X is testing a free version of AI chatbot Grok

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1. X is testing a free version of AI chatbot Grok

X is preparing to open its AI chatbot Grok to free users in certain regions, including New Zealand. The free version of Grok has limitations on usage, including 10 queries per two hours with the Grok-2 model, 20 queries per two hours with the Grok-2 mini model, and three image analysis questions per day.

To use Grok for free, users must have a seven-day old account and a phone number linked to it.

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2. OpenAI defeats news outlets' copyright lawsuit over AI training, for now

A New York federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it misused articles from news outlets Raw Story and AlterNet to train its language models. Raw Story and AlterNet filed the lawsuit in February, claiming thousands of their articles were used without permission to train OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT.

The case is part of a wave of lawsuits against tech companies by copyright owners over data used to train AI systems.

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3. Australia to pursue AI and social media regulation despite any Trump administration opposition

Australia will continue to regulate social media and artificial intelligence despite the Trump administration's opposition, according to industry minister Ed Husic. Husic reassured Australians that the government would pursue national priorities despite Trump's promise to roll back AI regulation in the US and the potential influence of Elon Musk, who opposes regulation of social media. Australia is developing "guardrails" for high-risk uses of AI, such as a European Union-style artificial intelligence act.

Husic also introduced legislation to allow the Australian Communications and Media Authority to force social media companies to upgrade their policies to respond to misinformation and disinformation.

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4. Baidu Readies AI Smart Glasses to Rival Meta’s Ray-Bans

Baidu Inc. is set to unveil a pair of AI-powered glasses at its annual Baidu World event in Shanghai. The glasses will have built-in cameras for capturing photos and videos and support voice interactions built on Baidu's Ernie foundation model.

Baidu is also working to capitalize on AI development and will connect to Baidu Maps and its online encyclopedia, Baike. Sales of the product could start as early as early 2025, likely costing less than Meta's $299.

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5. Amazon may up its investment in Anthropic — on one condition

Amazon is in talks to invest multiple billions in Anthropic, its first financial pledge in the company since a $4 billion deal struck last year. The new investment is structured similar to the last one — but with a twist. Amazon wants Anthropic to use Amazon-developed silicon hosted on Amazon Web Services to train its AI.

Anthropic prefers Nvidia chips. But the money may be too good to pass up. Around the start of the year, Anthropic reportedly projected it would burn through over $2.7 billion in 2024 as it trained and scaled up its AI products.

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