Zoom reveals major rebrand — dropping video as it goes all-in on AI

Pivot 5: 5 stories. 5 minutes a day. 5 days a week.

1. Amazon develops video AI model

Amazon has developed a new generative artificial intelligence model called Olympus, which can process images, videos, and text, reducing its reliance on Anthropic's Claude chatbot. The model, coded Olympus, will understand scenes in images and videos and assist customers in searching for specific scenes using simple text prompts.

Amazon recently invested an additional $4 billion into OpenAI competitor Anthropic. The company aims to counter the perception that competitors Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI have taken a lead in developing generative AI.

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2. Meet 'Chameleon' – an AI model that can protect you from facial recognition thanks to a sophisticated digital mask

A Georgia Tech university study has developed an AI model called "Chameleon" that can create a digital "single, personalized privacy protection (P-3) mask" for personal photos. This mask thwarts unwanted facial scanning from detecting a person's face, allowing facial recognition scanners to recognize the photos as someone else.

The Chameleon model aims to advance governance and responsible adoption of AI technology, stimulate responsible science and innovation, and help protect personal photos from unwanted scanning. The model uses cross-image optimization to create one P3 mask per user, delivering instant protection and efficient use of limited computing resources. This could be useful for devices like smartphones.

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3. Meta plans to build a $10B subsea cable spanning the world, sources say

Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is planning to build a 40,000+km fiber-optic subsea cable around the world, potentially totaling over $10 billion. The cable, which will be the sole owner and user, will span from the East Coast of the U.S. to India via South Africa and then to the West Coast of the U.S. from India via Australia.

The cable is expected to be completed in early 2025, with plans for the cable to be announced in early 2025. The cable will provide Meta with a dedicated pipe for data traffic around the world, with the planned route spanning from the East Coast of the U.S

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4. AI Cuts Scam Losses, Speeds Up Home Loans at Top Australia Bank

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has implemented generative artificial intelligence tools to reduce customer losses from scams and shorten mortgage pre-approval processes. The technology reduced frauds by 30% and call center customer wait times by 40% this year.

The AI may soon answer 10% of trickiest customer inquiries. The bank plans to use the technology to pre-populate documents for existing customers, reducing conditional approval wait times for housing loans and small business annual reviews. The improved technology also sifts through 20 million-plus payments daily to issue suspicious warning alerts.

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5. It Sounds an Awful Lot Like OpenAI Is Adding Ads to ChatGPT

OpenAI is hiring ad talent away from tech rivals like Google and Meta, with even the free versions of its products remaining ad-free. The company's valuation has risen to $157 billion in two years since its flagship chatbot dropped.

If OpenAI starts introducing ads into ChatGPT, it would be crossing a Rubicon of sleaziness, as it would target users asking questions about "best air fryer" and pointing them towards companies paying OpenAI for publicity. Despite this, OpenAI's chief financial officer Sarah Friar has said the company has been weighing an ads model, but declined to say when or where ads would be released. Currently, there are no confirmed plans to introduce ads into OpenAI products.

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