Artificial Intelligence

YouTube's growth continues: Ad revenues rise, Shorts’ outlook improves, and AI tools expand despite challenges from competition and ad blockers.

Antitrust concerns influenced Wiz’s decision to decline Alphabet’s $23 billion bid. The security firm has its sights set on an IPO as Google goes back to the drawing board.

Major gaming studios are accelerating the use of genAI in game production, resulting in developer and creative job losses and mounting ethical concerns

Despite a slow start, foreign sanctions, and tight digital regulations, generative AI is emerging as a significant force in China.

Valued at $5.5 billion, Cohere’s business-focused AI has secured major clients. It has no consumer-facing products—and no pressure from Big Tech partners.

Increasing its stake in Serve Robotics sent the stock up 233%, showcasing Nvidia’s ability to influence investor confidence in startups.

ANA’s ethics code focuses on AI, privacy: Low consumer sentiment toward AI and changing regulations created need for a new framework.

Brands can advertise with Paramount for as little as $500: The media giant is looking to open up spending from smaller brands via AI tools for TV ads. Read online

Mini AI models race to the bottom:​​ OpenAI’s GPT-4o Mini outperforms rivals, costs less, supports more tokens, and highlights a trend toward affordable, efficient AI models.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the one major hurdle to AI adoption that's not being discussed enough, the smart tech that's missing from your life, how to get X closer to its former glories, if it would be better to have an AI boss than your current human one, a grizzly consequence of global warming, and more. Tune in to the discussion with guest host Bill Fisher, and analysts Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, Carina Perkins, and Max Willens.

The tug-of-war between Big Tech and foreign privacy and antitrust regulators is escalating, with end users hanging in the balance

TSMC warns of a shortage until 2026, affecting Nvidia, Apple, and Qualcomm and potentially slowing wider AI adoption plans. Read online

A stake in Ray-Ban could increase its smart glasses profits, but regulatory pushback is limiting crucial AI capabilities. That could dampen global market success.

Text generation is on the rise while image generation is losing traction as users and businesses find their individual preferences for genAI application.

Search is undergoing a seismic shift. Google is still the go-to for most inquiries, but generative AI is changing how people search, and leading people to explore alternative search engines. Meanwhile, paid search dollars are moving to retail media networks as shoppers begin their searches on Amazon and other retailer sites. And Gen Z’s search habits look different from older generations, with the cohort flocking to social media sites like TikTok and using visual search and chatbots.

Anthropic and Menlo Ventures challenge OpenAI with a $100 million fund for AI startups focusing on AI trust, safety, healthcare, and cybersecurity.

The first contract protecting media jobs and salaries from genAI use could appease advertisers seeking authentic content sources.

GenAI’s user growth rate in 2024 is 28.6%—still strong, but more than 30 times slower than last year’s meteoric rise of nearly 900% from a relatively small base of users.

AI’s potential to transform search: GenAI can enhance search efficiency by delivering direct answers, reducing reliance on traditional keyword-based search engines like Google.

YouTube data controversy: Major AI players, including Nvidia and Apple, are facing creator backlash after accusations of YouTube data scraping, highlighting the risks of relying on nonconsensual data sources. Read online