Connect with us

AI Insights

You.com Valued at $1.5 Billion Amid Shift From AI Search 

Published

on


Artificial intelligence (AI) startup You.com has reportedly raised $100 million in new funding.

The company’s latest funding round values it at $1.5 billion, and is happening amid its ongoing shift from consumer search to more general AI services, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday (Sept. 3).

The company was founded in 2020 as an AI-powered search engine by Richard Socher, who had been chief scientist for Salesforce. In the intervening years, the AI search space has heated up, with competition from the likes of Google and Perplexity.

According to Bloomberg, You.com last year began a shift toward helping companies adopt AI, a transition that was happening when the startup raised $50 million. Socher told the news outlet that much of AI’s benefits have yet to be realized.

“I think AI is so hard to navigate because on the one hand, it will change every industry and it’s very obvious,” he said. “On the other hand, it’s not going to happen overnight.”

The report notes that while consumers can sign up for You.com’s services, the company focuses on selling search application programming interfaces (APIs), which let software applications communicate with each other.

You.com also says it processes almost 1 billion queries per month, with DuckDuckGo, Databricks Inc. and legal startup Harvey AI among its customers. The new funding will help the firm expand its product offerings and double its current staff of about 100 people, open an office in San Francisco and expand its presence in New York City.

In other artificial intelligence news, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster recently offered a summation of PYMNTS Intelligence’s research into the industry since March 2024, based on more than 1,000 unique observations and 100,000 data points from companies with $1 billion or more in yearly revenue.

Over those 18 months, the research has found a steady shift in the use of generative AI from simplifying routine tasks to becoming an embedded part of strategic functions within companies.

In some cases, that means CFOs using gen AI to model complex financial scenarios, analyze working capital positions and detect anomalies in millions of transactions. Other times, it means chief product officers turning to AI to negotiate contracts with better visibility into supplier performance and model risk.

“Nearly all (96%) executives at the enterprise level in our studies report favorable positive results, up significantly from even this time a year ago,” Webster wrote. “That’s even though the technology is still in its very earliest innings of potential. And by everyone’s admission still has a long way to go.”



Source link

AI Insights

Artificial Intelligence event Oct 21st in Suffern – Rockland News

Published

on


Suffern, NY – Edie Haughney, Ameriprise Financial Advisor, will be hosting a complimentary dinner and discussion on the current market and artificial intelligence on Tuesday, October 21st at the Crowne Plaza in Suffern.

The program will be begin at 6pm and advanced registration is required by October 10th.



Source link

Continue Reading

AI Insights

Melania Trump hosts AI meeting with Google CEO, tech leaders

Published

on


WASHINGTON — First lady Melania Trump declared “the robots are here” as she urged a deliberate but careful embrace of artificial intelligence during a convening Thursday of a White House task force on AI in education. 


What You Need To Know

  • First lady Melania Trump declared “the robots are here” as she urged a deliberate but careful embrace of artificial intelligence during a convening Thursday of a White House task force on AI in education. 
  • The first lady was joined on stage for the roundtable-style event by members of the task force, which includes several of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, as well as major names in the technology sector, such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai
  • The convening was meant to shine a light on what the White House says is more than 135 commitments from leaders in the field to support education in artificial intelligence across the country
  • It follows the first lady announcing a nationwide competition challenging students in grades K-12 to use artificial intelligence to address a community issue, which will conclude with an event at the White House with the winners

“I predict AI will represent the single largest growth category in our nation during this administration, and I won’t be surprised if AI becomes known as the greatest engine of progress in the history of the United States of America,” Trump said. “But, as leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly.”

The first lady was joined on stage for the roundtable-style event by members of the task force, which includes several of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, as well as major names in the technology sector, such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Dozens of other Big Tech and private sector leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, were present in the East Room for the event, where they were lauded by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios for their “generous pledges.”

The meeting was meant to shine a light on what the White House says is more than 135 commitments from leaders in the field to support education in artificial intelligence across the country.   

Arvind Krishna, the CEO of IBM, for instance, noted in his remarks to the room that the technology company he leads is signing on to train 2 million American workers in “cutting-edge AI skills” over the next three years through a newly launched program. 

Pichai, meanwhile, announced that of the $1 billion the company recently committed for education and job training programs, $150 million would specifically go toward AI-focused grants. 

“This is all in the service of helping the next generation to solve problems, fuel innovation and build an incredible future,” he said. “These are all goals we all share. We are incredibly thankful for the partnership and the leadership from the first lady, the president and the administration and for showing us the way.” 

It was the second meeting of the task force since the president created it via an executive order in April meant to boost AI literacy and proficiency in America by better incorporating it into education. The event marked the first since the Melania Trump announced a nationwide competition challenging students in grades K-12 to use artificial intelligence to address a community issue, which will conclude with an event at the White House with the winners. 

“We must ensure America’s talent, our workforce, is prepared to sustain AI’s progress, and the Presidential AI Challenge is our first major step to galvanize America’s parents, educators, and students with this mission,” the first lady said at the task force meeting. 

She added that AI will “serve as the underpinning of every business sector in our nation.”

Several of the president’s Cabinet secretaries who sit on the task force, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, gave updates on how they are utilizing the technology in their work and seeking to ensure Americans are educated in how to use it in the fields related to their departments. 

McMahon, for instance, pointed to a recent letter to those receiving grants from the Education Department letting them know that AI tools and technologies are an “allowable use” of federal funds in a bid, she said, to empower schools to explore how to best integrate the technology in teaching. Wright used his remarks to warn that the U.S. “will not win at AI if we don’t massively grow our electricity production.” 

The president’s AI and crypto czar David Sacks, meanwhile, highlighted Trump’s other executive orders related to AI, including one seeking to make it easier to build new data centers and energy infrastructure.

“Some people think that AI is going to take all of our jobs,” Sacks said. “I really don’t think that’s going to happen.” 

Instead, he argued AI would unleash a “boom like we’ve never seen.” 

The first lady, who has not frequently taken the spotlight and participated in selective events since her husband’s return to the Oval Office, has touched what she sees as both the positives and negatives of the rapidly developing technology. The White House has highlighted how she utilized AI for the narration of the audio version of her 2024 memoir “Melania.” At the same time, the first lady actively supported and pushed for a bill — ultimately passed by Congress and signed by the president — imposing harsher penalties for the spread of non-consensual sexual images, including those created using artificial intelligence. 



Source link

Continue Reading

AI Insights

Can artificial intelligence start a nuclear war?

Published

on


Stanford University simulations have shown that current artificial intelligence models are prone to escalating conflicts to the point of nuclear weapons. The study raises serious questions about the risks of automating military decisions and the role of AI in future wars.

This is reported by Politico .

The results of war games conducted by researcher Jacqueline Schneider from Stanford indicate that artificial intelligence could become a dangerous factor in modern wars if it gains influence over military decision-making.

According to the scientist, during simulations, the latest AI models consistently chose aggressive escalation scenarios, including the use of nuclear weapons. Schneider compared the behavior of the algorithms to the approach of Cold War general Curtis LeMay, who was known for his willingness to use nuclear force on minimal pretext.

“Artificial intelligence models understand perfectly well how to escalate a conflict, but are actually unable to offer options for its de-escalation,” the researcher explained.

In her opinion, this is due to the fact that most of the military literature used to train AI describes escalation scenarios, not those that avoided war.

The Pentagon assures that AI will not have the right to make decisions about launching nuclear missiles, and emphasizes the preservation of “human control.” At the same time, modern warfare is increasingly dependent on automated systems. Already today, projects like Project Maven rely entirely on machine-generated intelligence data, and in the future, algorithms will even be able to advise on countermeasures.

In addition, there are already examples of automation in the field of nuclear weapons in the world. Russia has the Perimeter system, capable of delivering a strike without human intervention, and China is investing huge resources in the development of military artificial intelligence.

Journalists also recall the case of 1979, when US President Jimmy Carter’s advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski received a message about the alleged launch of 200 Soviet missiles. Only a moment before the decision to retaliate was made, it turned out that this was a system error. The question is whether artificial intelligence, which works “reflexively”, would have been able to wait for more detailed information, or would have pressed the “red button” automatically.

Thus, the discussion about the role of AI in the military sphere is becoming increasingly relevant, because not only the outcome of the battle, but also the fate of all humanity may be at stake.

It was previously reported that the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, nicknamed the “Doomsday Glacier,” is losing stability and could trigger a rapid rise in sea levels by several meters.

Recall that Hollywood actor and musician Will Smith was involved in a scandal. In particular, the star of “Men in Black” was suspected of using artificial intelligence.

Also follow “Pryamim” on Facebook , Twitter , Telegram , and Instagram.





Source link

Continue Reading

Trending