Recently, AI chip company Groq, based in California, has reached a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco to establish a large data center in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this data center is to enhance Saudi Arabia's capabilities in the field of artificial intelligence and further promote the diversification of the country's economy. Groq's CEO, Jonathan Ross, stated that the data center is expected to be operational by the end of the year, initially equipped with 19,000 Language Processing Units (LPUs). Image source note: Picture

Amazon's Audible has announced an innovative plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to train the voices of professional narrators in order to produce high-quality audiobooks. Starting this week, selected audiobook narrators from the U.S. will participate in the AI training process, ensuring that the AI-generated voices can compete with those of professionals. Narrators will have the opportunity to review the AI-generated voices to ensure they align with the style and tone of the work, and to fine-tune the AI's pronunciation and pacing. Audible has committed to compensating participating narrators based on book titles and royalty sharing.

Apple is expected to roll out several promised features in the iOS 18.2 update, making it one of the significant updates in 2024. This includes the integration of ChatGPT technology with Siri, the Genmoji emoji generator, a redesign of the Mail app, and comprehensive support for robotic vacuum cleaners. CEO Tim Cook has confirmed that the ChatGPT feature will be launched before the end of the year, demonstrating Apple's focus on AI technology. Although the Genmoji feature has not been officially released, elements from the beta version suggest that it is about to go live. The redesigned Mail app will feature a new layout and improved efficiency.

The California state government has partnered with tech companies to invest $250 million to support journalism and AI research, with a plan to implement this over five years, including an initial allocation of $100 million in the first year. The funding is primarily aimed at developing California news organizations and AI research projects. This initiative aims to boost local news vitality and provide job opportunities, seen as a crucial breakthrough for the survival of journalism. The agreement has sparked controversy between the tech industry and lawmakers, with the initial proposal requiring tech companies to pay a percentage of advertising revenue in exchange for linking content, which faced strong opposition. The California News Publishers Association supports the agreement, believing it will benefit the local community.

In the digital world, the growth of artificial intelligence relies on checkpoints, which can restore the training status to the last safe state during training large language models (LLMs) if issues like sudden power outages or hardware failures occur. However, traditional checkpoint systems are inefficient when dealing with large models. To address this, ByteDance and the research team from Hong Kong University have proposed ByteCheckpoint, an innovative checkpoint system that improves data and metadata handling.

Douyin collaborates with 'Harper's Bazaar' to create eye-catching AI photo collections for the Year of the Dragon with the help of popular influencers. The partnership boasts creativity and engages top influencers on the platform to share behind-the-scenes moments, igniting a nationwide AI photo trend. Related topics #EveryoneIsSharingAIPhotosForTheYearOfTheDragon# and #InfluencersAreTemplatesForDouyinAIPhotos# have each garnered tens of millions of views. Various products showcase unique aspects at the intersection of AI and the Dragon Year Spring Festival, with attention-grabbing offerings like greeting simulation tools and New Year video templates. Douyin's approach to AI photos is filled with creative fun, injecting more vitality and entertainment into the New Year.

Douyin has officially launched the AI live stream clipping feature, which may lead to the elimination of third-party teams. The new feature supports automatic editing and publishing of live stream replays, allowing merchants to manually edit and generate high-quality short videos. Live stream clipping has become an important means for top Douyin anchors to drive sales, but as more participants join, the problem of internal competition has become increasingly severe. The introduction of Douyin's official AI tools accelerates the elimination of third-party teams, intensifying competition. The clipping industry is massive, with top anchors generating revenues of several hundred million yuan from clipping-based sales, but issues related to resource competition and traffic also arise.

Highlights: * Australian startup Relevance AI has launched a low-code platform to assist businesses in building custom AI teams * The platform has successfully raised $10 million in Series A funding * The goal is for every team to employ at least one AI agent by 2025 * The platform caters to multimodal use cases including text, images, and audio.

Social media giant Meta has announced the disbandment of its team responsible for overseeing artificial intelligence projects, with members transitioning to the generative AI and AI infrastructure teams. Many members of Meta's AI regulatory team have moved to the company's generative AI product team, while some have joined the AI infrastructure team. This restructuring is aimed at keeping pace with the AI boom, as many tech companies are investing in machine learning development.

Microsoft Teams has launched new AI-driven features: decorative backgrounds and voice isolation. The decorative background feature is similar to augmented reality filters, allowing users to clean up and replace backgrounds during video calls. The voice isolation feature selectively captures the user's voice during unscheduled calls and meetings. Microsoft is also enhancing Copilot to provide a transcription-free meeting feature and a message writing assistant. These features aim to improve the user experience and collaboration efficiency in Teams.

Microsoft has removed the Chat feature of Microsoft Teams in the Windows 11 2023 update. The Chat feature is now a part of the Microsoft Teams app, pinned by default on the taskbar. This move aims to reduce user confusion caused by the deep integration of Teams within the Windows 11 operating system. After the update, users cannot easily unpin Teams from the taskbar and must go into settings to disable it.

Microsoft promotes Matt Booty to President of Game Content and Studios with new responsibilities for ZeniMax. Sarah Bond has been appointed President of Xbox, overseeing all Xbox platforms and hardware. Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela will step down after 32 years at Microsoft. Yusuf Mehdi has been promoted to Executive Vice President, leading marketing for Microsoft Copilot products. Microsoft plans to announce which games will be coming to Xbox in the coming months.

OpenAI held a grand event called the 'ChatGPT Application Development Competition', which attracted active participation from 226 teams. This competition aims to promote the development and implementation of large language models in practical applications. 20 teams advanced to the final stage, with Born to be Prompters and Team Hyper winning first place. The winning teams' applications are designed to assist autistic patients and alert users to safety risks. The collaboration between OpenAI and SKT highlights the focus on generative AI.

Microsoft has collaborated with Project Gutenberg to create 5000 free audiobooks using AI technology. This project utilizes machine learning and natural voice synthesis to automatically convert eBooks into high-quality speech. The audiobooks cover a wide range of classic literature, drama, biographies, and more, and are freely available in an open-source manner. This project enriches the content of audiobooks and provides convenience for visually impaired individuals. This collaboration will greatly expand the number of free audiobooks offered by Project Gutenberg.

Microsoft has recently expanded the functionality of Microsoft Teams. Along with integrating several AI-driven features, a new toolbar has been introduced for Microsoft Whiteboard. This new toolbar aims to enhance team collaboration productivity. Users can collaborate on Microsoft Whiteboard to build task lists, streamline and formulate work plans, and work together in real-time.