AI tracker: A dedicated AI device? Why not, asks Open AI

OpenAI partners with former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive to create a groundbreaking AI gadget, while Meta invests billions in superintelligence. As tech giants race to redefine AI integration, the future of personalized technology is set to transform dramatically.

The quest for an AI device

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has enlisted the legendary designer behind the iPhone to create a dedicated gadget for using generative artificial intelligence (AI), reported AFP. The ability to engage digital assistants as easily as speaking with friends is being built into eyewear, speakers, computers and smartphones, but some argue that the Age of AI calls for a transformational new gizmo. "The products that we're using to deliver and connect us to unimaginable technology are decades old," former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive said when his alliance with OpenAI was announced. "It's just common sense to at least think, surely there's something beyond these legacy products."

Sharing no details, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said that a prototype Ive shared with him “is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.” OpenAI made a multi-billion-dollar deal to bring Ive's startup into the fold.

According to several US media outlets, the device won't have a screen, nor will it be worn like a watch or broach. Both Meta and OpenAI are making "big bets" on AI-infused hardware, according to experts. Google announced early this year it is working on mixed-reality glasses with AI smarts, while Amazon continues to ramp up Alexa digital assistant capabilities in its Echo speakers and displays.

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And now, audio overviews from Google 

Google on Friday began letting people turn online searches into conversations, with generative artificial intelligence providing spoken summaries of query results, AFP reported.

With Audio Overviews, Gemini AI models quickly sum up query results in conversational style, according to Google. "An audio overview can help you get a lay of the land, offering a convenient, hands-free way to absorb information whether you're multitasking or simply prefer an audio experience," Google said in a blog post. "We display helpful web pages right within the audio player on the search results page so you can easily dive in and learn more."

Google is beefing up online search with generative artificial intelligence, embracing AI despite fears for its ad-based business model. CEO Sundar Pichai recently unveiled a new AI mode in Google search. The search engine's nascent AI mode goes further than AI Overviews which display answers to queries from the tech giant's generative AI powers above the traditional blue links to websites and ads.

Meta invests in 'superintelligence' 

Meta is making a $14.3 billion investment in artificial intelligence company Scale and recruiting its CEO Alexandr Wang to join a team developing “superintelligence” at the tech giant, says AP. The deal announced Thursday reflects a push by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to revive AI efforts at the parent company of Facebook and Instagram as it faces tough competition from rivals such as Google and OpenAI. 

Meta announced what it called a “strategic partnership and investment” with Scale late Thursday. Scale said the $14.3 billion investment puts its market value at over $29 billion. Scale said it will remain an independent company but the agreement will “substantially expand Scale and Meta’s commercial relationship.” Meta will hold a 49% stake in the startup.

Zuckerberg's increasing focus on the abstract idea of “superintelligence” — which rival companies call artificial general intelligence, or AGI — is the latest pivot for a tech leader who in 2021 went all-in on the idea of the metaverse, changing the company's name and investing billions into advancing virtual reality and related technology.

Wang was a 19-year-old student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he and co-founder Lucy Guo started Scale in 2016. They won influential backing that summer from the startup incubator Y Combinator, which was led at the time by Sam Altman, now the CEO of OpenAI. 

Scale's pitch was to supply the human labor needed to improve AI systems, hiring workers to draw boxes around a pedestrian or a dog in a street photo so that self-driving cars could better predict what's in front of them. General Motors and Toyota have been among Scale's customers.

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