Also, Microsoft Copilot speaks.
The Governor of California has vetoed a controversial AI bill. / Adobe Stock
California Gavin Newsom announced Sunday that he was vetoing SB 1047, a bill that would have imposed safety standards on some of the biggest AI models. The bill had been fiercely opposed by industry giants like OpenAI, while veteran researchers like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio had voiced their support.
In his veto message, Newsom argued in part that SB 1047 unfairly targets only the most powerful AI models, which in some cases aren’t even being deployed towards purposes that most people would consider dangerous.
“By focusing only on the most expensive and large-scale models, SB 1047 establishes a regulatory framework that could give the public a false sense of security about controlling this fast-moving technology,” he wrote. “Smaller, specialized models may emerge as equally or even more dangerous than the models targeted by SB 1047 – at the potential expense of curtailing the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good.“
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Google announced yesterday that it is debuting ads in AI Overviews for mobile users across the US. The company is betting that the new ad feature will enable brands to reach consumers at moments when they’re particularly primed to make a purchase.
A search for the easiest way to brew coffee at home, for example, might yield ads for French presses or popular coffee machines.
The tech giant is also adding new shopping ads within the Google Lens experience. The ads quickly highlight reviews and where to purchase the product.
Microsoft released Copilot Voice across select regions on Tuesday, upgrading its AI-powered office assistant with an ability to interact with users in natural language through various human-like voices.
In May, OpenAI – the company providing Microsoft’s AI muscle – debuted GPT-4o, a model capable of having real-time voice conversations with users. Both companies have since embraced audible voices as a new frontier for human-computer interaction.
Microsoft’s new voice feature is available through the free version of Copilot, which can be accessed via desktop or app.
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Yesterday, OpenAI introduced Canvas, a new feature for ChatGPT designed to help users optimize writing and coding projects in ways “that go beyond simple chat,” as the company explained in a blog post, acting more as a “copy editor or code reviewer.”
Built atop GPT-4o, Canvas serves as an automated assistant to help refine lines of text or code. The program can provide inline feedback that takes the larger project goals into consideration.
Canvas is now available in beta to ChatGPT Plus and Teams subscribers and will be expanded to Enterprise and Edu subscribers next week.
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Japanese investment holding company SoftBank will invest $100m in OpenAI as part of the ChatGPT-maker’s latest funding round, The Information reported Monday. The round is being led by Joshua Kushbner’s Thrive Capital with an investment of more than $1bn, with additional capital from Microsoft and others.
OpenAI’s total valuation now stands around $157bn, according to reports, almost double what it was earlier this year.
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