Welcome again to Week in Review. This week, we’re taking a look at OpenAI’s final — and largest — announcement from its “12 Days of OpenAI” occasion; Apple’s potential entrance into the foldable market; and why Databricks is selecting to attend to go public. Let’s get into it.
P.S. We’re off for the vacations! Week in Review might be again in your inbox within the new 12 months.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman introduced the successors to its o1 reasoning mannequin household: o3 and o3-mini. While the fashions aren’t extensively accessible but, security researchers can join a preview. The reveal marks the tip of the corporate’s “12 Days of OpenAI” occasion, which noticed bulletins for real-time imaginative and prescient capabilities, ChatGPT Search, and even a Santa voice for ChatGPT. You can compensate for the whole lot you missed right here.
The Ray-Ban Meta good glasses obtained a giant improve this week. Members of Meta’s early-access program can now obtain firmware v11, which provides “reside AI.” The characteristic lets wearers repeatedly converse with Meta AI to reference issues they mentioned earlier within the dialog — and it really works with real-time video. Live translation between English and Spanish, French, or Italian, in addition to performance with Shazam are additionally included in v11.
UnitedHealth’s Optum left an AI chatbot, utilized by workers to ask questions on claims, uncovered to the web — and anybody might entry it with an internet browser. While the chatbot didn’t seem to comprise or produce delicate private or protected well being data, its inadvertent publicity comes at a time when its father or mother firm faces scrutiny for its use of AI instruments and algorithms to allegedly override docs’ medical selections and deny affected person claims.
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News
Oura nabs $200M: The good ring maker closed a $200 million Series D funding spherical, bringing the corporate’s valuation to $5.2 billion. Oura says the money will assist the corporate develop its product choices and additional spend money on product, science, AI, and extra. Read extra
You can now name ChatGPT from a landline: In an effort to make ChatGPT accessible to as many individuals as doable, OpenAI introduced a 1-800 quantity to name the chatbot — even from a landline or a flip cellphone. Users can name 1-800-CHATGPT, and the AI assistant will reply by the cellphone. Read extra
Tesla tries to spice up Model S gross sales: After abandoning its free Supercharging for all times provide in 2018, Tesla is bringing it again for some Tesla Model S vehicles on the finish of the 12 months. But it’s vital to notice that Tesla additionally simply elevated the value for the Model S by $5,000. Read extra
Google needs to tackle Sora: Google DeepMind introduced Veo 2, a next-gen video-generating AI. Veo 2 can create two-minute-plus clips in resolutions as much as 4k. That’s 4x the decision — and over 6x the length — that OpenAI’s Sora can obtain. Read extra
Apple eyes the foldable market: Apple is aiming to launch two foldable gadgets within the subsequent few years, in line with a report from The Wall Street Journal. Another report from Bloomberg, nevertheless, claims the corporate’s focus is on an enormous, foldable iPad. Read extra
Bob Lee verdict: A San Francisco jury discovered Nima Momeni responsible of second-degree homicide within the deadly 2023 stabbing of Bob Lee, the Cash App creator and former CTO of Block. The jurors determined Lee’s homicide was not premeditated and located Momeni not responsible of first-degree homicide. Read extra
Perplexity acquires Carbon: Perplexity acquired Carbon, a small startup specializing in connecting AI methods to exterior knowledge sources. The firm says Perplexity will quickly have the ability to search by your recordsdata and work messages in Notion, Google Docs, or Slack someday in early 2025. Read extra
Temu continues to be on high: Temu was as soon as once more probably the most downloaded free app within the U.S., in line with Apple’s checklist of high apps and video games throughout the App Store. The procuring app moved into the No. 1 slot final 12 months, stealing the place from TikTookay. Read extra
GitHub launches free model of Copilot: GitHub now has a free model of its common Copilot code completion/AI pair programming device. Until now, builders needed to pay a month-to-month price, with solely verified college students, lecturers, and open supply maintainers getting free entry. Read extra
Google releases its personal “reasoning” mannequin: Google has launched Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental, what it calls its new “reasoning” AI mannequin. It’s at present within the experimental levels, and from our transient testing, there’s definitely room for enchancment. Read extra
Analysis
To Initial Public Offering or to not Initial Public Offering: Databricks simply closed one of many largest funding rounds ever, elevating a staggering $10 billion. Naturally, expertise buyers have been fast to ask what this implies for the corporate’s extremely anticipated Initial Public Offering. In an interview at Axios AI Summit, CEO Ali Ghodsi mentioned “it’s dumb to Initial Public Offering this 12 months” and is as a substitute ready till no less than 2025. Databricks is utilizing this “Series J” to let early workers money out and proceed rising. While 2024 was unsure in some ways, the IPOs of ServiceTitan, Reddit, and different firms have largely been profitable. But, as Maxwell Zeff writes, why danger it when you possibly can simply increase as a lot cash as Databricks? Read extra
