📰 AI.News Roundup: Week Ending June 29th

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AI News is accelerating at the speed of Nasa's X43 jet - a thing I didn't know existed until I googled "fastest thing in the world".

So put up your tray tables, fasten your seat belts, and put your oxygen mask on first as we fly through the friendly sk-AI-s together.*

Synthesia, the AI avatar startup, has rolled out 'Personal AI Avatars.' This lets users create digital versions of themselves using HD cameras, webcams, or phones, complete with realistic lip-syncing.... They’ve also upgraded their AI Video Assistant, which can now generate entire video libraries from existing content, tailored to each company’s needs. They’re also developing a new video player that offers personalized, interactive experiences and adapts to viewers’ languages.

Amazon has introduced Amazon Q, an AI assistant that can automate tasks and provide customized data insights. There are two versions: Amazon Q Developer, which helps IT professionals with coding and maintenance, and Amazon Q Business, which helps employees in accessing and using company data. A standout feature is Amazon Q Apps, which lets users create custom AI applications without needing to code.

Agents are making headlines: Emergence is developing an agent-based system designed to handle tasks typically performed by knowledge workers. Meanwhile, Orby is creating agents capable of real-time learning and workflow management, understanding patterns, and relationships within enterprise’s unstructured data.

OpenAI has acquired Rockset, adding an enterprise search and analytics layer to the AI platform AND they struck a multiyear deal with Time to enrich ChatGPT with journalistic content.

Google has teamed up with Moody’s, MSCI, Thomson Reuters, and ZoomInfo to ground its cloud customers' AI enterprise chatbots in real-world data.

The latest product news

• Amazon is working on a ChatGPT competitor (Quartz)

• Synthesia 2.0 reinvents AI video creation for businesses (ZDNet)

• AI Startup Anthropic Just Announced a Big New Feature for Business (Inc.)

• Etched is building an AI chip that only runs one type of model (TechCrunch)

• KPMG partners with Microsoft to deploy Copilot, upgrade internal ChatGPT tool (CIO Dive)

Industry trends

• The AI industry is working hard to ‘ground’ enterprise AI in fact (Fast Company)

• Employers favor AI talent with master’s degrees (CIO Dive)

• AI startup Sierra’s new benchmark shows most LLMs fail at more complex tasks (siliconANGLE)

• IT chiefs pursue automation, productivity in AI adoption plans (CIO Dive)

• Cyber, AI and data dominate upskilling priorities, study finds (HR Dive)
• Generative AI As A Killer Of Creative Jobs? Hold That Thought (Forbes)
• The ‘move fast, break sh*t’ ethos of today’s AI startups is already coming back to haunt them—and us (Fortune)

Responsible AI

• OpenAI, Microsoft sued by Center for Investigative Reporting as news industry bolsters attack on AI (CNBC)

• How your inefficient data center hampers sustainability - and AI adoption (ZDNet)

• Record labels are suing AI music companies for 'en masse' copyright infringement (Quartz)

• OpenAI Buys Enterprise Startup to Help Customers Sift Through Data (Bloomberg)

• Google touts ‘enterprise-ready’ AI with more facts and less make-believe (The Verge)

• OpenAI and Time strike multiyear deal to improve ChatGPT with journalistic content (CNBC)

• Emergence thinks it can crack the AI agent code (TechCrunch)

• Orby is building AI agents for the enterprise (TechCrunch)

*Forgive my punny approach - it's almost July 3rd here (Austin) which means it's almost July 4th which means hot dogs and pool time and my brain is already on PTO. 🌭 🎆 🇺🇸 🥳