Amazon has expanded its generative AI tools for product listings to sellers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. These tools, designed to streamline the process of creating and enhancing product listings, can generate product descriptions, titles, and details and fill in any missing information. The rollout follows an initial introduction in the US and a quieter launch in the UK earlier this month.
The new AI tools aim to help sellers list products more quickly by allowing them to enter relevant keywords or upload product photos, after which the AI generates a product title, bullet points, and descriptions. While the AI-generated content can be edited, Amazon advises sellers to review the generated listings thoroughly to avoid inaccuracies. The company continuously improves these tools to make them more effective and user-friendly.
Earlier this year, Amazon also introduced a tool enabling sellers to create product listings by posting a URL to their existing website, though it remains uncertain when this feature will be available outside the US. The expansion of AI tools to European markets raises regulatory concerns, particularly regarding GDPR and the Digital Services Act, which require transparency in AI applications.
Why does it matter?
Despite these regulatory challenges, Amazon’s use of generative AI marks a significant advancement in e-commerce. By leveraging diverse sources of information, Amazon’s AI models can infer product details with high accuracy, improving the quality and efficiency of product listings at scale. However, the precise data used to train these models remains unclear, highlighting ongoing concerns about data privacy and usage.
In a post on his platform X, tech boss Elon Musk revealed his partnership with Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer to provide server racks set to power Musk’s AI startup, xAI. According to Dell CEO Michael Dell, the company is responsible for manufacturing half the microchips for the project. To this end, Dell has partnered with Nvidia Corporation, a multinational technology company that supplies electronic chips for computer motherboard chipsets, smartphones and game consoles. The duo, together with Super Micro Computers, will build xAI’s supercomputer, which will, in turn, power the startup’s chatbot, Grok.
Musk’s xAI, a rival to Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet’s Google, opened its doors last year, and its chatbot is already on version 2. Musk’s timeline for Grok 3 is fall 2025. The chatbot requires 100,000 Nvidia H100 chips to run. Grok 2 utilised 20,000 Nvidia H100 graphic processing units. The Nvidia H100 GPU chip is the most powerful GPU chip on the market and is designed for AI applications only. The chips are in short supply, and on average, one costs $25,000.
Tencent is set to remove its popular mobile game ‘Dungeon & Fighter’ (DnF Mobile) from selected Android app stores starting Thursday due to expired contracts. The Chinese tech giant did not specify which app stores will be affected, but local media reports indicate that Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo are among them.
Why does it matter?
The issue highlights ongoing tensions between game developers and distributors in China, particularly over the mobile game market’s standard 50% revenue share split. In 2021, Tencent faced a similar issue when Huawei removed several of its mobile games from its app store over revenue-sharing disagreements.
Amazon and telecommunications firm Vrio are set to launch a satellite internet service in seven South American countries, directly competing with Elon Musk’s Starlink. Vrio, which oversees DirecTV Latin America and Sky Brasil, will offer the service in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. The initiative, utilising Amazon’s Project Kuiper, aims to provide internet access via satellites in low Earth orbit.
According to World Bank data, the partnership addresses a significant demand, as an estimated 200 million people in the region have inadequate or no internet access. The challenging geography and the high cost of large infrastructure investments further highlight the need for satellite internet. The service is scheduled to go live in mid-2025, beginning in Argentina.
Project Kuiper plans to deploy 3,236 satellites to support this endeavour, part of Amazon’s $10 billion investment announced in 2019. The ultimate goal is to ensure that all customers, regardless of their location in urban, suburban, or rural areas, have equal access to high-speed broadband.
As the market for AI applications in specific domains keeps growing, startup LinqAI has found its niche within the financial sector. This platform seeks to make AI tools that are able to adapt to any business environment and take care of simpler tasks like facilitating research or synthesising data.
LinqAI presents the advantage of being trained on materials and large language models (LLMs) relevant to their sector, making this tool more adapted to client’s use cases. It will be entering a field which rapidly adapted to the use of AI. Bloomberg has an AI tool to summarise earning calls, while S&P uses AI to extract relevant information from documents. However, co-founder Jacob Chanyeol Choi says his AI tool goes beyond competitors, introducing a company-specific data-gathering system which will ‘seamlessly integrate with a company’s data ecosystem’.
The tool’s website commits to a ‘no-harvesting’ data policy and transparency with its community. ‘we do not collect or utilise user data for any purposes outside of the immediate functional requirements of our AI tools’, it says.
LinqAI was recently able to secure USD 6.6 million in funding from various organisations and investment firms.
Particle, a news-reader startup developed by former Twitter engineers, is partnering with publishers to navigate the evolving landscape of news consumption in the AI era. By leveraging AI technology, Particle aims to provide news summaries from various publishers through its app, offering readers a comprehensive understanding of current events from multiple perspectives. That approach seeks to address concerns within the publishing industry about potential revenue loss due to AI-driven news summaries.
Now, Particle has teamed up with Reuters to explore new business models in a significant move. The startup has subscribed to Reuters newswire to enhance its news delivery capabilities. Additionally, Particle secured $10.9 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with investments from media giant Axel Springer. These partnerships and investments underscore Particle’s commitment to collaborating with publishers to address their needs and goals in the rapidly evolving media landscape.
Particle’s co-founder, Sara Beykpour, emphasises the startup’s focus on delivering value to news consumers beyond AI summaries. With a mission to help readers cut through the noise and understand the news faster, Particle offers a personalised news experience while ensuring exposure to diverse viewpoints. By presenting news stories holistically and integrating perspectives from multiple outlets, Particle aims to combat information overload and mitigate media bias.
Why does it matter?
Despite its innovative approach, Particle has yet to finalise its business model. The startup actively engages with publishers to develop a sustainable model that benefits readers and publishers. Possibilities include revenue sharing, advertising, and more, with input from industry stakeholders shaping the future direction of Particle’s business strategy.
Two partnerships were unveiled at Apple’s yearly Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday; one on stage and one in the fine-print. A partnership with OpenAI to use GPT 4.0 within Siri’s Apple Intelligence was openly publicised, but use of Google chips to build the AI tools was not.
Initially, it would seem as though the two companies are at odds. Apple would be set to compete with Google’s Gemini over their AI systems, while the OpenAI partnership could potentially mean reduced access to customer data through Siri.
However, a technical document published by Apple after the event reveals that in order to build their AI models, Apple used its own framework software. This software depended on various pieces of Apple’s own hardware, but also tensor processing chips (TPCs). These are exclusively available for purchase through Google’s cloud. Google is among various companies competing with Nvidia’s AI-capable chips, which have been dominating the market recently.
Apple did not immediately reply after Reuters requested comment. It has not detailed how much it depends on third-party chips for the development of its new AI system.
Apple is integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Siri, as announced at its WWDC 2024 keynote. The partnership will allow iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia users to access ChatGPT for free, with privacy measures ensuring that queries aren’t logged. Additionally, paid ChatGPT subscribers can link their accounts to access premium features on Apple devices.
Apple had been negotiating with Google and OpenAI to enhance its AI capabilities, ultimately partnering with OpenAI. The enhanced feature will utilise OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, which will power ChatGPT in Apple’s upcoming operating systems.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, highlighting shared commitments to safety and innovation. However, Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and the social media company X announced a ban on Apple devices from his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI technology at the operating system level. Musk labelled this move an ‘unacceptable security violation’ and stated that visitors would be required to leave their Apple devices in a Faraday cage at the entrance to his facilities.
Why does it matter?
The new business plan aims to significantly enhance Siri’s capabilities with advanced AI features. The chatbot will be seamlessly integrated into Apple’s systemwide writing tools, enriching the user experience across Apple devices.
Central to this integration is a robust consent mechanism that requires users’ permission before sending any questions, documents, or photos to ChatGPT. Siri will present the responses directly, emphasising Apple’s commitment to user privacy and transparent data handling practices.
Meta has launched its first AI-driven ad targeting program for businesses on WhatsApp, aiming to generate revenue from the popular chat service. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new tools at a conference in Brazil, marking a significant shift for WhatsApp, which has traditionally avoided targeted advertising.
The new AI tools will use behaviour data from Facebook and Instagram to target messages more effectively to users who are likely to engage, provided they use the same phone number across accounts. The new feature is crucial for businesses as it allows for optimised ad delivery, making their marketing efforts more cost-effective.
Meta is also testing a new AI chatbot for business inquiries on WhatsApp. Namely, the chatbot will handle common requests like finding catalogues or consulting business hours, pushing towards automated customer service solutions. Additionally, Meta is integrating Brazil’s popular digital payment method, PIX, into WhatsApp’s payment tool, enhancing its functionality in the country.
These developments come as part of Meta’s broader strategy to monetise WhatsApp, which, despite its massive user base, has yet to contribute significantly to Meta’s overall revenue. The new initiatives are seen as steps to leverage WhatsApp’s extensive reach and user engagement for greater financial returns.
According to European banking executives, the rise of AI is increasing banks’ reliance on major US tech firms, raising new risks for the financial industry. AI, already used in detecting fraud and money laundering, has gained significant attention following the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022, with banks exploring more applications of generative AI.
At a fintech conference in Amsterdam, industry leaders expressed concerns about the heavy computational power needed for AI, which forces banks to depend on a few big tech providers. Bahadir Yilmaz, ING’s chief analytics officer, noted that this dependency on companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and Amazon poses one of the biggest risks, as it could lead to ‘vendor lock-in’ and limit banks’ flexibility. These facts also imply the strong impact AI could have on retail investor protection.
Britain has proposed regulations to manage financial firms’ reliance on external tech companies, reflecting concerns that issues with a single cloud provider could disrupt services across multiple financial institutions. Deutsche Bank’s technology strategy head, Joanne Hannaford, highlighted that accessing the necessary computational power for AI is feasible only through Big Tech.
The European Union’s securities watchdog recently emphasised that banks and investment firms must protect customers when using AI and maintain boardroom responsibility.
