Since the start of this year, Microsoft, eBay and PayPal have axed thousands of jobs in a pivot to artificial intelligence as companies revise their resources.

As reported by the Financial Times, tech companies have cut around 34,000 jobs in a matter of weeks as the focus turns to generative AI.

In addition to the heavyweight names mentioned above, Snap has also shed a significant number of roles as part of an industry-wide cut of 138 firms that have let staff go. These figures are significant but not quite at the same level as one year previous when Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon culled their numbers.

Layoffs.fyi — indicated 263,000 roles were lost in the tech sector during 2023 as analysts have indicated the latest round of cuts is a sign of the pivot to AI, while some companies have considered productivity relating to their overall output.

Brent Hill, an analyst at the renowned financial institution Jefferies, opined companies have assessed their workforces with the conclusion that “we’ve got a bunch of dead wood, and if we had a leaner organization, we can do more.”

“The lay-offs are going to continue, and it may get worse. It’s become contagious,” added Hill.

Who is next?

Last month, Amazon-owned Twitch was hit with the blow of around 500 employees being axed due to financial pressures, a further indicator of the cost-cutting and adjusting across the industry. Even the ‘Big Five’ are impacted as part of an extensive list of employers who have cut their cloth over the last few weeks.

Enterprise software company SAP confirmed a “company-wide transformation” in January, including the loss of around 8,000 jobs as it turns further to AI while reskilling staff as much as possible.

Autumn Mitchell, a QA tester at Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax, commented on the current uncertainty, “Anybody working in tech or games right now is worried about lay-offs to some degree, either for themselves or someone they know.”

“You see one company announce lay-offs and think, Here we go, who’s it going to be next week?” Mitchell said.

Image: PVMS/Pexels.

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Drake had a night to remember after staking a $1.15 million bet on the Kansas City Chiefs to win the 2024 Super Bowl.

The ‘God’s Plan’ rapper announced on Instagram he had placed his bet on the cryptocurrency gambling site, Stake, in which he has a business interest. He celebrated his substantial winnings with a nod to Taylor Swift in his Instagram caption, “I can’t bet against the Swifties.”

The reference to the iconic American singer-songwriter and her adoring fanbase is due to her boyfriend, Kansas City star Travis Kelce.

'Can't bet against the Swifties'

(via @Drake) pic.twitter.com/GL77dUkhHn

— br_betting (@br_betting) February 12, 2024

Drake has pocketed an impressive 100% return on his massive outlay, but the gambler’s past hasn’t been so rewarding.

Previous losses have resulted in the Drake “curse”, due to outcomes related to his wagers. MLB player Shohei Ohtani was said to be on his way to the rapper’s hometown to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Drake posted an image of himself wearing the player’s jersey only for Ohtani to join the LA Dodgers.

Then last year, Drake backed Logan Paul, to the tune of $850,000, to knock out Dillion Danis but things didn’t go to plan for the 37-year-old.

The YouTuber won the bout but ultimately by disqualification, meaning Drake lost his bet. This track record left Chiefs fans feeling apprehensive ahead of the Las Vegas showdown in Superbowl 58 but their fears proved to be unfounded with the success at the Allegiant Stadium.

Far East fever pitch

As for Taylor Swift, it was a whirlwind weekend of work and play for the 14-time Grammy winner to make it to Sin City to cheer on her man.

The superstar artist took a 12-hour flight in a personal $54 million Dassault Falcon-9 business jet immediately after the last of her four ‘Eras’ tour Tokyo gigs on Saturday to watch boyfriend Kelce feature in the Super Bowl victory over the Francisco 49ers.

Swift’s enormous pull and exposure have worked wonders for NFL, thanks to her appearances at Chiefs games and the media swarm that has ensued.  It has taken the game to a new demographic, particularly young females, as well as fuelling a hot demand for Travis Kelce’s Chiefs jersey, with a 400% spike reported.

The 34-year-old tight-end commented prior to the Super Bowl, “It’s been fun to gather the Swifties into Chiefs Kingdom and open them up to the football world.”

Image: Drake/X.

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Elon Musk has been ordered to answer to a federal judge concerning his takeover of Twitter in an ongoing US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his $44 billion takeover of the social media platform.

In a follow-up to a preliminary ruling in December 2023, the SEC and the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX now have seven days to agree on a date for him to testify, otherwise, it will be decided for them.

As reported by Reuters, Musk previously refused to attend an interview in September as part of the overall probe of his acquisition of Twitter, which he later rebranded as X.

US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler sided with the regulator on that occasion after Musk’s dismissive action was prompted by claims of harassment. He insisted the subpoena was requesting irrelevant information, as well as undergoing two interviews, but that argument was rejected.

Ongoing dispute

The SEC is challenging whether Musk adhered to the correct legal process when filing the necessary paperwork for his purchase of Twitter and if he made misleading statements during the transaction. It is seeking further answers from the 52-year-old, who also argued the subpoena fell outside the SEC’s authority as it was issued by a staff member appointed by the SEC’s Director of Enforcement.

Beeler ruled the subpoena is valid, throwing out Musk’s claims which brings us to the latest stage of this legal saga. The Magistrate’s next action could be to hear both representations, to set a new hearing date, if they do not agree.

Musk has also taken additional action, asking the US Supreme Court for a review, citing his constitutional right to free speech following the December decree.

Tensions between the X supremo and the SEC commenced back in 2018 when the body sued him after he tweeted “funding secured” relating to a potential move to take Tesla private. Musk agreed to a Tesla lawyer vetting his tweets regarding the company, to settle the case, but he was sued again, the following year, for an alleged breach of the agreement.

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Google has extended the availability of its Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) assistant and chatbot to several more territories and in various languages.

Last week, the Alphabet company confirmed the rebranding of Bard to Gemini, which is also the name of its flagship large language model (LLM) AI. The Gemini assistant was rolled out for Android and iOS, but only to users in the United States, in the English language. It was expected that availability would be rolled out to other countries soon after, which has now been made official.

As reported by Sam Mobile, Android users across Asia have confirmed access to Gemini on their devices but there is no sign of the feature in Europe just yet. This rollout could be impacted by regulatory issues in the European Union but given the size of its consumer base there, efforts are surely ongoing to fix any issues.

On the Android devices that Gemini accesses, consumers can access it from its app, as well as by long pressing the power button, swiping diagonally from the lower corners of the screen, or saying “Hey Google.” It first appears on top of other apps, and you can type your question using the keyboard or by using your voice.

Advanced UI

Jack Krawczyk, a lead developer on Gemini, intimated the program would soon be arriving in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, as well as in North America, as Google works to make its AI assistant available to the world’s 2.5 billion Android users.

Gemini is powered by the LLM of the same name, which has a far greater capacity for understanding communications such as natural language and conversations. It is expected to fully replace Google Assistant in a matter of time given its advanced user interface and capability.

Gemini seamlessly integrates with Google services including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, YouTube and more, allowing users to make prompts from their account on the apps.

Image: Google

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A massive security breach has been confirmed with almost one in two French citizens affected, involving two service providers for medical insurance companies.

The third-party payment portals involved were Viamedis and Almerys, due to the former experiencing a sophisticated phishing attack that compromised its systems late last month. Almerys did not elaborate on the cause of its loss, but it is thought to be a similar incident.

The French Data Protection Authority (NCIL) detailed the full incident, with around 33 million customers’ data stolen. The leaked data includes personal information such as birth dates, marital status, social security numbers, and insurance details. NCIL moved to allay further fears by stating no banking credentials, medical data, or contact numbers were lost but the scale of the cyber attack is clear.

Yann Padova, a digital data protection lawyer and former secretary general at CNIL commented on the seriousness of the data breach, “This is the first time that there has been a violation of this magnitude (in France),” further adding it was suspected to be the biggest ever leak of its kind, in France.

Investigation underway

The attackers used credentials stolen from healthcare professionals, in a targeted raid, to access the systems at the two companies.

CNIL is now working with Viamedis and Almerys to contact all those impacted, as bound by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. However, given the sheer number of customers involved it will take some time to complete the task.

As a result of this attack, the “tiers payant” system in which patients do not need to contribute the full cost of medical services in advance may be unavailable for providers for some time, but users will still have access.

The French data authority has sent out a renewed warning, to be wary of phishing attacks, given the volume of compromised data now in the wrong hands whilst a full investigation is underwater to ascertain exactly how the massive breach happened and if Viamedis or Almerys are culpable.

Image: Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels

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1X Technologies has confirmed a breakthrough in teaching skills to its human-like (android) robots.

The company announced that its robot named EVE can now take more actions thanks to special neural networks, which allow the bots to learn by watching videos of people doing activities. From this, EVE learns to copy the activities on its own, without needing complex programming.

The Norway-based humanoid robotics firm, backed by OpenAI, designs androids to “work alongside people, to meet the world’s labor demands” but it assures of their safety credentials by testing every android in real-world scenarios before they’re deployed.

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A politician in the Netherlands has proposed a complete ban on gambling advertising in the European country, citing fears for young people and vulnerable groups as the motivation.

Derk Boswijk of the Christian Democratic Appeal party (CDA) is the representative pushing the motion, reports i Gaming Business.

If carried, this legislation would further banish the visibility of gambling brands and services after a ban was implemented last year on most forms of gambling advertising, including the mediums of television, radio, and print. The move also prohibited advertising in the public domain billboards, street signs, bus shelters, etc.

Total opposition

As things stand, the law still permits targeted advertising in limited forms, including social media, online gaming platforms and embedded within on-demand streaming content.

However, Boswijk believes the current arrangements are inadequate, with his motion supported by his peers, fellow Dutch parliamentarians Diederik van Dijk, Nicolien van Vroonhoven, Michiel van Nispen and Mirjam Bikker.

A vote will now take place in the Dutch House of Representatives on Tuesday to debate the matter and decide if there is enough of an appetite for an outright ban.

Bikker also wants to see a strict deposit limit adopted across the Dutch gambling landscape.

He brought forward a separate motion which would regulate deposits and losses on online casino games, with players unable to further increase their stakes on their own. Again, this plan was well received by various cross-party members, including Boswijk.

This is the latest change to be imposed on the gambling industry in the Netherlands after the gaming regulator was concerned about contravention of the Dutch Gambling Act.

The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) acted to enforce a stricter ruling around loss-based bonuses following a wide-ranging investigation. Specifically, the regulation body has changed the terminology around its guidelines on cashback bonuses to address concerns on the matter and for the purposes of good legislation.

Image: Peaton Hugo/Pexels

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OpenAI is said to be working on a “supersmart” assistant to run a computer for its user.

With the development of a ChatGPT bot to effectively assume autonomy over a device, this is one of two agents in the pipeline, according to a report from Business Insider.

The leading artificial intelligence (AI) research company appears to have grand ambitions to deliver an ultimate assistant for the present era, which would result in the software being able to fully complete tasks as prompted. It will focus on text typing functions, as well as cursor movement, and working with different apps.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly wants to deliver ChatGPT as a “supersmart personal assistant for work,” but the path ahead could lead to issues with Microsoft, its partner firm. The ‘Big Five’ tech giant (as well as Google) has already launched its own AI workplace assistant but these programs are said to be in their infancy.

The report suggests growing anticipation for the development from OpenAI, with work commenced on the project over a year ago. Talk of a game-changer will raise expectations but the end product is not in sight yet.

Matter of time

Generative AI has been lauded for significantly boosting workers’ productivity with some tasks, with the market for AI agents opening up in recent times. This growth area has been talked up by industry experts, including the co-founder of Google’s AI research subsidiary, DeepMind.

Mustafa Suleyman stressed that everyone could potentially have a personal assistant bot for themselves, a “chief of staff”, within the next five years in a conversation with CNBC on the rapid advances of AI.

“It will be able to reason over your day, help you prioritize your time, help you invent, be much more creative,” he said, adding “It will be a research assistant, but it will also be a coach and companion.”

Featured image: Dall-E

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Government officials on the Isle of Man are pushing for a broader policy on deepfakes, as new legislation is introduced on sexual offences.

The Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. The island with 85,000 people has its own parliament and is not officially part of the United Kingdom, but the UK government is responsible for defense and foreign relations, while the Isle governs its own domestic matters including taxation, housing, tourism, and finance.

Jane Pool-Wilson, the Justice and Home Affairs minister made the comments ahead of the Sexual Offences and Obscene Publications Act 2021, coming into force next month, as reported by the BBC. It will include some protections against AI-powered deepfakes but the minister wants further action taken.

Poole-Wilson said artificial intelligence regulation was a pertinent issue “challenging many governments around the globe”, and whilst measures had been taken locally “to protect the island against such threats”, further broader-reaching policies would be needed to “address the threats and opportunities artificial intelligence brings”.

The incoming legislation will target offenses around the distribution of intimate pictures without consent, including faked AI imagery. It will also consider revenge porn cases.

The Manx government is said to be keeping a close eye on a UK proposal to legislate for all AI-generated images to be labeled in a move to target deepfakes.

Electoral integrity fears

Just over the water in London, British MPs are increasingly concerned over the potential impact of artificial intelligence on the next general election. A survey has revealed 70% of politicians “fear AI will increase the spread of misinformation and disinformation.”

With action against AI looming ahead of the 2024 US Presidential election, there is a desire for legislation to be updated in the UK to mitigate the threat posed by deepfakes. In recent times, both London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour leader Keir Starmer have been the target of malicious actors using audio clips to damage them.

The survey detailed that more than half of the MPs questioned said AI could negatively interfere with electoral integrity this year, with several key elections taking place worldwide. 65% of respondents want political parties and politicians to provide clarity on how they are using AI tools in campaigns, whilst parties have been urged not to spread information or material that cannot be verified.

Image: ThisIsEngineering/Pexels

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With concerns over the impact of AI on the democratic process in the lead up to the 2024 United States presidential election, Midjourney has intimated it could ban political images entirely.

From Donald Trump campaigning with Donald Duck to Joe Biden being accompanied by Beyonce, anything is possible with artificial intelligence in terms of creating imagery and videos to blur the lines but worse than that is the fear of political disinformation – deliberately misleading – which has the potential to negatively influence public opinion in a meaningful way.

Generative AI program Midjourney, as well as other platforms, is cognisant of this issue with a decision to prohibit political imagery over the next 12 months said to be close.

Currently, as you can see from the headline picture here made on Midjournery, there is no restriction on creating images of the two men.

As reported by Bloomberg, Midjourney CEO David Holz opined in a Discord session, “I don’t know how much I care about political speech for the next year for our platform. I know it’s fun to make Trump pictures, I make Trump pictures,” he said.

“Trump is aesthetically really interesting. However, probably better to just not – better to pull out a little bit during this election. We’ll see,” added Holz.

Concern and control

Last March, Midjourney-created images of Trump being arrested went viral, as did pictures of the Pope depicted in a lavish Balenciaga jacket so it is easy to see where the concern of deepfakes comes from. The San Francisco-based company ended free trials soon after those pictures emerged.

Other tech firms are taking action too. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman commented at an event last week, “The thing that I’m most concerned about is that with new capabilities with AI, there will be better deepfakes than in 2020,” whilst Meta has confirmed it will be labeling more posts creating using AI in a direct move to target political interference.

It is a sensitive situation, requiring diligent action as 15 states prepare to go to the polls on Super Tuesday.

Image: Midjourney

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An underground website known as OnlyFake is causing cybersecurity concerns due to the sophistication of its hyper-realistic fake IDs, with photos included.

An investigative report from 404Media dubbed the operation an “instant fake ID factory” that “threatens to streamline everything from bank fraud to money laundering and has implications for cybersecurity writ large.”

Using what it describes as neural networks to produce counterfeit documents for just $15, this enterprise threatens to significantly disrupt the market for forgeries with an obvious knock-on effect on identity verification procedures online.

404Media tested the service with the procurement of a California driver’s license, made up with whatever name, characteristics and signature as required. They claim to have used another fake document from the same source to successfully navigate the identity verification process on OKX, the world’s second-biggest crypto exchange by trading volume.

Enduring challenge

OnlyFake does not provide a physical, hard-copy ID, avoiding the need for any extra production or waiting on the mail. What you get is an instant document (we’re talking minutes) that appears genuine to allow verification of various forms of access that would be otherwise off-limits.

OnlyFake’s Telegram account states, “The era of rendering documents using Photoshop is coming to an end,” including other information claiming their service can create up to 20,000 documents per day using “generators”, whilst the owner using the name John Wick, told 404 they could produce hundreds of fake IDs simultaneously using data from an Excel table.

This appears to be another leg of the cat-and-mouse race between big tech and bad actors caused by the rapid advances in AI, and a very concerning one given the implications for security systems. Microsoft can attest to the vulnerability of technology after its property was used to create explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift.

This race will be an enduring marathon instead of a quick sprint because once one deepfake scam is toppled, another is very likely to emerge.

Lou Steinberg, founder and managing partner at CTM Insights warned we’re only at the beginning of AI created fakes.

“AI will help both attackers and defenders in the fake ID space, but help attackers more,” he said.

“It’s increasingly easy to generate hyper-realistic images, and even print them with high quality printers. That’s one reason passports now contain holograms and RFID chips, which are harder for most people to embed at home.

“As more accounts are opened online, the need for a physical copy of a document is vanishing. That means we can’t rely on things like embedded RFID chips and holograms to verify an ID.”

Image: Dom J/Pexels

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Starship Technologies, the autonomous robot delivery services provider, has secured a fresh round of funding to power the next phase of its development.

Led by Plural and Iconical, the funding round raised $90 million for the San Francisco-based company, taking its total funding to the figure of $230m since its inception in 2014.

Starship was founded by Ahti Heinla in Tallinn, Estonia, alongside Danish entrepreneur Janus Friis – the latter was the founder of Skype where the pair worked together.

Initially, their formidable robot machines were built for explorations on Mars but a change of tack resulted in the launch of Starship Technologies as a major player in autonomous robot delivery services. At present, demand is soaring with the company already operating in 80 locations worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, and Finland.

As reported by Venture Beat, Heinla stated following the funding, “Now we’re ready to take on the world and with ambitions to build a category-dominating company that can change the daily lives of millions of people in thousands of locations worldwide.”

Starship Technologies’ growth plan

Starship is aiming to fully exploit the opportunities afforded by last-mile delivery, which is the term for the final leg when a parcel is moved from a transport hub to its final destination.

Last-mile delivery is known to be intensive, in both its costs and carbon impact, at a time when online food deliveries and shopping in general are growing rapidly. Venture Beat highlighted the former is “expected to more than double by 2030, with last-mile delivery’s carbon emissions in Europe alone projected to reach 5.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2032.”

Robot delivery can take advantage of this situation, with Starship wanting to dominate the market from a significant platform of over six million deliveries to date.

Each Starship robot possesses impressive efficient credentials as they can run on a single full charge for 18 hours, with the equivalent energy usage as boiling a kettle for one cup of tea, for one average delivery. Autonomous wireless charging further enhances the efficiency of the robots which have contributed to a reduction of 1.8 million kilograms of carbon dioxide since they were first propelled into service.

Image: Starship/X

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To mark Safer Internet Day, Minecraft Education has released a new title to the CyberSafe collection of Minecraft adventures.

CyberSafe: Good Game is an inclusive challenge for young people, designed to help them feel safe, happy and content online. The story-based game assists players in adapting to the virtual world, teaching children about the responsibilities and responses required for appropriate interactions online.

Safer Internet Day is an initiative from the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) to promote the importance of online safety for children and young people, held on 6 February with this year’s event carrying the theme: ‘Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.

Learning through play

As detailed by Xbox Wire, Minecraft Education has cleverly weaved together an online safety narrative in CyberSafe: Good Game as part of the challenge.

The setting is just before summer break, as a group of friends discuss how to level up in their favorite game but one of their friends is excluded, they cannot play because their controller was broken after experiencing difficulties with online bullies.

From here the challenge is set with players required to create a Good Game Guide. This resource will enable learning as well as developing strategies in young people to deal with problem situations online whilst promoting a positive gaming experience.

Game scenarios include unwanted actions from bullies, inappropriate screen names and repeated distractions from the in-game chat. For every task, users will be presented with tools to take the right course of action with the ability to ignore, correct, mute, or report certain behaviors they experience.

CyberSafe: Good Game then allows a period of reflection after every challenge faced, to add a new entry to the Good Game Guide, with the guidebook acting as a reference point for online gaming in the future.

Carlos Figueiredo, Director of Player Safety on Minecraft, commented on the value of encouraging responsibility and respect at all times online:

“Good Game is the latest learning adventure in the CyberSafe series where players are given the tools to be agents on their safety journey. In a world that deeply needs more collaboration and dialogue, what could be more important than sparking a cultural shift to foster healthy and respectful communities.”

Image: Minecraft Education

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Roblox has created an impressive real-time text translation tool with the potential to transform the gaming experience for its audiences.

The AI model is so slick users may not even realize it is translating text from other players, from a range of 16 languages including English, French, Japanese, and Vietnamese.

The vast online game community platform with 70 million daily users aims to improve communication between players, making the overall experience more comfortable, as stated by its CTO Dan Sturman.

“We know engagement goes up when users speak or interact with others in their own language,” he said. “We took that concept and removed the language barrier with the automatic translation.”

This is a significant feature not available in the real world, imagine being on holiday in a foreign country and being able to instantly converse with another person or like-minded individual. Fantastic.

Game changer

Roblox started the venture by building a transformer-based large language model (LLM), training it on public data as well as internal information.

The LLM was then immersed within a mixture of expert (MoE) architecture, running several translation apps without the need for the company to build an individual LLM for each language.

The official blog release for the text translation feature detailed information on the requirements, “we need a context-aware model that recognizes Roblox-specific language, including slang and abbreviations (think obby, afk, or lol). Beyond all of that, our model needs to support any combination of the 16 languages Roblox currently supports.”

Sturman was keen to stress Roblox will continue to monitor communications between users, both for safety reasons and also to report and fix any issues with incorrect translations.

The model introduced by the game network will become more common in line with further AI developments but it is not the only translator currently in use. Facebook owner Meta has released its speech-to-text and text-to-text translator, SeamlessM4T, whilst YouTube already hosts Google’s Universal Speech Model to provide captions in over 100 languages.

Image: Roblox/X

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A survey has found more than half of undergraduate students in the United Kingdom are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to complete their studies.

In a poll for the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), 1000 students were questioned if they used AI applications for work they would be marked on. The findings revealed 53% deployed AI for assessments with 25% using the likes of Google Bard and ChatGPT for suggestions.

A point of concern was that 5% of respondents admitted to simply lifting blocks of text from AI directly into their assignments.

An academic has reacted by expressing caution on how the new technology is being used by students, whilst stressing a sensible approach is required to work with AI and not against it or to abuse it.

Andres Guadamuz, a Reader in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Sussex, said in a conversation with The Guardian newspaper:

“I’ve implemented a policy of having mature conversations with students about generative AI. They share with me how they utilise it,” he said.

“My primary concern is the significant number of students who are unaware of the potential for ‘hallucinations’ and inaccuracies in AI. I believe it is our responsibility as educators to address this issue directly,” added Guadamuz.

The concept of hallucinations – AI inserting statistics, citations and titles – is an important one as it impacts not only students but anyone using AI for work purposes in general, the tech must be used as a tool for assistance rather than anything more.

Transforming education

AI is also being assessed in terms of how it can assist teachers and educators in easing their workloads, to help come up with lesson plans and other learning materials as part of a study coordinated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), an English charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.

EEF chief executive Professor Becky Francis stated, “There’s already huge anticipation around how this technology could transform teachers’ roles, but the research into its actual impact on practice is currently limited.”

“The findings from this trial will be an important contribution to the evidence base, bringing us closer to understanding how teachers can use AI.”

Image: RDNE Stock Project/Pexels

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Hugging Face has confirmed the launch of a free service, offering third-party customizable Hugging Chat Assistants.

The NYC-based startup provides an attractive, developer-focused hub for open-source AI coding, and this latest venture will add to its appeal.

The new product will enable users of Hugging Chat, an open-source alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to create their own customized chatbots in an easy, accessible way.

As reported by Venture Beat, Hugging Chat will bear a resemblance to the capabilities of GPT builder, but unlike that resource, a three-tier subscription model will not apply.

Philipp Schmid, Tech Lead at Hugging Face, revealed the new Assistant platform in a post on X, including the open reference to Chat GPT.

Introducing Hugging Chat Assistant!  Build your own personal Assistant in Hugging Face Chat in 2 clicks! Similar to @OpenAI GPTs, you can now create custom versions of @huggingface Chat!

An Assistant is defined by

 Name, Avatar, and Description
 Any available open… pic.twitter.com/9XaReKgg9m

— Philipp Schmid (@_philschmid) February 2, 2024

Collaboration

The Hugging Face creation does not only differ on cost, the key contrast is found in its open-source background compared to the likes of GPT Builder and GPT Store which rely on OpenAI’s proprietary large language models (LLM) GPT-4 and GPT-4 Vision/Turbo.

Hugging Chat Assistant users can avail of several open-source LLMs they wish to utilize to provide the intelligence for their AI Assistant at the back end, which is what the company is all about.

It fits the “open” model, and its overall approach to AI encourages and offers an array of different models and frameworks to be used, just like the main Hugging Chat feature.

Last year, Hugging Face cemented its growing stature as an authoritative voice in the AI community with a pop-up event that attracted more than 5000 people in downtown San Francisco.

What started as a relatively informal, unassuming call for an open-source AI meetup from company co-founder and CEO Clement Delangue turned into a seminal event, later dubbed the “Woodstock of AI”.

In an address to all present, he stated, “I think this event is a celebration of the power of open science and open source. I think it’s really important for us to remember in AI that we are where we are because of open science and open source.”

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Google is reportedly set to introduce immediate changes to its Bard chatbot including a rebrand.

The AI assistant is one feature of Alphabet Inc’s many recent launches in the emerging competitive artificial intelligence (AI) space but it could be time for a makeover already.

A leaked document on X, formerly Twitter, has suggested major changes are imminent including a rebrand as Gemini, which is also the name of Google’s versatile full AI model.

Whilst no official announcement has been made, Android app developer Dylan Roussel shared the changelog dated February 7  (Wednesday) which included details of a Gemini App for Android “coming soon”.

Google added a new changelog for Bard, and — oh boy — it's a big one!

The availability in Canada is awesome! That said I don't really understand the limitations with the app. That's disappointing as someone who lives in Europe.

Oh by the way… https://t.co/xM2snHVYJ9 is real. pic.twitter.com/QKgKrRjmM4

— Dylan Roussel (@evowizz) February 3, 2024

As stated in the document, Gemini Advanced would provide access to Gemini Ultra, the optimum version of the model which is “far more capable at highly complex tasks like coding, logical reasoning, following nuanced instructions, and creative collaboration.”

It is set for release in over 150 countries and optimized for the English language, initially at the start. The changelog indicates Gemini will also expand to Canada with the update of version 1.0.

Clarity over confusion?

Gemini has already been deployed within Bard, powering the assistant tool, but this gets to the crux of a problem for Google. Are its overlapping services and brands too complicated, in contrast to the relative simplicity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT? Quite possibly.

Google had placed Gemini as “the next step of our journey” into AI and boasted its “state-of-the-art capabilities”.

It is the dominant brand in terms of AI for Google so it would make sense if it were to effectively swallow Bard, however, it will be very interesting to see what emerges following this leaked memo.

There is no indication of any change to the names of the three layers of Gemini – Ultra, Pro, and Nano – but without Bard alone, the vista would become much clearer.

If Roussel is accurate, we won’t have long to see the full picture.

Featured image: Google

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With Apple estimated to have shifted around 180,000 Vision Pro headsets over its first pre-order weekend last month, initial reports indicated a slow uptake on the latest development from the world’s biggest company by market capitalization. 

The sales pitch from Apple describes “an infinite canvas that transforms how you use the apps you love.” The ability to see your apps in front of you, arranged as you wish for the perfect workspace, all whilst moving between real and virtual realms. It sounds impressive and it is, but to what extent? This substantial headset has the potential to be a game-changer but it remains to be seen if people will take to wearing it, as well as carrying around a very expensive piece of equipment.

All the pre-orders are on the way to consumers, but if you are yet to be sold on buying the headset, you will want to read more. Here is a rundown of some of those reports on the mixed-reality device from Apple.

‘Most innovative product since iPhone’

Global editor-in-chief of Tom’s Guide, Mark Spoonauer, lauded the hand and eye-tracking technology as well as the 3D spatial video playback embedded in the Vision Pro. 

He approved of the design spec of the headset but opted to take regular breaks from wearing it due to its weight. Spoonauer believes the software is “still in its early stages” in some aspects, with the App Store devoid of several key apps at this time and he noted a gripe with the tethered battery.  He rightly draws attention to the high price point ($3,499) with the suggestion that a breakthrough could come with another version of the Vision Pro at a lower, more accessible price for the mass market. 

Overall, the Tom’s Guide chief insisted this is “the most innovative Apple product since the original iPhone”, which includes an abundance of immersive environments and significant capability to multitask.

Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge coined an interesting paradox with the description of Apple’s creation as “the best consumer headset anyone’s ever made – and that’s the problem”. 

He was effusive in his praise for the magic of the Vision Pro whilst tempering the positivity with reality. Patel considered if the headset was too advanced, questioning if it could become another market leader (like the iPhone) or end up a niche product. He also noted a sense of isolation in the mixed-reality environment. 

‘Familiar and distinct’

Further reviews came from Tech Radar’s Lance Ulanoff, who required just half an hour to be convinced Vision Pro is “the real future of virtual and augmented reality”. He was blown away by his initial experience of the “mixed-reality headset that is at once familiar and wholly distinct.”

Despite the glowing approval, Ulanoff too balked at the price of the product which will surely be succeeded by other, cheaper releases in order to penetrate the market.

The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern expressed a similar sentiment.

Following a week-long trial with the Vision Pro, she described a work in progress that “you’re probably not going to buy”. The first-generation release was also deemed as “big and heavy, its battery life sucks, there are few great apps and it can be buggy”.

CNET’s Scott Stein described a “thrilling” experience but overall, awarded the Vision Pro a score of just 7.8 out of 10.

His words of a “mind-blowing look at an unfinished future” appear to aptly represent the immediate prospects for this impressive yet imperfect version of Apple’s mixed reality headset.

Popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee echoed those thoughts, “I love this thing, not because it’s flawless – it is far from flawless – but because it’s actually interesting…but this [holds Vision Pro], this thing is interesting it’s risky but most of all it’s new.”

Feature image: Apple

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India is aiming to collect around 140 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) in tax over the next financial year from online gambling operations.

As reported by Reuters, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra set out the proposed return on tax in the 2025 financial year. He indicated the government expects to receive around 75 billion rupees for the current financial year, up to the end of March, reflecting a significant increase from 16 billion rupees from the previous year.

In a blow to the betting industry and investors, the Indian government has cited concerns about addiction as part of its move in October 2023 to impose a 28% levy on funds collected by gambling operators on every bet a user places.

Industry representatives responded with scorn, insisting the move would hammer their earnings and warning of an impact on gamblers.

Aaditya Shah, chief operating officer at the leading gaming app IndiaPlays stated, “The implementation of a 28% tax rate will bring significant challenges to the gaming industry. This higher tax burden will impact companies’ cash flows.” His message was echoed by Roland Landers, CEO of The All India Gaming Federation who said the decision was “unconstitutional (and) irrational”.

No guarantees

Malhotra added a cautious forecast of what lies ahead:

“The tax generated 35 billion rupees in the October to December quarter, he said.

“The industry has stabilized, but it is early to make conclusive remarks. A review of the framework to tax online gambling companies will be conducted by April, but that doesn’t mean tax rates would be changed,” added the minister.

This form of tax raising is known as a goods and services tax (GST), applied to the online gambling industry in the South Asian republic.

Malhotra further revealed government GST collections overall have averaged 1.7 trillion rupees each month, with an expectation the figure will increase to a monthly sum of around 1.8 trillion as of the next financial year.

Featured image: Pranav Choubey/pexels

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The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has acted to enforce a stricter ruling around loss-based bonuses following a wide-ranging investigation.

Specifically, the Dutch gaming regulator has changed the terminology around its guidelines on cashback bonuses to address concerns on the matter and for the purposes of good legislation.

As reported by Gambling Insider, the probe found a problem with the existing terms, leading to the adoption of the term “bonus based on loss,” which will be implemented immediately.

Cashback incentives, a familiar feature across online casinos and sportsbooks, tend to operate on a loss-based model where players receive a part of their losses back as free bets or spins.

KSA is concerned as it believes all forms of this type of bonus contravene the Dutch Gambling Act, which prohibits the practice in the Netherlands due to fears the bonuses encourage increased risk-taking, higher stakes betting, and an increase in the frequency of play.

Following the investigation, the KSA issued a formal warning to one license holder who was found to have offered such a bonus. In contrast, others were contacted to clarify the rules around bonuses after they provided incentives in other ways to direct cashback.

Preventative action

The crackdown was emphasized by KSA René Jansen, who stressed, “This encourages excessive participation. Players bet higher, take more risks, and play more often.”

“At the KSA, the interests of players are central. A safe gambling market and the prevention of gambling problems are high on our agenda.”

“To protect players even better, we immediately clarify the definition as a basis for strict supervision. Any bonus that is in any way linked to a loss is prohibited.”

This move comes after the KSA proposed updating its responsible gaming policy rules in December.

An earlier industry survey in 2023 reported gambling operators were not doing enough in their duty of care to users to prevent potential addiction and compulsive behavior.

The new proposals set out the expectation that providers must monitor online gaming effectively and to pick up on signs of addictive gambling within one hour.  On deposits, if a player drops more than €700 ($770) within a month, the company has to contact the user to request proof of earnings before more money can be deposited in their account.

For younger players aged 18-24, the deposit amount would be questioned at €300.

Image: Darya Sannikova/Pexels

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