Gemini Pro looks poised to give OpenAI some real competition for a change, TikTok loses access to a huge amount of popular music, and Pixel smartphone storage bugs are finally fixed ( But you probably won't like it). U.S. Senate hearings on social media are like social media itself: heavy on emotion, light on accuracy, heavy on theatrics…
This anti-social version of the hashtag trend includes all of these things. I'm your host, Jim Love. He is his CIO for IT World in Canada and TechNewsDay in the US.
Global rollout of Gemini Pro at Bard intensifies competition between Google and OpenAI.
Some reports claim that this new Gemini Pro release could surpass OpenAI's GPT-4.
Gemini Pro will be integrated with Bard and will be accessible in over 40 languages in over 230 countries. And unless I'm terribly mistaken, Canada still seems to be left off the list. You can also access it using a VPN, but this is the only way I can access it.
The Gemini upgrade introduces text-to-image generation capabilities powered by the Imagen-2 model, which outperforms OpenAI's Dall.E2. In a quick pre-broadcast test, it was impressive and fast. However, when we similarly briefly tested the writing abilities of Bard and OpenAI, ChatGPT still outperformed Bard in terms of prose flow. And maybe it's just me, but Bard always seems to give great explanations and exaggerate his own abilities a bit. He previously tested Bard and his ChatGPT, and he rated Bard better when it came to tasks that were not completed. I'll be testing it over the weekend, so I'll update everyone on Monday.
To ensure the ethical use of AI-generated images and distinguish them from human-created art, Bard uses SynthID to embed digitally recognizable watermarks into the images it generates.
Bard's Gemini Pro upgrade includes features that directly compete with ChatGPT Pro's GPT integration. Google's strategic releases, such as the “Help me Write” feature in Google Chrome and the integration of Gemini functionality into Samsung's new Galaxy AI smartphones, highlight the company's aggressive push in the generative AI space.
Additionally, Google's Lumiere, a text-to-video generative model, may be better than OpenAI, which has not yet released a similar product.
Google seems to have gotten its mojo back and is actually releasing generative AI features, not just videos and announcements. Bard recently secured his second place on the HuggingFace Chat Bot Arena Leaderboard by surpassing GPT-4.
All of this makes OpenAI's response much-awaited, potentially with the release of GPT-5, as competition intensifies.
Google's new services position it as a strong contender in the generative AI space. But OpenAI tells me it doesn't just roll over and play dead.
Source: Analytics India and Bard.Google.com
TikTok users are facing loss of access to songs by popular artists such as Universal Music Group members Taylor Swift, Jon Batiste, and Voygenius.
This development follows the breakdown of contract negotiations between TikTok and UMG. As a result, TikTok began muting videos featuring songs from these artists.
The dispute centers on issues of compensation and rights. UMG accuses TikTok of not adequately compensating artists and songwriters, failing to protect human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and failing to address online safety issues. There is. UMG's stance is that even though music is at the core of the TikTok experience, fees from TikTok only make up a small portion of its total revenue.
UMG also expressed concern about AI-generated recordings flooding the platform, which it believes will dilute artists' royalty pools. UMG also cited problematic content on TikTok, including sexually explicit images of artists like Billie Eilish.
Meanwhile, TikTok has accused UMG of putting “greed over the interests of artists and songwriters.” The platform claims it has artist-first agreements with other labels and publishers and that UMG's actions are not in the best interest of artists, songwriters and fans.
The situation caused shock and disappointment among TikTok users, especially fans of the affected artists. Some users joke about moving to Instagram Reels instead. The dispute highlights ongoing challenges in the digital music industry, particularly around rights, compensation, and the use of AI-generated content.
Source: Devdiscourse
Google has released a fix for a critical storage bug affecting Pixel smartphones, but the solution is far from user-friendly. The issue arose after the January 2024 Google Play system update, which locked some Pixel owners out of their phones' local storage, making their devices nearly unusable. Google's response, posted on the Pixel Community Forums, requires users to manually intervene using developer tools and a command-line interface.
The process of fixing this bug involves enabling Android developer options, downloading Google's “SDK Platform-Tools” zip file, connecting the phone in the correct mode, and running specific commands via terminal. There are some technical steps to follow. This command involves uninstalling specific media components using Android Debug Bridge (ADB). ADB is a tool typically used by developers for testing and debugging.
This method will not cause any data loss for users who have not yet wiped their device, but it will be a big challenge for the average user. The procedure is complex and requires a level of technical expertise that many people do not have. In addition, issues with installing ADB drivers on Windows can further complicate the process, causing errors and making it difficult to run the required commands.
This situation highlights the challenges of dealing with software issues in consumer electronics, where solutions can require technical skills beyond the capabilities of the average user. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of automatic updates and the need for more accessible solutions to resolve such critical issues.
Source: ArsTechnica
I have no idea what to report about the recent U.S. Senate hearing featuring social media company leaders that can only be described as theatrical.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Zuckerberg fan by any stretch of the imagination, but what do senators gain by accusing Zuckerberg of being responsible for their children's suicides and naming grieving parents? I don't know if it was.
Caught off guard, Mr Zuckerberg was forced to apologize, but other than humiliating him, there was theatrics and no substantive discussion.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to make it look “cool” by picking up certain phrases that one of his CEOs had never heard.
One of the senators, Tom Cotton, repeatedly asked TikTok CEO Xiang Zhi Chu if he was a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and Chu repeatedly asked him if he was a member of the Chinese Communist Party. I had to answer that I was Singaporean instead.
It's hard to imagine a senior U.S. politician being more racist and disrespectful than saying, “You all look alike.” The choice is up to you.
And what about a substantive discussion about deepfakes and actual suggestions about what can actually be done? I couldn't hear anything.
If I missed it, I'll correct you, but again, I think Seth Meyers provided the best analysis. They didn't seem able to operate the garage door opener.
While this is a good line to walk, the reality is that there are real issues with social media that require at least some agreement and regulation, if not legislation.
But nothing will happen just through political theater with many members unwilling to engage in substantive discussions.
Sources include MSNBC, YouTube highlights, and several articles including articles from Axios and The Register.
Hashtag Trends airs a daily news show five days a week and an interview show called Weekend Edition every Saturday.
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I'm your host, Jim Love. Thank you for your attention. Have a thrilling Thursday!
