Welcome back to this week’s review. This week we look at OpenAI’s announced plans for its next AI model; a new dynamic messaging application that is a huge success with Generation Z; and Tim Cook discovering that you can name a group chat in iMessage. Let’s go.
The Verge noted this week that OpenAI reportedly intends to release its next frontier AI model, named Orion, by December. An OpenAI spokesperson denied this claim to TechCrunch, saying: “We have no plans to release a model named Orion this year. » But what that means is anyone’s guess and leaves OpenAI with substantial wiggle room.
Character.AI is targeted in a lawsuit after the suicide of a 14-year-old boy whose mother says he became obsessed with a chatbot on the platform. The company said it was rolling out new security features, including “enhanced detection, response and intervention” related to chats that violate its terms of service and notification when a user has spent an hour in a conversation.
More than 100 million people their private health information was stolen in the February ransomware attack on Change Healthcare. This is the first time that UnitedHealth Group, the health insurance company that owns the company, has quantified the number of people affected by the data breach; Previously, the company said it anticipated the breach would include data on a “substantial proportion of people in America.”
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News
Mira Murati’s next move: Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has reportedly raised over $100 million for a new AI startup, which would focus on creating AI products based on proprietary models. Learn more
What’s in the name of a (group chat)? A recent profile by Tim Cook revealed that he didn’t know you could name your group chats in iMessage. Cook has since named a group chat with his former college roommates simply “Roommates.” Learn more
Elon Musk talks with Putin: Elon Musk has reportedly been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. The Wall Street Journal reports that these conversations have raised national security concerns among some intelligence officials. Learn more
Let Anthropic control your PC: Anthropic has released an improved version of Claude 3.5 Sonnet that can understand and interact with any desktop application. The model can imitate keystrokes, button clicks and mouse gestures, essentially mimicking a person sitting at a computer. Learn more
Success of smart glasses: The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are proving to be a bigger success than Meta initially anticipated. Glasses are the best-selling product in 60% of all Ray-Ban stores in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, even before the rollout of its AI features. Learn more
Artificial intelligence (gut): Throne is an Austin-based health startup that sells a camera that attaches to the side of the toilet bowl and takes photos of your feces. Currently in beta, the system uses AI to examine your stool and determine things like gut health and hydration. Learn more
Transform your phone into an e-reader: Bookcase, Astropad’s latest technology release, is a case with MagSafe support and an NFC chip that lets you hold a smartphone like a Kindle for a more comfortable mobile e-reading experience. Learn more
Midjourney arrives for the Web: Midjourney releases upgraded tool that allows users to edit any images uploaded to the web using its generative AI. The upgraded tool will also allow users to retexture objects in images to “repaint” their colors and details based on captions. Learn more
A cheaper way to get gas: Amazon is offering Prime members a 10-cent-per-gallon discount at approximately 7,000 Amoco, AM/PM and BP gas stations across the United States to combat high gas prices and challenge rival service Walmart+. Learn more
A messaging app for the next generation: Daze is a creative AI-powered messaging app that’s exploding among Gen Z users, with a waitlist of around 156,000 signups ahead of its November 4 launch. Learn more
A closer look at Apple hearing aid functionality: TechCrunch’s Brian Heater was able to test Apple’s upcoming accessibility features for the AirPods Pro 2 that allow the earbuds to act as a hearing aid and provide hearing tests. Learn more
Analysis
23andMe and you: 23andMe faces an uncertain future amid efforts to take the company private, intensifying concerns about what could happen to the genetic data of the company’s nearly 15 million customers. If you sent your spit to 23andMe, you may have assumed that this data would remain private under the law. But as Carly Page writes, 23andMe is not covered by HIPAA and is largely bound only by its own privacy policies, which it can change at any time. But there is an easy way to request deletion of your data. Learn more