcement today and bowed a new iPad Mini. Macrumors.com reports that the new 8.3 inch Mini will rock the A17 Pro chip and will be able to run Apple Intelligence. Apple claims a 30% boost in CPU performance and 25% boost in GPU performance compared to the older model. It will support the Apple Pencil Pro, and have faster WiFi, faster USB-C data transfer, a better 12MP wide camera, and has 128 Gigs of memory for the base model….double the amount from before. You can preorder today, it delivers October 23rd. $499 for WiFi only and $649 for WiFi plus cellular. Colors include blue, purple, space gray, and starlight.
Google is going nuclear…well, to power AI anyway. According to mashable.com, Google has cut a deal with California based Kairos Power to build between 6 and 7 mini-nuclear reactors to furnish ‘clean, round-the-clock-power’ to run its AI operations running and carbon free. they expect the first one to go online by 2030. Google is not alone. As we reported here earlier, Microsoft has cut a deal to reactivate the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant…which melted down years ago…in Pennsylvania to run Microsoft AI server farms. The plant could power 800,000 homes…but instead will have Microsoft as its sole customer. Not to be left out…Amazon also has a nuclear energy deal!
It had been pointed out by some tech reporters who attended that the Optimus robots at Tesla’s Cybercab and ‘We Robot’ event were human operated. Now, the verge.com says one of those, Robert Scoble, noted that an engineer told him the robots used AI to walk. However, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote that the robots “relied on tele-ops (human intervention)”. One so-called robot even told an attendee…or the human voicing the robot said… “Today, I am assisted by a human,” adding that it’s not fully autonomous. (The voice stumbled on the word “autonomous.”) The first law of robotics says no harm to humans. Perhaps we need an addendum to the law of robotics…you shall not impersonate a robot and claim it is an actual robot.
As discussed here fairly often, Large Language Models…or AI, as it has been branded, isn’t really intelligent at this point. Despite OpenAI and Google claiming theirs have advanced ‘reasoning’ capabilities as the next big move for AI models. Arstechnica.com reports that a new study by 6 Apple engineers indicates that the mathematical “reasoning” displayed by advanced large language models can be extremely brittle and unreliable in the face of seemingly trivial changes to common benchmark problems. The fragility highlighted in these new results helps support previous research suggesting that LLMs use of probabilistic pattern matching is missing the formal understanding of underlying concepts needed for truly reliable mathematical reasoning capabilities. “Current LLMs are not capable of genuine logical reasoning. Instead, they attempt to replicate the reasoning steps observed in their training data.” An example from another article told of an expert witness in a legal case about real estate using Microsoft’s Copilot to figure the money damages in the case. The judge called him out on it…the AI basically faked the damages with its guesstimate. That jurist admonished the attorneys and warned that future AI attempted use has to be disclosed.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Windows Adding New AI Features to Copilot Plus PCs; Epic Sues Google Again & Samsung, Too; Apple Backs Out of Backing OpenAI; Cruise Dinged for $1.5 Million Over Hiding Pedestrian Crash Details
Posted: October 1, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, copilot, Microsoft, microsoft-365 Leave a commentMicrosoft has laid out what they are calling the ’next phase’ of Copilot, with a new design and features bowing. 9to5google.com reports that one is ‘Copilot Voice’ which is a new experience on mobile devices that is like Google’s Gemini Live. Another new feature is ‘Copilot Daily,’ which gives a summery of news and weather using the same voice as ‘Voice,’ and grabs from ‘authorized content sources,’ while ‘Personalized Discover’ helps guide users through Copilot features. ‘Copilot Vision’ will help you understand what you are looking at on your screen and let you ask questions. One might be why does Copilot think I’m so stupid, I don’t know what I’m looking at on my screen! Microsoft does say that the controversial Recall will be available starting next month….with new privacy and security measures in place.
Epic won a case that had dragged on for 4 years against Google last December. Now, they are suing Google again, and also suing Samsung. According to theverge.com, Epic accuses Google and Samsung of illegally conspiring to undermine third party app stores. This suit flows from Samsung’s ‘Auto Blocker’ feature, that now comes on by default in new Samsung phones. While it’s turned on, it automatically keeps users from installing apps unless they come from “authorized sources” — namely, Google and Samsung’s app stores. Epic claims there’s no process for any rival store to become “authorized.” Epic complains that it now takes ‘an exceptionally onerous 21-step process’ to download a third party app store on a Samsung phone…although their own website says there are only 4 steps to do so. Some observers have pointed out that the Fortnite maker hasn’t shown how it has been harmed by the Auto Blocker.
OpenAI has dropped their supposed altruistic roots, and has gone all in as a for profit company. They have been in the midst of raising some $6.5 billion more to pour into ChatGPT, and Microsoft is expected to pump another billion into the venture. Nvidia is also expected to be a major contributor to the latest round. One major player has backed out of investing in OpenAI though…Apple. Arstechnica.com says Apple still does plan to offer limited ChatGPT integration into an upcoming iOS update, but Cupertino also plans to support additional AI models like Google’s Gemini down the line…think of it as offering a choice of large language models kind of like you have a choice of web browsers. Famously secretive Apple gave no reason for walking away from investing in OpenAI.
Cruise, the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, has to cough up $1.5 million in fines to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Techcrunch.com reports that the fine is part of a consent order signed that the company agreed to with the NHTSA over a pedestrian crash last year in San Francisco. Cruise left out the little detail in their report that the poor woman was dragged some 20 feet by the robotaxi. Cruise also has to submit a ‘corrective action plan’ outlining changes they will make towards better compliance.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Google Gemini AI-Coming to Corporate Workspace; YouTube’s Conversational AI Bows for Premium Android Users; Spotify AI Playlist Feature Rolls Out in US; Blocked X Users Can Now See Your Posts Anyway
Posted: September 24, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, gemini, Google, technology Leave a commentGoogle has started making Gemini AI what they are calling a core part of the Workspace productivity suite, and the chatbot could therefore be adapted by millions more users. Theverge.com reports that the standalone Gemini app is being included as standard on Workspace Business, Enterprise, and Frontline plans starting sometime in Q4, replacing the need to purchase a separate Gemini add-on. To bolster security against malware, phishing, and other online threats, Google is also introducing a new “Security Advisor” tool that “delivers insights directly to an IT administrator’s inbox.” Security Advisor includes a range of safe browsing and data protection features for Chrome, Gmail, and Google Drive, and will be rolled out to paying Workspace customers “over the next few weeks.”
YouTube has begun rolling out its conversational AI feature that can answer questions about a video you are already watching. According to 9to5google.com, the feature is only available right now for Premium subscribers on Android in the US. So far, no word on when it will reach other users in the US or in other countries.
Spotify has expanded its AI Playlist tool availability to a number of countries, including the US, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. Techcrunch.com says it was already available to Premium subscribers in the UK and Australia. The feature is still in beta on both iOS and Android, but it allows users to create personalized playlists by inputting written prompts. Maybe you would like to hear Frank Sinatra’s 28 biggest hits, or all of Taylor Swift’s sets from her Eras Tour. You can also refine playlists you crate, and customize using locations, animals (really?), movie characters, colors, and emojis. The AI powered playlist creation tool lives under the ‘Your Library’ tab.
X has made blocking less useful. Engadget.com notes that blocked users will be able to see the posts of accounts that have blocked them. This has always been possible if one wanted to try hard enough…you could do it by switching accounts…and many that you would tend to block have a number of alternate accounts. Elon musk has wanted to disable the block feature on X for some time now.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
Meta Connect Coming Up; Disney & Direct TV Finally Make Nice; US Moves to Crack Down in Temu; Microsoft Launches Copilot Pages
Posted: September 16, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, copilot, Microsoft, microsoft-365 Leave a commentMeta Connect ’24 is coming up on September 25th. The two day extravaganza will lean into AI heavily, of course, as Apple just did, and as Google and Microsoft are doing. Engadget.com reports that after dropping their expensive mixed reality headset…that was aimed at the crazy expensive Apple Vision Pro, Meta will focus on their augmented reality glasses…which are code named Orion. Unlike the Quest 3, which covers all your vision and uses cams to get you a low quality view of the world, Orion may be set for you to view the real world like through a regular pair of glasses…BUT with a layer of holographic imagery on top of the reality up ahead. The company plans to release a new pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses next year, that will have a small built-in screen along with the existing camera, speaker, and microphone. Most Meta-watchers also think we will see a stripped down version of the Quest 3 called the 3S. Meta is aiming to have this sell for $300-$400. It may at least partially replace the Quest 2, which has been priced at $299 for some time now. Naturally, AI will be woven into practically everything they show or mention…much like Apple. You can’t over-buzz that buzzword, apparently.
After 2 weeks of blackout of ESPN, ABC, Disney+ and other Disney products, the House of Mouse and DirecTV finally cut a deal. According to variety.com, the deal was announced Saturday, and just in time for the first full day of college football on ABC and ESPN, not to mention the Prime Time Emmy show, which aired last night. All the Disney streams should be up and running on DirecTV now while the companies finish hammering out the final details. The new deal apparently gives users more flexible options for viewing. Meanwhile. DirecTV has boosted prices starting on October 6th.
The feds have proposed new rules that could make it harder and more expensive for Chinese e-commerce platforms like Tee Moo…or Teh Moo, depending on what you call it…to ship goods to the US. Arstechnica.com notes that the platform has been selling cheap goods using what is called the ‘de minimus exception’ that makes shipments valued at under $800 duty-free. Platforms taking advantage of the exemption can share less information on packages and dodge taxes. President Biden warned that “over the last 10 years, the number of shipments entering the United States claiming the de minimus exemption has increased significantly, from approximately 140 million a year to over 1 billion a year.” The government would exclude the exemption for goods covered by tariffs under laws from 1974 and 1962.
Microsoft has unveiled Copilot Pages today. The feature is supposed to be a so-called ‘canvas for multiplayer AI collaboration.’ Theverge.com says Pages lets you use Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot and pull responses into a new page where they can be edited collaboratively with others. Jared Spatero, corporate VP of AI said “You and your team can work collaboratively in a page with Copilot, seeing everyone’s work in real time and iterating with Copilot like a partner, adding more content from your data, files, and the web to your Page. This is an entirely new work pattern — multiplayer, human to AI to human collaboration.” Pages is rolling out to Microsoft 365 Copilot customers today and should be available to all subscribers later this month.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.’
Google-New Tack on Reigning In Explicit Deepfakes; Feds Rule Amazon Responsible for Defective 3rd Party Products on Platform; Meta Blames ‘Hallucinations’-It’s AI Claimed Trump Shooting Fake; Tesla Recall-1.8 Million Vehicles
Posted: July 31, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AI, Artificial Intelligence, deepfake, deepfakes, technology Leave a commentGoogle is updating its ranking systems, in an effort to limit deepfakes. Explicit deepfakes have been a particularly vexing problem for female celebrities. Mashable.com reports that the Google change will do this: When someone uses terms to seek out nonconsensual deepfakes of specific individuals, the ranking system will attempt to instead provide “high-quality, non-explicit content,” such as news articles, when it’s available. Google product manager Emma Higham wrote in a blog post that “With these changes, people can read about the impact deepfakes are having on society, rather than see pages with actual nonconsensual fake images.” The ranking update has already decreased exposure to explicit image results on deepfake searches by 70%. Additionally, Google is updating systems that handle requests for removing nonconsensual deepfakes from Search. The changes should make the request process easier.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has ruled..unanimously…that Amazon is a distributor, and that it bears responsibility for faulty products it has sold on its marketplace. According to geekwire.com, this puts Amazon on the hook for recalled products sold by third-party sellers…that amounts to over half the company’s e-commerce sales. Amazon has always claimed that they shouldn’t be held liable for defective product sold by third party merchants on amazon.com…saying that the liability falls to the seller, not the marketplace ‘facilitating’ the sale. Amazon, as you might presume, plans to appeal.
We just wrote about several professors publishing a paper about AI lying last week…or ‘bullshitting,’ as they termed it. Now Meta is blaming its AI assistant’s so-called ‘hallucinations’ for saying incorrectly that the assassination attempt on former President Trump didn’t happen. Theverge.com says that the company termed the screw up ‘unfortunate’ in a company blog post. Meta claims that Meta AI was first programmed to not respond to questions about the attempted assassination but the company removed that restriction after people started noticing. It’s not just Meta that is caught up here: Google on Tuesday also had to refute claims that its Search autocomplete feature was censoring results about the assassination attempt. Since ChatGPT burst on the scene, the tech industry has been grappling with how to limit generative AI’s propensity for falsehoods. It’s apparently still hard to overcome what large language models are inherently designed to do: make stuff up.
Tesla has recalled over 1.8 million US cars, due to a risk of software not notifying individuals of a detached hood. Engadget.com notes that if a hood isn’t latched properly, it can blow up and block the driver’s field of view. Tesla is sending out an over the air software update that is supposed to fix the issue. The recall is for 2021 to 2024 Models 3, S, and X. It also includes Model Y vehicles from 2020 to 2024.
I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.
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