Meta's Threads Skyrockets to 100 Million Sign-Ups, Posing a Challenge to Twitter
Meta's social media platform, Threads, recorded 100 million sign-ups within five days of its launch, surpassing OpenAI's ChatGPT as the fastest-growing platform to reach this number. Seen as a potential rival to Twitter, Threads has attracted a broad user base including celebrities and politicians. Despite its rapid growth, it still lags behind Twitter's 240 million daily active users. Twitter has threatened to sue Meta, alleging Threads was built using its trade secrets. Threads supports posts up to 500 characters and media content but lacks a desktop version, direct messaging, and features like hashtags and keyword search. Meta has stated it will only consider monetization once Threads is on track to reach one billion users. (Source: CBC)
Balancing Act: Harnessing AI’s Potential in Tax and Accounting Amidst Regulatory Hurdles
Generative AI adoption is growing in tax and accounting firms, despite challenges like data privacy concerns and regulatory uncertainties. The technology, exemplified by OpenAI's ChatGPT, has potential for significant impacts but is also hindered by its limitations and the uncertainty of its economic effects. Major firms, including Ernst & Young, KPMG, Deloitte, and PwC, have invested in AI training and data analysis capabilities. However, AI's learning process raises data privacy issues, and regulators are lagging in addressing the fast-paced AI evolution. While AI has the potential to detect corporate fraud and revolutionize industries, firms need time for experimentation and learning to establish necessary standards and regulations. (Source: Bloomberg)
FTX is proceeding with its intentions to relaunch its primary global cryptocurrency exchange. WSJ, quoting Chief Executive John J. Ray III, reported that FTX "has begun the process of soliciting interested parties to the reboot of the FTX.com exchange." The success of "FTX 2.0", however, is unclear. Despite its tattered reputation, the larger challenge may be overcoming the ongoing crackdown on crypto. (see here for our prior coverage of this) Source: WSJ)
Former FTX CCO Sued for Silencing Whistleblowers
FTX is also suing its former Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). Daniel Friedberg has been accused in a lawsuit filed by FTX and its debtors in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware of paying off whistleblowers to suppress information about the company's alleged fraudulent activities. The suit claims that Friedberg, who also served as the General Counsel for CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, disregarded internal control deficiencies and focused on keeping whistleblowers quiet while allowing the co-mingling of customer assets, which led to the downfall of both entities. (Source: Compliance Week)
ChatGPT Plus Users Lose Browsing: OpenAI Reacts to Paywall Concerns
OpenAI has temporarily disabled the 'Browse with Bing' feature in ChatGPT Plus due to concerns about bypassing paywalls and privacy settings. The decision follows user feedback that the feature was displaying full content from URLs, infringing on content owners' rights. Despite criticism from some users, OpenAI is working to fix the issue but has not specified when the feature will be back online. (Source: Yahoo Finance)
Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else. This post was written with the assistance of an AI language model. The model provided suggestions and completions to help me write, but the final content and opinions are my own.
The race for AI-enabled search is on, and the stakes are high as Microsoft and Google are competing to be at the forefront of this exciting field. Last week was a milestone in the world of AI, as both companies made significant announcements about their latest offerings. In this post, we'll take a closer look at what these announcements mean for the competition for AI-enabled search and what could have led Google to fall behind.
Microsoft's Announcement
Microsoft announced that it will be integrating ChatGPT into Bing to allow people to use Generative AI to answer questions, instead of just endlessly searching. In their demo, they showed how “BingGPT” (my term) could help users get their bearings about a topic, such as famous Mexican painters or Japanese poets. BingGPT could also develop a travel itinerary for a vacation and attempt to answer questions like "Will a sofa fit in a Honda Odyssey?"
Microsoft also unveiled the new Edge browser, which would have the productivity right in the browser. From a CPA perspective, what was impressive was how Microsoft was able to summarize a GAP press release and produce instant comparatives with Lululemon. They also demonstrated how BingGPT could instantly generate a LinkedIn post. In the demo, Microsoft showed how you can direct the AI to use a specific tone (which in this case was “enthusiastic”).
One of the other key takeaways from the unveiling was Microsoft’s positioning of BingGPT. They see it as a co-pilot: something that the user can use to augment their work. That is, they are not looking to unveil bots to replace office workers. Check out the following extracts from the announcement:
The full presentation is available here
Google's Announcement
Google, not to be left behind, also had an announcement the next day. They chose Paris to unveil their alternative to ChatGPT, Bard.
Unfortunately, the announcement was received as underwhelming. The demonstration was cut short when they misplaced a phone, and they seemed to be more focused on incremental improvements to their existing offerings, such as multi-search (i.e. search by image and text) and augmented reality apps, which provide a Google maps overlay of the shops on the street.
With respect to Bard, there were few details provided. Google mentioned that an API would be available for developers next month, but there was no information about when the average user would be able to try it. The biggest news with Bard, however, was the mistake it made when retrieving an answer. As was widely reported, "Google's blog showing off Bard's capabilities, the AI falsely said the James Webb Space Telescope took the first ever picture of an exoplanet. It was Webb's first picture of an exoplanet, but the first picture taken occurred back in 2004."
The result of Google's stumbles?
Investors were quick to react and wiped out $100 billion of the search engine’s market capitalization.
What happened to Google’s lead?
Google is a prime example of a company that got caught in the innovator's dilemma. Their dominant position in the search engine market made them extremely profitable, but it also made them slow to respond to the rise of AI-enabled search. Google was too focused on maximizing their existing business model and the advertising revenue that came with it, which made them hesitant to invest in AI-enabled search. This is because AI-enabled search would limit the amount of searching that people would do, and therefore, would reduce the amount of advertising dollars that Google would earn.
As a result of their slow response, Google was overtaken by Microsoft, who was able to integrate ChatGPT into Bing, allowing people to use generative AI to answer questions. Google's Bard launch was a clear indication that the company is playing catch up in the AI-powered search space. In order to remain competitive and not lose market share to Microsoft, Google will need to quickly respond and make improvements to their offering.
Though their launch needed work, their panic is justified. Nadella stated during the launch of BingGPT:
"It's a new day in Search. It's a new paradigm for search. Rapid innovation is going to come. In fact, a race starts today in terms of what you can expect and we're going to move. We're going to move fast. For us every day, we want to bring out new things. Most importantly, we want to have a lot of fun innovating again in Search because it's high time."
The statement highlights Microsoft's ambitious plans to capture market share from Google in the rapidly evolving AI-powered search space.
In closing, Google's experience serves as a cautionary tale for companies that are tempted by the riches of their existing business models. In order to stay competitive, companies must be willing to take risks and invest in new technologies, even if they may disrupt their existing business. Companies that are too focused on preserving their existing profits may miss out on new opportunities and be left behind.
Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist that is working to transform the engagement experience for accounting firms and their clients. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent UWCISA, UW, Auvenir (or its affiliates), CPA Canada or anyone else. This post was written with the assistance of an AI language model. The model provided suggestions and completions to help me write, but the final content and opinions are my own.
