OpenAI launches ChatGPT with Search, taking Google head-on (5 minute read)
OpenAI has launched an upgraded web search feature for its AI assistant. Called 'ChatGPT with Search', the feature makes web searches based on user questions, providing source attributions with the answers it provides. It has the potential to streamline web search by eliminating the need for multiple search queries and link exploration. The system uses a fine-tuned version of GPT-4o.
Alexa's New AI Brain Is Stuck in the Lab (22 minute read)
Amazon executives were confident a beta version of a new and improved Alexa was doable by early 2024. However, the timeline started slipping - the deadline has been moved to 2025. Alexa's conversational abilities have improved, but it still has issues and struggles with some tasks. Getting Alexa right is important for Amazon given the huge portion of kids and families that use Echo hardware.
'A lot of demoralized people': Ghost jobs are wreaking havoc on tech workers (7 minute read)
Ghost jobs are a common phenomenon in the tech industry. These fake job listings serve multiple purposes. Employers make these listings to maintain a presence on job boards and build a talent pool. They also use the listings to gauge how replaceable their employees are, look more stable during hiring freezes, make employees feel replaceable, and trick overworked employees into believing that more people will be brought on to alleviate their overwhelming workloads.
Meta is using more than 100,000 Nvidia H100 AI GPUs to train Llama-4 (3 minute read)
Mark Zuckerberg says that Llama 4 is much faster and has new modalities and stronger reasoning.
OpenAI's o1 model leaked on Friday and it is wild — here's what happened (2 minute read)
OpenAI is set to unveil the full version of its o1 model sometime in the next few weeks. The model was briefly accessible by changing a parameter in the URL, but this has since been fixed. An OpenAI spokesperson said that OpenAI experienced some issues while it was preparing for limited external access to the o1 model. Examples of outputs from the model made while it was accessible are available in the article.
xAI API Public Beta (2 minute read)
The xAI API is now publicly available, giving developers programmatic access to the company's Grok series of foundational models. The launch includes a preview of a new Grok model that is in the final stages of development. It has a context length of 128,000 tokens and supports function calling and system prompts. A new vision model will be available next week. Users signing up to the public beta program will receive $25 of free API credits per month.
The confusing state of RCS (9 minute read)
RCS is still fragmented and feels like a ghost town.
OpenAI acquired Chat.com (1 minute read)
Chat.com now redirects to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The domain was registered in September 1996. It was sold to HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah last year for $15.5 million. Shah sold the domain to OpenAI in March. It is unknown how much the deal was worth. Shah implied that he had been paid in OpenAI shares.
TikTok Canada Unit Ordered to Dissolve Operations on National-Security Concerns (3 minute read)
Canada has ordered TikTok Technology Canada to dissolve its business operations due to national security concerns. TikTok says the order would eliminate hundreds of jobs and isn't in anyone's best interest. It will challenge the order in court. The Canadian government will not be blocking citizens' access to the TikTok app or their ability to post content on the platform. Banning the company and not the app could make things worse as the risks associated with the app will remain but the ability to hold the company accountable will be weakened.
Australia proposes 'world-leading' ban on social media for children under 16 (3 minute read)
Australia is trialing an age-verification system that will block children under 16 from accessing social media platforms.