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This week, innovation continued to rule, with future projections surpassing expectations and providing a glimpse of what the future holds for the industry.
Here are the headlines:
Anthropic launched a (free) newer (and faster) LLM that pushes limits;
Masayoshi Son unveiled big plans for SoftBank, calling for boldness;
Amazon is (reportedly) eyeing a hot summer Alexa upgrade;
It's now apparent. Customers (still) prefer human-written movies following the suspension of an AI-written film;
Plus, there's a new AI-driven blood test that detects Parkinson's disease seven years in advance;
And much more!
Of course, it's your Daily AI™!
The DWN AI Index™ Update
On 6/20/24, the index swung negatively with a -64.22-point change, at -1.97%, to close at 3259.01.
DWN/AI Index™ Individual Stock Closing Prices:
Amazon (AMZN) at $186.10,
Arista Networks (ANET) at $340.19,
C3.ai (AI) at $27.45,
CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) at $382.81,
Duolingo (DUOL) at $199.10,
iRhythm Technologies (IRTC) at $105.37,
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) at $445.70,
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) at $130.78,
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) at $25.56,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) at $175.38,
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) closed at $173.92, while Salesforce Inc. (CRM) closed at $241.80.
Under the AI Hood
Anthropic
Hot on the heels of its Claude 3 Opus LLM, Anthropic unveiled Claude 3.5 Sonnet, a new model that is faster and more efficient than the previous one. Consequently, according to Anthropic, the new LLM is twice as fast as its predecessor, can (can) independently conduct code operations, transcribe text from imperfect images, and more.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is free for all users.
Amazon
According to a June 21 Reuters report, Amazon (allegedly) plans to upgrade Alexa with dual options (free and paid). A $5 to $10 monthly fee is part of the considerations alongside (rumored) generative AI integrations.
Furthermore, "Project Banyan" has an August launch deadline.
IBM/The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC)
IBM's long-term partnership with the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), the organization behind the popular Wimbledon tournament. The additions to the collaboration include AI-generated analysis and articles for Wimbledon app users, including a feature that provides personalized insights (Catch Me Up).
Similarly, IBM partnered with Madrid, Spain-based Telefónica Tech to deploy and host SHARK.X, a combined and fully functional ecosystem of IBM-related technologies, including Watson.
Industry Dive
SoftBank
During a June 15 shareholder meeting, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son revealed that its previous AI investments were a small part of its (overall) plans. Son (also) told shareholders his vision to birth AI that rivals human intelligence within a decade.
Additionally, the founder called for courage when executing SoftBank's next big move.
Mastercard/Data.org
Payments giant Mastercard collaborated with social change-driven organization Data.org to launch the "Artificial Intelligence to Accelerate Inclusion Challenge" (AI2AI). The program focuses on innovative AI solutions that solve (critical) problems with global change potential.
Additionally, AI2AI helps scale the firms behind these solutions by providing access to leverage. AI2AI has a July 18 deadline.
Salesforce
Leading software firm Salesforce continued its expansion plans with the launch of its London AI center. The new center aims to simplify the complex aspects of AI technologies.
Additionally, the launch (concurrently) occurred alongside the Salesforce AI Now world tour, which has AI-focused training programs.
Everything Else
The United Kingdom
We move (over) across to the UK, where customers hit back at an AI-written film. The Prince Charles Cinema in London's Soho canceled the screening of "The Last Screenwriter" written by ChatGPT.
Customers also raised concerns about writer replacements in the movie-making process.
University College London (UCL) (UK)/University Medical Center Göttingen (Germany)
Researchers at the University College London (UCL) (UK) and the University Medical Center Göttingen (Germany) developed a Parkinson's blood test with up to seven years of advanced notification capabilities. The AI-powered blood test combined eight blood-based biomarkers (at 100% accuracy) with Rapid Eye Movement Behavior Disorder (iRBD) tests (at a 79% accuracy) to create profiles for people (potentially) at risk of the disease.
Citi
According to a recently released report from Citi, 54% of banking-related jobs could be automated, with 12% having AI-powered supplemental elements. The report (also) iterated that AI tech could replace jobs.
Furthermore, Citi's report envisioned a future where data risks were paramount amid the AI hallucination scenarios.
Following the Money
Oracle
Tech giant Oracle unveiled its Spanish spending plans (worth $1 billion). The ten-year funding plans include the establishment of a cloud hub in Madrid.
Additionally, Oracle intends to support financial industry players with support (and compliance) with European Union regulations.
HeyGen
AI-focused video generation ecosystem HeyGen raised $60 million in Series A funding. Benchmark led the round alongside SV Angel, BOND, Thrive Capital, Aviv Nevo, Neil Mehta, Dylan Field, and others.
Materia
Public accounting-focused Materia raised $6.3 million in a round led by Spark Capital, including Thomson Reuters Ventures, Haystack Ventures, the Allen Institute for AI, and Exponential Founders Capital.
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