AI Weekly Digest - June 17 2024

A selection of need-to-know stories from the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence sector. LinkedIn newsletter readers can also sign up to an enhanced email edition of the AI Weekly Digest - published every Friday. You can subscribe for free.

AI - 'Apple Intelligence' - to be rolled out to devices later this year

Apple will integrate AI - dubbed "Apple Intelligence" - including ChatGPT's GPT-4o - into new devices, it's WWDC annual developer conference was told. A collection of AI features will be rolled out on iPhones, Macs and iPads, including text and image generation, custom, AI-generated “Genmoji” and an improved version of the Siri voice assistant.

Tim Cook: New features 'indispensable'

Apple said the AI rollout will come to iOS,?macOS, and iPadOS “later this year,” supported by integrating OpenAI's technology. Apple said: "Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18 ,?iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia." The additions will need at least an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max to operate. CEO Tim Cook said AI features would be "indispensable" in Apple products in the years to come. Apple also insisted the introduction and use of AI on iPhones, and its other devices, would be rooted in privacy, carrying out the majority of processes on the device itself. It said any computing done externally would take place via a new procedure called Private Cloud Compute , designed to ensure users' data is kept secure, and said people would have to give their permission before a request was shared with?OpenAI.

Musk set to ban Apple products as?OpenAI tie-up announced

Apple's AI plans brought an immediate ban threat from X owner Elon Musk for all iPhones at his businesses. He called the decision an "unacceptable security violation” and said if OpenAI is integrated at the OS level "then Apple devices will be banned at my companies". Musk accused the US tech giant of turning over user data to OpenAI, stating: "Apple has no clue what's actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They're selling you down the river ."

Report: Altman: 'OpenAI on track to double annual revenue to $3.4bn'?

OpenAI?chief executive Sam Altman reportedly told staff the?ChatGPT developer is on track to double its annual revenue this year to $3.4bn, and disclosed its deal to make AI models available via?Microsoft Azure will generate $200m.

Deloitte: 36% of UK adults have used a generative AI tool

Deloitte's Digital Consumer Trends report showed 36% of UK adults have used a generative AI tool, with 13% using them at least once a week. The number of people using gen AI for work was up to 7m, and Deloitte said: “A subset of consumers remain underinformed about how generative AI works and its drawbacks. While 25% of those who are aware of GenAI think it is always correct , an even greater 36% of users think it is always correct. A robust governance structure and employee training are important to mitigate these risks.”

GroupM: 69.5% of ad revenue will be informed by AI

GroupM?forecast 69.5% of advertising revenue will be informed by artificial intelligence this year, a figure which will go on to hit 94.1% by 2029. Kate Scott-Dawkins, author of the WPP-owned ad group's This Year Next Year report,?said: "There’s probably no other industry where AI is as integrated and as directly impactful on revenue as it is in the advertising industry."

Google/Apple AI integrations 'could disrupt publishers' newsletter strategies'

Mike Donoghue, CEO of SMS platform Subtext, said he believes Recent AI integrations announced by Apple and Google could disrupt publishers' newsletter strategies. He said: "The truth is this same sort of distillation of content for users is coming to email as well (as search). As they roll something like Gemini out to [Gmail], you can see a scenario where you open up Gmail one day and there’s sort of a distillation of all of your emails and subscriptions... Media companies are looking at email as a sort of refuge and they’re just stepping into another arena with a Big Tech intermediary, who’s going to be playing gatekeeper between your audience and your content."

News-reader start-up Particle in Reuters partnership

Particle, an AI news-reader start-up established by former Twitter engineers, has agreed a partnership with Reuters to explore new business models for its newswire. Particle recently closed a $10.9m Series A funding round, where participants included Axel Springer. Co-founder Sara Beykpour said: "We wanted to build an experience for consumers that really helps them cut through the noise and that helps them understand more [and] what’s going on faster, and we want to do that in a way that is a sustainable, win-win situation for both the readers that are consuming and the publishers and the journalists that are producing the content... We want to work with publishers on developing what that new model looks like. That’s one of the reasons we are working with publishers and inviting other publishers and journalists to work with us so that we can develop it together."

Reports: Ai Pin-maker in talks over sale

Humane, the AI hardware start-up established by former?Apple?designers, is seeking a buyer after its Ai Pin device was widely panned. It is understood to be in talks with HP and a number of US telcos.

Claim: Microsoft handing over development of best AI tools to OpenAI

Todd McKinnon, CEO of identity security firm Okta, said he believes Microsoft is effectively handing over the development of its best artificial intelligence tools to OpenAI, with Google “probably doing the best job of actually not having to outsource their R&D ".

Mistral valued at almost €6bn in €600m funding round

Microsoft and Nvidia-backed AI start-up Mistral has been valued at almost €6bn in a €600m funding round, just over a year after it was launched as a challenger to OpenAI. CEO Arthur Mensch said: “We were told when we started...?that this is a market that is never going to be disrupted. We showed that this wasn’t the case and we effectively disrupted the OpenAI business model.”

Musk unexpectedly drops lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman

X owner Elon Musk has withdrawn a lawsuit against?OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, where he alleged they abandoned its founding mission of developing artificial intelligence for humanity's benefit . The filing, in a California court, gave no reason for the unexpected dropping of the case, which came a day before the ChatGPT owner was due to make a call for the case to be dismissed. Musk's filing called for the case's dismissal "without prejudice", signalling he could reactivate it in the future.

Apple back as most valuable company after AI presentation

Apple has regained its position as the world's most valuable company from Microsoft following CEO Tim Cook's well-received AI updates. Apple shares hit record levels on Wednesday, up 5% for a market valuation of $3.29tn. At close on the same day Microsoft’s market cap was $3.24tn.

Cook 'not 100%' sure Apple can?prevent AI hallucinations

CEO Tim Cook said he is "not 100%" sure that Apple can?prevent AI hallucinations when it integrates the technology into its devices, but insisted "we have done everything that we know to do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology".

Samsung 'one-stop shop' to get chips made faster

Samsung Electronics' contract manufacturing business will offer a 'one-stop shop' for clients to get their AI chips made faster. Siyoung Choi, president of the group's foundry business told a Samsung event in San Jose, California: "We are truly living in the age of AI - the emergence of generative AI is completely changing the technology landscape." He said global chip industry revenue is set to grow to $778bn by 2028, boosted by AI chips.

Ant Group $2.92bn R&D spend 'largely on AI'

China's Ant Group invested a record high $2.92bn in technology research and development last year, its sustainability report revealed. The investment was largely focused on AI technology from the group which has gained state approval to release products powered by its Bailing artificial intelligence large language model.