OpenAI launches ChatGPT Plus for $20 a month with more features

TB Team
-
0
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Plus for $20 a month with more features

Microsoft-owned OpenAI has launched its paid subscription plan for ChatGPT, its text-generating AI that can write like humans.

The new subscription plan, ChatGPT Plus, will be available for $20 a month, and subscribers will receive a number of benefits.

The benefits are general access to ChatGPT even during peak times, faster response times and priority access to new features and improvements.

“ChatGPT Plus is available to customers in the United States, and we will begin the process of inviting people from our waitlist over the coming weeks,” said the company in a statement late on Wednesday.

“We plan to expand access and support to additional countries and regions soon. By offering this subscription pricing, we will be able to help support free access available to as many people as possible,” OpenAI added.

ChatGPT was thrown open for public use late last year.

“Since then, millions of people have given us feedback, we’ve made several important updates and we’ve seen users find value across a range of professional use cases, including drafting and editing content, brainstorming ideas, programming help, and learning new topics,” said the company.

The company will soon launch the (ChatGPT API waitlist), and “we are actively exploring options for lower-cost plans, business plans, and data packs for more availability”.

OpenAI has also launched a new tool that will distinguish between human-written and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated text.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI.

After layoffs, Zuckerberg now wants 2023 to be ‘year of efficiency’

TB Team
-
0
After layoffs, Zuckerberg now wants 2023 to be ‘year of efficiency’

After laying off 11,000 employees, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg now want 2023 to be the “year of efficiency”.

In his quarterly earnings call with analysts late on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said that “I just think we’ve entered somewhat of a phase change for the company”.

He said that global headcount steadily climbed for nearly two decades, making it “very hard to really crank on efficiency while you’re growing that quickly”.

After the layoffs, Zuckerberg said he is focused on “increasing the efficiency of how we make decisions”.

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg has now reportedly put middle managers at the company on notice.

According to the newsletter Command Line by The Verge’s Alex Heath, Zuckerberg warned managers at a recent all-hands meeting.

“I don’t think you want a management structure that’s just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work,” the Meta CEO apparently told them.

WhatsApp bans over 36 lakh malicious accounts in India in Dec

TB Team
-
0
WhatsApp bans over 36 lakh malicious accounts in India in Dec

Meta-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday said it banned over 36 lacks ‘bad’ accounts in India in the month of December 2022 in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021, which are being amended to put more responsibilities on social media platforms.

Between December 1 and December 31, 3,677,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned, and 1,389,000 of these accounts were proactively banned before any reports from users, said the company.

The messaging platform, which has more than 400 million users in the country, received 1,607 complaint reports in December in the country, and the records ‘actioned’ were 166.

“In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our report for the month of December 2022. As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 3.6 million accounts in the month of December,” according to a WhatsApp spokesperson.

Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with in excess of 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.

Meanwhile, in a major push towards an open, safe, trusted, and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of ‘Digital Nagriks’.

The amendments impose a legal obligation on intermediaries to take reasonable efforts to prevent users from uploading such content.

Industry hails Union Budget initiatives on 5G, AI

TB Team
-
0
Industry hails Union Budget initiatives on 5G, AI

Leading industry players on Wednesday welcomed several fresh initiatives in the Union Budget 2023-24, especially setting up 100 5G labs and opening the centers of excellence (CoEs) for artificial intelligence (AI).

With the 5G roll-out now gaining momentum in India, the Centre announced plans to set up 100 labs in the top engineering institutions to develop 5G apps and services.

“With the ongoing 5G rollouts in India, the government’s decision to establish 100 5G application Labs is a timely move to spur innovation in developing the 5G ecosystem and India’s relevant use cases,” said Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, of Comviva.

There is a great opportunity to combine 5G and AI to improve network speed, responsiveness, and efficiencies, he added.

Arvind Bali, the CEO, of the Telecom Sector Skill Council, said that the annual demand for telecommunications and 5G has increased by 33.7 percent (in September 2022).

“There was a demand for 1.3 million workers in FY22-23 which is growing each year and new use-cases including cloud computing, robots, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are also seeing a sharp rise in hiring. We believe the initiatives will be beneficial to close the country’s growing demand-supply gap of technical talent workforce,” Bali added.

In the ChatGPT era, the Finance Minister announced the government will open three centers of excellence for artificial intelligence (AI) at top educational institutions.

Matthew Foxton, India Regional President and Executive Vice-President, of Branding & Communications, IDEMIA, said that the adoption of a unified KYC process, utilizing Digilocker and Aadhaar as the primary means of identity verification, “is a positive step forward and will increase financial accessibility for marginalized communities”.

According to Rajiv Bhalla, Managing Director, India & Vice President APAC, at Barco, the country has the potential to be a world-class infrastructure center, moving toward net zero carbon emissions by 2070 and “setting up the AI-based solutions in health, education, and sustainable cities will give an additional push towards the extensive use of technology”.

Google testing ChatGPT-like products, including chatbot ‘Apprentice Bard’

TB Team
-
0
Google testing ChatGPT-like products, including chatbot ‘Apprentice Bard’

Google is testing ChatGPT-like products, which use its LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) technology, media reports said.

Under new AI-powered chat products, the tech giant is testing a chatbot called “Apprentice Bard,” where employees can ask questions and receive detailed answers similar to ChatGPT, also a new search desktop design that could be used in a question-and-answer form, reports CNBC, citing sources.

The testing follows an all-hands meeting where employees expressed concerns about the company’s competitive edge in AI, given the sudden popularity of ChatGPT, created by OpenAI, a Microsoft-backed startup.

Moreover, Google’s parent company Alphabet is working on a project under its cloud unit called Atlas, which is a “code red” response to ChatGPT, the large-language chatbot that took the public by storm late last year, said the report.

Further, it mentioned that Apprentice Bard, which looks similar to ChatGPT, includes a feature in which answers can include recent events, which ChatGPT doesn’t have yet.

“As a result of ChatGPT, the LaMDA team has been asked to prioritize working on a response to ChatGPT,” read one internal memo viewed by CNBC.

“In the short term, it takes precedence over other projects,” the email said.

Apprentice Bard took the place of “Meena”, a previous version of a smart chatbot that had been launched internally but was later discontinued, said the report.

Meanwhile, Microsoft announced a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, the developer behind AI-driven ChatGPT which has become a rage. The tech giant, which infused $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, did not divulge the investment amount in the “third phase of our long-term partnership with OpenAI”. Earlier reports had claimed Microsoft may infuse up to $10 billion in OpenAI.

Meta working on new version of its halted smartwatch

TB Team
-
0
Meta working on new version of its halted smartwatch

Meta is reportedly working on a new version of its previously canceled smartwatch.

The information was shared by the tipster Kuba Wojciechowski on Tuesday, who claimed that the new version of the device is “physically very similar to the previously leaked one”.

“There appear to be some sensor array changes on the back, as well as small cosmetic differences, but nothing major. The general detachable form factor is still the same.”

The wearable is likely to use a “custom version of Android (not Wear OS)” and is expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s system-on-chip (SoC). However, it is still unclear when the company will release this device.

“While the ‘V1’ has apparently been canceled, Meta still wants to ship the device, so that users can start getting used to the form factor, which is supposed to eventually be used for other Metaverse-related devices,” Wojciechowski said.

“I’m sure this is gonna work great and not like all the other metaverse stuff.”

In June last year, it was reported that Meta had halted its upcoming smartwatch with two built-in cameras, which was likely to be launched this year.

The halted watch was expected to be priced around $400 and was likely to come in three color options — white, black, and gold.

Department of Space to get Rs 12,543.91 crore for FY24

TB Team
-
0
Department of Space to get Rs 12,543.91 crore for FY24

The government has proposed an allocation of Rs 12,543.91 crore to the Department of Space for the year 2023-24.

The allocation is for the Department of Space and other organizations under it like the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and its centers, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre – the regulator for the private sector space players – and others.

As per the Demands for Grants document, the allocation for the Department of Space for FY24 stands at Rs 12,543.91 crore, up from the revised estimates of Rs 10,530.04 crore for FY23.

The capital outlay for space research for FY24 stands at Rs 6,356.81 crore (RE FY23 Rs 4,553.15 crore).

The NewSpace India Ltd – the commercial arm of the Department of Space – will get Rs 1 crore. The company had got an equity infusion of Rs 900 crore in FY22.

WhatsApp rolling out longer group subjects, descriptions on Android beta

TB Team
-
0
WhatsApp rolling out longer group subjects, descriptions on Android beta

Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out longer group subjects and descriptions on Android beta. These changes will help users to better describe groups and reports WABetainfo.

The characters of the group subject have been increased from 25 to 100 to provide group admins more freedom when naming their groups. It will make it easier to identify the purpose of the group.

With the new change, the platform is also increasing the group description from 512 characters to 2048 characters.

This will provide more space for group admins to add important details and information about the group.

The ability to choose a longer group subject and description is available for users that install the latest WhatsApp beta for Android update from the Play Store, the report said.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, it was reported that the messaging platform was working on a new feature that will allow users to send photos in their original quality.

The platform is planning to integrate a new setting icon within the drawing tool header which will allow users to configure the quality of any photo, providing users more control over the quality of photos they are sending, especially when sending the photo in its original quality is necessary.

Netflix brings ‘Kids Mystery Box’ feature to Android devices

TB Team
-
0
Netflix brings ‘Kids Mystery Box’ feature to Android devices

Streaming giant Netflix has rolled out its ‘Kids Mystery Box’ feature on Android devices globally, which provides a fun and safe space for kids to discover their next favorite series and films.

The company on Monday updated its previous announcement blog post from May last year and mentioned, “This feature is now available on Android devices for all global members.”

“Kids, parents, and caregivers can enjoy this feature” by logging in to a kid’s profile.

Find the kids ‘Favorites Row’ at the top of the homepage. This row is character-driven to help viewers instantly connect with the characters, shows, and films they love when they turn on Netflix.

Then hover the pointer over the sparkling ‘mystery box’ to locate a title that is anew for you.

“We hope that kids will love the surprise and delight of revealing the next show or film recommended for them,” the streaming giant said.

In July 2021, the company introduced ‘Kids Top 10 Row’ featuring the most popular children’s content in the viewers’ country and ‘Kids Recap emails’ to give parents a better understanding of their child’s preferences.

Meta testing ‘members-only worlds’ in Horizon Worlds

TB Team
-
0
Meta testing ‘members-only worlds’ in Horizon Worlds

Meta has announced that it is testing a new type of closed space — members-only worlds — in its social virtual reality (VR) platform ‘Horizon Worlds’.

The ‘members-only worlds’ will allow creators to build and cultivate a space where a community of people can come together to enjoy a curated experience, the company said in an Oculus blog post on Monday.

During the test, each members-only world can have up to 150 world members and 25 concurrent visitors at any given time.

Creators will be able to provide exclusive access to VIP supporters, create a dedicated space to showcase their world design portfolio to the creator community, gather a gaming group, organize a support group, and much more — all without worrying about uninvited guests.

“Our goal is to put design in the creators’ hands so that they can fully craft the experience they want to offer others,” the company said.

Meta’s vision for the new space is to “empower creators to craft the culture of their communities.”

The company will also provide tools that will allow the creators of the new space to set the rules for their communities and maintain those rules for their closed spaces.

Moreover, creators will have the choice of whether or not to share their moderation responsibilities with other trusted group members and decide if they will allow members to visit the world without a creator or moderator present.

“Everyone will always have the ability to report worlds to Meta and report others for behavior that violates our Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences,” the company said.

“Members-only worlds will be just one building block available to our creator ecosystem, in addition to public worlds and more within the Meta Horizon Worlds platform,” it added.

1...474849...566Page 48 of 566