Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Grok-Beta API: A Step Toward AI Dominance

xAI, launched by Elon Musk, has announced Grok-Beta API. The "Groks" - Each single machine learning model can be considered a "Grok", toward the creation of a competing generative AI. First announced in August, this API goes live today but remains available in very limited feature sets to date.

Pricing and Model Details

It has not publicly disclosed pricing and has not yet revealed significant model specifics. Grok-Beta API only supplies one model so far. The service will cost $5 for every million input tokens, which is about 750,000 words, and $15 for every million output tokens. In relation, tokens are small data, such as syllables. It does seem, however, that there is confusion on what "grok-beta" actually is because the documentation refers to Grok 2 and another lighter variant called Grok mini.

User Feedback and Functionality

There are certain users who would find certain inconvenience when buying the usage credits. This might be a bit frustrating for some users. The API does support function calls, so models built with Grok can hook up to other tools such as search engines and databases. These features are not yet available, although the documentation hints at these as future capabilities, including vision models that read text and images.

Integrations for X Premium+

Founded just last year, the company quickly integrated its first Grok model into X Premium+, a subscription service priced at $16 a month for X users. Musk described Grok as having a "rebellious streak," meaning it's designed to take on bold questions that other AI systems shy away from. Of course, it can also generate images by working with the open image generator Flux, although this has not been without controversy for lack of moderation. Grok also provides summaries of news that is trending, although not always perfectly and sometimes even gotten fact wrong. It may eventually enhance features like search functionality, post analytics, or account bios on the platform.

Competitive Landscape and Funding

As the company seeks to carve its niche between OpenAI and Anthropic, xAI only recently secured an astronomical $6 billion in funding from top investors - such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. As Musk puts it, the vast volume of data on X puts xAI at a significant scale. Third parties, for instance, including xAI, are now allowed by X to train models using posts on the platform after updating its privacy policy lastly.

Future Prospects and Controversies

On the positive side, xAI plans to use data from the other Musk businesses: Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Company. This has been controversial in some quarters: actually lawsuits have been filed based on the argument that the shareholders of Tesla feel Musk is siphoning talent and resources away from Tesla to subsidize xAI, which they see as a competitor.

Data Center Development

The future generations of Grok models, for example, are being trained at AI's Memphis data center. This facility has recently been criticized for contributing to air pollution in the local environment. The company is planning an upgrade to the data center sometime next year, but it has to first seek approval from the Tennessee Valley Authority to begin the process.

Conclusion

With Grok-Beta API in the bin, xAI is making serious strides to settle into the vast AI landscape. The firm's practice to navigate through opportunities and challenges sets it on a road to a serious stake in this rather elusive world of artificial intelligence.

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Posted Date: 22, October 2024

Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Grok-Beta API: A Step Toward AI Dominance - ReindeerSoft

AI Rival Perplexity Sets Sights on $8 Billion Valuation Amid Fundraising Push

Perplexity AI is gaining all the headlines because it will reportedly raise $500 million in a funding round that will raise its valuation to well over $8 billion. Meanwhile, the AI firm already receives interest from high-profile investors like Jeff Bezos and Nvidia; that will propel it to at least $50 million in annual revenue.

Innovative Search Tools Using Advanced Technology

What is special about Perplexity? The company developed high-performance search tools that are capable of providing answers with supporting sources and citations. It leverages many large language models. Some belong to OpenAI, while others are Meta's open-source Llama. Its high-speed information it supplies with reliability gives it a pricelessness for anyone looking to find answers.

Facing Legal Challenges

Of course, it has not always been smooth sailing for Perplexity AI. Just recently, the New York Times sent a cease and desist notice, claiming that the company trained its models using proprietary content without obtaining permission. In this case, it has once again raised the tension between media outlets and AI companies regarding proprietary content, and there is a very much needed, more pressing discussion regarding ethics in the industry.

A Step Towards Ethical Practices

Because of these concerns, Perplexity AI announced a revenue-sharing program that aims to compensate publishers whose content is used by its AI. The concern here reflects that the company is indeed willing to listen to ethical concerns and turn around relations with content providers-an important necessity in the modern landscape.

Future Development

What shows the true path to how ambitious Perplexity AI is with its efforts to raise funds and to proactively resolve legal issues is that the company only seeks to carve out a significant chunk in the competitive AI space. Finding the balance between innovation and ethical responsibility will be more important to the long term success of such a company that forges ahead into the ever-changing world of artificial intelligence, as the company continues to grow in strength.

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Posted Date: 22, October 2024

AI Rival Perplexity Sets Sights on $8 Billion Valuation Amid Fundraising Push - ReindeerSoft

Former OpenAI Technology CTO Mira Murati Sets Sights on New AI Venture

Mira Murati, the former chief technology officer at OpenAI, is reportedly in the process of raising funds from venture capitalists for her new AI startup, according to sources close to the situation.

Startup Vision

Murati's new venture aims to create innovative AI products based on proprietary models. It's still uncertain whether she will take on the CEO role, and a representative for Murati declined to comment further.

Potential Funding Amount

Discussions are underway, and early indications suggest that the startup could potentially secure over $100 million in funding. This is largely due to Murati’s strong reputation in the tech industry and the substantial investment required for developing proprietary models. However, the exact figures have yet to be finalized.

Key Collaborators

Barret Zoph, a notable researcher who left OpenAI alongside Murati in late September, may also be joining her in this new venture. Zoph hasn’t commented on his involvement yet, but previous reports have mentioned that he is planning to start his own company as well. Murati has been actively recruiting former OpenAI employees to come on board.

Murati's Legacy at OpenAI

During her time at OpenAI, which started in June 2018, Murati played a key role in groundbreaking projects like ChatGPT and DALL-E. She was crucial in securing OpenAI's multibillion-dollar partnership with Microsoft, the company’s largest backer. Her quick rise at OpenAI has made her one of the most recognized figures in the fast-evolving field of artificial intelligence.

Public Representation

Promoted to CTO in May 2022, Murati often appeared alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a public spokesperson for the company. She led the presentation of OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, which can engage in realistic voice conversations, during its launch in May.

Departure from OpenAI

Murati’s unexpected resignation in late September marked another notable exit from OpenAI as the company underwent significant governance changes, including a shift away from non-profit board control. She cited a desire for personal exploration as her reason for leaving, having briefly served as interim CEO last year after Altman was ousted by the non-profit board.

Emerging Competition

With her move into the startup realm, Murati joins a growing number of former OpenAI executives who are launching their own companies, adding to the competition from firms like Anthropic and Safe Superintelligence.

WhatsApp Beta Tests New Meta AI Chat Memory for Personalized User Experience

WhatsApp is in one of its coolest experiments within version 2.24.22.9 of its Android beta: it lets Meta AI remember elements of the conversation that occurred in chats long before, so you can have a much more personalized experience.

How Does Chat Memory Works?

This feature would enable Meta AI to remember things like your diet preference, for example, you're a vegan, what your birthday is, and how you'd like to communicate (if you're wanting a more formal or casual tone). It would also store details such as favorite books, favorite podcasts, favorite documentaries, and allergies.

This will enable Meta AI to offer you better suggestions. For example, if you ask for food suggestions, then dishes you mentioned you are allergic to or don't like will be filtered out. In a nutshell, Meta AI will now feel like a personal assistant who gets to know you the more you spend your time on it.

Full Control Over Your Data

WhatsApp is, above all, putting user privacy first. Now you will see exactly what Meta AI remembers about you with a plain interface. Your information can change, such as the dietary preference, or you remove altogether anything that you no longer want the AI to remember. You are now in full control of your information, and all or any part of it can be erased at will.

Why This Feature Matters

More of a new feature: It is more useful in everyday conversations with a smarter, more personalized reply now that it has chat memory. Whether you seek recommendations or general advice, Meta AI will do better in giving answers that are close to your heart and lifestyle preferences.

What's Next?

Further developing this feature would probably alter the way we interact with Meta AI. If Meta AI is developed to give more personalized and relevant suggestions, that's going to be an incredibly good companion in life. This feature-that is, WhatsApp focus on balancing personalization with privacy-highlights user control, so this should be watched.

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Posted Date: 21, October 2024

WhatsApp Beta Tests New Meta AI Chat Memory for Personalized User Experience - ReindeerSoft

WP Engine Moves to Reclaim WordPress.org Access with Legal Injunction

WP Engine is one of the leading web hosting companies that has filed for legal injunctions in a bid to reclaim access to the open-source repository at WordPress.org. The move comes after Matt Mullenweg, one of the WordPress co-creators, blocked WP Engine's access due to its lawsuit against Mullenweg and his company, Automattic.

The Case: WP Engine vs. Matt Mullenweg

It began with WP Engine's landing on the legal books against Mullenweg and Automattic, outlining how he was controlling WordPress.org. Mullenweg essentially locked WP Engine out of repository access. This blew a massive hole in its ability to update its Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin one of the most widely used by many sites that modify the look of their WordPress blogs.

For WP Engine, this block was a big deal. The ACF plugin is essential for its users, and without access, WP Engine’s customers faced limitations in how they could manage their websites. Naturally, this led the company to take legal action.

Seeking Court Intervention

WP Engine is now taking it to court, filing the latest legal suit asking the court to intervene and restore matters to status quo before September 20, 2024, when the block was reportedly placed, effectively regaining access to the WordPress.org repository to continue supporting their users with updates and plugin improvements.

But the company is fighting for itself. WP Engine is also looking to protect its partners, employees, customers, and affiliates-meaning that every person related to it is protected from this disruption.

WP Engine argues the case is simple: allowing them in will not harm WordPress.org or Automattic, and they think the block was unnecessary and unfair.

Things Heat Up: WordPress.org Contributors Face New Censors

Adding fuel to the fire, Mullenew recently introduced a new rule for contributors of WordPress.org: before logging in, contributors have to confirm that they don't hold any WP Engine affiliation. And it went completely wrong for the WordPress community: some developers claimed they were even forcefully kicked from the Slack channel of the platform for speaking up against the new policy.

There has also been an argument that suggests that blocking such a company as WP Engine, which is truly a giant within the WordPress ecosystem, is completely against the open-source values that WordPress was founded on.

WP Engine's CEO Goes Public

WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner has stated she was surprised that things played out as they did." In a declaration appended to the court document, Brunner said that "she has always believed WordPress.org was part of the nonprofit WordPress Foundation and not connected to Automattic in this fashion.".

She emphasized that WP Engine has, in no small measure been a good influence on the WordPress community, consistent and continual over so many years. Brunner explained how that although in this case, the action is against WP Engine, it is an action taken out on behalf of the much larger community of WordPress users who rely on plug-ins, like ACF.

Automattic's Response

Automattic hasn't underestimated these claims. A company spokesperson fired back at WP Engine's claims as "gross mischaracterizations," arguing that they are secure in their legal position. Automattic intends to contest the injunction and protect its decision to revoke WP Engine access.

The Bigger Play for WordPress

This battle between WP Engine and Automattic has brought up greater questions on how exactly the WordPress ecosystem is governed. WordPress.org relies on developers and companies such as WP Engine for their contributions, and many feel this action could set a terrible precedent for excluding others in the future.

The WordPress community feels that these actions will undermine the open collaboration in the platform – one of the very reasons that made WordPress as it has been created.

Conclusion

The battle between WP Engine Matt Mullenweg and Automattic is not for getting WordPress.org back but for the right to participate in open collaboration, which may impact the ecosystem running WordPress, and whether this can be sustainably kept open.

The choice made today could define the course of WordPress, its contributors, and the millions who rely on the platform daily as it strives to move forward. As WP Engine's fight is just about to begin, the ruling date for the court, the present for the entire open-source WordPress community will be defined.

Bluesky Hits 12M Users Amid Twitter's AI Privacy Controversy

The decentralized social network Bluesky is gaining massive growth—since it reached 10 million users last month, it has now topped over 12 million sign-ups. The growing controversy about how Elon Musk's Twitter, now rebranded as X, will use user data to train AI models has contributed to this swift and fast growth.

Twitter's AI Data Collection Sparks Concerns

There is much criticism of Twitter's latest privacy policy update, and their change comes into effect on November 15. As reported earlier, it enables third-party AI developers to use tweets to train their models. The concerns in data privacy are being reported, and the main concern by many is the lack of an opt-out mechanism. As users become more concerned about how their data are being exploited, an exodus has to be made onto platforms like those of Bluesky, which focuses on user control and autonomy.

Other policy changes driving the exodus

However, it is not the only reason users are taking a step back from using Twitter. The social media platform has recently revised its block function to make it less effective in stopping unwanted users from accessing content. It has been criticized for perhaps allowing more harassment and reducing the control it affords users over their online experiences.

Other factors are moving its headquarters and firm legal jurisdiction from California to Texas, a starkly conservative state that should terrify Twitter given the courts may have a more right-wing lean than what is present today in the face of politics. So far, all these add up to the cause of panic among its users who prefer Bluesky at all costs. Lastly, Bluesky has responded aptly and shown immense growth in recent records.

Bluesky's Response and Record Growth

Twitter missed a few steps, and Bluesky capitalized on this by declaring a "user-first" approach on social media. The official Bluesky handle's X account didn't take any direct aim at Twitter but subtly tweeted, "At Bluesky, online safety is taken seriously. If you want to block someone, you can! It's your experience to customize." This chimed well with already frustrated users due to a change in Twitter's policy, and therefore the number of users grew rapidly for Bluesky.

In just 48 hours, Bluesky attracted more than 1 million new users, increasing its overall count to 12 million. Such was the volume of traffic that Bluesky's servers crashed in some areas because of the sudden increase. The popularity of the platform has also been viewed in its app store rankings, which have climbed into the top five on Apple's iOS App Store in the United States and reached the number one position in countries such as Japan.

The decentralized nature of Bluesky, therefore, becomes much more appealing as the war over data privacy and platform control intensifies. Fuelled by Twitter's AI data collection policy, the stance that this platform takes on issues of privacy and user autonomy is increasingly being appreciated by social media users.

The platform's engagement metrics are equally impressive: almost 473 million posts, 448.5 million followers, and 1.8 billion likes through this week. The platform had its most active day ever on Friday, showing the momentum Bluesky is making in the wake of Twitter's controversial changes.

Twitter's Financial Frustrations

While Bluesky is thriving, Twitter continues to suffer on the economic front. Twitter's market capitalization now stands at $9.4 billion, after decreasing from the $44 billion that Musk had paid out in 2022. It has been losing users and advertisers due to brand safety issues, as well as platform stability issues, where many are seeking to exit the platform that is Twitter.

By contrast, Bluesky is enjoying the fruits of its labor through various controversies on Twitter. It is not the first time that Bluesky has experienced an explosion of growth resulting from a controversy with Twitter. When Twitter was temporarily banned in Brazil this year due to an issue with content moderation, Bluesky had 3 million new users within one week.

Conclusion

Bluesky's 12 million users represent an even larger trend in social media: concern over data privacy and control over platforms. The push against Twitter AI privacy, based on the controversy surrounding its use of AI in the name of keeping users safer, pushed many to seek a change. Here, the decentralized and user-first approach is exactly what is resonating with these users: 12 million users strong. ".

ChatGPT Rolls Out on Windows: New Desktop App Features and Capabilities

OpenAI is dropping some exciting news for Windows users, as the company has just released a preview of its ChatGPT app for Windows, which will provide a dedicated space for users to interact with their AI-powered chatbot. This early version will be available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu users today, but it promises greater things up ahead throughout the rest of the year.

What's new in the ChatGPT Windows app?

It is more than just a new chat app but brings with it a whole lot of productivity tools on the table. Users can now interact with files and images within conversations to take the experience of having a chatbot to a whole new level. OpenAI has packed the app with its latest model, "OpenAI o1-preview," meaning faster, smarter, and more intuitive responses.

Although it is a preview, the app does come with some disadvantages. For instance, as of now, voice features are not supported, and Advanced Voice Mode which everyone was waiting for with bated breath is still not implemented. Some of the integrations within OpenAI's GPT Store are also disabled. Be not concerned, though; the company has promised a full version of this application with more enhanced features to be released later this year.

Key Features: Boost Your Productivity

But if you are a multitasker, the app has a nice "companion" mode for ChatGPT Windows, in which you can shrink the app to a window and keep it on your screen while working on other projects. So, staying engaged with ChatGPT won't take you away from the main tasks.

Here's an inside view of what the app does:

File Collaboration: Share files like PDFs, spreadsheets, or images with ChatGPT so that it will be a perfect assistant for job-related activities like summarizing reports data analysis, or even discussing pictorial content.
Document Summarization: No need to browse through lengthy documents and ChatGPT is ready with the summary, cutting short the hours that would be wasted.
Create Images: Add a ready-to-use image maker from OpenAI, DALL-E 3, to bring your text prompts to life. It's perfect for brainstorming, presentations, or any other project that would benefit from visuals to convey your ideas.

Limitations and What's to Come

The app is already pretty chock-full of useful tools, so it's fair to say that some of the features are still in development. Voice interactions, for example, aren't yet available-meaning users can't access voice-to-text or text-to-speech functionality. Similarly, not all integrations with the OpenAI GPT Store are ready yet, although they are promised for future releases.

OpenAI says it will only get better with an even more fantastic experience in its later version, scheduled to be released later this year. When the full version is finally launched, anticipate a further-refined app that fills those gaps and offers a very smooth experience to all users in Windows.

Why it matters

This app changes the game for every day-to-day user who is dependent on ChatGPT. It is an assistant tool for students as homework, a quick insight into documents for professionals, and also allows the creation of images from text prompts while satisfying its creative outbursts of users.

With Windows being one of the most used operating systems, this was a big step for OpenAI, as its tools will now reach more users than ever. But it's also a step in creating an integrated, all-in-one productivity platform to provide the modern user with just the right tools he needs.

Discover Our Thoughts

Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Grok-Beta API: A Step Toward AI Dominance

AI Rival Perplexity Sets Sights on $8 Billion Valuation Amid Fundraising Push

Former OpenAI Technology CTO Mira Murati Sets Sights on New AI Venture

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