What happened: Alphabet, Google's parent company, and Microsoft both talked up AI technologies during their respective quarterly earnings calls on Tuesday. The companies have been locked in a race to embed AI across products and search since the rollout of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft's Bing AI, and Google's Bard chatbot. What the numbers say: During the calls, Google mentioned AI 52 times and Microsoft 36 times. This represents a huge uptick from the year-ago quarter, when they used the term six and four times, respectively, according to a Reuters analysis. Quotable: Google CEO Sundar Pichai compared AI to the company's transformation from desktop to mobile. While he said Google plans to incorporate generative AI into its search and cloud, he was cautious as "billions of people trust Google to provide the right information." Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Bing app installations had increased fourfold since it added the OpenAI tech in February. "We look forward to continuing this journey in what is a generational shift in the largest software category — search," Nadella said. Why it matters: Both companies said AI technology is benefitting sales, though it's still a relatively small part of their overall businesses. It remains to be seen when they will start sharing those specific numbers.
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During Meta's earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to add generative AI across its apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. While the company has lagged behind competitors in its rollout of AI, Zuckerberg said Meta has caught up in building its AI infrastructure and will launch more AI tools in the coming months. More: - Generative AI is "literally going to touch every single one of our products," the CEO said.
- For example, Meta is "exploring chat experiences in WhatsApp and Messenger." It's also planning "visual creation tools for posts in Facebook and Instagram and ads," he said.
- Over time, it plans to introduce AI multi-modal and video experiences as well.
- The tools are expected to be available for individual users, creators, and businesses. The CEO said he expects a lot of interest in AI for customer support and business messaging.
- He said he sees "an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful."
Zoom out: - According to the WSJ, Meta's investment in AI to enhance its ad-targeting systems appears to be paying off, as the company's revenue showed a 3% rise, a notable improvement from the 4.5% decline reported in the final quarter of 2022.
THE VERGE 
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Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said it would devote $1B toward generative AI over the next three years. The investment, which includes an expanded partnership with Microsoft, will help PwC train 65,000 employees and offer AI technologies across all of its business lines. More: - The privately-owned company will integrate AI within its client-services platforms as well as its own technology stack.
- PwC is partnering with Microsoft will use and build upon OpenAI's GPT-4/ChatGPT technology and Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service.
- The firm will pay to access the GPT-4 language model to develop and run apps in Azure.
- The collaboration will help the accounting firm develop and expand scalable AI solutions, including its own platforms for taxes, auditing, and consulting.
- The firm has already been using Azure OpenAI service for its clients in several industries.
Zoom out: - The multiyear investment also includes funding to train PwC staff on AI and recruit additional AI employees.
- PwC noted that its plans include advising other businesses on building and using generative AI.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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TikTok is now testing a new feature that will allow users to create AI-generated profile pictures, similar to Prisma Labs' Lensa app. Users feed the system with three to 10 photos and choose among several styles to produce up to 30 avatars. More: - Social media consultant Matt Navarra first shared images and a video of the feature on Twitter.
- It takes several minutes for the tool to generate the avatars. Once finished, TikTok users can download one or multiple avatars, upload one as a profile photo, or share them in their TikTok stories.
- This feature is currently an experiment in select markets. It has two tiers, Lite or Plus, and can only be utilized once a day.
- A spokesperson confirmed the test and said the company is "always thinking about new ways to add value to the community and enrich the TikTok experience."
Zoom out: - The tool is similar to the viral Lensa AI app but built directly within TikTok.
- In November, Lensa developer Prisma Labs launched the AI-powered "magic avatars" tool powered by the Stable Diffusion model.
- In the first 11 days of this month, Lensa's app experienced 12.6 million global installs, up 600% from the same time the year prior.
CNN
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OpenAI announced new controls for ChatGPT users, including the option to disable their chat history so that those conversations won't be used to train the company's AI models or show up in the sidebar. The controls are meant to enhance user privacy and give users more control over their data. More: - OpenAI says it will retain new conversations for 30 days and then delete them permanently. It will only evaluate them if it's needed to monitor for abuse.
- The controls come after a glitch caused some ChatGPT users to be able to briefly view the conversation histories of other users last month.
- In a blog post, OpenAI said it hopes the controls offer "an easier way to manage your data than our existing opt-out process."
ChatGPT Business: - Also on Tuesday, OpenAI unveiled plans for a ChatGPT Business subscription that's due out in the "coming months."
- The new tier is aimed at "professionals who need more control over their data as well as enterprises seeking to manage their end users."
- ChatGPT Business will abide by OpenAI's API data usage policies, meaning end users' data by default won't be used to train its models.
CNBC
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🍋 FRESH FUNDING 🍋 - Veo Robotics (Massachusetts), provides safeguarding solutions for robotics: $29M Growth led by Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Safar Partners, and Yamaha Motor Ventures.
- Smart Reporting (Germany), develops AI-powered medical documentation technology: $16M Growth led by The European Investment Bank.
- Oso-AI (France), an ambient intelligence platform used for caregivers: $11M A led by Innovacom, Novinvest Partners, and Breizh Up, with participation from Cemag Invest Partners.
- Groundlight (Washington), a visual understanding service based on natural language: $10M Growth led by Madrona, with participation from Greycroft Partners, Founders Co-op, Flying Fish, AscendVC, and EssenceVC.
- Aisles (Oregon), uses AI to map out products in a retail store: $10M Seed led by co-founder Ignacio Rosales.
For the latest on AI startup funding and more in the VC community, subscribe to our Inside Venture Capital newsletter.
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- During an hour-long meeting on Wednesday, Elon Musk discussed "AI and the economy" with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
- U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to the CEOs of several AI companies, including Google, Apple, and Microsoft, urging them to prioritize security, fight AI bias, and launch new technologies responsibly.
- Harvey, a generative AI legal tech startup, has secured $21M in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital. Despite its product being available by invitation only, Harvey has secured partnerships with PwC and Allen & Overy.
- An anonymous online user has used AI to create a mashup of Bad Bunny and Rihanna titled "Por Qué." The creator is believed to be the same person behind the AI-generated Drake and The Weeknd song "Heart On My Sleeve."
- Brilliant's bite-sized interactive lessons make it easy (but not too easy) to sharpen your math, data, and CS skills. Try it free for 30 days.*
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 |  | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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