OpenAI’s Agreement with Condé Nast and AI Chatbots
Emerging Tech Roundup — August 23
The Quantious team’s top picks for timely trending news in the tech world.
This week in tech: Waymo gives 100,000 robotaxi rides a week, OpenAI plans to use content from Condé Nast publications in ChatGPT’s responses, Meta and Snap to show off their new AR glasses, Epic Systems builds more than 100 new AI features for doctors and patients, Microsoft’s revised Recall AI feature to roll out to beta testers in October, YouTube creates AI chatbot to help restore hacked channels, and researchers find a new method allowing AI to learn indefinitely.
Waymo is Now Giving 100,000 Robotaxi Rides a Week
(Tech Crunch, August 20)
Waymo has reached a significant milestone, now delivering over 100,000 paid robotaxi rides weekly across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix, doubling its previously disclosed figures. This growth is supported by a fleet of fully autonomous vehicles, with over 700 robotaxis operating under its deployment permit in California. While Waymo continues to expand its 24/7 service in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the company is also facing increasing costs, with Alphabet planning to invest an additional $5 billion in the coming years.
OpenAI Will Now Use Content from Wired, Vogue and The New Yorker in ChatGPT’s Responses
(Engadget, August 20)
Condé Nast has entered a multi-year partnership with OpenAI, allowing the use of content from its publications — including Wired, Vogue, and The New Yorker — in ChatGPT and the prototype SearchGPT. This deal aims to address concerns over unauthorized content usage by AI companies, with Condé Nast emphasizing its importance in offsetting revenue losses faced by digital media. While some publishers have made similar agreements with OpenAI, others, like The New York Times, have pursued legal action to protect their content from unlicensed use by AI.
Meta and Snap are About to Show Off Their New AR Glasses
(The Verge, August 21)
Meta and Snap are set to unveil their latest AR glasses in September. Despite their rivalry and different approaches to AR development, both companies face the challenge of the technology not being ready for mainstream consumers, leading them to restrict the distribution of these new models to select developers and partners. Snap plans to produce fewer than 10,000 units, while Meta will manufacture even fewer of its Orion glasses.
Epic Systems is Building More Than 100 New AI Features for Doctors and Patients
(CNBC, August 21)
Leading healthcare software company Epic Systems is developing over 100 new AI features to enhance its offerings for doctors and patients. At its headquarters in Verona, Wisconsin, industry leaders gathered to learn about these advancements, including AI tools to simplify tasks like drafting patient communications, automating prescription orders, and streamlining insurance processes. By 2025, Epic plans to implement AI-driven functionalities like pulling necessary patient data for MyChart responses and calculating wound measurements from images, while also exploring innovations in staff scheduling and direct claims submissions.
Microsoft’s Revised Recall AI Feature Will Roll Out to Beta Testers in October
(Engadget, August 21)
Microsoft’s Windows Recall feature is officially set to roll out to Windows Insiders with Copilot+ PCs in October. Originally announced in May, the feature aims to promote productivity and assists users in capturing a timeline of activity snapshots on their PC. The tool was originally delayed due to privacy concerns and after taking time to recalibrate, it is set to roll out to beta testers.
YouTube Has a New Tool to Help Restore Hacked Channels: an AI Chatbot
(The Verge, August 22)
YouTube has introduced a new AI chatbot to assist users in recovering accounts compromised by hackers, currently available to a limited group of “certain creators” through the YouTube Help Center. The chatbot, described as a troubleshooting tool, guides hacked creators through securing their Google logins and reversing changes made to their channels. While this feature aims to enhance account recovery, it does not address the ongoing issue of limited direct communication with YouTube support, which remains a frustration for many creators — particularly smaller accounts.
New Method Allows AI to Learn Indefinitely
(Tech Xplore, August 22)
Researchers have discovered that current artificial networks in deep-learning systems lose their ability to learn during extended training on new data, known as “catastrophic forgetting.” Their study revealed that this issue arises because these systems are designed for sequential learning on fixed datasets, preventing them from becoming more accurate or intelligent over time. The researchers found a solution to this problem which restores the systems’ plasticity and enables continuous learning in both supervised and reinforcement learning AI systems.