IBM HR Division Saves 12,000 Hours Over Past 18 Months Using AI

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June 28, 2023

IBM HR division saves 12,000 hours over past 18 months using AI — Image Credits; BBC

According to IBM‘s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Nickle LaMoreaux, artificial intelligence has internally relieved staff members of back-office administrative tasks so they can focus on more complex tasks that require human interaction.

According to him, automating processes that previously needed managers and staff to communicate back and forth with one another has allowed IBM’s HR division to save close to 12,000 hours over the course of past 18 months.

The irony of IBM’s AI use case is that the same technology that HR utilizes to speed up routine tasks can ultimately make them obsolete. Recently, IBM announced pausing hiring as approximately 7,800 positions may be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) in the upcoming years.

“We don’t want to hire a lot of people just to discover that a significant amount of their work is actually being replaced by artificial intelligence. We’re taking it slow. We are taking a break from some positions so that we can concentrate on hiring people for revenue-generating and product-building roles,” said LaMoreaux.

Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, said that AI enables firms to take on the kind of repetitive tasks most people find boring, which frees up employees to take on work of more priority. He stated that the company’s usage of artificial intelligence has reduced the number of HR employees conducting manual tasks from 700 to around 50.

Microsoft Plans to Move Windows Completely to the Cloud

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Sahil Pawar

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June 28, 2023

Microsoft plans move Windows completely cloud — Image Credits: Stock Images

Microsoft aims to migrate Windows to the cloud for consumers, in the same way that it has been doing for businesses with Windows 365. In a June 2022 internal Microsoft “state of the business” presentation, Microsoft talks of enhancing Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device.

The presentation, which covers Microsoft’s entire gaming strategy and how it ties to other areas of the company’s businesses, has been made public as part of the ongoing FTC v. Microsoft hearing. In Microsoft’s “Modern Life” consumer section, moving Windows 11 increasingly to the cloud is cited as a long-term opportunity, along with harnessing the power of the cloud and client to enable improved AI-powered services and full roaming of people’s digital experience.

Along with Microsoft’s need to spend in partnerships for customized silicon, the notion of transferring Windows completely to the cloud for users is also presented in the presentation. Microsoft has been carrying out some of this for its Surface Pro X devices that run on ARM.

In late 2020, Bloomberg also claimed that Microsoft was considering creating its own ARM-based chips for servers and perhaps even Surface devices. Recently, there have been rumours that Microsoft may also be developing its own AI chips.

A full version of Windows is streamed to devices via the Windows 365 service. Although it has only been available to businesses thus far, Microsoft has already fully integrated it into Windows 11. Windows 365 Boot, which enables Windows 11 devices to connect straight to a Cloud PC instance at boot instead of the local version of Windows, will be included in a future update. In order to incorporate Cloud PCs into the Task View (virtual desktops) feature, Windows 365 Switch is also integrated into Windows 11.

IBM to Acquire Software Company Apptio to Bolster Cloud Offerings

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Sahil Pawar

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June 28, 2023

IBM to acquire software company Apptio — Image Credits: Apptio

In the newest deal to enhance its cloud and automation capabilities, IBM announced on Monday that it will pay $4.6 billion in cash to Vista Equity Partners to acquire the technology spend-management platform Apptio. IBM stated that it will use cash on hand to fund the purchase and anticipates that it will close in the second half of 2023.

The agreement is made at a time when businesses are reducing their technological spending due to difficult macroeconomic conditions. IBM recorded a revenue rise of less than 1% year over year in the March quarter while cutting around 3,900 jobs in the early part of the year. Recently, IBM announced pausing employment hiring as approximately 7,800 positions may be replaced by AI in the upcoming years.

The technology behemoth claimed that the acquisition of Apptio, a software-as-a-service company with over 1,500 clients and alliances with cloud providers like Salesforce and Amazon.com’s AWS, will help IBM’s Red Hat business, AI portfolio, and consulting division.

Apptio, a company situated in Seattle that was established in 2007, assists businesses in managing and comprehending their expenditures on cloud services and provides functions like IT budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis. According to analysts at UBS, Apptio’s revenue was approximately $233 million in 2018 and is projected to increase by 11%–13%.

“Going forward, we are opportunistic and looking for opportunities in the software and consulting space,” Senior Vice President Rob Thomas said in an interview. “Century-old IBM is changing its direction to concentrate on more recent AI and cloud-based services.”

Baidu Says Its Ernie AI Chatbot Outperforms OpenAI’s ChatGPT

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Sahil Pawar

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June 28, 2023

Baidu Ernie AI chatbot outperforms OpenAI's ChatGPT — Image Credits: Baidu

The well-known chatbot, ChatGPT has been outperformed by Baidu’s most recent version of the Ernie AI model, Ernie 3.5, based on a number of important measures, said the company. This announcement was released by Baidu on Tuesday, noting the fact that Ernie 3.5 outperformed GPT-4 in several Chinese skills and had better overall ability scores than ChatGPT.

Baidu used a test by the official newspaper China Science Daily, which used datasets like AGIEval and C-Eval, to support its assertions. These benchmarks are frequently used to assess how well AI models perform. OpenAI has not reacted to Baidu’s statement yet.

A global AI boom that was ignited by the release of ChatGPT has now spread to China, prompting a rush of domestic companies to announce their own competitive technologies. With the release of its language AI Ernie Bot in March, Baidu became the first significant Chinese tech company to introduce an AI product to compete with ChatGPT.

Ernie 3.5 has been conducting invitation-only tests for the past three months. It is based on Baidu’s prior Ernie 3.0 AI model. Other well-known Chinese IT companies, such as Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, have followed Baidu’s lead and introduced their own AI models.

With better training and inference efficiency, according to Baidu, the new Ernie model is positioned for future iterations that will be quicker and more affordable. Furthermore, according to Baidu, the new model would accept external “plugins,” or extra apps, which improve the AI’s skills for particular scenarios. These plugins make it possible to perform functions like summing long texts and producing more precise results.

Notably, ChatGPT had already added support for plugins in March, intensifying the rivalry between Baidu and OpenAI in the AI industry.

US House of Representatives Bans Use of All AI Chatbots Except ChatGPT Plus

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Sahil Pawar

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June 28, 2023

US House of Representatives bans use AI chatbots except ChatGPT Plus — Image Credits: HOR

The United States House of Representatives has established new restrictions that forbid the use of large language models in its offices, with the sole exception of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus service. This is an important step towards protecting data privacy, the house said.

The top administrative officer of the US House, Catherine Szpindor, relayed this information in a memo that highlighted recently implemented limits and cited security concerns as the primary motivator.

House offices that use the ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot are only permitted to use the ChatGPT Plus version of the programme, according to Szpindor. In order to secure House data, the product’s Plus version includes crucial privacy protections, she said.

No additional ChatGPT or other large language models, AI software are currently approved for use in the House, according to the memo. The memo explains restrictions on how House members may use the programme.

The software can only be used for research and evaluation, thereby preventing its integration into routine workflow. The message further forbids the provision of any private data through prompts and demands that ChatGPT Plus be utilised with all privacy options enabled.

Users of ChatGPT and ChatGPT Plus have been able to delete their conversation history and accounts since April, thanks to OpenAI, but the removed information remains on the ChatGPT servers for an additional 30 days.

US Considers New Restrictions on Export of AI Chips to China

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Sahil Pawar

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June 28, 2023

US New Restrictions Export AI Chips China — Image Credits: CNN

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the situation, that the US is exploring further limitations on the export of AI chips to China. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) plummeted roughly 1.5% while those of Nvidia fell more than 2% in response to the news.

According to sources, the Commerce Department would stop exporting chips made by Nvidia and other chip manufacturers to Chinese consumers as early as July. Among the US chipmakers caught in the crossfire between China and the US administration are Nvidia, AMD, and Micron.

Nvidia claimed in September that US officials had requested the company cease sending two of its top processing processors to China for use in artificial intelligence projects.

Months later, Jensen Huang-led Nvidia announced it will provide a brand-new cutting-edge processor named the A800 in China in order to comply with export regulations. In order to comply with laws, the business also made early this year adjustments to its flagship H100 chip.

According to the new announcement, the new restrictions the agency is considering would prohibit the selling of even A800 chips without a specific US export license.

Despite export limitations put in place by the United States, Chinese sellers are profiting from the soaring demand for high-end Nvidia chips, particularly the A100 artificial intelligence (AI) chips. The A100 chips, created by US chip company Nvidia, are reportedly offered for a stunning $20,000 per unit, which is double the standard price.

LinkedIn Unveils AI-powered Post Generation Feature to Save Time

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Sahil Pawar

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June 28, 2023

LinkedIn AI-powered post generation feature — Image Credits: LinkedIn

LinkedIn has revealed a new feature where it will employ artificial intelligence (AI) to create a draft of their post when users provide at least 30 words detailing their ideas. In a LinkedIn post announcing the feature, Keren Baruch, director of product at LinkedIn, acknowledged the difficulty in turning a brilliant idea into a complete post. Members now have access to generative AI right from the LinkedIn share box, thanks to the new feature.

Users are required to give a minimum of 30 words detailing their intended message, which will act as the main body of their post. Before pressing the “post” button, they can use generative AI to generate an initial draft that will serve as a strong foundation for subsequent review, modification, and customization. Before publicly releasing the feature to all users, LinkedIn intends to thoroughly test it, emphasizing a methodical approach to its introduction.

LinkedIn wants to make it easier for its members to create interesting and effective posts by utilizing AI technologies. Being a time-saving option, the AI-generated first draft feature gives users a starting point for their articles while still letting them be in control and add their own flair.

A different AI-powered service called Copy Suggestions was previously released by LinkedIn. This feature makes use of data from an advertiser’s LinkedIn Page to generate high-performing headlines and introductory text for ad creatives. The business is presently testing this product in North America in English, and in the upcoming months, it wants to increase its functionality, language support, and accessibility.

LinkedIn keeps looking for ways to improve its platform through AI-driven advancements, enabling its users to interact with their professional networks and communicate their thoughts clearly. Recently, in a collaboration between UC Berkeley, LinkedIn came up with cutting-edge detection techniques that correctly identify artificially created profile pictures 99.6% of the time. Only 1% of real photos are mistakenly identified as fake.

CVPR 2023 Announced Best Paper Awards

By

Amulya Reddy Avanaganti

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June 27, 2023

CVPR 2023 Best Paper Awards — Image Source: RSIP Vision

The Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) Conference Awards Committee announced the winners of the highly anticipated Best Paper Awards for 2023. CVPR 2023 is hosted by the IEEE Computer Society (CS) and the Computer Vision Foundation (CVF). CVPR is the leading conference for new research in computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and deep learning (DL).

The CVPR 2023 received an impressive 9,155 paper submissions, with each submission undergoing a thorough evaluation by a minimum of 3 reviews from a pool of 6,625 reviewers. Out of this rigorous process, 2,359 papers were accepted, resulting in a 25.8% acceptance rate. After careful evaluation the CVPR 2023 Awards Committee handpicked 12 outstanding papers as the Best Paper winners of the year.

The announcement was made during a special keynote session on June 21, 2023. The winners of the CVPR 2023 Best Paper Awards are as follows:

Best Paper: “Visual Programming: Compositional visual reasoning without training” by Tanmay Gupta and Aniruddha Kembhavi.
Best Paper: “Planning-oriented Autonomous Driving” by Yihan Hu, Jiazhi Yang, Li Chen, Keyu Li, Chonghao Sima, Xizhou Zhu, Siqi Chai, Senyao Du, Tianwei Lin, Wenhai Wang, Lewei Lu, Xiaosong Jia, Qiang Liu, Jifeng Dai, Yu Qiao, Hongyang Li.
Best Paper Honorable Mention: “DynIBaR: Neural Dynamic Image-Based Rendering” by Zhengqi Li, Qianqian Wang, Forrester Cole, Richard Tucker, Noah Snavely.
Best Student Paper: “3D Registration with Maximal Cliques” by Xiyu Zhang, Jiaqi Yang, Shikun Zhang, Yanning Zhang.
Best Student Paper Honorable Mention: “DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation” by Nataniel Ruiz, Yuanzhen Li, Varun Jampani, Yael Pritch, Michael Rubinstein, Kfir Aberman.

In addition to the Best Paper Awards, IEEE CS also announced the recipients of the Technical Community on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TCPAMI) Awards at the conference.

The Longuet-Higgins Prize was awarded to the 2013 paper “Online Object Tracking: A Benchmark” by Yi Wu, Jongwoo Lim, and Ming-Hsuan Yang.
The Young Researcher Award was given to Christoph Feichtenhofer and Judy Hoffman.
The Thomas Huang Memorial Prize was awarded to Alyosha Efros.

These awards not only celebrate the lasting impact of research presented at CVPR but also highlight the continued advancements made by the computer vision community.

David Ha, Stability AI Head of Research, Resigned!

By

Amulya Reddy Avanaganti

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June 27, 2023

David Ha Stability AI Head of Research Resigned — Image Source: Mashable

Stability AI, the highly anticipated artificial intelligence startup, is undergoing a significant leadership shake-up as two top executives, including the head of research and the chief operating officer, have recently resigned. The departures have sparked curiosity and raised questions about the company’s future direction.

David Ha, who served as the head of research for the London-based startup, stepped down earlier this month, and Chief Operating Officer Ren Ito also parted ways in June. While David Ha has chosen to remain tight-lipped about his departure, Ren Ito has yet to respond to requests for comment, leaving industry insiders speculating about the circumstances surrounding these sudden exits.

In response to inquiries, Stability AI spokesperson Motez Bishara issued an official statement shedding light on the matter. Bishara confirmed Ha’s departure, citing personal reasons for his decision. Regarding Ito, it was revealed that he left to pursue other interests. Bishara expressed gratitude for their contributions to the company and extended well wishes to both individuals.

The founder and CEO, Emad Mostaque, faced allegations of a “history of exaggeration” in an article by Forbes, which he denied.

Stability AI, previously valued at an impressive $1 billion by investors, gained recognition for its groundbreaking development of Stable Diffusion, an open-source image generator publicly released in August 2022. Runway and University of Munich researchers have collaborated in 2021 to create the initial version of Stable Diffusion. Stability AI, later supported the project by funding extensive data training and development. Stable Diffusion swiftly established itself as a strong competitor to OpenAI’s Dall-E, driving Stability AI to develop and unveil improved versions of the tool.

With a strong commitment to advancing AI and a track record of innovation, Stability AI is poised to overcome challenges and make significant contributions. Under evolving leadership, the company’s future holds intrigue and anticipation in the tech community.

Microsoft Acquired Bethesda After Knowing Starfield Would be Exclusive to PlayStation

By

Sahil Pawar

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June 27, 2023

Microsoft acquired Bethesda knowing Starfield exclusive PlayStation — Image Credits: Success Stories

In March, ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, was acquired by Microsoft. This arrangement covered Bethesda subsidiary studios like Arkane, the creator of Dishonoured, MachineGames, the creator of Wolfenstein, id Software, the creator of Doom, and Tango Gameworks, the creator of The Evil Within.

One of the primary drivers behind Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax, the parent firm of Bethesda, has been revealed by the Xbox head of Microsoft. It is the “possible Starfield PlayStation exclusivity.” Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, revealed today at the FTC vs. Microsoft hearing that Sony frequently pays rivals to “skip our platform” and that Microsoft believed it needed to buy Bethesda to compete.

“When we acquired ZeniMax one of the impetus for that is that Sony had made a deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire to pay Bethesda to not ship those games on Xbox. So the discussion about Starfield when we heard that Starfield was potentially also going to end up skipping Xbox, we can’t be in a position as a third-place console where we fall further behind on our content ownership so we’ve had to secure content to remain viable in the business,” said Spencer.

ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Elder Scrolls and Fallout studio Bethesda Softworks, was purchased by Microsoft for $7.5 billion. Microsoft promised Xbox and PC exclusives at the conclusion of the agreement, and so far Redfall has been released, with Starfield scheduled to launch on September 6th. The forthcoming Indiana Jones game from Bethesda is only available on Xbox and PC.

Today, a significant portion of Spencer’s testimony focused on presenting Sony as a combative and aggressive rival. Spencer claims that the only way to compete with Sony is by buying up Bethesda and attempting to acquire Activision Blizzard. The estimated value of the planned Activision Blizzard acquisition is $68.7 billion.