Five Top Tech Takeaways: Apple Unveils AI at WWDC, OpenAI Pays VOX/Atlantic a Cut, Claude Comes to Canada and more!

Apple's AI

Apple Introduces 'Apple Intelligence' with Advanced AI Features

At WWDC 2024, Apple introduced "Apple Intelligence," a suite of AI features for iPhone, Mac, and other devices, to be released in the fall. Highlights include a more conversational Siri, AI-generated "Genmoji," and integration with OpenAI's GPT-4o for advanced queries. These features, designed to enhance user interaction and productivity, will operate primarily on-device for privacy, utilizing Apple's Private Cloud when necessary. Siri will now support more natural speech and typed commands, perform actions across apps, and assist with tasks like email composition and photo editing.

To see a 2-minute summary, check out CNETs time-saving montage (start at 9:27 for the AI-related announcements):

Key Takeaways:

1. Apple unveiled "Apple Intelligence," featuring enhanced AI capabilities for iPhone, Mac, and more.
2. Siri will become more conversational and capable of handling advanced tasks using OpenAI’s GPT-4o.
3. Privacy remains a priority, with AI processing on-device and through Apple's Private Cloud.

(Source: The Verge)

Claude AI Assistant Launches in Canada

Claude, Anthropic's advanced AI assistant, is now available in Canada through various platforms including Claude.ai, a free iOS app, and an API for developers. The service also offers a Team plan for collaborative use. Users can subscribe to Claude Pro for CA$28 per month to access all models and receive increased usage benefits. The Team plan, at CA$42 per user per month, requires a minimum of five users. This expansion aligns with Canada's commitment to responsible AI development and provides new opportunities for users to integrate advanced AI into their workflows.

Key Takeaways:

• Claude, an AI assistant by Anthropic, is now accessible in Canada via web, iOS app, and API.
• Claude Pro subscription offers enhanced features and usage for CA$28 per month.
• The Team plan provides a collaborative workspace for CA$42 per user per month, requiring a minimum of five users.

(Source: Anthropic)

US Regulators Probe Nvidia, Microsoft, and OpenAI for Antitrust Violations

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are launching investigations into Nvidia, OpenAI, and Microsoft. The DOJ will focus on potential antitrust violations by Nvidia, while the FTC will probe Microsoft and OpenAI's actions. Specifically, the FTC is examining whether Microsoft structured its deal with Inflection AI to evade regulatory scrutiny. Microsoft's spokesperson asserts the company’s compliance with legal obligations. These probes highlight regulatory efforts to scrutinize AI ventures more rigorously and prevent potential antitrust violations.

Key Takeaways:

• The DOJ and FTC are investigating Nvidia, OpenAI, and Microsoft for potential antitrust violations.
• The FTC is specifically probing whether Microsoft’s deal with Inflection AI was structured to avoid regulatory oversight.
• Microsoft maintains that its agreements and transactions comply with legal requirements.

(Source: Yahoo Finance)

OpenAI Continues Media Expansion with New Licensing Agreements

OpenAI has secured licensing agreements with The Atlantic and Vox Media, allowing their content to train AI models and be shared within ChatGPT. This move follows similar deals with News Corp, Axel Springer, DotDash Meredith, the Financial Times, and The Associated Press, aimed at acquiring legal content for AI training and avoiding copyright issues. Terms for The Atlantic and Vox Media were not disclosed, but such agreements typically involve content attribution and financial compensation. Vox Media will use OpenAI's technology to enhance its commerce and advertising platforms, while The Atlantic plans to develop AI tools for journalism.

Key Takeaways:

• OpenAI signed content licensing agreements with The Atlantic and Vox Media for AI model training and sharing within ChatGPT.
• These deals aim to secure legal training data and prevent copyright lawsuits, following similar agreements with other major media companies.
• Vox Media and The Atlantic will use OpenAI's technology to enhance their digital products and develop AI tools for better journalism.

(Source: The Verge)

AI Meets Curation: Perplexity Pages Blend Automation and Human Input

Perplexity AI has launched "Perplexity Pages," a feature that transforms search queries into visually appealing, shareable web pages. Users can create detailed articles by entering prompts and selecting an audience type to tailor the content. The tool allows for customization, including rewriting, reformatting, and adding sections. These pages, which can include relevant media, are searchable on Google and sharable via links. Perplexity Pages aims to blend AI-driven content generation with human curation, offering a new way to produce and share information-rich web pages.

Key Takeaways:

• Perplexity AI's new feature converts search queries into detailed, shareable web pages.
• Users can customize the generated content and include media, making it searchable and shareable. 
• The feature blends AI content generation with human curation, emphasizing user input in organizing and presenting information.

(Source: TechCrunch)

Author: Malik Datardina, CPA, CA, CISA. Malik works at Auvenir as a GRC Strategist who 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.

Larry and Sergei's Exit from Google: How did they get from 'Don't Be Evil' to 'Get Rich or Die Trying'?

Larry Page and Sergey Brin have left the building.

The two founders who built the information empire Alphabet Inc. have left Google. As they noted in their farewell post, Sundar Pichai will now become CEO of both Google and Alphabet Inc. They also pocketed a couple billion or so for their troubles.

I write this post with mixed feelings.

As someone who started at university the year the Internet became commercialized, I witnessed the rise of Google from a number of many search-engine to the only one that you use. And I've written previously about this experience.

But reality is reality: Google doesn't look like the company it used to be.

They began with their motto: "Don't be evil". As noted here the idea, per Paul Buchheit (Googler #23). was not to be evil like "those other companies":

"It just sort of occurred to me that “Don’t be evil” is kind of funny. It’s also a bit of a jab at a lot of the other companies, especially our competitors, who at the time, in our opinion, were kind of exploiting the users to some extent."

And now it's arguable that Google has become one of "those other companies".

In fact, they officially abandoned the "Don't be evil" motto to the less aspirational "do the right thing."

Sure, we could hypothesize that the legal, risk and other compliance experts advised Google to abandon this slogan due to risk aversion. But the problem with that theory is that Google has been raking up the fines, not in the millions but in the billions.  According to The Verge, "Google’s total EU antitrust bill now stands at €8.2 billion ($9.3 billion)". Not sure how that fits in with "doing the right thing". Perhaps it has more to do with "get rich or die trying".  It's no wonder politicians think they can get votes by promising to break up Google and the other tech giants. 

But the fines are just the tip of the iceberg. Google was one of Obama's top campaign contributors in the 2012 election. As noted in this article by the Intercept, the coziness between Google and the Whitehouse went beyond just the election. They visited the Whitehouse 128 times over Obama's tenure. More troubling:

"Most notably, Google has faced questions for years about exercising its market power to squash rivals, infringing on its users’ privacy rights, favoring its own business affiliates in search results, and using patent law to create barriers to competition. Even Republican senators like Orrin Hatch have called out Google for its practices.

In 2012, staff at the Federal Trade Commission recommended filing antitrust charges after determining that Google was engaging in anti-competitive tactics and abusing its monopoly. A staff report that was later leaked said Google’s conduct “has resulted — and will result — in real harm to consumers and to innovation in the online search and advertising markets.”

The Wall Street Journal noted that Google’s White House visits increased right around that time. And in 2013, the presidentially appointed commissioners of the FTC overrode their staff, voting unanimously not to file any charges.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said the administration “has been a huge help” to Google both by protecting it from attempts to limit its market power and by blocking privacy legislation. “Google has been able to thwart regulatory scrutiny in terms of anti-competitive practices, and has played a key role in ensuring that the United States doesn’t protect at all the privacy of its citizens and its consumers,” Chester said."

So now they are using their capital to subvert laws and investigations to maintain their dominance.

What happened? Why did Google take a taxi ride to the dark side? 

Tim Wu, a Columbia law professor, has a theory.

In The Master Switch, he calls this type of thing the Kronos Effect. The idea is that yesterday's scrappy start-up - who defeated the evil ogre's of their day - only to becomes today's evil ogre. For example, he explains how Adolph Zukor and the other avant-garde filmmakers of his day fought the tyrannical Motion Picture Patents Company, which required you to pay royalties for just using a camera. Who did they end up becoming? The major studios of today - who sue people for copyright infringement of their content. Similarly, we can see Google, who was able to defeat Yahoo, Microsoft and others, has become arguably the Microsoft of our times.

But I think Douglas Rushkoff, ironically in Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity, has a better theory. 

When start-ups that emerge from the "operating system of Capitalism" the end-up being defined by that system's code or DNA: growth, profits, market share and shareholder value - these are the only things matter. Capitalism doesn't pay attention to humanitarian values, moral values or spiritual values because, well, they don't add to the GDP. And at the end of the day, that's all that matters in a Capitalist society. 

I would never push anyone to adopt the motto "get rich or die trying". 

But as we can see, Google or otherwise, companies end up with this as their mantra when they want to get to the top. 

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.