Microsoft Paint is getting Photoshop-like generative AI fill and erase features

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1. Microsoft Paint is getting Photoshop-like generative AI fill and erase features

Microsoft is introducing AI-powered features to Copilot Plus PCs, including Generative Fill and Generative Erase, which allow users to add or remove objects in their images. These tools use a size-adjustable brush to "paint" over specific areas of an image to edit. Generative Erase removes unwanted figures and distractions, similar to the Magic Eraser feature on Google's Pixel phones.

Generative Fill allows users to add AI-generated assets to an image using a text description and select precise placement. The diffusion-based model powering these features has been updated to improve output quality and speed, and includes built-in moderation to prevent abuse.

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2. Anthropic hires OpenAI co-founder Durk Kingma

Durk Kingma, a co-founder of OpenAI, has announced his intention to join Anthropic. Kingma, who has a Ph.D. in machine learning from the University of Amsterdam, will work remotely from the Netherlands.

Anthropic's approach to AI development aligns with Kingma's beliefs and he is excited to work with their talented team, including ex-colleagues from OpenAI and Google. Anthropic has previously recruited OpenAI's former safety lead, Jan Leike, and John Schulman, and appointed Instagram and Artifact co-founder Mike Krieger as its first head of product. The company has often aimed to position itself as more safety-focused than OpenAI.

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3. Microsoft’s mammoth AI bet will lead to over $100 billion in data center leases

Microsoft's finance leases have seen a significant increase in capital expenditures, reaching $108.4 billion in the latest quarter, up $20.6 billion from the previous quarter and nearly $100 billion higher than two years ago. The total capital expenditures, including assets acquired under finance leases, was up from $14 billion in the March quarter and was as much as Microsoft shelled out in the entire 2020 fiscal year.

However, RBC Capital Markets' Rishi Jaluria was caught off guard by the finance lease figure. Microsoft has said it achieves the best performance and cost when building data centers from scratch, but sometimes needs additional capacity immediately. The pace has been frenetic since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in late 2022, and Microsoft has signed up additional cloud providers, including CoreWeave and Oracle.

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4. ByteDance plans new AI model trained with Huawei chips

ByteDance is planning to use Huawei's Ascend 910B chip to train a large-language AI model, according to confidential sources. The company already uses the Ascend 910B for less computationally intensive inference tasks, which involve pre-trained AI models making predictions. Training AI models is more demanding and requires huge amounts of data, necessitating the use of ultra-high-performance chips such as Nvidia's premium graphics processing units.

ByteDance has ordered over 100,000 Ascend 910B chips this year but has received fewer than 30,000 as of July, a pace too slow to meet company needs. The company's current AI technology is used in its flagship large-language model, Doubao, and other applications, including a text-to-video tool, Jimeng. ByteDance is one of the largest buyers of Huawei's AI chips and Nvidia's H20 AI chip, which the US chipmaker tailored for the China market in response to trade restrictions.

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5. Man baffled when he shows up for job interview and the interviewer is an AI avatar

Jack Ryan was interviewed by an AI-powered avatar during a job evaluation. Ryan criticized Fairgo, a Melbourne-based AI startup, for attempting to provide a fair and equitable interview process. He questioned the ability of AI to interpret human emotion and facial reactions to provide a well-rounded interview. Fairgo's CEO, Julian Bright, defended the company's AI as reducing human bias and not involved in the candidate selection process.

However, Ryan disagreed, stating that AI could eliminate potential candidates due to its algorithmic design. He argued that using AI services like Fairgo demonstrates how executives and corporations are cutting costs on the human side of business. Ryan found the layoffs at top tech companies to be laughable and terrifying at worst.

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