Big players, including Microsoft, with Copilot, Google, with Gemini, and OpenAI, with GPT-4o, are making AI chatbot technology previously restricted to test labs more accessible to the general public.
How do these large language model (LLM) programs work? OpenAI’s GPT-3 told us that AI uses “a series of autocomplete-like programs to learn language” and that these programs analyze “the statistical properties of the language” to “make educated guesses based on the words you’ve typed previously.”
Or, in the words of James Vincent, a human person: “These AI tools are vast autocomplete systems, trained to predict which word follows the next in any given sentence. As such, they have no hard-coded database of ‘facts’ to draw on — just the ability to write plausible-sounding statements. This means they have a tendency to present false information as truth since whether a given sentence sounds plausible does not guarantee its factuality.”
But there are so many more pieces to the AI landscape that are coming into play (and so many name changes — remember when we were talking about Bing and Bard before those tools were rebranded?), but you can be sure to see it all unfold here on The Verge.
Highlights
- Google and OpenAI are racing to rewire the internet
- We have to stop ignoring AI’s hallucination problem
- OpenAI releases GPT-4o, a faster model that’s free for all ChatGPT users
- The true promise of AI: Siri that doesn’t suck.
- Zuckerberg says it will take Meta years to make money from generative AI
- Meta’s battle with ChatGPT begins now
- Google apologizes for ‘missing the mark’ after Gemini generated racially diverse Nazis
Jun 18
An AI video tool just launched, and it’s already copying Disney’s IP
Last week, AI startup Luma posted a series of videos created using its new video-generating tool Dream Machine, which the company describes as a “highly scalable and efficient transformer model trained directly on videos.”
Read Article >The only problem? At about 57 seconds in, the Dream Machine-generated trailer for Monster Camp — an animated story about furry creatures journeying to a sleepaway camp — features a slightly AI-smudged but still recognizable Mike Wazowski from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. Many people noticed that multiple characters and its overall aesthetic look borrowed from the franchise, and the questions quickly started pouring in.
Jun 18
AIs are coming for social networks
So far, generative AI has been mostly confined to chatbots like ChatGPT. Startups like Character.AI and Replika are seeing early traction by making chatbots more like companions. But what happens when you dump a bunch of AI characters into something that looks like Instagram and let them talk to each other?
Read Article >That’s the idea behind Butterflies, one of the most provocative — and, at times, unsettling — takes on social media that I’ve seen in quite a while. After a private beta period with tens of thousands of users, the app is now available for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. There’s no short-term pressure on Butterflies to make money; the six-month-old startup just raised $4.8 million from tech investors Coatue, SV Angel, and others.
Jun 11
Google still recommends glue for your pizza
You may remember we all had a fun little laugh at Google’s AI search results telling us to put glue in our pizza. Internet legend Katie Notopoulos made and ate a glue pizza. A good time was had by all! Except, whoopsie, Google’s AI is training on our good time.
Read Article >I will grant the query “how much glue to add to pizza” is an unusual one — but not that unusual given the recent uproar around glue pizza. As spotted by Colin McMillen on Bluesky, if you ask Google how much glue to add to your pizza, the right answer — none! — does not appear. Instead, it cites our girl Katie suggesting you add an eighth of a cup. Whoops!
Jun 11
Google’s June Pixel update brings Gemini AI to cheaper phones
Google’s latest feature drop for Pixel devices is a big one for people who want to run its AI tech on cheaper phones, folks who constantly misplace their phones, and photographers who want a little more control.
Read Article >The latest update, which starts rolling out today, will make the mobile-ready Gemini Nano model that was already available to Pixel 8 Pro owners available as an option on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8A phones, too. Apple just announced a slew of new AI features for its platforms, but similar to Google’s initial announcement that it eventually walked back, Apple has restricted Apple Intelligence to people with the latest iPhone 15 Pro.
Jun 11
Tim Cook is ‘not 100 percent’ sure Apple can stop AI hallucinations
Even Apple CEO Tim Cook isn’t sure the company can fully stop AI hallucinations. In an interview with The Washington Post, Cook said he would “never claim” that its new Apple Intelligence system won’t generate false or misleading information with 100 percent confidence.
Read Article >“I think we have done everything that we know to do, including thinking very deeply about the readiness of the technology in the areas that we’re using it in,” Cook says. “So I am confident it will be very high quality. But I’d say in all honesty that’s short of 100 percent. I would never claim that it’s 100 percent.”
Jun 10
All of Apple’s big AI news from WWDC 2024.Siri meets generative AI, genmoji, image generation, and some big upgrades for Apple Photos. If you just want the Cliff’s Notes on Apple’s artificial intelligence plans, we’ve got you covered.
Jun 7
Say hi, Gemini.Google’s new ad showcases the many things its Gemini large language model can do — from the Gemini chatbot to Circle to Search and AI Overviews.
I can’t believe we’ve entered the LLM ad phase of this reality, but with ChatGPT becoming a household name and “Apple Intelligence” around the corner, the branding efforts will only increase.
Jun 7
‘Apple Intelligence’ will automatically choose between on-device and cloud-powered AI
Apple is gearing up to reveal a new AI system on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac next week at WWDC 2024 — and it will be called Apple Intelligence, according to a report from Bloomberg. In addition to providing new “beta” AI features across Apple’s platforms and apps, it will reportedly offer access to a new ChatGPT-like chatbot powered by OpenAI.
Read Article >Apple reportedly won’t focus on buzzy AI features like image or video generation and will instead focus on adding AI-powered summarizations, reply suggestions, and an AI overhaul for Siri that could give it more control over apps while chasing applications with “broad appeal.”
Jun 3
Where did the viral “All eyes on Rafah” image come from?Two people from Malaysia both say they used Microsoft Image Creator to produce the graphic in support of Palestinians.
It’s been shared over 50 million times now, and now NPR has spoken to both of them: Zila Abka, who months ago posted the version found by 404 Media on Facebook, and Amirul Shah, who shared the now-viral Instagram template.
Jun 2
How to make bad iPhone food pics with Midjourney.This Reddit user’s Midjourney images in the style of bad photos from Yelp reviews are surprisingly on point. The prompt they say they used:
iPhone photo of (food name) with many raisins on top. At a (type of) restaurant (or other location). —ar 3:4 —style raw —s 75
PLUS —sref of some bad food photos you find on Yelp! :)
Others gave it a shot on X.
May 31
ElevenLabs’ AI generator makes explosions or other sound effects with just a prompt
ElevenLabs already offers AI-generated versions of human voices and music. Now, it will let people create sound effects for podcasts, movies, or games, too. The new Sound Effects tool can generate up to 22 seconds of sounds based on user prompts that can be combined with the company’s voice and music platform, and it gives users at least four downloadable audio clip options.
Read Article >The company says it worked with the stock media platform Shutterstock to build a library and train its model on its audio clips. Shutterstock has licensed its content libraries to many AI companies, including OpenAI, Meta, and Google.
May 31
OpenAI is making ChatGPT cheaper for schools and nonprofits
OpenAI is making ChatGPT more accessible to schools and nonprofit organizations. In a pair of blog posts, the company shared that it’s launching a version of ChatGPT for universities, along with a program that lets nonprofits access ChatGPT at a discounted rate.
Read Article >OpenAI says ChatGPT Edu will allow universities to “responsibly deploy AI to students, faculty, researchers, and campus operations.” It’s built on its faster GPT-4o model, which offers improved multimodal capabilities across text, vision, and audio.
May 31
Google defends AI search results after they told us to put glue on pizza
Last week, Google rolled out its AI search results for millions of users to tinker with. The goal was to deliver a better search experience. Instead, AI delivered all sorts of weird results, like saying people should put glue on their pizza to help the cheese stick and eat rocks.
Read Article >Google worked quickly to remove some inaccurate AI results, which it calls AI Overviews, but the damage — and meme-ification — was already done.
May 30
iOS 18 (and AI) will give Siri much more control over your apps
Apple is planning a big AI update for Siri, and it could give you the ability to control specific iPhone app features with your voice, according to a report from Bloomberg. The revamped Siri will reportedly arrive next year as an update to iOS 18.
Read Article >As noted by Bloomberg, the update will allow Siri to analyze the activity on your phone while turning on Siri-controlled features automatically. You’ll only be able to use Siri to control features in apps made by Apple to start, but the company plans on supporting “hundreds” of commands within its apps, Bloomberg reports.
May 29
Custom GPTs open for free ChatGPT users
Free ChatGPT users can now access custom GPTs, analyze charts, ask questions about photos, and other features added with GPT-4o in early May.
Read Article >Features like model and web responses, data analytics, chart creation, vision, file upload, memory, and custom GPTs were available to paid users — ChatGPT Plus, Teams, and Enterprise — but are now open to anyone using ChatGPT.
May 26
Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership
Apple will finally tell its own AI story at WWDC 2024, but it may not mean the sorts of showy features demoed by the likes of Google, Microsoft, or OpenAI. Instead, the event may see Apple rolling out basic AI features like transcribing voice memos or auto-generated emoji — and announcing a rumored partnership with OpenAI, according to Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter for Bloomberg today.
Read Article >Recent rumors have held that Apple will be allowing chatbots to integrate more deeply into its operating systems, and it seems that OpenAI is getting the first crack at that with ChatGPT. But Apple is still working on an agreement with Google to do the same with Gemini, according to Gurman. It’s also been rumored to be talking to Anthropic. (Those talks started before OpenAI’s ongoing Scarlett Johansson dust-up, but they underscore why Apple might want more than one iPhone chatbot deal.) Outside of whatever those potential partnerships will mean, Apple’s approach to AI will apparently focus on being practical.
May 24
Meta could charge for a premium version of its AI assistant.The company mentioned the tier in an internal post viewed by The Information, but there’s no word on included features or cost. The post also suggested that Meta is working on an AI tool for coding, something the Microsoft-owned GitHub and Amazon already offer.
Meta Is Working on a Paid Version of Its AI Assistant[The Information]
May 24
Here’s an early look at Gemini on Gmail’s mobile app.Last week, Google announced that it’s bringing Gemini to the Gmail mobile app, and now we have a glimpse at how it might work. Android Authority contributor AssembleDebug found references to the new Gemini button in the Gmail app on Android, and showed off how you can ask for help summarizing emails and writing responses.
May 23
Why is Google telling us to put glue on pizza?
Imagine this: you’ve carved out an evening to unwind and decide to make a homemade pizza. You assemble your pie, throw it in the oven, and are excited to start eating. But once you get ready to take a bite of your oily creation, you run into a problem — the cheese falls right off. Frustrated, you turn to Google for a solution.
Read Article >“Add some glue,” Google answers. “Mix about 1/8 cup of Elmer’s glue in with the sauce. Non-toxic glue will work.”
May 22
OpenAI’s News Corp deal licenses content from WSJ, New York Post, and more
OpenAI has struck a deal with News Corp, the media company that owns The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Daily Telegraph, and others. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI’s deal with News Corp could be worth over $250 million in the next five years “in the form of cash and credits for use of OpenAI technology.”
Read Article >The multi-year agreement gives OpenAI access to current and archived articles from News Corp publications for AI training and to answer user questions.
May 19
AI art is gobbling up DeviantArt’s creator revenue sharing.AI art isn’t just showing up on the platform in droves, but DeviantArt is actively promoting the bots that pedal it, writes Slate.
And those bots are reportedly earning tens of thousands of dollars, “monopolizing” the site’s revenue stream using generative models perhaps trained on the very artists the bots supplant.
DeviantArt’s Downfall Is Devastating, Depressing, and Dumb[Slate Magazine]
May 16
USA Today is adding AI-generated summaries to the top of its articles
Gannett, the media company that owns hundreds of newspapers in the US, is launching a new program that adds AI-generated bullet points at the top of journalists’ stories, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge.
Read Article >The AI feature, labeled “key points” on stories, uses automated technology to create summaries that appear below a headline. The bottom of articles includes a disclaimer, reading, “The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI.” The memo is dated May 14th and notes that participation is optional at this point.
May 16
OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts
OpenAI has signed a deal for access to real-time content from Reddit’s data API, which means it can surface discussions from the site within ChatGPT and other new products. It’s an agreement similar to the one Reddit signed with Google earlier this year that was reportedly worth $60 million.
Read Article >The deal will also “enable Reddit to bring new AI-powered features to Redditors and mods” and use OpenAI’s large language models to build applications. OpenAI has also signed up to become an advertising partner on Reddit.
May 16
That’s a very specific, but understandable, reference.This editorial suggests one possible future for all of the AI tools we’re seeing:
...it seems just as likely to me that generative A.I. could end up like the Roomba, the mediocre vacuum robot that does a passable job when you are home alone but not if you are expecting guests.
Or when you need to know how to deal with a jammed camera.
May 16
Google and OpenAI are racing to rewire the internet
“Google will do the Googling for you.”
Read Article >Out of everything said onstage at Google I/O this year, I’ve been thinking the most about that line from Search executive Liz Reid. It summarizes not only how Google is fundamentally changing Search but also how the company is increasingly on a collision course with OpenAI.